Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Momenta and Paper Bead Bracelets

Good day! In honour of Earth Day this past Sunday, I wanted to share with a craft that uses up all those paper scraps you have lying around. While at a scrapbooking convention near me, my pals at ScrapMuch? showed us how to make these really cute paper beads and the resulting bracelets. When I saw them I knew right away that the Super Pad paper was a perfect texture and the bright colours would create stunning beads.
Here's a quick peek at the finished product:


Here's what you'll need to begin:

1. Plastic Drinking Straws.
2. Scraps of paper, I used the Super Pad and the scraps should be 12 inches in length.
3. Stretchy cord for beading.
4. Beads of any kind and size to compliment your paper scrap choices. (I also added a twist closure).
5. Some fast drying glue (I like Beacon's 3-in-1).
6. Scissors and a paper trimmer.

Step 1:
Cut your paper strips in a 12x12 length. They should be slightly narrower at one end than the other and look like this:

Step 2:
Begin by adding glue to the thick end of the strip. Wrap the paper around the straw.

 Step 3:
Continue rolling the paper tightly around the straw and glue the very end. Continue with each strip until you have enough beads.


Step 4: Once the ends are dry cut the straw into beads.
Step 5: Begin layering the beads for your bracelet on the stretchy cord. Try to estimate the size of of your bracelet and leave enough to tie the ends according to the cord's manufacturing directions.
The Super Pad has great patterns and colour combinations to choose from. My daughter and I made several combinations.


I hope you'll give this a try! It's super easy and the results are surprisingly fashionable. I have a few I wear everywhere and I am always asked where I got them!

Until next time, keep doing what you love!
Christa

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful! And so easy... :)

    BTW, congrats on winning on the EP Blog Hop!!! :))

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  2. Very cool....looks so pretty!

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  3. These are so cute...how fun! Congrats on the Echo Park win! Can't wait to see what you create!

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  4. Very cool! A great way to use up scraps.

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  5. Thanks for the fabulous tutorial. These beads are just so cool, I know my daughter would love to make some too!

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