Well, if you love buttons and beads like I do, I have a project for you!! You will need 54 to 56 buttons or flat beads to make one nice size napkin ring. I have used a combination of both buttons and beads. The buttons are in various colors of yellow, green, orange, white, beige and brown. The flat beads (with only one hole) I used make up the red in the napkin rings.
Items you will need for a set of 6 napkin rings include:
-Good work area with plenty of room (I used a piece of white cardboard so everything would stay flat and intact)
-Roughly 334-336 beads and buttons (I used mostly flat beads), 54-56 per napkin ring
-Stretch Magic cord
-Super Glue Gel (much less of a mess and I think it works better too) - or some other good craft glue
-Small plastic bin to put counted out buttons and beads in
-Medium sized craft bags
First sort out all of your buttons and beads by color and by count. Lay them out in a plastic bin, as shown, s o they will not 'get away from you." As I mentioned, you will need 54-56 total beads and buttons for one ring. You can always use just beads or just buttons. Put together a prototype of how you want your colors to look. I wanted mostly red so I used red flat beads (they just happen to be made of red torquoise) to make up the majority of my ring. I interspersed the red with buttons in the colors mentioned previously. Any color combination you like will do. Just try to keep your buttons or beads as equally proportionate to each other as possible. Some of mine are bigger in diameter, but not thicker in width. This allows them to lay nicely around the napkin. I put 3 to 4 red beads together and then a different color button, more red beads, another button of a different color and so on. Since I did not want to do the entire project in one sitting I put my buttons in plastic bags to work on as I had the time.
This is a good evening project to do while watching TV once you lay out the buttons for the 2nd time in the plastic bin. When ready to begin stringing, you take the Stretch Magic cord and begin to string on your items in the order you have placed them in the bin. I set mine to string from left to right and just followed each row. Finally after all the buttons and beads are strung, clip the stretchy cord and tie two hard knots. Apply Super Glue Gel to knot so that it will stay in place. (Strechy cord tends to slip easily out of a knot if not glued and that would make a big mess - take my word for it - it happened to me!)
With the color combination I chose, the possibilities of placemat and napkin colors you may use are simply endless! I do my kitchen in red, veggies and chili peppers. (Mom {Nina} made the Chili placemats for me and I think the green napkins are a nice contrast to the black and red in the mat and completely make the green tops pop with color! Of course they look good with plain white napkins as well.
I first found the long strand of beads at a local bead shop and then went to my button box, my mom's button collection and my craft buttons. I picked up some yellow here and there on sale (none of us seemed to have yellow buttons) and I think some of the orange ones too. Most of the beige filler buttons are vintage and those I definitely found in our button boxes. Make your collection fun and try not to hurry. The fun is truly in 'the hunt for the goods!'
Enjoy!
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