In high school, I crafted paper beads from Body Shop catalogs exclusively. There was just something about the matte paper and the bright, intense colors of the pages that made for the best finished product. Sadly, times have changed and the catalog has, too. The matte pages of Highlights are similar, but have a slightly different paper weight, so they are about as close as I'm going to get. Still in the spirit of being "green", making something like this from trash gives me a thrill on many levels!
This necklace was made with beads from a black-and-white page of "Hidden Pictures", silver chain, silver wire, and black and silver seed beads. If you're curious about the paper beads and want to try your hand at some of your own, GoMakeSomething.com has a great tutorial with tons of photos to demonstrate the process.
Happy Saturday!
OMG Beth, I was just at a bead store with my daughters in Greensboro this morning and I said to them, "We need to make some paper beads!" Your beads are beautiful, and I love Highlight's Magazine. Read it, love it and write for them! I'm enjoying reading your blog as well as drooling over your beautiful creations. I can so see your year in a published book in 2012!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I saw this post yesterday, but that doesn't surprise me. I have never made these paper beads but it will be a goal of mine to do so.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to let you know, believe it or not, Highlights was a huge part of my life. When I was traveling back and forth from Denver for my oncology visits and such, Highlights was always there for me when I was waiting for test results, waiting for Dies to take effect, they even had articles pasted to the walls of the CAT machines. I also bought it for Mason, and he said they were his favorite. Not too long ago, I donated all of the highlights issues I had (even though they were old) to a battered women's shelter in Fort Worth. I wanted someone else to have the good experiences I did with them.
Bravo sweetie!
Awww, that's such a great connection, Moo! Highlights taught me that growing up without a lot of money didn't mean that I couldn't use what other people cast off to create cool things. Great memories all around <3
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