Digital Notebook Page Collage

Do you have old notebooks lying around?  Turn a page of notes into a work of art.

Materials:
*Notebook page
*Scanner
*Computer
*Paint (or similar program)
*Photos, clip art, and/or a favorite quote (optional)

Directions:
*Select a notebook page that you would like to use as the basis of your collage
*Choose a theme based on your notebook page.  I selected a page from my real analysis notebook, so it made sense for me to design a page relating ot mathematics
*Scan the notebook into the computer
*Open the notebook page in Paint (or drawing program of your choice)
*Open a new paint document and draw illustrations for your note page or import images from other programs or files into the Paint document.  I drew the stick figures in Paint and made the mathematical shapes in Mathematica, then copied them and pasted them into paint
*Select the graphics and position them on top of your note page in a manner that you find aesthetically pleasing
*When saving files made in Paint, I generally save them as bitmaps rather than jpegs because the bitmaps end up looking better, at least for me

Beaded Bookmark

Materials:
*Metal bookmark
*Jump ring
*2 head pins
*Assorted beads
*Wire cutters
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers

Directions:
*Attach jump ring to the hole in the top of the metal bookmark
*Cut the "head" off one of the headpins
*Using the round nosed pliers, create a loop at one of the ends of the head pin
*Bead the head pin
*Curl to form a loop at the other end of the head pin, then attach to the jump ring, using the flat nosed pliers to clamp the loop closed
*Bead the second head pin
*Create a loop at the top of the head pin, then attach to the loop at the bottom of the other head pin

Repurposing Old Jewelry

Have some broken necklaces or bracelets?  Perhaps you lost some of the beads over time and no longer have enough to put the necklace/bracelet in its entirety back together.  If you have loose beads from a number of different jewelry items you may consider combining them into one necklace.  My mom had a couple of broken vintage necklaces, so I combined the beads to make the necklace pictured above.  If you don't have other beads, thrift shops can be a good place to find necklaces you could repurpose for low cost.

You could also incorporate loose beads into a pair of earrings, like the earrings featured above

My jewelry designs for this post are fairly basic, but you can get a lot fancier with your repurposing, like the jewelry featured in this blog post.  For some more creative ways to repuropse old jewely, check out this blog post.

Fuse Bead Spring Magnets

Materials:
*Fuse Beads kit
*Magnetic backing
*Adhesive (if your magnetic backing does not have adhesive or has a weak adhesive)
*Scissors
*Iron

Directions:
*Design your Fuse Bead creations by arranging beads in the desired pattern on a peg board.  For the sodas, the sun, and the bumble bee I used the hexagonal board, for the ice cream I used the square board, for the butterfly I used the heart peg board, and for the umbrella I used the circular peg board
*Cover your beaded project with a sheet of waxed paper and iron the first side, then remove from the peg board, flip over, put waxed paper on top and iron the second side.  You can find more detailed directions here
*Cut off a small section of magnetic backing about 1" in length and about 1/4" to 1/2" inches in width
*Adhere magnetic strip to the fuse bead craft.  If using glue, let dry before placing on the refrigerator 

Beachy Seashell Earrings

Materials:
*2 ear wires
*8 head pins
*4 jump rings
*2 seashell beads
*Small fake pearls
*Small beads in varying shades of blue, green, brown, and gold
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers
*Wire cutters

Directions:
*Cut the "head" off of two of the head pins using wire cutters
*Curl the end of each using round nosed pliers, add the seashell beads, then clamp shut with the round nosed pliers.  Add beads, then curl the top of each headpin and clamp each onto a jump ring
*Bead two other head pins, trim to the desired length, then attach one to each jump ring
*Place some beads on two other head pin, but trim these head pins to a fairly short length.  Curl the ends, then clamp onto two separate jump rings
*Cut the "head" off two head pins, then curl the ends and clamp to the jump ring that the short head pins are attached to.  Add some beads, cut short, curl the end, then clamp each of these to one of the jump rings with two beaded headpins already attached

*Uding the round nosed liers, open the bottom of the ear wires, slide one of the jump rings with attached bead chains onto each ear wire, then close using flat nosed pliers

Bejeweled Dangly Earrings

Materials:
*2 ear wires (preferably in gold)
*8 head pins (preferably in gold)
*Gold seed beads
*8 beads, combination of fake crystals, fake pearls, and other gem like beads
*2 jump rings (preferably in gold)
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers
*Wire cutters

Directions:
*Trim 6 of the head pins to the desired lengths using the wire cutters (make sure to make two of each chosen length), then add beads
*Curl the ends of the head pins using round nosed pliers, then clamp three headpins to each jump ring using the flat nosed pliers
*Cut the "head" off the remaining two head pins.  Curl one end and clamp around the jump rings, then add beads
*When finished, curl the ends of the head pins, then clamp around the ear wires

Miniatures Part II

Miniature Board Game

Materials:
*4x6 sheet of photo paper
*Empty cereal box
*Scissors
*Mounting squares or glue
*Color printer
*1 or 2 miniature dice
*Clay
*Cardstock

Directions:
*Using Paint or a similar program, design a board for the board game
*Print the game board onto the sheet of photo paper
*Cut out the game board and attach it to a square of cardboard the same size
*Create cards by designing the back of the cards in Paint or a similar program.  Print several of these images on a sheet of cardboard, cut out and stack
*Shape miniature pawns out of clay.  I made mine out of paper because my miniature board game was based on a full sized board game Brian and I designed (the monster pictured in the center of the board can be found here), but clay pawns would be more durable
*Add miniature dice to finish the look

Miniature Stocking

Same directions as for the large sized stocking