Recycled Paper Beads

Sometimes, you want to make some jewellery but you have no beads whatsoever. I often come up with this problem but there is a solution: homemade paper beads! Grab some paper and lets get going.

You will need:

• Paper
• A gluestick
• PVA glue
• Water
• A skewer/bead making tool
• Cocktail sticks
• Small piece of polystyrene
• Coloured pens

To actually make the beads, the best and easiest way to do it to use a bead making tool (I recommend the Recycled Paper Beads kit from green creativity. You can get it easily off Amazon). But if you don't have one, you can roll them on a skewer.

Method

1. Firstly, you need to cut the strips of paper. There are different shapes of beads you can make but I will start with the most common. Start by marking inches across the top of the paper (you can change this to suit how wide you want the beads).

2. Mark half an inch on the bottom of the paper. Continue making full inch mark along the bottom.

3. Now join all these marks up so you get triangle shapes.

4. Cut them out.

5. At this point, you will need to decorate the strips of paper. But if you have cut them out of some magazine paper or decorated paper then this won't apply. If you are decorating them, remember that you will keep rolling over the top of the design, so anything running down the middle won't be seen.

6. After decorating, you now need to roll the beads. If you are using a specialised tool, follow the instructions that come with it. If not, start by putting a line of glue on the wide section of bead. Make sure you do this on the back.
7. Now fold it the top over the skewer and glue it down. This will hold the bead in place as you roll it.

8. It is now time to create the actual bead shape! Slowly and carefully roll the piece of paper around the skewer until there is a small tail left. Use a glue stick to secure this down.

9. Slide the bead off the skewer and put it onto a cocktail stick. Stick the cocktail stick in a piece of polystyrene. This will keep the bead from the ground as it dries and make it easier to seal.

10. Once the bead as dried, you will need to make the watered down glue to seal the bead. If you have some Mod Podge, feel free to use this. But if you don't, put some PVA glue into a bowl and add water until it is a thick but runny consistency.
11. Paint this all around the bead. You may find it easier if you pick up the cocktail stick.

12. Wait for them to fully dry and then take them off the cocktail sticks. Your bead are now finished! 13. Thread them through some elastic and tie to create a wonderful bracelet or necklace.

We hope you have found this tutorial useful and comment down below if you have made some. We would love to see a picture if you have!

Salt Dough Decorations

So Christmas is coming, and decorations are expensive. Plus I need something to do.

Well these are perfect.

Salt dough is cheap and easy to make and you can decorate it however you like.

You Will Need:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 1/4 cups of water
• 1 cup of salt

All you need to do is mix together the flour and the salt and then slowly mix in the water until it becomes a dough. Kneed it, roll it, cut it, and pop it on a baking tray.  Use the blunt end of a square to pock some holes so they can be hung up. Bake in an oven at about 170 degrees c for about 30 mins. Take them out and allow them to cool.

Now is the fun part, decorating.

You can paint them, use permanent makers and draw on them, you could glue on glitter.... The possibilities are endless. Really use your imaginations and create something amazing!

I hope you have fun making these. Thank you for reading!

Easy and Cheap Halloween Decor

Now, you may be thinking: Oh my goodness, I need to sort out my Halloween stuff. Well don't worry because I have you covered with a few simple decor pieces and where to check out if you don't have time for making it yourself.

1. Halloween Banner
This one is super simple but a little time consuming. Shops always sell expense banners saying things like 'Happy Halloween' but I thought instead of spending loads of money that I would just make my own. The best bit about it is that you can make it in what ever colour or pattern you want.

You'll need

• Some card
• A hot glue gun
• Scissors
• A pen
• Some string

1. Take your card and cut out the different letters of your message. Remember the letter will come out backwards to what you draw on the back of your card so take your time to do it right.

2. Arrange all your letters on your string and glue them on with a small amount of hot glue. Be careful with the glue because it does get very hot. 

3. Put it up somewhere and you're done.

2. Hanging ghosts

These are classic and so, so easy

You'll need

• Some white card
• Scissors
• A pen
• Some string
• A hot glue gun or whole punch

1. Draw out the shape of your ghost on the card

2. Cut him out

3. Draw on some eyes

4. Use a small amount of hot glue to attach some string or you could use a hole punch but I found the glue looked neater. 

Theses DIYs are perfect for a small decorated area but if you holding a party or want to make your front garden really spooktacular I have got the shops to go to.

