I have always tried to support other artists along this journey called life. Years ago, I met a painter that lives in my city and I hired her to paint some cool wood beads I had sourced with cacti. I’ve had these beads listed on my website for sale, but they never got much traction, so I decided to make some pens with matching notepads. I found these cute notepads with various cacti in fun colors and then used some pewter spacer beads to help secure the wood bead, as the hole is 3mm and I was getting some wiggle on the pen. So by using the daisy pewter bead, it sits in the wooden bead just enough to prevent any movement. I then used some vintage wood palm beads to frame it. I also made some cute little notebooks with handpainted porcelain butterflies. These are a little younger in appearance, so I decided to use the beadable pencils. To complete the look I used jute rope to secure the pen on the front. I used a small zip tie to attach the pen, then to really elevate the finished product, I used my brother label maker to explain what the customer is actually buying . Both of these items, cost me less than 10 dollars to put together, and I think they will easily sell for 20-25 dollars! I love the beadable items because you can really think outside of the box when deciding what to use for the handles. Wood beads are really a great option, because they are affordable and you can do things like paint them, burn designs on them, wrap them with fabric or leather, and if you get an unfinished wood, it can be used as a carrier for essential oils!
