Hand-Beaded Drawstring Bag

I made a little beaded drawstring bag! I hand-beaded this flower years ago on a scrap of pink fabric and didn't know what to do with it. I came across it and realized I had more of the same pink denim and I thought it would make a really adorable bag.

Hand-beading like this is really not too difficult, it just takes time. I'd never done anything like this before.

Secure your fabric in an embroidery hoop. This will keep your fabric taught and make it easier to sew through.You'll need a thin needle for beading, the eye of the needle has to fit through your tiniest beads.

Try something organic - like a flower - first. Let your beads guide the design and the shape! Or you could trace a pattern onto the fabric using a pencil, then bead within the lines. To make this flower, I beaded the outside lines first to make the shape, then I filled in the spaces (kind of like coloring within  the lines).

Hello Kitty Bow Using Perler Beads

Retro Perler Beads (aka Melty Beads) are coming back into into geeky fashion.  Now that I'm older and I can get past the fasination that it melts together woot, but now am more interested in making more retro looking art such as Pixel Art!

I worked on making an outline for a Bow in some punkish coloUrs of Red and Black.  I work on making an outline first on the grid (it's got lots of pegs to hold the perler beads in place) and then I go fill in the main coloUr.  Yeah Yeah the picture isn't of the outline because I acidently knocked into it and half my piece came crashing off.

Here's the finished design.  Making your own pattern?  Best to think of the design you want in pixelized form, if your creative juices aren't working than there are patterns all over the internet

Time for the heat which comes in the form of an iron.  The iron will melt the top layer of the beads which will fuze together as it cools. 

TIP:  Do not use the parchment that comes with the perler beads, it's probebly folded and those creases will show on your melted piece. 

TIP:  Melt both sides of the piece.  This will create durability.  If not, it may snap easily.

While the piece was still hot I created a curve on the piece by forcing it to cool on a curved surface.  I do not recommend using your leg as you may burn yourself.

Vola, I glued the Perler bow onto a headband off centered and now it looks like a HelloKitty Bow.  Just now need some cat ears. 

Wire Flower

I was flipping through a magazine and found a flower made from wires.  I think I did a pretty cute job of making something similar. 

How To
1) Loop some wires around a rolling pin to make some circles for the petals
2) Wrap more wire around where the ends of the loops meet and create a knot through all the loops around that point
3) Twist the circles around the knot point into the flower pattern as shown above
4) use a thin beading wire or string loop in and around the knot point, stringing beads along the way


So what can this be used for?  Lots of guys suggested a brooch (I didn't know guys in their twenties thought brooches were fashionable) while the girls liked it to be a hair accessory.  I didn't want it to be put on a clip where the clip could show, but one good suggestion was to put it on a chopstick.  In the end I just used some black bobby pins (since my hair is black) and attached it to my head as a decorative element; and off to a friend's wedding I went. 

Materials:  Wire, Beads

Board Games into Pendants

So I purposefully went to a thrift store to pick up a Monopoly game because I thought it would be cool to make some jewelry out of some favorite past times. But how do I translate the game pieces into wearable art without making a shoe and an iron into a Charm Bracelet?

Let’s dump it all into a bottle cap! It’s this cool. Now you owe me $6 for landing here.

Oh, oh, and I found some Mahjong tiles in my beading supplies.

I'm matching it up with some Green Seed Beads and Voila!

FYI that says "Nine Thousand" on the tile, think of it as an equivalent to a poker card's 9 of Spades

Just like the rest of my Bottle Cap Pendants, glue on a Bail and a nice matching Ribbon.

Materials: Bottle Caps, Beads, Monopoly Set, Bails, Ribbons