Found Object Bracelet with Tutorial

My friends Jan and Lisa came over this weekend to do a little crafting and a little--okay, a lot--of eating. 

My finished found object bracelet.

Lisa was intrigued by a project she had seen in an old copy of Martha Stewart Living.  Turns out, you can also find this project online.  It’s called the Curios Cluster Necklace.  We decided to use this as our inspiration and do our own found object bracelet.  I thought I'd share with you how we went about it.

Another view.

Materials List

·         Beads, buttons, charms, sequins, found objects, etc.

·         Felt or other backing

·         Nymo (beading thread), embroidery floss or other strong thread

·         Beading needles

Jan and Lisa sorted through just some of my trinkets.

We met at my house at 10:30 am.  I’m the girl with all the craft supplies so it was natural to work at my place.  See, I keep telling you, you have to hoard supplies so when inspiration strikes, you are ready for it!  We started by picking out buttons (I had left them on the table from my recent post about buttons).  Then I brought out the charms, random found objects, old diodes, sequins, beads, rhinestones, old gumball machine toys . . .   whatever we could think of to put on our bracelets.  Lisa brought some stuff to share, too.

Jan's tin of goodies.

My trinkets.

Of course, all that is hungry work so we needed to break for lunch before we passed out.  We’re such delicate, little flowers.  I had made my famous To Die For Mac & Cheese.  Sharp white cheddar, parmesan, and asiago cheeses with a béchamel sauce . . .  You’re likely to gain ten pounds just thinking about it.  Lisa brought a wonderful salad to accompany it. 

Lunch.

A good long nap was called for after that meal, but time was a-wasting so we got right into the sewing.  We started by cutting a base strip of felt for our bracelet slightly larger than what we wanted the finished size to be.  We used a good quality felt, not the el cheapo felt squares you find at the craft stores.  Then, using Nymo (a type of waxed beading thread), we started sewing our stuff to our bases.  Could you use regular thread or embroidery floss?  Absolutely, but the Nymo is strong and it's waxed so glides nicely through everything.  It might be worth looking into. Tip:  when you tie off on the back, leave a slightly longer tail than you normally would.  This will help the waxed thread from working loose.

My bracelet at the beginning stages; adding the largest objects first.

I started with the largest items then began to fill in with smaller pieces.  There is no technique to this, just sew the stuff down where you want it. There were a couple of pieces I glued down, as well as sewing them.  They were dangly and annoying so a little dab of glue (I used E6000) on the back kept them in place. I sewed stuff right to the very edge of the felt backing.

My bracelet at the end of the day.

 Lisa had a good idea.  She used a tray with a towel in it to keep her trinkets organized.  Nothing rolled around or got out of hand that way. It worked well. 

Lisa's good idea:  a tray with a towel on it kept everything tidy.

Did I mention dessert?  Jan brought Arizona Sunshine Pie (lemon pie) for dessert which we ate while we sewed.  Yum!  She also brought Kahlua balls (like rum balls, only with Kahlua) for good measure, just in case we were still hungry. 

You do need to make a closure for your bracelet.  Sew a larger button on one end; this can be one of your embellishments.  Using embroidery floss or ribbon, create a loop at the other end.  There are several different ways you could do this.  I used a loop of wide silk ribbon then sewed the ends down on the underside of the piece.

Here's the ribbon closure in process.

Here's the finished closure.

Once you have everything sewn in place, add a backing to your bracelet. Cut a piece of felt the same size as the front. Using a matching thread or floss, whip stitch around all four edges.

It was fun to do this in a group to see the different results we got.  None of our bracelets were remotely similar, yet each was very cool.  Another good reason to do it in a group would be to share/swap supplies (in case you’re not like me and don’t have enough junk yourself to make about a million of these things). 

Jan's bracelet at the end of the night...  not quite finished.

Lisa's bracelet at the end of the night...  also not quite finished.  Lisa used a piece of ribbon behind her trinkets so she doesn't have to fill in with beads.  Another smart idea.

The time just flew by as we talked and laughed and sewed.  Before we knew it, it was 8pm!  None of us finished that day.  This is not a project you can do in a hurry.  In all, I would say I put in about 15 hours.  But the results are so worth the effort!

One last look...  I just love it!

Do you craft with your friends?  Do you get together and work on a single project like we did, or do you all do your own thing?  I find it inspiring to work when there are other creative people around me.  Do you?

I'm linking at http://todayscreativeblog.net/

http://www.skiptomylou.org/

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My Button Collection

I don’t know why I’m doing this.  It’s not like I relish admitting my hoarder-like tendencies.  But, for some reason, I’m compelled to show you all my buttons. 

I have so many buttons I could open a button store.

It actually has taken some time for me to gather them all up from the many different corners of my house in which I stash them.   Because I’m lazy, I’ll probably leave them here on the table for weeks rather than put them away.  I’m not very good at cleaning up after myself. 

I have so many buttons that I can never find the right button when I need one.  I think about organizing them by color or size or both, but I never get around to it.  Man, can you imagine how long that would take?  Instead, I use random containers to store them.  I think I have buttons in every room of my house.  Yes, even the bathrooms! 

To be honest, I think there's one tin missing. . .  like I need more!

When my nephew was little, we would use buttons as the payload for his Tonka trucks.  That was an awesome use of buttons.  My brother always thought I was nuts to do this because it made such a mess.  I figure what’s a cool auntie for if not doing fun, messy stuff with?

Just a couple days ago, I wrote briefly about going to a Valentine making party (check that out here).  I pulled out a bunch of red, white and pink buttons to use for embellishment.  I even had some heart-shaped buttons.  Of course I did!  How could I have this many buttons and not have heart shaped ones?  The law of averages is against it.

Valentine buttons

A few months ago, I made this great necklace out of buttons.  There’s a tutorial for it here.

Button necklace

I know, deep in my heart, that one day, inspiration is going to strike and I’m going to have an idea for a project that is going to require hundreds of buttons.  Thank goodness, I’m ready.  When you’re a crafter, you have to plan for these things. 

That's a whole lot of buttons

How do you craft with buttons?

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Scrapbusters No. 1: Bead Soup Button

Welcome to Scrapbuster Month at Sara vs. Sarah!  Everyday during the month of March we will be posting a new scrapbusting project.  Without further adieu, let's do some spring stash cleaning.

Can beads be scraps?  I say definitely!  How many times have you had leftover beads from a project?  If you’re anything like me, you throw these strays together in a box or jar and it becomes a sort of “bead soup.”  So lets take that bead soup and turn it into a beautiful button perfect for embellishing just about anything.

My bead soup box--mixes of leftover beads.

I give full credit for this idea to my friend Barb C.  She showed me this and as far as I’m concerned, she’s a genius!

Supplies Needed:

• Some bead soup (a melange of leftover beads) – smaller scale beads like seed beads work best
• A shank back button or covered button base
• Strong, clear drying, multi-surface glue

Instructions:

Step 1:  Cover the top of your button with glue (I used E6000).

Tip:  Add a twisty-tie to the back of the button to give yourself something to hang on to while you are working with the button.

Step 2:  Dip your button into the beads and twist it around until it is covered in beads.  Let dry.

Dip the glue covered button into the bead soup.

Step 3:  When dry, cover the beaded button with glue and dip again.  Do this as many times as needed (at least twice; I dipped three times) to completely cover the button in beads.

Certainly, you don’t have to limit this to buttons.  Why not a brooch, earrings, or a fancy-pants cocktail ring?  This is so quick and easy that you’d think Sara came up with it!

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