Tutorial: How to Make Recycled Paper Beads

I remember making these in my 5th. grade class for mother's day present and I got so hooked, I went home and kept making some more. I totally forgot about them until I saw some at this trendy store in Orange County, California and they were selling it for like $10 for a bracelet!! whaaaaa.....???  lol. I'm sorry, but I would never buy a paper beaded bracelet when I can make my own. It's super easy and cheap! Here is a basic tutorial on how to make these beads.

You will need:

• Magazine papers
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Glue/Gloss ( I used Mod Podge since it acts both as a glue and as a finish gloss)
• Toothpicks
• Small Paint brush/Q-tip
• Pen

Take out a page from a magazine and using a ruler and a pen, you're going to mark this pattern onto the magazine paper.

This 8.5/11 inch paper makes 15 triangles strips.

Basically, bunch of long triangles. Measure the base of the triangles to 1 inch; which will be the size of your beads.

Cut out the triangles. Take your toothpick and start rolling the paper from the base of the triangle. Make sure you're rolling it tightly. 

As you get close to the edge, apply some Mod Podge with a brush or a Q-tip onto the paper and continue rolling to finish. Apply Mod Podge to the bead to seal and gloss.

Stick the toothpick with the bead into a foam to let it dry. You want to apply 2 to 3 coats of the gloss to securely seal the bead.

You wanna make beads like these??

Easy! All you have to do is use a longer magazine paper. Just glue together the ends of two magazine papers to make a long one, and make the base of the triangles to 1/2 inch.

Glue the papers together like this!

Use an elastic beading string, spacer beads and voila! A beautiful recycled paper bead bracelet!

This is a great project to do with your kids! Have fun and happy crafting!

Pumpkin Bread

I can't get enough of pumpkin this season, so I decided to make my favorite pumpkin bread recipe. I made this a lot last year, since it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it, especially my boyfriend. This was actually the first thing I made for him when we started dating, so this post is dedicated to him. I love you Darren.

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread
adapted from allrecipes.com

• 3 1/2 C of flour
• 1 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground clove
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 4 eggs
• 1 can of pureed pumpkin
• 2/3 C. H20
• 1/2 C. vegetable oil
• 1/2 C. apple sauce ( if you don't have apple sauce, just increase the oil to 1 C.)
• 3 C. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 loaf pans (7 inch. by 3 inch)

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and flour three 7 by 3 inch loaf pans. I used the disposable kind.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground clove, ground ginger and whisk to mix the ingredients.

In a larger bowl, mix together the eggs, pumpkin puree, water, oil, apple sauce, sugar, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just to incorporate. Do not over mix.

Divide the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes, or until the cake test comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and transfer to the cooling rack.

Pair it with cream cheese frosting and you're in heaven!

Enjoy and Happy Baking!!

My New Find

I won this  beautiful 1/2 scale Bespaq Lorraine French Country Sofa Set at the ebay auction and I love it so much! There are some stains on the fabric, which I'm guessing the glue they used bled through, but I'm not complaining because the price was so right! Maybe in the future, I'll reupholster it...we'll see.

It goes so well with the wallpaper in this room.

So you can see how small it is

I'm glad I found them!

Easy Guacamole

When avocados are on sale, I buy a bunch and use it for many things but one of my favorite ways to use them is in a guacamole. I like to make mine nice and chunky.

Guacamole

Guacamole

• 2 ripe avocados
• Juice of one lime
• 1 small tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 2 T of chopped cilantro
• 2 T. chopped onions
• cayenne pepper to taste or 1 chopped jalapeno
• salt to taste

In a bowl, mash the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Add and mix in the onions, garlic, tomato, cilantro and cayenne pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for about 30 mintues before you serve to allow the flavors to develop. Serve with chips or with your favorite mexican dish.

Enjoy!

1/2 Scale Miniature Furniture

Some of the few furniture I have:

Bedroom Set

Couch Set

Secretary Cabinet

Rocking Chair

Kitchen

I still have a huge list of furniture and decorations I need for my 1/2 scale Fairfield...It's going to be a long, but a fun process.

Granny Square Blanket

I started on a new crochet project: Granny square blanket. I've been learning how to make granny squares from this website, Granny Square How To. The instructions are easy to understand with step by step photos.

So colorful!

I didn't have a color scheme to go with so I just went with "no-color scheme"which works nicely. I'm using many colors and making different combinations. I'm playing with different tones, complimentary colors, and adjacent colors. It's a lot of fun and  I love how it's turning out so far. The colors are so cute! I still need to make some more squares and sew them together into a blanket. Keep checking for updates!

1/2 Scale Secretary Cabinet Makeover

I found this cute secretary cabinet at an antique store.  It was in a rough shape; the stain was faded, acrylic glass was warped and the door was broken. Time for a makeover! This is the before photo.

Sorry for the blurry photo. I took it with my cellphone.

And this is after!

I stained it darker, replaced the acrylic glass, fixed the door, and added a mirror. I like how the dark stain gave an antique finish to it. I'm very happy with the results.