Thanksgiving Craft Party

Kaye Lynn, Amelia and me

Emily and Amelia

Hi to all,

In our family we have a long standing tradition of doing crafts at Thanksgiving.  Here we are working on holiday cards and wire bracelets; all crafted using recycled paper.   We used paper beads for the wire bracelets and tube beads for the cards.  You can check back to my September posts for a tutorial.  Here are some examples of what we made:

These handmade items would make great gifts for the holiday season.  You will see these and many more at the Holiday Craft Show in Tarrytown on December 1st.  It will be at the Reformed Church on N. Broadway from 11am until 5pm.  There will be refreshments and lots of local artisans there with great one of a kind gifts.  The show is put on by the Hudson Valley Crafts Collective.  It would be great to see you there.  Bring this blog and get 20% off your purchase at my table!



I will also have lots of glitzy glamorous jewelry for your holiday fashions.  Be sure to come see it.  All of the jewelry fashions are available on my Etsy site annemadethis, so please take a look.

Have a great week, check out my Etsy site and I will talk to you later!

anne

Tube Bead Bracelet Tutorial

"Color is my daylong obsession, joy and torment."

                                                                   -Claude Monet

San Giorgio Maggiore Venice at Twilight




Memory Wire Bracelet-Spring Green

Memory Wire Bracelet-Yellow Cereal Box 2

Wine Glass Charms made with Paper Beads

These are some things that I worked on this week, of course more memory wire bracelets!  But I will stop those soon.  They just look so dramatic on your wrist.  The newest item is a set of wine glass charms.  They are fun at parties, help guests keep track of their drinks and make great hostess & holiday gifts.  Check my Etsy site for postings.

TUBE BEAD BRACELET TUTORIAL



 

Above are examples of the Elastic Tube Bead Bracelet.  Each bracelet looks very different, depending on the paper used to form the bead.  To start, you will need about 32  3/4" long beads to make the bracelet. (Directions for making beads are on my July 16, 2012 post. ) You will also need about 55" of 1mm. clear elastic to make the bracelet.

1. Take the first bead and center it on the elastic, keeping both ends even.

2. Take one end of the elastic and thread it through the second bead, take the other end of the elastic and thread it through second bead from the other end.  Pull both ends of the elastic tight.  Make sure both hanging ends of elastic are even and the two beads are laying flat.

3. Continue in this manner, threading the beads from each end of the elastic.  Be sure to keep bracelet and tighten after each bead until bracelet measures about 7 1/2"-8" (will stretch to fit almost any size wrist).

4. Hold both ends of elastic and pull each bead, starting with the second bead, to tighten the preceding bead.  This will remove all of the slack from the elastic thread.

5. Take each end of the elastic and string through opposite ends of the first bead.  This will make your flat bracelet into a loop.  Pull tight.

6. Take one end of the elastic thread and thread it through the bead adjacent to the first bead.  Both ends of the elastic will be on the same side.  

7. Make sure all is tight and then knot elastic several times.  Put a dot of cement, GS-Hypo cement or E6000 and the knot will be secure forever.  Let dry and cut off remaining elastic.

Try these directions out. If they seem complicated, let me know where and I will try to clarify them.  Have fun!

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop and like me on Facebook.

Talk to you soon,

anne