New Ideas and Things

Vintage pins made from very old buttons, Havre de Grace, MD

Hi to everyone,

Last weekend I traveled to Maryland.  One of the stops I made was Havre de Grace where I visited an amazing button shop.  The proprietor was 77 years old and had been collecting buttons since she was a child.  I wish I had taken more pictures, the shop was stuffed with all kinds and colors of vintage and antique buttons.  She made these  pins about 35 years ago.  I thought they were unusual, interesting.

Paper bead memory wire bracelets by annemade.  this

Above are some memory wire bracelets I made last week, incorporating my paper beads.  They are posted on  my online Etsy site annemadethis.  These wire bracelets wrap around your wrist 5-6 times, they form a 2" cuff.  Very luxurious!  The colors are spectacular!  Check them out.

I have developed another way to make the Collage Art bead.  Originally I had posted a short tutorial on this in on February 2, 2012.  Well here is another way to get some of the same effects.  Below is a sample of some Collage art beads I made today.

Collage art beads

 1.  Start with a panel from a cereal box or any other light cardboard carton.  The more white and pale areas there are on the box, the more pronounced the color effects will be.  Using a medium size paint brush, cover the entire carton front with white glue in an even layer.

2. Take colored tissue paper (the colors you want your beads to be) and rip it in sections.  Glue it all over the cereal carton front in a haphazard manner.  See picture.

3. Make sure the tissue and glue dries thoroughly and that all pieces of tissue are firmly adhered to the carton.  Sometimes a little glue brushed on top of the tissue helps this.

4. After it is dry, turn carton over and trim excess.  Draw triangles the size you want.  Cut and roll triangles as shown in the tutorial of January 9, 2012.

5. You may add other embellishments, such as string, ribbon, glitter or more tissue at this point.  Then coat the bead with two coats of ultra-thick gloss.  Let dry thoroughly.

If there are any questions, please contact me.  Happy crafting!  Would love to see some examples of what you do.

Stop by my Etsy site and like me on facebook!

Talk to you soon,

anne

Tubular Paper Bead Tutorial

Jane Eyre Bracelet

Nature Book Bracelet

Chinese Menu Bracelet

Hi to all,

Above are some examples of tubular paper beads I have made into bracelets.  One reason I like the tube bead is that it really shows off the materials it was made from.  You can actually see Chinese menu items or the text from Jane Eyre.  Today I would like to go through a step by step process in making a tubular paper bead.  It is really quite easy, once you practice two or three times.

1. To start off you need a skewer, tacky glue, a soft brush and strips of medium weight paper, cut 3/4" X 6".  Here I am using a page from my vintage atlas. To make a bracelet like the ones shown above, you should roll about 32 beads, so start with 35 strips, just in case.

2. To start rolling, place the strip under the skewer as shown.  Tuck ends around and start to roll.  Keep strip snug and both ends even.  If it unrolls, just start again, this has happened many times to me.

3.  Roll to about an inch from the end.

4. Using the soft brush, spread tacky glue on the inch long tail.









5. Finish rolling the bead, holding tail down until glue dries.  Then gently slide bead off skewer, keeping edges even.  See photo below.

                                






6. I place the finished bead on two toothpicks and stick it into an egg carton to dry.  That should take only a few minutes.

 

7.  The last step, coat the bead twice with an ultra-thick gloss.  Let it dry thoroughly between coats..  And now you have a bunch of tubular beads ready for crafting. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and special thanks to my beautiful hand model, Tori!

Looking forward to meeting everyone this Saturday, July 21st at the

Peekskill Jazz and Craft Fair

For Festival details, visit www.downtownpeekskill.com

 



Happy crafting.  Please check out my etsy shop.



anne

Darkest Before the Dawn!

Hi everyone,

Here's a quick look at the progress we've made on the new guest room!

What a mess! It always looks the worst, just before it is finished.  You can see the new lamp and the new bedside table in the background.  Only a week left to go!  I'll keep you posted.

The tutorial on making Paper Beads has been missing for about a month, it was originally written on January 9th.  Well, I have rewritten it, so everyone can get a first hand look at how I make paper beads.  If you try it, let me know how the directions go; if they need any revisions.

MOTHER'S DAY SPECIAL

Starting tomorrow morning I will be running a Mother's Day Special on my Etsy site.  I will be giving free shipping to any items purchased before Mother's Day, May 13th.  Just use coupon code FREESHIP when you check out.  Here are some Mother's Day ideas:

Tropical Pink Paper Bead Bracelet

Pretty in Pink Paper Bead Bookmark

Also I will be posting some new items--PaperBead Bracelets made with chains.  I am sure you will like them.  Go to my Etsy Shop and see what you think.

It is going to be 80 degrees in NY--so everyone enjoy the day.  Get out there and take a walk!!

Thanks for reading and see you soon.

anne

Spring is really here...

Yea!!  Spring is here!

Tuesday was the first day of Spring.  And here in New York the temperature has been up to 80 degrees already!  When I was walking today, I found more evidence that spring is really here!

So with spring comes the craft fair season.  This will be my first, and even though it seems grueling I am going to give it a try.  And I have tons of work to do to get ready.  I've found some really great ideas for getting my "table" set up.  I found this fabulous site on pinterest with tons of DIY ideas for attractive, interesting ways to display my work.

 I just got something called "Square".  What a great idea and it is free.  This small plug in allows your iPad or iPhone to swipe credit cards and function as a cash register.  It will tally sales, add sales tax and send receipts to the buyers email account--just like the sales people do in the Apple store.  The ability to take credit cards can really boost my sales.  If you are in the craft fair business and you don't have "Square", just Google it.  That's how I found out all about it.

So to get ready for the craft fair season, I need to figure out what I have in inventory and what I need to make.  I have thought of a few new things to try out this spring.   I got a fabulous vintage world atlas; the pages make gorgeous beads.  Here is a bracelet I made from one of the maps, you can find more pictures on my Etsy site.

Paper Bead Cuff Bracelet- Vintage World Atlas 

I thought it might be a good idea to put together kits so DIYers  can craft  this bracelet on their own. Everything you need to make the bracelet, along with directions is included in the kit.

So as you can see I am getting ready for the spring craft fairs.Anyone who can give me some good ideas on displaying my jewelry or for that matter, surviving a craft show, please leave me a comment.  Check my etsy site for new listings.  I will keep you up to date on times and places, hope to see you all there!

anne

Recycled Paper Pendant Giveaway

I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.

                                                                                           --Matisse

The Goldfish   1910

Hello to all,

I have been experimenting with a new bead design.  These beads were made from Sunday newspaper magazine supplements.  I varied the font of the pages to give some visual interest.  And adding the large seed beads gives it a splash of color.  The bracelet is strung on heavy elastic thread, so it just slips on.  I thought I might try making a bracelet from the comic strip pages and some colorful magazine front covers.  It's a fun bracelet to wear!  There is a picture below.  I appreciate your feedback, just leave me a comment.

Paper Bead Cuff

Enter now for a chance to win a Recycled Paper Pendant

This is our second free giveaway at annemadethis!

This month annemadethis is giving away the recycled paper pendant was crafted step by step in my January 14th blog.  Entering to win is easy.  To enter just leave me a comment on my blog.  Each comment equals one chance.  If you leave a comment linking an item from my Etsy shop, that equals two chances.  Enter as often as you wish.  Every comment is a chance to win.  The winner will be announced on March 15th here!  Here's a picture of the pendant.  I will put it on a rubber or faux suede black cord for you with a magnetic closure, you choose.  It's a funky interesting piece you will love wearing!

Collage Pendant

Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

anne