More Beads, yes, I said MORE BEADS hahaha and a Tip

Hello Y'all!!  Here in my neck of the woods, it's as if nature is still having a hissy fit!!   It's having a tough time going in to Spring here.  But......I do have to say that I do enjoy the coolness.  Because I know me, I don't like hot.  So I should be happy that it's still cool here.  I am loving all the colors of beautiful flowers, wild ones and all.  We still have boocoos of those little Johnny Jump-Ups in our yard and that makes me VERY happy to see them.   I was afraid that the very cold wet and snowy weekend we just had, that it would make them go away sooner than usual, but they are still perky and pretty.  Maybe they are like me, they like cool weather too.  hahahaha   I was blessed to get to spend the day with my Momma in Ky yesterday.   We had a good time, as usual.   Lots of dining out and lots of laughter and a little purchasing.  Can't beat a day like that.    I got to go to one of my favorite crafty places, Mighty Dollar, (where everything is a dollar) while we was together and I did a little mini craft haul.   Can't wait to see what all I can do with my fun stuff.   I picked up 2 mini albums, one is already an album, you just add your pics or your mini pieces of art and boom, it's done.   The other one is a tad larger.  It has really thick chipboard for the front and back, that you cover or decorate how ever you wish.   Then the pages are a thinner chipboard that you decorate too.  You add pockets, tabs and any and all kinds of ephemera to make it just plumb gaw-juss!!!!  I picked up some mini wood pieces that are wood burned, those are really cute.  I got 3 or 4 different pkgs of napkins for some napkin art.  

I'm gonna stop right here for a commercial break and throw in my tip for this post.   When you are looking for napkins, they are not all created equal.   Just be aware of that.   It's not something we usually think about, unless we are using them for napkin art.   A lot of the napkins only have one beautiful corner on it.  And the way they are folded in the pkg, you may not notice it until you get home and take one out and see that only one corner has a design in it.   That's ok for cards and smaller crafts, but if you are wanting to make beads with them, then you want a full napkin and not just one corner.   And you can piece together 4 corners of 4 napkins to make a full sheet of images for your project, but you have to be extremely careful with the delicate pieces once you have the other layers peeled from the napkins.   So, just remember to try to make sure your napkins are fully covered with the image.  I picked up some beautiful napkins and realized they only had one corner of beauty on them and I reluctantly put them back.   sad sad sad     Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.   hahaha

I also picked up 3 pkgs of brown Scotch brand cover up sheets.   I have never seen those anywhere before.   They are used to cover up info on boxes or manila envelopes that you may already have and want to re-use.  They are peel-stick with permanent adhesive.  There is 6 to a pkg.   And they are 12 inches x 12 inches.  Perfect size and of course they have a writable surface.   So, as I sit here now, I am regretting that I didn't pick up all the pkgs.   Sometimes I just have a mini regret, and this is one of those times.   ggg   I am envisioning many uses with these and I will share what I do with them.   If any of y'all have some and use them in your crafting, please share.  But that is the gist of my mini haul at Mighty Dollar.

And I was pleased to see, when I got back home, the city crew had been busy at patching some of the potholes on the road that you could lose a small vehicle in.   The potholes had gotten so big that you could almost rent them out as a spare room or a guest room.   Back earlier in the year, on one of the back roads going into the local Lowe's, there was a pothole big enough that someone had placed a shopping cart in it and all you could see was about half the cart sticking up from the pothole.  That's true!!  I drove by it myself and seen with my own eyes.   That is so terrible.   But I guess the places that work on vehicles get to stay busy.    If you take your eyes off the road and hit one of those holes, it could really cause some damage, not mention it would scare the bejebbers out of ya!!!  hahaha

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So I think I mentioned something about more beads.  Right, I did, more beads. Yeah!!!  Just a few more.    Hahahaha

I bet you thought I was kidding, didn't cha!    Well, obviously I wasn't.   hahaha   You know the sad truth, this isn't even all of them.     I just took a hand full from each different group of beads for each individual pic.   Plus, I already have more that haven't been photographed yet!!!!   

Yes, I know, it's a sickness............but I'm not looking for a cure, really I'm not.    But I am looking for things to roll to make more beads.   hahaha   This was from a thin magazine that I got in the mail.  It was just a few pages thick, but the pages were very nice, not like some of the magazines that have very thin scratchy paper, this was thicker and smoother, perfect really.  It was just an  advertisement, but it made for some gaw-juss beads.

 I use all kinds of boxes that food items come in.

After watching a few videos last year and people not using some of the stuff I was interested in using, I just started using what I wanted to use.    These are very thin in width, about 1/8 of an inch wide, but very thick in depth, disc beads.   Very hard to make, but as you can see, very worth the struggle.  

Just a word of caution, don't tell me it can't be rolled, I may just find a way to do it.   hahahaha  These are what's called olive beads.

 I love all colors and shapes and sizes as my pictures can attest.

These particular beads was from a cardboard box that I didn't like the outside of them so I just painted them with metallic rose gold paint and then finished the usual steps of putting the finishes on them.    I also made a bunch of really narrow ones to use as spacers when I start making the jewelry.  Really neat looking.

These are from cousin willies buttery explosion popcorn boxes.   Yes, they are and I LOVE them!!!

 These are great fall color beads.

