Melting Perler Beads

It's been a long time since I last posted. Have not been crafting for a while.
But hopefully will be back at it soon.
While restocking my supplies I fell in love with the enamel dots I saw in the stores. But thought they were a bot expensive. I came across some videos in youtube and posts in blogs about melting perler beads and pony beads.
I haven't melted pony beads yet as they are supposed to smell a bit and didn't want to melt them right now. Will wait for a day when nobody else is in the house .
But I did melt perler beads.

I got a bucket from amazon of mixed beads.

My first attempt was a disaster ! My toaster oven is toast I think. It did not melt the perler beads down propely. I kept adding mins as they wouldn't flatten down and by the time they did flatten they were ugly. I just dumped them.
Then I decided to proceed to regular oven.
And my 2nd attempt - yeah success
The temperature details are below

In regular oven (not the toaster oven) at 350 degrees for 20 -30 minutes or until completely melted to form a dot.

• Black and white beads take longer to melt. I kept the temperature same but increased the time to 30 mins.

Lighter colors less and darker colors more

After the initial success I decided to melt more beads but after sorting them out by colors.

I melted more colors and then I decided to get more perler beads from amazon - the striped ones. The package came with striped and pearl  variety and here I stuck a glitch.

When I melted the pearl variety they left a dot in the center (like the ones we get in the skittles )

I tried with a bit higher temperature and leaving it longer but nope the same result. 

Then I noticed that while melting one of the perler beads had fallen down sideways ( we have to keep them upright usually ) and it had turned out cute though it was oval and not round.

So here is my tip for melting specialty pearl perler beads ( as  I think striped ones will have to melted the usual way to see the stripes and the hole in center can be ignored) melt it turned sideways.

If you want it round shaped then try cutting them into half ( I havent tried that yet but that might come out ok as then the width of cylinder will same as height).

I melt more varieties and also the pony beads and update in another post

February Card Party Boasts 17 Cards In One Afternoon

For any of you that don't know what a card party is you really need to check out this post. Every three months our little group gets together and makes the cards that we have all pre-designed! Every lady comes to the party with two different card sets that hold all pieces for each lady at the party. To insure your seat you must reserve your space and turn your cards in 1 week in advance. If you should be ill or have an emergency that day you will get your complete set of cards. This means that if your hostess has stated 8 people will be at the party you will bring 2 sets of 8 cards plus a completed card to show and explain so the other ladies can make it. You will bring home 16 new plus your 2 sample cards at the end of the afternoon.

Our Hostess also provides little gifts for each lady that comes, as well as prizes for games that go on during the party. Every lady brings a dish to pass as we all like to snack when we take our breaks. We rotate hostesses and usually have a co-hostess to help. We also serve a simple dinner at 5:30 and then go back for about 3 more cards and then have dessert and call it a day. We all love to have fun. We decide the next hostess during dessert.

 



This is Angie and she is showing us her first card. It was a contest card and I didn't win! Isn't her card adorable?

Here we are rushing for the next card. It is a contest card! All prizes are in the center and the little cups are used for our  scraps. The only drinks at the table are covered ones.

 

Looks lake Angie won the contest. Abby is checking it out to make sure all is ok. Be sure to watch the video as it will show you all the cards inside and out and I am sure you will want a close up of them.  Allison was not with us even though her cards were. I saw her this morning at church and her strep is gone! She was so excited to get her packet!

Aren't the cards just amazing? I think this is the best batch thus far.... but then I say that after every party! Don't know how we will top this one!

This is Dorothy's great little card and so easy to make on the Explore.

Jenny made the cutest little Hedgehog the said Hogs and Kisses on the inside. Just adorable.

I made this great Anna Griffin card and it is beautiful. I think she made it as a Birthday card but mine is an Encouragement card as I have such a great need for that.

Here is Laura and she is showing off the cutest little kite card. Laura doesn't have any cutting machines but makes the most beautiful cards... just amazing.

Meet Anita, her card is gorgeous! You need to see the video to really see how great her color choice is. She has encouraged me to get my punches out after making this one!

I can't get over how rough I looked that day, guess I didn't get my hair fixed up after my nap before the ladies came! This is a card that I took off design space. I love it all I had to do was tell my explore how many cards I wanted to make and it sorted my mats. I pulled the papers cut and was good to go!

Here is my Jenny and I am telling you that you must look at the video to see how great this card looks. The front is embossed and color is so dramatic it looks great.

Anita is showing us her second card. So pretty with the little butterflies, and look at that hello, I think that has to be from the stamps of life. Just beautiful Anita.

Angie is showing us here little owl card and it is adorable! She made the banners across the front and put hats on the little owls and stamped happy birthday on the inside.

I love this card Dorothy made as it is one of the Bible verses that I held on to when I had cancer. It says "Be still and know that I am God". Psalm 46:10. It is so pretty and can be used in many situations.

Laura made this beautiful card and it is another that you must see in the video to appreciate. Beautiful!

Abby's 2 cards were great and is a must to see what a catch on the video it is just too cute and we all had a great time making this card.

 

Finally the last card is a Anna Griffin card design. I didn't have all the parts so I designed my own to match her card featured on Design Space.
Well I know this was a long post but it featured 17 cards and as you can see they are beautiful! I hope you enjoyed today's post. Be sure to leave some sweet-sweet words for the ladies as they will be encouraged and inspired by your comments.