Sweet Jewelry for Cheap

So my sister makes jewelry. I have a couple of her pieces in my collection.
Lately I've been obsessed with all those chunky necklaces out there. These are some of my favorites:

And of course there is the J.Crew one that is everywhere, which goes for $150 (about $80 at the outlets):

Well after seeing the cheap acrylic necklaces I bought from Pree Brulee, (a knock-off of the J.Crew above included) she went and made her own quick look-alike in 30 minutes and told me this:
Even though they have nice designs, Anthro/JCrew/BR all use acrylic (plastic) and charge anywhere from $50-$200 for their pieces when they only cost $2-$3. And the only reason they cost that much is because of the gold or silver plating. The acrylic is only like 20 cents.
And she said, "Anthropologie charges $300-$1000 for the pieces they actually use semi-precious or precious stones on. I got my semi-precious turquoise beads in China for $4."

Here is her quick 30-minute necklace, though I'm not sure she's done with it or not:

 

Sigh. Guess I will stick with buying my jewelry from my sis or from Forever21.