Oh, Brother!

There’s always something fun to do when you are indoors on a rainy day. How about making a pasta and bead necklace, with supplies you might already have in your craft drawer and in your kitchen cupboard?

Here’s the stuff you’ll need:

• A variety of shapes and sizes of uncooked pasta with holes in the middle, such as spirals,bows, and tubes
• Colored wooden and plastic beads
• Poster or acrylic paints
• Paintbrush
• Shoelaces, string, ribbon or elastic for stringing

Here’s the fun:

1. Cover your table or countertop with newspaper. Then sort out the shapes of pasta you want to paint and give them a coat of colorful paint. Let dry.

2. String the pasta shapes alternately with beads. For variety, thread the string through two shapes, and then up through the first before going onto the next shape. If your string is too thick to go through the pasta bows, simply glue the bows onto pasta tubes and string the tubes onto the necklace. Tie a knot, and it’s ready to wear!

3. To make bracelets, thread pasta and beads on elastic. For a jazzy pin, glue several shapes together and attach a jewelry clasp to the back.

EXTRA IDEA #1: Glue painted pasta to the outside of an old picture frame. Let it dry and then tuck a photo or drawing inside and give it to someone special for a creative gift.

EXTRA IDEA # 2: Thread extra painted pasta onto pipe cleaners. Twist the ends and use for napkin rings at your next family meal.

CRAFT TALK
While the paint or glue is drying, ask your mom, aunt or grandmother if they would show you some of their favorite necklaces in their jewelry box. Discover how they are made and what they are made of. If there is a broken necklace, maybe you could use the loose beads to fashion an interesting pattern in your new pasta necklace.