Adorable jewelry made from recycled books like Cinderella, Dr. Seuss, Where’s Waldo, and more {Giveaway}

July 17, 2014 by Kristen 46 Comments

I received THE most adorable gift in the mail today from a fellow So Cal girl who is super talented and creative.

How stinkin' cute is the packaging. I loved that the gift was wrapped up in a map and tied with a precious ribbon.

The thoughtful packaging let me know that there was something inside that was good…like really good! Kim and her momma make amazing bracelets from recycled books, maps, and sheet music. They hand roll the book pages into beautiful beads. How cool is that?

I absolutely love the packaging. Can you believe it, the bracelets were made from the pages of Cinderella. That explains all the fun pinks and blues.

I seriously love how adorable these bracelets are. They're easy to put on and are comfortable. They remind me a lot of the shell jewelry I bought when I lived in Hawaii. Super sturdy and simple.

I tried out my jewelry during a beach day. I didn't want to take it off but it's not waterproof people…so I left it in my beach bag while I frolicked in the waves.

I can't get over how cute they are {notice that they match my logo, they're so me}!

This close up seriously melts my heart. Look how gorgeous these little beads are. I can't get over the fact that they're paper. I love that these bracelets tell a story…literally.

According to Kim, “Everyone
has stories, and connects with them so well, the reason we continue to create
recycled book beads, map beads and sheet music beads is that when people
purchase a set at a local craft show or online they have a story behind what
they wear…. Perhaps they went on a road trip across the country, and that map
bead bracelet they wear reminds them of the fun they had, or they had a band
teacher that taught them to play an instrument, so they give them a sheet music
bracelet as a token of appreciation… or even a gift for a mom or teacher that
read you a book as a child that connected with you and stayed in your memory to
this day. As humans we all connect
universally with stories, and it’s a beautiful thing to throw away, so my Mom
and I plan on fighting the good fight and continuing to turn old books into
beautiful, wearable works of art.”

“My Mom Helen and I gather the books from a lot
of different places, sometimes we find them in cardboard boxes outside of
library’s, in thrift stores on the clearance shelf or in the bins, and even get
books, maps or sheet music donated from folks that love and support our
mission.

Once we gather all of the books we measure and hand cut the book pages
into long narrow triangle strips and roll them one at a time onto lollipop
sticks. Once they are on there we coat
each bead 3-5 times depending on the thickness of the paper. Once that is done we spray them with a matte
finish and then we start to make them into the finished jewelry. We purchase damaged necklaces and bracelets
from the local thrift store and strip them apart to repurpose the beads. We create the jewelry with a mixture of the
paper book page beads we made along with the repurposed beads. Once that is
finished, we hand cut recycled cardboard bracelet holders and place the book
labeling on to each set so folks know what book their bracelets were made from.”

I'm seriously in love with these and can't wait to buy the Map bracelet for all of my travels and the Dr. Seuss bracelet when we celebrate Read Across America Day. I'm not the awesome teacher who dresses up like Cat in the Hat; this bracelet is much more my style!