Edging into September with Beaded AB and Calendar pages

I should have posted a few hours ago but I got all caught up in making pages for the September Calendar Journal.

I finished up the last week of August with a pocket for the old calendar page.  I like doing a tag a day and kinda personalizing them.   The tag with a couple of beads and a leaf was the day I tackled my beaded edging.  :)

I tweaked the first day of September with ribbon to cover the sewing and added a bigger sticker to cover a bad choice for a sticker.  Then I added 3 black crystals to the September page set. We are bringing on the Bling!  The September page says, "she understood the need for change"!  This is an understatement as I seem to be facing it on all fronts!  

I had done the first set of pages for September and was doing the rest of the month.  The first was too bright even after an initial attempt to get the two pages to flow together so...

I dulled it down and added a bit of bling to Jolina's photo.  I had already adhered the flower and the sticker  so I tried to be careful.  The first photo of the post shows the better flow.

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I really liked adding the beads to the Altered Book on Leaves that I'm working on alongside some others over at Bluebeard and Elizabeth's blog,  Altered Book Lover.  Lesson 16 was the beading tutorial with links to the lesson on windows and doors.  Lesson 17 is our next tutorial for polymer clay but the links for the beaded edges are at the end.  I hope you'll check out my classmates endeavours.

At first I thought thread might work but was cautioned that I need some stiffening to support the heavy beads so I was off to buy wire.  I ended up looking through a couple of beading books on the book shelf at Michael's to see what the thinnest wire was and these nice coloured ones are 26 gauge.  The higher the number the thinner the wire.  The pliers can rub some of the finish off but I was happy with how it worked.  But first I reinforced the edge and used black gesso to colour the piece of card stock that I had glued to the back of the page.  I punched holes and just threaded beads on after tucking the loose end around the wire and up into the first bead.  It took a bit to relax and get creative but it was so much fun I was soon trying various arrangements.

I had precut the wire and barely made it to the end.  I remembered crimp beads and was able to add one so I could pinch it for a good finish!

I did add a bit more red to the bottom of the page and I think I can call this set finished.  They are 'tip ins' and are ready to be glued into the book.

The back looks okay so I don't feel the need to disguise it at all.

I am definitely going to be adding this great technique to my books and journals!