The Paper Arts site talks about everything related to paper including stationery, scrapbooking, and DIY paper projects.

I was over on the BellaOnline network the other day and found this interesting article on Making Beads out of Paper by Kim M. Bayne. This seems like a great way to recycle your old paper and make a fun project out of it at the same time.

The author talked about two of her relatives who demonstrated how they made beads by basically rolling up small strips of paper around toothpicks, gluing them shut, and then sealing the beads with an acrylic spray. The picture at left is one of their finished necklaces using these paper beads. The article goes through the process step by step with pictures. I have to say this is a really ingenious use of what might otherwise be paper simply thrown into the waste can… I might give this a try one day this summer!