I'm Back!

So, my resolution to blog on a weekly basis during the school year didn't work out so well. But now that school and drivers ed are over, maybe it will actually work out.

Anyway, I got a new roll of duct tape, and wanted to use it. So I came up with a project, and made a tutorial from it. Enjoy! 

Duct Tape Buckle Bracelet

What you'll need:

• A small belt buckle (I just cut one off an old belt)
• Two colors of duct tape, one for the base and the other for the top layer
• Scissors
• Hammer and Nail
• Straight-edge

Cut one piece of each color of duct tape. Make them about two inches longer than the width of your wrist. Your top layer should be longer than the bottom.

Fold the edges of your first layer in to the middle to make a strip, then trim it to fit easily through your buckle.

After trimming, place your strip in the center of your other piece, then wrap it around your strip.

Put the finished strip through the buckle, and give it enough length to work with. Mark the middle of the strip or where the prong will go, fold the strip on your mark and cut a slit a little wider than your prong. Slide the strip into the buckle and put the prong in the slit.

 Fold over the extra, trim if needed, then tape it down. Wrap the tape around the entire strip for better support.

Make a small strip (for the loop) and wrap it around the tape you just put on to hide it. Tape it down on the back.

 Put your bracelet on your wrist to measure where you want your hole to be.

Mark your hole, then make one more on either side of the first, each about 3/4 inch away. Use your nail to poke the holes.

Put the bracelet on. The tail should be too long. Mark where you want to trim it.

Take it off and lay it down flat. Take a straight edge and place on your mark. Draw a line across the strap with a washable marker.

Round off the end starting on one end of the strap and ending at the other to make an even curve.

And... You're done! Now you have a legit duct tape bracelet.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I'll try to put some more up really soon.

Toodles! - Emily

Hello everyone! My name is Emily. I really love to craft and create, and I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time, but just never got to it. Until now! And to celebrate, I've made a quick and fun tutorial. It's really easy, and will only take a little while to finish. Enjoy!

How to make a Paper Covered Bead

So I don't know about you, but I have tried every paper bead tutorial that I could find, and I just could never make it work. So, I decided it would be easier if I could just take a bead that someone else made, and cover it with paper. Here it is. I was right. It is easier.

What you'll need:

• Mod Podge
• Something to hold the mod podge (I'm using a peanut butter lid-- whatever works)
• Scissors
• Wooden beads
• Foam paintbrush
• Pin
• Paper of your choice (I'm using some cut from a book)
• Earring findings (optional)
• Jewelry pin findings (optional)

Cover your workspace.

Start by taking your paper and cutting it into thin strips.

Then, take your mod podge and pour it into your little container. Take your paintbrush and paint the mod podge onto one side of a strip of paper. Be generous! 

Pick up your bead and wrap the paper around it, making sure it sticks.

After a few pieces of paper my bead looked like this. Now try to cover all of the places where the original bead shows through.

Now you have your bead! I made two, since I wanted to make earrings out of them. If you want to make some to, read on! Oh yeah, not quite done. 

Use your pin to re-poke your beads' holes.

There you go!

Now take your pin findings and put your earring design on them. Then bend your pin at the top to form a loop, and cut off the excess pin. Now hang them on your earring findings, and voila! You have a new awesome pair of earrings!

I made the earrings for a bigger project I was working on. This is them in a book I hollowed out to make a box. They're made out of the cut pages from the book.

Here's the book completely finished! Maybe someday soon I'll get brave and a new X-acto knife and show you how to do it.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and try it out. Also, this is my first tutorial so I hope it's comprehendible. Happy crafting!