Recycled Magazine Paper Bracelet

Lately I have been spending waaaay too much time browsing jewelry on etsy. I love the fun look of all the "upcycled" fashion accessories, so when I saw this idea for recycled magazine paper beads in the Family Fun magazine, I just had to try it!

Luckily, I had a few home decorating magazines sitting around which were chock full of gorgeous colors and textures, so with Starlet's help, I went through them choosing several colorful pages to use to create my beads.

Here is a page after I had cut it into fourths with my paper cutter. The great thing about this is that you'll only see one tiny part of the page- in this case, the bottom 1/2" or so of this piece. So even if something has words on it, it's not a big deal- you can use whatever part of the page you want. I even ended up with one of my beads having the word "harmony" on it, which I loved!

I started off by putting glue on the right side of the opposite end of the page- that way it would stick as soon as I started rolling it around the pencil.

Once I had my "initial stick" then I held it in place while I glued the rest of the sheet (wrong side).

After that, I just rolled it up using my pencil.

And there's the finished bead, which I cut in half to make two separate beads.

Here's Starlet stringing a bracelet for herself. I tied the end of the string onto a pencil to prevent her beads from sliding off the end.

And here's Little Boo. She wanted to be with us so I set her up in her high chair with paper and a pencil and some crayons. She had a blast.

Here's Starlet modeling her finished creations!

And here is my chic, upcycled/recycled magazine paper bracelet!! It's kinda gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

I would explain how I did the parallel beading, but I kind of just made it up as I went along. I'm sure there are probably tutorials out there somewhere!

Here's a few tips if you decide you'd like to make your own magazine bracelet:

- We tried patterned scrapbook paper, but it was a little too thick- the beads kept wanting to unroll.

- Use caution when cutting a larger bead into smaller pieces. They have a tendency to go flying across the room.

- Make all your beads before you start stringing them. I got excited and started stringing right away, before I had enough beads. I made more, but they were different colors than the first beads (because they came from different pages) so half of my bracelet looked kind of different from the other half. I think it's better to have the colors completely integrated for a cohesive look.

- Don't plan on wearing this if there's a possibility you may sweat (or have your hand/arm come in contact with moisture- like washing dishes, etc.). I had mine on tonight while I was out, and I had my coat on inside a place and I got a little warm- barely noticeable, but I started getting some very strange markings on my hand from my bracelet... I'm thinking if I do more of these I might look for some kind of clear coat paper sealant. :-)

This was a super fun project, and it's great for kids AND moms! And of course, my favorite part was that it was FREE!! I'm thinking I might make another one or two of these just for fun!

Have you ever made a magazine bracelet? If not, think you'll give it a try?

For another fun post on ways to use old magazines, check out My Secret Room.

This week I'm linking up to....

Keeping it Simple's Motivate Me Monday