DIY Enamel Dots!

Who loves enamel dots? I do! I do! They are everywhere in paper crafting right now.

      

(Sample picture above-found online)

And I am SO excited that I have learned to make my own for oh so cheap! There are several tutorials online and even some videos. I came across this idea a while back and just haven't had time to give it a try. Today, while the boys were gone and I was cleaning the house, I spotted it.... 

The bucket of beads...that's right...the bucket of 11,000 beads that I could turn into 11,000 enamel dots!

Yep! This is what you need. I got these at Hobby Lobby and I want to say they were around $13...AND you can use that awesome 40% off coupon! I am sure you can get them just about anywhere. You don't have to buy buckets this big either. They do come in smaller quantities.

So, I decided to give it a go and after some trial and error, I think I have it mastered:

Once you have your perler beads, you'll need some parchment paper. Do NOT use wax paper. I tried using wax paper first, since I had no parchment paper, and my house was quickly filled with smoke and stink-apparently the wax burns off. I opened the oven to find crispy wax paper and ugly beads. First attempt-fail!

So, off to the store I went looking for parchment paper! Two stores later, I found some. Let's try this again!

Cover your pan with parchment paper and stand the beads up in whatever lovely colors you choose. 

The tutorial I watched said to heat the oven to 450 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. Here was the result:

My parchment paper was burnt to a crisp and the beads weren't melted! What? I thought I solved this problem already! I obviously suck at these Pinterest ideas! Ughhh...

Here we go again...one more try and if this doesn't work...I give up. I decided to read the box that the parchment paper came in to see if I was maybe using the wrong side. Then I see that it says use max temperature of 350 degrees...uh...duh...I was scorching this paper at 450 degrees! Ding ding ding!

Soooo....I set my oven to 350 degrees and baked a (very small) batch for about 20-ish minutes. Small batch because I didn't want to waste another whole tray of beads. I just kept an eye on them and when the dimple was gone from the center, they came out.  Here is the result:

 Would you look at that!!! Wahooooo! Enamel beads in all sorts of colors-how cool! Now on to a bigger tray! I think I got this now!

This is so awesome! All these fab enamel dots for a FRACTION of the cost! 11,000 beads in all sorts of colors! You can even buy neon, sparkly and two tone colors! I also read that if you cut them in half, you'll get smaller ones (obviously) and to get bigger ones, just stack two beads and they melt perfectly. I am going to be a bead baking fool now!

Check them out!

The colors stay bright-and there should be NO dimple in the middle. They melt really nicely.

Even the clear ones are cool!

This cup will be full by tomorrow!

So...it really is super simple: 

* Perler Beads

* Parchment paper

* Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes (keep peeking in on them as every oven is different)

**This is what worked for me. Read the box that your parchment paper comes in and it may also depend on how hot your oven gets.**

Well, what do you think? Are you going to give it a try? 

Thanks for stopping by!