WOYWW #472: Books, Beads and a Bracelet

I'm here today for another round of WOYWW on Julia's Stamping Ground - #472 to be exact! I haven't spent much time in my caft room this week but I have done a bit of digital housekeeping around my blog. I've tidied up my Pinterest board as it was very neglected. They've introduced some changes since I last visited and now it's possible to organize your boards into sub-categories, which is quite a good idea. I've also added a snazzy little Pinterest widget on my sidebar. It's all part of gearing up for my 4th blogiversary in a couple of weeks' time!

I took a photo of my desk this morning, although I had to rearrange some stuff for a better view so it might look "slightly" staged.

Remember that plain gessoed journal cover from last week, waiting for inspiration? Well, inspiration struck on Friday and I was able to finish it in one sitting. You can see it in the middle of my desk - for a better view, you can visit my previous post here. Next to that is a journal background that I'm stuck on - I might just leave it the way it is. Why not just create backgrounds if that makes us happy, right? You can also see some beads I bought for making danglies for journals. On a whim I made a bracelet, even though I never wear jewellery. Perhaps now I will! Also on my desk are two books that had been sitting on my Amazon wishlist forever. I finally took the plunge and bought them and my bookcase is now completely full. They're both so beautiful and inspirational. 

Of course, it was Fathers' Day on Sunday (or Father's Day, depending on which side of the argument you stand on!)  I made a quick digital card for hubby (from our son) with an image "borrowed" from the internet. I think it's originally a fabric print and just what I was looking for. I know it's a cop-out but I'm not very good at making special occasions cards. He was more interested in the chocolate, anyway!

I have no new Oreo photos today, but I played around with some of his old photos and created this collage in Canva, which is an online basic graphic design app. It's free to use with your own photos. It was recommended by Roben-Marie Smith on her blog, along with other tools for a creative business. It's super easy to use for simple graphic design tasks. 

Thanks for popping in!  I will be visiting later today! 

Happy #472!

Gelli Print Beads

Many of you are familiar with the technique of making paper beads, but have you tried making them out of Gelli prints?  This is a great way of using up your less than gorgeous pulls. The beads will look great as long as there's some colour variation in your prints. Here are a few I made earlier today:

Gelli print paper beads

For those of you who may not be familiar with this technique, here's a quick tutorial. Making paper beads is super easy!  All you need is a sheet of patterned paper, some toothpicks or matches, some glue and optionally a paper trimmer and glazing medium.

First, cut your paper into long triangles, approx 1" wide (or a little less) at he widest point. This is very quick and easy if you use a paper trimmer, but you can just use a pair of scissors too.

Cut the paper at an angle with a trimmer to make long triangles

Next, roll your paper pieces on a toothpick starting at the widest part, making sure that the tail end stays in the middle and doesn't go off course, otherwise your beads will be wonky.

Use toothpicks to roll the beads

Use some glue or gloss gel medium to secure the tail end.  I also like to coat the whole bead with the glue, so the layers don't move on top of each other. Let it dry for an hour or so. When it is completely dry, use some kind of glossy glue or varnish to make the beads nice and shiny.  I used Diamond Glaze, but Glossy Accents will work just as well.

Tip: use a piece of Styrofoam to secure your toothpicks in an upright position while the beads are drying.

Tip2: If you find the beads stuck to the toothpicks when you want to remove them, try twisting them gently. They should come undone.

Use a varnish to make the beads shiny

You can use paper beads to make jewellery and all sorts of decorations for your cards, tags and journals. Have fun making your own! If you would like to see a video of  how to make paper beads, check out this tutorial that my crafty friend +Anikó Dóbiász uploaded to YouTube.