Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Ornament Blog Hop

Welcome to the Art Bead Scene's Annual Ornament Blog Hop!

We have a great group of beady bloggers who have put together ornaments to share with you today.  Be sure to visit them in the links below.

Holiday Beaded Ornaments
by Heather Powers

Supplies:
10-12" 19 gauge blackened steel wire
3-4' 26 gauge silver craft wire
30 grams seed bead mix (purchased or mix your own)
10mm pewter bead cap
6-8mm accent bead
(optional: 4-6mm accent beads to embellish the beaded part of the ornament.)

Tools:
Chain nose and round nose pliers
Heavy duty wire cutters
Bead spinner

Directions:
1. Form the steel wire into your ornament shape.  For the round shape you can use your hands, for a geometric shape use flat or chain nose pliers. Wrap one end of the wire around the top of the shape to secure it. Wrap the other end around the wire heading toward the center of the ornament, pull the wire straight up and string on the disk bead, bead cap and accent bead.  Wrap a wire-wrapped loop.  Wrap the rest of the other wire under the disk bead.

2. Put your bead mix into the spinner and give it a stir.  Make a tight loop at one end of the 26 gauge wire, so the beads won't fall off and slightly curve the other end of the wire into a hook shape.

3. Place the curved wire into the bead spinner and spin the beads onto the wire.  A 4" round ornament takes about 3 1/2' of beaded wire.  If you run out you can add another piece of beaded wire to finish your design.  Leave a 6" tail of wire.

(Optional: you can add in a few larger beads while you are adding beads to the wire for some texture and color.)

4. Wrap the end of the beaded wire around the steel frame and pull the wire across the steel frame to the other side.  Let the beads slide down on the wire and wrap the end on the other side of the frame two times.

5. Repeat wrapping the steel frame with the beaded wire until it's completely covered.  Trim the wire and tuck in the end with the chain nose pliers.

6. Create a spiral hook with 3" of steel wire.


 Once I pulled out the bead spinner, everyone in my family become keenly interested in this project and we spent a few nights this week whipping up a whole collection of beaded ornaments. 

My 13 year old daughter came up with the Christmas tree.

My husband created present shapes and the ornament shape below.


Now 'tis the season for giving, so we are going to give away a Bead Ornament Kit shown here and a $30 gift certificate to Humblebeads!

To enter: Spread the news about the ornament hop today on one social media site or more: like facebook, twitter or your blog.  One entry per person.  Leave a comment in the link below to let me know you helped spread the holiday cheer.

Grab a candy cane and a cup of cocoa while you meander through the blog hop: 
Art Bead Scene - you are here!
Join us on Monday for our annual 12 days of Christmas with free projects for the Art Bead Scene contributors!

38 comments:

salla said...

definately blogged about it! :)

Elysian Studios said...

I love the ornaments you made, Heather, and will have to try to make some like this! I've been sharing the hop all day, blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest! Merry Christmas, and thank you for hosting this!

Catherine Sorensen said...

Hi, Heather! Love the fun ornaments you and your family created! Thank you very much for reminding me about that particular way of making ornaments. {I had thought about it last year and never got past just thinking...oops!} You did a great job of putting this all together, if I hadn't be focusing on my Etsy shop I would have joined!

Anyhow, yes I blogged about the hop...here--http://meadowlanddesigns.blogspot.com/2011/12/ornament-ideas-and-fun.html

Marie Cramp said...

I don't know if I am exempt because I am a participant, but just in case, obviously I blogged, but I posted on FB and a will send out a tweet right now! Love what everyone has made! These beaded ones are fabtastic!! yes, you read that right ;)

The Cabby Crafter said...

Love the ornaments, Heather. Thanks for the tutorial. Blogged about it at www.cabbycraft.blogspot.com.

dawn said...

these are gorgeous!!!!!

Jewels By Ine said...

I had so much fun joining this hop! Thank you very much! And I would like to enter for the giveaway if I may :)

Jeanniek said...

I posted on my blog and FB

SummersStudio said...

These ornaments are such a sweet and clever idea. It's hard to choose a favourite shape but I'm kind of leaning towards the tree. FB'd the blog hop.

