Beads and quality time after Disney trip

I spent this evening with my bright but slightly neglected 8 year old daughter, making paper beads. She's so excited that I have an Etsy store and I am trying to both give her some of my time, and teach her a skill that would enable her to sell a product in the store and make some money if she wants to, since she is dying to do that!

I had not made these beads since I was about 18 years old or so, so had to take my time figuring out how to do them, all over again. I had seen a cover of a Sunset magazine this month that inspired me with it's vivid greens and ruby grapefruit, so I hauled that downstairs along with about 4 old Better Homes and Gardens magazines.

Daughter and I thumbed through and cut out pages that had colors that appealed to us. Then I either cut the pages into very long, tapering triangles, or straight strips. My daughter wanted to start with the red strips which were cut to be tapering beads, so I patiently showed her how to rub a gluestick on the end of the paper strip, and wrap the paper around a toothpick, using enough continuous pressure to make a tight bead. She got a bit frustrated but I was proud of her for calming down and really trying to make it work. She made some very nice beads!

Here are a few of our unvarnished beads before stringing:

At this point daughter had to go to bed, so I strung the beads and hung them in clever fashion. I then painstakingly did their first coat of varnish, with a tiny bottle of clear nail polish that I had. Next time I will definitely be using a different product!!! :)

Here is a picture of the stringed beads after their first coat of varnish:

I'll probably repeat this fun and see if I can streamline it a bit! I love seeing color come to life in a new way and I have jewelry making friends who might like a few of these. I'm also considering doing some polymer beads too when I can afford the materials!
As to the crochet projects: I am firmly into the Michaela scarf which is looking very pretty with the larger hook size, but have run out of one of the yarns I need to keep going.

I started the prototype shawl for my "Sara Like Tiara" Shawl and am finding the project interesting, but need to find a way to incorporate a bit of sparkle for the elegant lady it's being made for.

I'm also working on the Gryphon blanket, but once again, waiting on a chocolate yarn I've ordered from Lori's Yarns in Alpine, California. Baby Gryphon is one week old today, so I have a bit of leeway there.

Will post pictures of all 3 projects as I work through them!