Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

 

Today I will detail how I made these Christmas tree earrings using a shopping bag.  Yep, a shopping bag.  These are the perfect Christmas gift for someone on your list, or accessory to wear for your next holiday get together.

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

Supplies:

  • Paper
  • Toothpick
  • Straight edge
  • Glue stick
  • Mod podge or other sealant
  • Jewelry findings to back earrings
  • Round nose and flat nose pliers
  • Wire cutters
  • Beads of your choice to accent your tree
  • Craft Knife

Instructions:

Making Paper Beads

  • Cut the 2 side edges of the shopping bag to lay it out so that you have a single layer, long piece of paper.  To form the shape needed for the earrings, your strip of paper needs to be at least 24 inches long.  Here it is 31.5 inches.  You can glue together 2 magazine pages at the edges to get a long enough piece, or use giftwrap.

Making Paper Beads

Making Paper Beads

  • On your cutting surface, mark the 3 points of your triangle; the base I used was one inch, and the point should be half way between the base points at the opposite end.

Making Paper Beads

  • If you make lines on your paper, they will show up in the bead, so I like to line up my straight edge (bought this at Wal Mart awhile back for $5 in tools), and cut with my craft knife.

Making Paper Beads

Making Paper Beads

  • Here is my long, skinny triangle:

Making Paper Beads

  • Starting at the base of the triangle, begin rolling the paper around a toothpick.

How to make paper beads

Making Paper Beads

  • When you get to the last few inches of the triangle, run your glue stick along it and continue rolling, adhering the tip to keep the bead in place.

Making Paper Beads

Making Paper Beads

  • Carefully slide the bead off of the toothpick

How to make paper beads

  • With your thumb and index finger, grab the bead at the center and put the toothpick at one end.  Pull the middle of the bead towards the toothpick to form the cone (tree) shape.

How to make paper beads

  • Seal the bead while it is still on the toothpick.  I used Martha Stewart’s decoupage sealant here.  Mod podge, diamond glaze, or polycrylic are other good choices.  Some people use clear nail polish with good effect.  Stick the toothpick into styrofoam to dry. Apply at least 2 coats of sealant, 3 is ideal.  After the last coat, remember to remove the bead from the tree from the toothpick after about a half hour or so. Leaving it on too long can cause it to stick to the wood, which is just not cool.

How to make paper beads

How to make paper beads

  • Place your beads on the headpin, starting at the bottom of the tree, so that the end bead is against the flat disk of the headpin.

headpin

How to make paper beads

  • Using your needle nose pliers, bend the wire to a 90° angle, as close to the top bead as you can get

How to make paper beads

  • Grab the wire at about 1/4 inch from the bead as shown:

How to make paper beads

  • Using your free hand grab the end of the wire and wrap it around the round nose pliers to form a loop as shown:

How to make paper beads

  • Wrap wire around a couple of times then cut off excess with wire cutter.  Attach to earring findings and that is it!

How to make paper beads

Here is a pair I made from the shopping bag and embellished with red and silver fingernail polish before sealing.

Paper Bead Earrings

Here is a pair made with giftwrap.  I love how the red and green stripes.

How to make paper beadsI hope you enjoy making your own.  Warning: making paper beads is quite addictive.  For more paper bead jewelry, polymer clay, recycled paper projects, and all kinds of other crafty DIY, visit my tutorials page or connect with SBLC on facebook.

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