1. ASDA

ASDA has the most amazing Halloween stuff. It was always the place I would drag my mum to. Their decorations and costumes are cheap and they have a good range of childish to a bit more grown up. Its a great place to go if you are throwing a party because they have great themed serving wear.

2. The Range

This place goes all out during every season but I have too say this year their stuff is amazing. They have soo many huge statue type things and lots of decorations. Its definitely stuff to save for next year. They have great deals on high quality face paints and an array of masks for the lazy costumers. 

3. Home Sense

If you want to do Halloween like an American then this is the place to go. It is chock full of every decoration under the sun and definitely has something for everyone. 

4. Aldi

Although this isn't somewhere you would expect to see good Halloween stuff you would be surprised. They had great prices on pumpkins  so if your on a very small budget you'll find what you need there. 

I hope this helped in your Halloween quests and have a happy Halloween!

Autumn Decor

I love Autumn, it is by far my favourite season of the year. However this year there has been a big heat wave and it doesn't feel like Autumn so to get in the mood I decided to do a bit of Autumn decor.

1. Leaf Bunting

Whats the first thing you think of when you think Autumn? Leaves, so I found a way to get some beautiful
Autumn leaves into my room.

What you need:

• A bunch of leaves
• A hole punch
• Some string
• A pair of scissors

Now this one is quite simple. All you're going to do is hole punch your leaves then thread some onto some string. I cut off most of the little branch bits to get a cleaner look but it really doesn't matter. It took no time at all and was really easy to make while also incorporating the feel of Autumn into to my room. 

2. Autumn Inspired Quote Frame

Now, this one is a bit more complicated and can be replicated for any season but I love the idea of giving it an Autumn theme.

What you need

• One frame (I prefer a large one)
• A lot of quotes (Can be handwritten or printed)
• Some paper to back the quotes (optional)
• Any other decorations for your frame (optional)

So, to begin get all your quotes and lay them out. Get the cardboard bit out of the back of your frame and start to lay out all your quotes. This might take a while but make sure you take our time and keep it all nice and neat. If you want you can glue some paper onto the cardboard back but most of it will be covered so that's optional. Then all you have got to do is use some glue to stick down all your quotes. I would suggest using prit-stick because its easy to move around once its stuck. Then all you have to do is place the cardboard part back in the frame and hang it up. I really like this one because it's super customisable to all seasons and room styles.

Basic Embroidery Stitches

Embroidery stitches can look very pretty and are brilliant for doing patterns. They are usually used to make scenes and pictures.

Blanket Stitch

1. The first thing you need to do is bring the thread up through from the back of the fabric

2. To create the first loop, go back down through the fabric just below where you first came up

3. Make sure the needle goes over the top of the loose thread, as shown in picture 2. Carry on like this and you are blanket stitching.

Chain Stitch

1. Again, the first thing you need to do is bring the thread up through the back of the fabric.

2. Then go back down just beside where you first came up. Pull it tight, but leave a loop.

3. Now go back up through the loop to create the first chain stitch. Repeat all these steps to make a line of chain stitches.

Quilled Birthday Card Tutorial

This is the finished product.

So, my sister's birthday is coming up soon so I decided to make her a card with quilled decorations. I'm doing this design because I got a kit from it for Christmas.

The Kit
The kit I'm using is a card making set from Apples and Pears. I knew it would be good because I've had a couple of other sets off them. All of their loads of sets are in a tin and that's kind of the point of their company. As they're in a tin, they're are really good for travelling and taking on journeys.

Materials:

• Quilling paper
• Quilling tool
• Card
• Glue
• Other decorations (optional)

Steps:

1. Gather all of the above materials. You can use any colours or any sizes that you want.
2. Take your quilling tool (you can use a pencil or other round object if you don't have one) and insert the paper strip into the slit at the end.

3. Gently wrap the piece of paper around and around until you have a circle.
4. Drop the paper of the tool. Be careful when you do this so you don't break it.
5. Wait until it expands to the shape you want. You can make the shape more interesting by pinching both ends or one individually.

Here is one that I pinched the end of.

6. Put a small amount of glue on the end of the paper slip to secure and wait for it to dry.

 

For the card that I was making I created a heart for it. It was very simple and will be posting a quick tutorial on that soon. I also created some letters to spell love.

Tips:

• Make sure not to wrap the paper too tightly so you can still get it off your tool.
• There are tons of tutorials on the internet that you can have a look at to find more interesting things to do.

Quilling has been something I've been wanting to do for a while now. Now I have a kit, I'll probably be posting some more tutorials on different shapes to make.