I was cleaning out my tivo a couple of days ago and during a Martha marathon, I saw this wonderful craft. Check it out on The Craft Department blog. I L.O.V.E. these, and decided that I needed to make some asap!
I've made several - in several lengths: 7 inches just wraps once, 14 inches wraps twice, and 21 inches wraps three times. I wouldn't go much longer than that because they start to get tight as they go further up your arm.
Anyway, the tutorial on the Martha site is great, so I'm not going to do that here. I will give you a couple of lessons learned...
1. Old belts won't work - the leather is too stiff and too thick. After trying it on several different belts, I eventually went to Michael's and got a 1 pound bag of leather scraps ($5.99 before my 40% off coupon), and that worked perfectly!
2. Waxed linen thread or silk thread works best because they fit through most of the holes on the beads. Anything thicker and you won't be able to string the beads. Also, it's critical that it be waxed or else it will not be stiff enough or strong enough.
3. Make sure you cut the thread several inches longer than the bracelet. I was being a bit stingy with it at first, and ended up having to restring a couple because I ran out of thread before I ran out of bracelet. (The instructions say this, but I learned the hard way that the meant it!)
Once I got the hang of it, they were quick and easy to whip out. I did it assembly line style - cut the strips, measured and punched holes, then strung the beads. LOVE it and soooo cute!!
Linking up here, here and here.
25 Days of Christmas
I missed yesterday, so I'm catching up...
22. What's the most important thing you must do each Christmas season?
I think the most important thing is being able to spend the holiday with my family. All the rest of it is just icing on the cake.
23. Do you bake Christmas cookies?
Oh yeah... There have been years when I made 6 or 7 different kinds, but this year I cut back. I only made peanut butter cookies (I posted the recipe here) and oatmeal scotchies (I use the recipe on the butterscotch chips pkg - but I double the cinnamon - YUM!). I guess I also made the date nut balls, but those are candy, so they don't count. :-)
