A HAPPY "MISTAKE" & HOW YOU CAN MAKE IT, TOO

I've been working on cuff bracelets lately, and are mostly pleased with them, but because I work with recycled fabric samples, some of the faux leather and suede I have is rather blah, nondescript beiges, to be precise. I've been wondering how to dress up those less lovely shades.

The thought I had was to do simple collages, and then laminate them, and sew them to the cuffs. Fun. So I did the collages, and then the laminating.

Well, bummer. Once the collages were laminated, they wouldn't bend. If you can't curve a piece around your wrist, it sure ain't gonna work as a bracelet.

But they make great bookmarks!

What I've used are scraps of fabric and lace, and pictures and/or text cut from magazines, with the addition of the occasional piece of ribbon or colorful sticker. Just lightly tack everything together with a dot of glue or short strip of double-sided tape, slip into a lamination envelope, and put it through the laminating machine. (If you don't have one, clear Contac paper works almost as well. Just cover both sides of your collage with it, and you're good to go.)

Because I thought I was making something that woud be sewn to a cuff, I didn't put any backing on the first few I made. Didn't think the back was going to show, you know.

But for bookmarks, you'll want to use a backing of whatever attractive paper you have. I have scads of old music, so that's what I used.

And here are a bunch of the bookmarks. (I plan to put a bit of ribbon and/or cord through a hole at the top of each of them later.) Note: Because the clear laminate didn't really show anyway, in the scan, I've gone ahead and cropped the photos down to the collage itself.