DIY Jewelery Ups and Downs...

So I have these gorgeous pearls that my parents got me for a graduation/birthday present and I love love love them so I wanted to make my girls something that would sort of match to wear on the big day.  I found awesome instructions and I think they're going to look great...only problem is the cost! Why oh why is everything in Canada so expensive!?! I hit up my local Michael's to see what they had and even on sale, strands of freshwater potato pearls were $4 for 12"...just for the pearls alone it costs $24 and then each 'jewelry making accessory' was $5 on top of that...throw in the proper tool for the job and I was out $85 for a project that was supposed to be budget friendly.  I took everything home and after sleeping on it, decided that I didn't even like how the pearls looked (some looked like popcorn kernels or were really bumpy...) so I returned it all and am back at square one.  I think I'm going to get white glass pearls instead which seem to be much more uniform in shape (actually round) and significantly cheaper.  I found some on ebay that I can get a 32" strand for $1.99.  I ordered 4 so we'll see how they look when they arrive.  I think I'm going to try to find an online source for all the other materials as well...hopefully I'll get around to doing all the jewelry in the next week or so.  Wish me luck!