Paper Bead Wine Charms

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  It went by so fast though, hey?  I managed to spend the entire day on Sunday working out in our yard and garden.  I loved every minute of it and the weather was perfect – sunny and warm.  I have been making new flower beds, including one along our front veranda – something I’ve been wanting to do since we moved here (almost five years ago).  So I’m thrilled that THIS year I finally got to it! I’ve planted hostas, dahlias, bleeding hearts, coral bells, hollyhocks (one of my favourite flowers EVER), and my all time fav, wisteria.  I have two of them planted, with my vision of trailing purple flowers and pretty greenery along our veranda.  Oh my gosh – it’s going to be stunning.  I did this once before, years ago, when I lived back home in British Columbia, and had great success with my wisteria.  It was worth the wait – almost three years – for the flowers to bloom.  It’s always fun to plan new flower beds and landscaping, I think.  Now I’ve just got to get my garden finished – I’m about a month behind! My squash and tomatoes are planted and that’s about it! Oh well – it will get done.  *wink*

On Friday night I had a private class for a friend of mine.  She requested we do something different than traditional cards so we made grad cap gift card holders and paper bead wine charms.  The paper beads are a new technique to me, but I know they’ve been around forever. They’re quite addictive, once you start making them.  I thought the wine charms turned out pretty cute, and a nice change from the round ones that you usually see.  What do you think?

 I love the idea of customizing these wine charms with our DSP (designer
series paper) and ribbon to match the season, the occasion, or just the
personality of the recipient. Add a bottle of wine and maybe even a
couple of fun wine glasses and you’ve got yourself the makings of a
major ‘WOW’ gift!  You’ll also get a ton of brownie points from your
friends and family, I have no doubt!