Paper Beads

I love finding different crafting ideas or tutorials online and trying them out. I'm constantly thinking "I could so make that!" so it's really fun to actually give it a try. I often get a strange look from Pat, but that's half the fun! A tutorial on WikiHow is actually how I got started making my handbound notebooks, which are so cute it's no wonder I'm constantly browsing for new ideas!

So I found this tutorial for making paper mache beads from old newspaper over at A Storybook Life, and I thought it sounded easy enough. As I mentioned in my post last night, I wasn't too sure how it was going... the paper looked like a big soupy mess. I'm almost positive I didn't rip the paper in small enough pieces because it was not very easy to manage. I used the business section from an old phone book, so I'm wondering if the paper was a bit thicker than an average newsprint? The paper didn't seem to break up much... But I did get 11 balls out of it. A few of them might break apart since the paper didn't really break apart and stick together... I had lots of lumps... So, hopefully I won't destroy these when I try to drill a hole through them... but I think once I paint and varnish them, they'll be quite cute. I'm going to try again tonight, but this time I'm going to:

• shred the paper a bit more
  
• use less so that it's more manageable
  
• maybe try to find some old flyers lying around to see if the different paper makes a difference

Can't wait to try it out! In the meantime, I'm still posting new items regularly throughout the day! I just posted these delicate fan earrings and I have some new mini notebooks ready to post as well! Have a great day!