Beaded Paper Chains
Don’t you just love paper chains? You remember making them as a kid and the satisfaction you get when you see them getting longer and longer? We have been making a lot of elastic bracelets and we just have a pile of them. I was playing with them one day, and discovered that they make really nice and colorful chain links! We made several of the elastic bracelets using small round beads and small olive shaped beads.
It is very simple to turn them into chains and here’s how I did it
This style of linking the bracelets into a chain is so versatile and a lot of possibilities. Because there is no clasp involve, you just tie them with a ribbon for closure you can wear them several ways.
This would also be pretty as a belt. The same necklace, we converted it into a bracelet.
You can use it as a hair scrunchie
I think it would work great as a head band also!
Soon, you might find this versatile way of turning elastic bracelet into beaded chain links in catalogs and stores! Just say you saw it here first 🙂
Upcoming posts: More updates on the Paper Bead Trade, Crochet with paper beads and Simple Wire Wrap for Shell Pendants.
Read MoreButton Ring Tutorial
I found more yummy buttons at Joann’s Fabric. They are so summery, one of those I consider shots of happiness. You put them on your finger and you are instantly in a better mood. Fashion experts will tell you to buy less clothes and just accessorize what you have, accessories is everything! You do it with paper beads and you transform from cool to super cool 🙂
And the materials are: ring blank, flat button, small round paper beads, 26 gauge wire, glue gun and round nose pliers.
You can also put a glass bead in the center of the flower…..
These are the buttons that you can find at Joann’s.
They were very easy and simple to make and can certainly be made in different ways. The Orange Button in this ring already have a flower design on it.
This Blue Confetti Button Ring, has a glass pearl in the center.
Becky of Infarrantly Creative has a series of zipper jewelry tutorial on her crafty blog and one of them is zipper earrings with paper beads.
Infarrantly Creative's Zippered Earrings Design
Idea # 5 for the Paper Bead Trade is the Button Rings. Reminder for the Paper Bead Trade participants: Start making those beads or if you already have made some mail them to me so I can start putting the kit together 🙂
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My Paper Beads – Hilde Debruyn
I have created a new category: My Paper Beads to feature paper beads that are made by paper bead enthusiasts from other parts of the world. Hilde Debruyn who is from Belgium, combines her paper beads with unusual beads and finds to achieve that organic look. She carefully describes each one of her creation, the kind of paper and beads she used:
This necklace I made with scrap booking paper pasted on small pieces of cardboard. In stead of scrap booking paper I made some similar necklaces with starched papers too.
Black and White
I started this necklace with a big silver bead (I kept this bead from a broken necklace). I completed it with little silver cube beads and paperbeads. I found the paper for this beads in my letterbox. They are made with promotional leaflets with a white background. On the other side I put a double string with ancient African tradebeads. They are made of glass. I bougth them in an African shop in Brussels.
Silver and African Beads
Here I made a very long necklace (4 times the usual length). It’s very colorful. I made it from magazine papers and I joined a lot of little yellow squares from an old necklace from my mother. I took the picture on a stone in the shape of a heart. The stone is carved. As you can see there are small roses on it.
A Heart Of Stone
This necklace is also made with magazine papers. I chose papers with an orange colour in it, so it could be combined with the silk textile bead. A friend of mine made it for me. I also used a big coral and some small orange-red beads.
With Orange Fabric Bead
This necklace is photographed on a small raffia tablecloth from Congo (a present from my aunt). It’s made of gift wrapping paper (craft paper with stripes) I used a red spherical and some olive wooden beads from Santorini (Greece).
Red and Green
The tubes are made of gift wrapping paper with little colorful figures on it (for a gift for children). I used small wooden beads, and also a very big wooden bead and a red bead (dry vegetable material).
TUBES
We still have room for the Paper Bead Trade, you can sign up by e mailing me your address (Email Me button is on the right hand side).
Thank you Hilde, for sharing your beautiful work. We will be posting ideas and inspiration for the Paper Bead Trade in the next week or so.
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.
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