Tuesday, December 13, 2011

On the 1st Day of Christmas: Cardinal Pendant

I love seeing a little flash of a red cardinal on snow covered branches in the middle of winter.  I created this winter inspired bird pendant as a reminder of those bird-watching memories as I wait for the snow to fall here in Michigan!

This pendant is so simple and easy, you can whip it up in 10 minutes or less thanks to a purchased beaded bead that adds in the wow factor without all the learning to follow a bead pattern.

Supplies:
Cardinal pendant
Red beaded bead
4 glass drops
15mm arte metal jump ring
6" of 19 gauge steel wire
26" oval cable chain

Directions:

1. In the center of the wire create a large loop, open and slide the pendant through.  Close the loop and wire wrap the tail of the wire above the loop.

2. String on the red beaded bead and create another wire-wrapped loop with the rest of the wire.

3. Open the jump ring, string on the pendant, the 4 glass drops and the ends of the chain.  Use two pliers to close the jump ring.

4. Yep, pour yourself a glass of egg nog - you just finished a Christmas present!

Use any large bird pendant and beaded bead combo to change up the look.  I've done some great ones with a turquoise bird and a large nut bead too.  If you have some large interesting textured lucite beads that would work well too.

Resources:
Pendant: Humblebeads.  Glass Beads: YukiDesigns.  Beaded Bead: Michael's.  Wire: Ace Hardware. Jump Ring & Chain: Hobby Lobby. 

1 comment:

Bobby said...

I really like it, the colors and shapes go together perfectly. Very cool!