The Cutting Cafe Paper Beads Bookmark

Hello Friends! It's time for a new Cutting Cafe project. This week, our fearless leader Regina, asked the Design Team to make projects using her Paper Beads Set. Who knew you could make beads with paper? I never wear jewelry, so I wanted to make a different type of project using the paper beads. I do read a lot, so decided to make a bookmark. The top portion of the bookmark is one I recycled. I used some wire and a loop to hang my charm on at the bottom. I cut my paper beads by using the PDF file and then hand cut the pieces. Since I only used three beads on this project it was no big deal to cut them by hand. If I needed more beads, I think it would be wiser to use the SVG file and a cutting machine. Basically, the file cuts out strips of paper in different shapes that you roll up and glue at the ends to secure. You can make the beads fatter or skinnier depending on how tight you roll them up. I definitely suggest using a thinner paper cardstock for these beads. (More the thickness of copy paper). Regular cardstock is too thick and doesn't roll well. I used a wooden skewer to start the bead roll at the ends, then removed the skewer and continued rolling to the end of the strip. I used a seven inch piece of wire and made a loop at the end with some needle nose pliers to attach the loop to hold my charm at the bottom. The loop I used kind of opened like a safety pin. I put on two small pink pony beads, then the charm and two more pink beads then closed it up. At the top of the loop I added two small pink pony beads, a paper bead, another small bead, a paper bead in a different shape, small bead, a second paper bead like the first one, then lastly two more small beads. I then attached the beads to the bookmark with the wire. Easy peasy! This was so easy to put together, didn't take long and would make a great gift. Make sure you head over to The Cutting Cafe Blog on February 21st to see the other great projects from the Design Team. Thanks for stopping by.