DIY Spring Bracelet!

Spring is officially at the Reyes home this week and it began with my jewelry! I made a cute (and VERY inexpensive!) Spring paper bead bracelet in about 15-20 minutes, and with a few simple materials you can make your own unique bracelet too!

What you need:
1. Scrapbook paper
2. Scissors
3. Tape
4. Glue stick
5. plastic drinking straws (coffee stirrers will work too!)
6. String/ Ribbon (better if it's more flexible)
7. Mod Podge (optional)

How to make:
1. Get a variety of scrap book paper in colors of your choice. These will be used to create your beads. The pages don't all have to be exactly the same length.

I just found a variety of scraps I had laying around

 2. draw some markings on the back of each page as a guideline for where to cut. On the left side, you want to mark every 1/2 inch beginning at the bottom of the page. On the right side, measure 1/4 inch from the bottom the page and place a mark there. Then, continue to measure every 1/2 inch beginning from that spot and connect the dots across the page using your ruler to keep the lines straight. Your goal is to get a series of long, slender triangles going back and forth across the page.

 3. Cut out your triangles! You have to be very careful when cutting because a slip of the hand can throw off the triangle significantly. The piece at the very bottom the page where you measured up 1/4-inch can be thrown away as it is not even a full triangle.

 4. Put tape at the thick base of each strip, attach to the drinking straw and start wrapping. Use your glue stick to glue down the thin end of the strip when you get to it. Now you have made a bead!

 5. Continue this process with the remainder of your strips and leave the strips at least 1/4-inch apart from each other on the straws.

blue and green beads attached to my straw

 6. You could finish with your beads after the previous step but to ensure that they will last and be sturdy, I placed one coat of glossy mod podge on top of the beads to make them harden and have a shine.
7. Once the coat of mod podge dries, carefully cut each of the beads from the straws.

attach a ribbon to the top of bracelet to hide closure

 8. Now get your string ( I used flexible, plastic string), tie a knot at one end to keep the beads from sliding out, and start stringing your beads through.
9. Tie the two ends together to fasten and put a pretty bow on top to hide the closure.
10. Now you have a Spring bracelet just in time for Easter!

**NOTE: This was my first attempt so I made it very simple but you could also attach a clasp to either end so that it will look nicer and be easier to close.

Have fun making your own unique bracelet!

love always,
 

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