This project for Jones Crafts shows the versatility of scrapbooking papers – why do a 12×12″ layout when you can make wearable art? Combine with Jones’ buttons and perfect jewellery sets can easily be made. Mount your pieces in the Kaisercraft large jewellery organiser and your wearable art becomes a home decor piece in it’s own right. The paper beads are splash proof thanks to the varnish, are tough due to the lamination, but are not water proof and will be damaged if soaked.

You will need:
Kaisercraft Base Coat Release III: Hardwood / Stained / Shabby Chic / Tiles / Denim
Kaisercraft Large Jewellery Organiser
Kaisercraft Clear Stamps: Crackle
Kaisercolour: Antique White / Soft Moss / Mocha
Jones Crafts Bumper Packs (Buttons): Black / Cream / Turquoise / Blue / Horn

You will also need: gesso, craft glue, jewellery findings, cocktail sticks, matt/gloss varnish

For the frame:
Draw round the frame onto the base and stick down sections of the papers to cover the areas. Cover with thinned gesso to tone down and whitewash the colours.

For all the following steps, remember the edges inside and out too. Cover the frame with a couple of layers of gesso, and then a couple of layers of Antique White, drying in between layers. Next sponge mixes of Soft Moss and Antique White to give a mottled appearance. Once dry, sponge Mocha onto the Crackle clear stamp and print onto the frame. Wash the stamp off with soap and water as soon as you have finished using it. Allow the frame to dry and finally coat with a layer of thinned gesso to blend everything together. Stick the frame to the base board with a suitable wood glue.

For the beads:
The paper beads are made by cutting out the shapes and then coiling them tightly round a cocktail stick using glue to stick the coil together. Once the glue is dry, varnish the bead with several coats – I used matt or gloss multi-medium and strung the beads on a bead loom or cocktail sticks while they dried. Specific guidance is also included in the different sections below.

The button beads are made by threading them onto a stiff wire and gluing them together with a gel glue (e.g. Pinflair), or threading them on individually. Allow the glue to set overnight and remove from the wire. The offset of the button hole helps the clusters hang nicely from the necklace, lowering the centre of gravity of the cluster.

Tiles
Cut strips the width of the tile pattern and coil to form the cylinders, varnish. Thread onto waxed cotton cord using wooden beads as spacers and a button cluster as a centrepiece. The necklace/bracelet is mounted on beads with a button front stuck to the base board.

Hardwood
These beads are made by initially coiling about an inch or so, then increasing the coil size, pinching the edges as you go to make the wedge shape. Thread onto waxed cotton as above.

Shabby Chic
These are cylinder beads, made by cutting the sheet down the plank lines and across at 6″ long. The necklace is a three-string piece on tiger-tail wire and interspaced with black buttons. The earrings had a small hole drilled in the middle of the top to allow the wire to be inserted down the centre, but the bottom button is stuck to the bead.

Denim
The large flat beads use a basic coil at the beginning and then a fold around an inch away from the coil to establish the flat area. Pinch the coil edge to keep the cylinder and keep wrapping the paper around it. The bracelet/earrings have a combination of cylinder beads and twin side flat beads – use scrap paper to make two cylinder beads, then wrap and pinch the printed paper around each side, pinching in the middle to form the double ended bead.

Stained
These are triangle shaped pieces coiled to make the convex beads. Cylinder beads complement on the bracelet. I made the triangles by cutting out each of the ‘planks’ from the paper, slicing them diagonally, and then coiling them. The button clusters come from the horn selection.

These pieces use the same technique, this time combined with turquoise button selection and threaded onto tiger-tail. Perfect for bag/mobile dangles too!