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I love paper beads! They're easy to make and fun to use as embellishments or featured components in other crafts. If anyone else is interested in experimenting with these little gems, this will be the first in a series of swaps for making beads and/or incorporating them into future challenges.
Send EIGHT paper beads and a matching matchbox storage drawer to one partner. (These beads and box will be used in a future project.)
You will need:
one sheet of 12" X 12" scrapbook paper one 32-count matchbox or a piece of cardstock and Rachel's matchbox template (found on the swap-bot blog) a ruler a pencil scissors white glue a Q-tip with the cotton tips removed or a wooden skewer
The Process:
Place the scrapbook paper face down on your work surface. Beginning at the top left corner, make pencil marks spaced one inch apart across the top edge of the paper. Make a mark 1/2" from the left edge at the bottom of the paper, then measure and mark in one inch increments the rest of the length of the bottom edge. Use your ruler to draw a line from the top left corner of the paper to the first pencil mark at the bottom of the page. (The one that's 1/2" from the left side.) Draw a line from that mark back up to the first mark at the top of the paper. Repeat, going up and down from mark to mark. When you're finished it will look like a big zigzag covering the paper from top to bottom similar to this:
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Carefully cut along the lines to create a series of tall, thin triangles. PLEASE NOTE: If you don't have a second piece of the same scrapbook paper, you'll need to cut a 2.5" strip from the top to the bottom of the page at the right side of the paper. You'll use this to cover the outside of the matchbox. If you do have a second piece of the same paper, you may want to cut the first piece entirely in triangles to make enough beads to keep some for your own use. Roll one of the triangles tightly around the Q-tip or skewer from the 1" edge to the point, securing the paper with a few tiny drops of glue as you go. Be careful not to glue the bead to the Q-tip. Try to keep the paper as straight as possible as you do this so the point ends up in the middle of the bead and the bead is symmetrical. Make sure the tip is glued down at the end.
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Slip the bead off of the Q-tip or skewer and repeat the process until all of the beads are formed. Cover the outside of the matchbox and the inside of the drawer with the 2.5" strip of paper you set aside or with paper identical to that used for the beads but from another sheet. This allows your partner to see what the paper looked like before it became a bead. Paint or cover the outside edges of the drawer as well. Do not do anything else to decorate the box. Please do make it look neat, however. When the box is complete and all the glue has dried, place eight of the beads you made in the drawer and shut the box. Now it's ready for mailing. :-) Please remember to include your swap-bot username and the swap title in the package.
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