"A blog dedicated to the art of making paper beads & paper bead jewelry...by Janice Mae"
A Leisurely Day
What do you do when you are in one of those days when you are drained of ideas and inspiration? When your eyes are tired from surfing the internet? When that happens, I will spend the day doing absolutely nothing and go to the two most happiest place on earth (for me) 🙂 Barnes and Noble and Michael’s Arts and Crafts. My hubby would often say, how can one spend 4 hours at Barnes and Noble? Very easily. Here’s how my day went yesterday when I decided to take a break. We have a shopping center close by that has; Barnes and Noble, Michael’s, Joann’s Fabric and Target all in one block. First had lunch at Starbucks (the one inside Barnes), they had a special of 1/2 a chicken sandwich and a cup of wedding soup (never had this before).
Yummy desserts!
Spent an hour browsing though their magazine rack, bought one that featured fabric cuffs which I’m going to try one of these days 🙂 They also have about 50 books on origami and anything about paper and scrap booking, spent another 2 hours there 🙂
Michael’s was next;
Want to see what I got from Michael’s?
Inspired by Peruvian embroidered bangles and the sewn cuff bracelet I saw at one of the beading magazines, I thought I would like to cross stitched small designs on aida cloth, haven’t done this since I was in college when I gifted my aunt a set of embroidered table napkins.
Earring findings, which I thought would go well with the black and white paper beads (zentagles) from earlier post. I am planning on making earrings and sea anemone ring with those.
I thought this would go nicely with paper beads.
I am planning to make something similar to the Mad Hatter’s belt worn accross the body, maybe a long necklace with these wooden spools.
These are wood beads that would also look nice with paper beads.
Remember this? It was the most expensive purchase at $20, but I just got to have it – I can see possibilities…..
What do you do when you want to take a break from your beading or crafting?
Read MoreGolden Shellback’s Cuff
This cuff which I call the Golden Shellback’s Cuff is encrusted with shells and paper beads. I learned about Golden Shellback when my son joined the U.S. Navy. One of the most precious thing he brought home was the Golden Shellback Certificate which I framed and now have a special place in my home. Wikepedia defines Golden Shellback as:
The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, and other navies that commemorates a sailor’s first crossing of the Equator. Originally, the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are nicknamed (Trusty) Shellbacks, often referred to as Sons of Neptune; those who have not are nicknamed (Slimy) Pollywogs.
The Certificate itself is like a work of art, with drawings of Mermaids, King Neptune, crabs and porpoises and other denizens of the sea as what they’re called.
My collection of shells.
And paper beads.
The foundation of this cuff is 140 lb paper that I folded into a round and covered with fleece.
I used hot glue gun to adhere the shells and paper beads into the cuff.
The olive shaped paper beads and the smaller round beads were used to fill in the gaps.
This is such a conversation piece and so easy to do. You can purchase shells and some of them are colored at your local craft store.
A Scalloped Paper Bead Necklace
The inspiration for this necklace can be found here. From time to time I get Garnet Hill’s catalog, I love their stuff. They call this necklace, Chan Luu Beaded Rope Necklace. If I look like the model wearing it I would love to wear this, instead I thought I’d make it with paper beads, light and colorful and certainly wearable as modeled by Kayla. Kayla made our own Scalloped Paper Bead Necklace with olive shaped paper beads and small round paper beads.
We made it by stringing the paper beads with softflex or any kind of stringing material you may have, and connecting it to the chain with crimps.
The design is pretty simple, and the scallops could be adjusted to how you like it to lay on your neck.
Very nice with just a simple tee shirt to show off that nice tan 🙂
Another day of turning ordinary to extraordinary!
We are on the planning stage of a paper bead exchange/swap, if you have any ideas suggestions please just email me, email button is on the right hand side 🙂 A few of you already have some really neat ideas.
Read MorePaper Beads Out Of Zentangles
This is a follow-up on yesterday’s post on zentangles. It is another way to make paper beads, this time not the usual magazine pages but from a doodled page. First, I doodled on a long bond paper, this would come out different if you will use a heavier paper like construction paper. Then, I cut them up into strips and rolled them into paper beads using the metal paper bead roller.
The measurement for the triangles is 1/2 inch at the base and 14 inches long, the size of a long bond paper.
Here’s the video……
They look like spotted eggs, don’t you think?
I think this can be made into a guys necklace with black beads.
Perfect jewelry to go with the black and white outfit!
And the fun part, is turning it into wearable art 🙂 Another day of turning the ordinary to extraordinary.
Read MoreHave You Tried Zentangles?
While I was at the Craft and Hobby Association Supershow few months ago at the Anaheim Convention Center, I came across Suzanne McNeill, she is a certified zentangle teacher and she is the author of Zentangle Basics. For those of us who has not tried drawing or is scared to try, this is the perfect baby steps we need to take. I’m glad I stopped by their booth.
In simple words: It’s turning doodles into art designs. The tools you need: paper, pencil and fine tip marker.
These are some of the amazing work found at the zentangle booth.
I was looking at this and I thought; this could make a cool paper bead, cut up into strips of triangles.
This is just one example of a zentangle on canvas as a collage, isn’t that pretty neat?
This is my favorite, I bought a blank mask made out of paper mache with this in mind.
Kayla got inspired and did her own zentangle spelling out her name.
It came out really nice don’t you think?
In my next post, I’m going to try making paper beads out zentangled page 🙂 I’m actually excited to do this next!
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