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| Newsprint necklaces |
I've been sorting and consolidating my jewelry supplies, taking short breaks to test
things to see if I should keep them or toss them.
A Creativity for Kids paper bead rolling kit was a keep, if
only for the nifty little bead rolling tool. It is so much easier than rolling
the paper around a toothpick. OTOH, my hand cut strips from the newspaper made
better beads than the kit's machine cut
scrapbooking paper. We won't even talk about the plastic beads that came with
the kit, okay? I had to substitute beads from my toss pile. It also had stretchy gel beading thread, which needs no needle.
A boon.
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| Creativity for Kids necklaces |
The internet is full of
projects using resin or Dimensional Magic from Mod Podge on paper stuck
to wooden forms. You get a lovely high
gloss item with Dimensional Magic. I put images on wooden nickels and stuck pin
forms to the back. I'm less than thrilled with the images I had to use, but
Dimensional Magic stays.
A stash of soutache braid will be very useful when I attempt
a soutache braid and bead creation real soon now. I've used bead tips and
soutache as necklaces to hold small charms.
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| By Annetta Valious, mylovelybeads.com |
My entire collection of felt fits in a copy paper box, but
there's oodles of red. For awhile, I bought it up whenever I saw it at Goodwill. When life gives you red felt, make felt
flowers. I've got a Pinterest board full of different flowers to try.
Most of my beads are
in one place, but there are escapees in
every room of the house. There are bead findings in the thread box. There are
beads in the box that contains my MIL's worn copy of The Settlement Cookbook. There's a matchbox of bead
findings from jewelry that fell apart 20 years ago, tucked into a box of
buttons. Many years ago, I rescued vintage
beads from a cashmere sweater that moths riddled, and tucked the bag of vintage beads into a box of sewing supplies. I also bought necklaces from thrift stores, just to deconstruct. I could never find the box
when I wanted it, so I bought findings and beads.
It will be such a delight to go to one place for
jump rings and jewelry findings rather than pawing through 6 boxes. I recognized each tiny
bag as it appeared. Nothing sneaked in while I wasn't looking. It's not that I
blithely bought huge quantities. It's that I would bead madly for awhile, put
things away, then not be able to find what I wanted during the next beading
spurt. First all the jewelry findings got put in one place, then
types of things separated out. Seeing the variety of my findings
makes me feel wealthy.
Speaking of wealth, I modified a quilted bag from Goodwill, giving it features Vera Bradley puts in her quilted bags. There are two pockets inside the purse, a pocket on the outside, and a strap for the housekey. I put vintage red rickrack on it, too.
