My New Obsession - Mardi Gras Beads

I know you are probably wondering , Mardi Gras beads, yes, Mardi Gras beads . I mean come on if you have a bunch, you've got to ask yourself what can I do with these?  I love these !! Here is the first project that I saw:




I saw this on Pinterest and knew I had to make one. I also had to visit the blogger that posted this, Amanda at The Ivy Cottage Blog. Cool stuff on her blog.  Well, this was the start of my,"I wonder what else I can do with these things". First of all, I didn't even think about Mardi Gras beads, after all I live in GA not a big Mardi Gras spot. But I figured I could use beaded garland left over from Christmas past. Little did I know that during the month of Feb. I would travel to Louisiana  2 times and Mobile ( where Mardi Gras began) . That means I came home with Mardi Gras beads!

I wanted a much smaller lamp for a  night stand and found one at a Goodwill in Mobile.  Sorry, I was in such a hurry to get started that I didn't take a pic of the lamp before I started. Mask the socket and the cord before you do any painting. I did spray paint the lamp with Krylon Chrome Spraypaint. I them started gluing the beads to the lamp using my hot glue gun.

 

I simply cut the bead necklaces creating a long strang of beads . I just kept wraping and glueing the beads on the lamp.

Easy, easy, easy. Just make sure you remove the many hot glue strings that can really be a pain. After I had covered the lamp in beads, I spray painted the whole thing.  Make sure you turn it upside down and give it a good coat of paint. I discovered that the first coat looks good, but after it dries you can see the original bead color.

This little beauty cost me less than $10.00 (including the paint).  So, I did say I love these beads, well
here's a teaser of another project using Mardi Gras beads.