Paper Crafting With Beads
By Sara
Naumann
Paper crafting is hot. Beading is big. And together, the two are sure to result
in a creative combination!
Hot Off The Press designer Paris Dukes loves adding beads to her paper crafts.
“Whether it’s a scrapbook page, a card or a tag, beads add a pretty,
inexpensive and unique option for embellishments.” Read on to see how
Paris used beads on four fabulous paper crafting projects!
Nature Girl Scrapbook Page
 “I wanted accents that reflected the
outdoor theme of the page,” says Paris. “So I used small, leaf-shaped
beads for the wire initials on the lettering, and green and brown striped beads
to go on either side of my journaling plaque—they both looked like the
kind of treasures my daughter would collect while exploring outdoors.”
Paris chose a green collage paper as her background. Alphabet tiles mounted
on foam tape spell out most of her “Nature Girl” page title. For
the “N” and “G” of the title, Paris created freeform
wire letters and threaded beads on each end. Paris placed Glue Dots under each
large bead to secure.
Paris matted her photo onto green cardstock, leaving a wider border on the
right hand side, which she accented with a strand of beads on wire. “I
threaded a variety of bead earth-toned beads in different shapes and sizes onto
a piece of wire, then punched two small holes in the photo mat and threaded
the ends of the wire through.” The ends of the wire are secured to the
back of the photo mat with tape. Paris repeated this technique using one bead
on a piece of wire on each side of her journaling plaque.It can be difficult
to decide what you want the basic design of your page to look like, but one
important tip to remember is to keep your layout balanced.
Supplies:
Gratitude Card
 For a card design that
really swings, Paris added beaded embellishments to a tag art focal. First,
she covered her card front with pink paper, then tore a blue border for the
left side. Before attaching the blue border, she threaded several blue, pink
and green beads onto silver embroidery thread, knotting at each end of the row
of beads. She then taped each end of the thread onto the backside of the blue
border, and attached the border to the card.
After cutting out the tag and attaching the “gratitude” word in
the center, Paris strung seed beads on silver thread (again, tying a knot at
each end of the row of beads), then wrapped the thread around the tag.
Dangling beaded embellishments hang from the bottom of the tag: Paris tied
a knot at the end of a piece of silver thread, then strung one large blue bead,
a purple seed bead, a green seed bead and a blue seed bead. She pulled the thread
through a hole punched in the tag, and taped it to the backside of the tag.
For the tag top, Paris threaded a series of seed beads onto a piece of silver
thread, tying a knot at each end. She then added a green heart bead, tied a
knot and repeated the order of the seed beads and tied another knot at the end.
She attached this to the tag top with a Glue Dot.
Paris' notes: “If you don’t want the beads to swing on the card,
just secure them with Glue Dots.”
Supplies:
My Good Friend Card
Framing a sentiment with bugle beads is a fun way to deliver a heartfelt message
to a friend.
Paris cut a piece of brown flowered paper the same size as her card front;
before attaching it to the blank card, she folded a glassine envelope and glued
it to the paper. She cut out the “My Good Friend” message and glued
beads around the edge to create a frame, then glued the beaded frame to the
card front to peek out from the envelope.
Paris cut out the label, attached a “thinking of you” embossed
paper charm in the center, and added brads at each end. She strung beads on
a piece of gold metallic thread, then looped the beaded thread around one of
the brads and secured it to the backside of the brown flowered paper with tape.
This was repeated on the other side of the label. After all her elements were
secure, Paris attached the brown flowered paper onto her card front.
Supplies:
Imagine Tag
A nature-inspired tag is accented with chunky wooden beads. It’s perfect
for a scrapbook page, altered book embellishment, or to attach to a gift.
Paris started with a textured tag Punch-Out™, tearing a small portion
of cork for the bottom right corner. After gluing the cork down, Paris added
a skeleton leaf and a ribbon Punch-Out™ with “imagine” printed
across it. She strung three wooden beads onto a piece of brown fiber, attaching
the fiber to the back of the tag with tape. She punched a hole in the top of
the tag and threaded brown fiber through, accenting three of the fibers with
wooden beads.
Supplies:
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