Cool Glass Beads

Here's my first idea for small DYI presents for this holiday season*: Another glass bead project. I love these little glass beads that are found in craft stores or dollar stores, usually with the floral supplies. And I love micro-glass beads even more - I actually found my little collection at a very good dollar store that has a wicked craft/scrapbooking section (don't tell anyone, but I even buy tiny canvases from there too - and funky paper and plain frames and boxes).

It's a lot of fun to create personalized magnets with them (I had a post about the how-to a few months ago, so I won't go over too much technical detail). This time, instead of just using pictures to glue on the underside, I decided to try some more dimensional designs on the surface.

I used Tacky Glue to make swirls or lines on the surface of the glass bead, then dipped it in the micro-glass bead container - easy peasy! You can also use ModPodge or plain white glue - they all dry clear and give an excellent result.

I also used dimensional paint with a few micro-beads on top (Pébéo makes lovely multi-surface puff paints with different textures - I used Pearl (in Pearl) and Crystal (in Turquoise) here).

Once the glue or the paint is totally dry, the micro-beads stay put - pretty much. You can try to cover them with ModPodge or some other finishing product that dries clear - but I don't think it's worth the bother myself. If you do try this project, let me know what your experience with that is.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Create a grouping of those with a theme - anything: different hues of the same colour, or use the same colour with different geometric shapes, 3 or 4 contrasting colours...
• If you have the patience, create a magnetic alphabet set for an small child - or just the letters in their namem, they'll get a kick out of it.
• Pack them in a pretty box with shredded paper for a unique present.

Hubby suggested we also try to string them up to create tree ornaments. I think I'll give it a try, they are so shimmery and delightful - they'd make lovely little presents. I'll show you if I succeed.

* Look at that, it's only the second day of December and I actually managed a post on this subject - yay me!