Fat Tuesday is around the corner. You know what that means?
It means I’ll have 20 pounds of Mardi Gras beads and no where to go.
I need something to do with theses beads! Ideas? Anyone? Painting and mosaics are always fun, but there must be more, right? Google is not being it’s usual helpful self today. Hmmmm….
Y’all feel free to comment if you have a new and nifty way to use them. I’m all ears!
I’ve used them as Christmas tree decoration. Not that that’s very helpful now… do you have a table or chair that could use a bead “skirt”? Or stitch them to the front of a throw pillow.
I’m from Tampa, we have Gasparilla, which is when the city is “invaded” by “pirates”, lol.
I always have SO many beads left over & always am looking for craft ideas… besides hanging them from everything.
I typically put them in geocaches 🙂
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Foam core (or cardboard, or plastic political signs : )…
Hot glue…
Cut the necklaces once so they’re one long strand…
And completely cover a piece of foam core (painted?) with beads!
I’m imagining a wavey waterscape with all the blues and greens…maybe a fabulous silver and gold one…maybe alternating stripes…spell your kids name…
Wear them Lady Godiva style all through the town! The only tricky part is renting the pony…
Actually, I’m so glad you posted this! I have a project for them that I’ve been procratinating, and Mardi Gras is obvy the time to get it together.
Happy bead collecting! Will post something next week, I hope!
good question…. do you have a beaded curtain? you could do an actual curtain curtain… you know for a window. easy and pretty, right, with the sun glancing off the beads? it’s a thought!
have fun Peaches!
This is cool: a beaded chandelier.
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2010/05/make-a-beaded-chandelier/
I have no idea about the beads but the flickr slide show thing at the bottom with your dancing cat is ridiculously cute. You are making me want another cat. You have to stop before my husband throws us out!
could use them to make a fun tassel or as part of a wind chime. If you like making decorative string garlands to adorn your mirrors (like I do!) the beads would be so perfect…little clusters of assorted baubles mixed in with charms. I used the same approach to adorn a picture frame to dress up the monogram inside the frame for a birthday girl last year. Just a touch of glam. Looking forward to see what you do!
The dollar store chandelier is a copy of a famous turquoise beaded one that is beautiful. How about glueing them to the outside of a bowl, or a big can for a wastebasket. Can you make a starburst mirror with them? I was thinking about you today when I saw a twine bull in the Ballards catalog for $89. Just twine wrapped around a plastic animal. How about some Aunt Peaches takes on that? Ann
Boy, I wish I had some.
Mostly I would use them to make fun statement necklaces for everyday wear or glammed up for dress up for kids.
One thing I would try is wrapping with a thin strip of fabric or ribbon and either wrapping crochet thread or tie small ribbons in a bow in between the spaces between the beads.
You could also add silk or fabric flowers, drape a small doily over then center or even hot glue gun some Hot Wheels cars for something a little different.
Another would be to hot glue strands to a can or jar and use it as a beauty aids holder or pencil jar.
I also think they would be cool draped on a pair of boots as an embellishment and could even cover in similar fabric to match the boot.
If you wanted to use them in the spirit of Mardi Gras, you could incorporate them into a wreath to sort of make it look like a King cake.
how about a bead-wrapped lamp?
at first i typed ‘lamb’. that would be good too.
Be a Bead Lady… I was for Hallowe’en, starting out by wearing them (all) and then dispersing to my Grands and any other big or little kid I passed during the day/night. Volunteer as Bead Lady in a celebratory place (elementary teachers love help and are probably teaching a little Mardi Gras to the students). I can picture you, with one of your wild hats adorned with beads, the rest around your neck, waist, etc. A nursing home would benefit by all this cheer, too… and the gifted beads would be bright treasures, starting a “What-Do-I-Do-With-All-These-Beads Collection” for others.
i’ve seen people melt them like records and make bowls and lampshades. don’t know how well it works but if you have lots it could be fun to experiment.
I was going to post that link that LeeLu shared above.. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Mardi Gras beads are great to have around Christmas!
You can cut the necklaces open, into long stings, to wrap around your Christmas tree as a garland. If they’re not long enough, use them on tabletop trees, or glue multiple strands together for a full-size tree.
You can also cut the beads apart with fine-tipped scissors and place them in jars, globes, trays, etc. I made a Christmas tree ornament once filled with sparkly beads, many of which came from Mardi Gras necklaces. Simply fill a clear container with the beads, glitter, and water for a sparkly delight.
http://artperspective.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/dsc_0017.jpg
Or, you can cut the beads apart and mosaic them onto objects. Once for a Mardi Gras themed Christmas tree I bought a dollar store tree-topper and covered it with gold, green, and purple beads from the necklaces. I covered small areas with shoe-glue and then placed the beads one at a time, radiating outward. It made for a fun and very cheap project, and I’m sure there are plenty of other things to bejewel with the beads.
Good luck coming up with more ideas. 🙂
Reading your blog makes me feel like a kid and so happy. I love that you have shingled your walls with Anne of Green Gables pages, one of my most favorite books! You remind me of my late Mom, she was a big kid at heart too. Your funny and creative and a good read.
Kathy-
I tried melting just a few of them to see how it worked out. Um… it didn’t! Instead of getting a cool little doo-dad, I got Mardi Poo. It was hilariously bad! I want to get a junky toaster oven & try this again outside. The fumes inside kept me from trying again. But, I’ve seen what others have done and it’s too cool. Pretty please show some projects you do to help me use up my stash!
Fill a glass vase with the beads and add flowers 🙂
i was going to suggest melting them, also… maybe not at such a high temperature? we have an interesting, we call it a, ‘suncatcher’ made from mardi gras beads… there’s a little shape/armateur of soldering wire that was used as the ‘cookie cutter’ in which the beads were filled then melted.
i wish i had a picture to share with you – it reminds me of shrinky dinks…
Well, if you have a hanging chandelier that needs some pizazz, draping several strands around it looks really pretty. Also, if you have some empty tin cans, glue strands around those for some pretty utensil or junk holders. Since they’re so cheap, you could also think of some outdoor decorations…perhaps a banner intertwined with sparkling beads??
I may be late, but I used mine by cutting them into smaller pieces of 7-8 beads and then stitching them like fringe around the edge of a pillow. I has a Big Easy t-shirt with a great graphic that I used as the pillow cover and sewed the beads around the edge. Tres cute!
In my newsletter this week. I found two ideas.. one was to use the beads to cover plastic eggs, and the other was to make a lamp shade with it. Both were soo cute.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TerisCraftsNewsletter/
You have a ton of great ideas from your readers! I’m thinking beaded napkin rings – glue the beads on to fabric/paper covered toilet paper rolls.
Also individual beads can be pushed into wet clay objects (air-dry clay should work great) like small bowls to make a bead-studded bowl or dish.
I use them to make Christmas Ornaments. Buy cheap clear shower curtain rings. Lock them in place. Then hot glue beads around the ring. Now glue on a ribbon and any embellishments you want.
I also bought strofoam cone shapes and hot glued the beads around them and they made cute Christmas Trees. I also hot glued tiny fake jewels as ornaments and bought inexpensive tree toppers at Wal-Mart. Enjoy.
could you get one of those empty glass lamps that your fill (usually see seashells in them) and put beads in it?