These are from a brochure at the Kroger deli.   About 10 ply thick.  Love these too.    Those big ones that you see in the forefront, right hand side of the pic; David could have easily used in his slingshot for taking down Goliath.   just sayin'.   hahahaha

When I am making my beads, I take notation of the box I use, the width I cut my beads, the color of paint (if I use paint) and anything else that I do to the beads.

When I get done with my beads, I put them in a ziploc bag along with the notations on the beads and when I am showing them to someone, all the info is right for them to see.   Then I put the ziploc bags in a box that is for my finished beads only.    I now have 2 good sized boxes full.    I also have another good sized box with unfinished beads in it, and it's almost full.    In this box is the beads that I need to take thru my 6 step dipping process.   This makes the water resistant.   They are sealed through and through, inside and outside.   I won't say they are waterproof, but they are water resistant.   Even if they touch your skin, sweat should not be an issue with them at all, because they are sealed so well.

These are from some designer paper.  Love these.   I tipped the ends in rose gold metallic paint.   

These and the ones below are quite elegant looking made up into jewelry.

These are from the same designer paper but they are tipped in chocolate brown metallic paint.   Love love love these!!   

 These are from a calendar.    These beads are amazing.

These are from a frozen pizza box.  I love them!!  These are really big and I also painted them because I didn't care for the outside color.

 These are from kroger taco shell boxes.  See, you can use any box and they are quite lovely.

 Something else to remember is that the finishes you put on them can make them look different too.

This is from a box that blueberry bars, kinda like the fig newtons, came in.  hahaha

 These are from the Sunday funnies.   LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

These are a cross between an olive bead and a barrel bead.   I love them, they are made from a napkin adhered to cardstock.    The next 3 pics are also napkins adhered to cardstock.   Yes, I'm crazy, but it's oooooh so fun!!!

This is an Orville Redenbacher popcorn box.   The small one, the 3 bag size box.    Very colorful and fun.

These are from a peacock napkin adhered to a piece of light teal cardstock.   I then used a wavy blade in one of cutters and I am hooked on a new technique.   I had not seen these anywhere.   They will beautiful when I get them done up with all the finishes on them.

The neat thing about this technique is that you can use all different colors of cardstock using the same napkin print and they will all be mixable and matchable, because of the napkin.   So this is pretty cool.    Whatever color is in the napkin can be used as the cardstock base.   I use stick glue to adhere the napkin to the cardstock because I don't want to saturate the napkin with a wet glue, because it will tear very easily.   On the upside, if it does tear, it can be easily repaired and used anyway.   More than likely the tear will be on the inside of the bead and will not even be seen, so, there ya go.

These are about 1/4 inch wide at the widest and they make up into beads quite beautifully.

The wavy sides make for a very beautiful bead!!!   I can not wait to get all of the napkin beads dipped and finished, they will be simply divine for sure.    You can also click on the pictures and it should bring them up larger for better viewing.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't roll something.  Find out for yourself.   You may even have to make yourself a roller that will do what you need it to do.   That's what I done for a lot of these.    Just have fun and only you can determine what you can and cannot roll to make a bead.    

At some point in time, when I get burned out on making beads, I will start making more jewelry.  But, for now, I keep finding things to mix and match.    Just like the above peacock beads.   Layer the napkin on different colors of cardstock and they take on a whole new look, but they can be mixed and matched easily because of the napkin.   Oh my gosh, so many beads to make and so little time!!!!   hahaha   And also some of the finishes that can be used can also give a different look.  Just experiment.   That's what I did.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek into my addiction.   Again, I tell you, I'm not looking for a cure, just more items to be made into beads!!!!    hahahaha    If you have the same addiction, I would love to hear from you.    If you would like to have the addiction, I would like to hear from you.   If you just like looking at beautiful beads, I would love to hear from you too.    Now, go make a bead.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed your visit with me today.  If you did, leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of my bead addiction.   hahaha     I do love the fact that we, as crafters, have it within our abilities to reduce, reuse and recycle items that would otherwise be thrown away.   I hope that I am making "heirlooms" that will be around for generations to come.   At least, I won't be one throwing away the materials that I used to make them.   Someone else will have to toss them out.    I just thank God for the creativity that He has given me in all areas of crafting and arting.    I'm not the best at anything, and it's not about being the best.  It's about doing the best I can do.  Doing the best we can do and encouraging each others in our endeavors.    There should be no competition in our crafting and arting, just encouragement.    I am constantly praying for God to show me more and more and more, and He does.    I hope that you are asking God to help you with your creative nature.  Just realize that everything that you have the ability to do comes directly from Him.   I believe with all my heart that He wants us to be as creative as we possibly can.   Thank Him for your creativity and even ask Him to increase your nature to be creative, He will.    After all God is the creator of creativity.  Yay!!!!  Everything good comes from Him!!!!  Praises!!!   Thank you Father for allowing me to be as creative as I am, and I ask you for more creativity every day.    Amen!!!!

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I hope you liked what you seen and read here today and I pray that you will come back real soon.   I have some more fun stuff to share.    I can't wait to see you back here real soon.   Just remember that God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you, so much so that He provided the only way known to God Himself, and that is through Jesus Christ.   I pray that if you haven't already accepted Christ as your Savior, that you would consider that today would be a good day to do that.    Have a great night of refreshing rest y'all!!   May your tomorrow be filled with so much creativity that tomorrow won't hold it all.    hahaha    Love and hugs to all of y'all!!     patty