Made It By Monday: Paper Beads

There are some crafts you can never be too old for. I hadn't made paper beads since summmer camp days but I've stumbled upon so many tutorials and earrings and bracelets all about (and using) paper beads.

What you need:
1. Old magazines, scrapbook paper, origami paper, whatever!
2. Glue (Elmers liquid glue, glue stick - whatever works best for you)
3. Toothpicks, Size 1-3 knitting needle, chopsticks
4. A varnish (Such a krylon, polyurethane, modge podge)

I have yet to varnish mine. The varnish isn't entirely necessary - it definitely makes the beads look more jewelry-esque but they also lose a bit of the "paper" look.

I made a bunch of these over the course of the last week. (Personally I think my form still needs a bit of work). To get you started, here are a couple of great tutorials for paper beads:

Madmim's Paper Bead Tutorial
Yahoo Lifestyle Tutorial
Paper Bead Templates (7 different forms! Not just cylinders.)

And once you've made your beads, I highly suggest you check out this tutorial also by madmim for anthropologie-inspired earrings: Click here



It's amazing what people have done! I often head on over to Etsy for even more inspiration.


Image Source

Have fun!