Ann said...

I put it out on Facebook.

Ann
http://mycriticaleye.com

~M~ said...

I just love these. I shared on FB about the blog hop :) Thanks for the tutorial.

Anonymous said...

Love the ornaments Heather! They are so pretty, with all that beady goodness!! I blogged about it, of course and I will facebook too!

Jo said...

I love your ornaments! The Christmas tree is my favourite. I'll be blogging about them!

Sandi Volpe said...

Love all the designs and love to see the family in on the creating. I posted to FB and tweeter and of course blogged:-)

SueBeads said...

Love love love them Heather! What a great family activity. I have the hop on my blog, but I'm also going to link to my blog post on facebook right now! I'd love to win and thank you for the tutorial!

Creations by Kari said...

Loved this! Really pretty ornaments Heather! Tweeted @pugbeader

Lori Bowring Michaud said...

How neat! And oh, so wonderful that you did this as a family! I spent an evening overseeing ornament creation here a couple of weeks ago as my family created ornaments for my daughter's first tree away from home - grandparents, siblings and her dad and me. This is a new tradition for our family! I blogged (happily) about the hop and posted to facebook as well!

Beverly Herman said...

I am going to have to make one of these ornaments. They are going to wonderful on your tree! The blog hop has been so much fun. I love seeing what the contributors have made.

Regina said...

Lovely, what a great idea!

Kathleen Lange Klik said...

These beaded ornaments are so fun...and gorgeous! Thank you for sharing the materials list and directions. I really enjoyed participating in this event. If I am eligible to enter the giveaway, count me in! Besides my own blog post, I also posted on my FB page.

Claire Maunsell said...

OK, these are just fabulous!
My daughter will be running upstairs for the beads as soon as she sees this!

Sharyl said...

I've just been making my way through the blog hop and I'm so amazed at what I'm seeing. I'm about 1/2 way through and ended up back here, to see you have more lovely ornaments for us on this site! They are mighty fine!

I just posted an entry on my blog and linked back to this site.

Hope everyone is enjoying the event! I know I am!

Anonymous said...

I'll be posting on FB!

Lisa Staten

steufel said...

Thanks for the tut. I wanted to make something similar last year and totally forgot about it. Your tut will help me to achieve my goal this year!

peacockfairy said...

I just posted the link on Facebook. Just love your beaded ornaments Heather, and would like to try them myself. That's great that it became a family affair as well!

Marilyn Parigian said...

I spread the word on Facebook about this clever idea. How adorable!

Anonymous said...

I facebooked the ornament blog hop! Love the cute tree shaped ornament!

Geanina said...

The ornaments you made look fabulous, Heather ! I have to give this a go myself . Thank you for the tutorial and for hosting this blog hop !
Wishing you Happy Holidays!
Geanina.

Anonymous said...

I posted on Facebook!!
Katina
kjkoukla(athotmail....

Jackie said...

Posted on Facebook - I hope you get l9ots of attention for this great event!

Thoughtfulhands said...

Love all the ornaments.

Posted on my blog :)

Cynthia said...

I just posted on my blog!!
I absolutely love this idea. I am picturing little mini ornaments as earrings!! Can't wait to try making them!!
Thanks Heather!

http://cynthsblog.blogspot.com/

Rising Designs said...

I love any ornament that lets the light shine through. And these definitely look like they do! I am off to spread the news on FB.

Charis Designs said...

Not sure if my comment came through- posted on FB with some fellow jewelry designers. LOVE the variety and the buckets of inspiration- def a goal for next year!

Alice said...

I finally found the time to visit the blog hop participants. I was delighted at all the different designs, each one as lovely as the next.

Thanks for sharing your ornament tutorial. I love the diffrent shapes.

Initial Charms said...

It is always nice to bloghop and look at new styles and exchange ideas...this wired style with beads is very interesting too.

Shauna said...

These are beautiful! I think hey will be my next crafting ambition!

Grace said...

Love these ornaments Heather, and think I will make one today or tomorrow for next year's tree! Shared this on my FB page!