Fun with plastic, and happy trails, BTW

Over the weekend I experimented with making "enamel" dots by melting Perler beads. I remember these from when my daughter did them as a kid. They are tiny tubes, somewhat smaller than your average ditalini pasta. 

I stood these up on parchment paper (trickier than you think it would be) and baked them at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. The darker ones could have stayed in longer.

Why bother? Well, my local store only has black and white enamel dots and they are outrageously overpriced for what they are.

The downside of making my own is that when you buy Perler beads, you usually buy a lot of them. And I don't tend to use up that much of any one thing because, let's face it, I work very slowly.

TA DA! Here is the first card with the "enamel" dots. I used the Happy Trails stamp set from Lawn Fawn, and paper from Studio Calico's Here + There.

You know, it would have been easier and cheaper for me to stick with brads, but I love to jump on a trend now and then, and a lot of "gals" over at the Two Peas In a Bucket forums are melting beads. So, here I am.