6th Annual Ornament Blog Hop

Happy Holidays to our wonderful Art Bead Scene readers. We hope no matter how you celebrate the winter holidays that this time of year finds you in good health with an abundance of creativity!

Today we are gathering together for our 6th annual Ornament Blog Hop and we invite you to still join us all week if you haven't made an ornament yet. The premise is simple, create an ornament with handmade compoments and blog about. Share your blog post in the InLinkz tool below to join in the fun.

Rustic Ornaments

More than half the ornaments on my tree are handmade and most of those have beads included. They are my favorites and get placed prominently on our tree. This year I made three rustic woodland ornaments to add to my collection. I wanted to add a little twist to these ones and decided fiber covered wire ornament hooks would be perfect to the metal and ceramic components. 

Supplies:

Pendant

Large hole ceramic bead

12" fiber wire

Resources: Rustic metal pendants from Lipstick Ranch via Lima Beads. Faceted ceramic bead: Firefly Design Studio. Round ceramic: White Clover Kiln. Scrolled Ceramic: Allegory Gallery. Fiber Wire: East of the Sun West of the Moon. Leaf was an inexpensive pewter piece from a bead shop that I used Swellegant Patina to color. 

Directions: 

1. With round nose pliers create a very small hook at the end of the wire and close the hook tightly with chain nose pliers. This catches the end of the fiber to the wire and secured it. You can add a little drop of Fray Check to the end of the fiber too. Do this to both ends of the wire. 

2. Pull 1 1/4" of fiber wire through the pendant. Bend the two ends of the wire straight up. Take the smaller piece of wire and wrap around the longer wire to create a wrapped loop.

3. String on the ceramic bead. Create a large loop on top of the bead with the fiber wire, leaving a 1 1 1 1/4" tail on the end. 

4. Create a wrapped loop on top of the bead with the remaining fiber wire. 

Giveaway:

Share your handmade ornament blog post in the links below by Friday at 12pm EST to be entered to win a $30 Humblebeads.com gift certificate! 

Now your turn! 

Grab those beads and make an ornament to share with us or if you already have, share your link below. Looking forward to seeing what you make.

Reminder: this ornament hop is inclusive and open to all winter celebrations.

Don't Have a Blog? 

Still join in the fun! 

I will accept a link from your biz Facebook page (make sure it's a direct link to your post on Facebook). Make sure to share your ornament story with us on the post too. 

Enter your link below:

Ornament Blog Hop Party

Welcome! Let's grab a cup of hot cocoa and get ready to share our handcrafted ornaments. I'm looking forward to seeing your creations. No matter what you celebrate or don't celebrate during the winter season a little artisan decoration certainly brighten up these cold winter days!

For my ornament I grabbed a lesson from my new book and created an evergreen design using my metal sketch technique to hammer the design of pine tree branches. I sketched my design on copper and added a green patina. I then decided to grab some Vintaj patinas to white-wash the branches for a snowy effect. 

Find my new book here! 

Beautiful Elements: Creative Components to Personalize Your Jewelry

(Amazon affiliate link)

I paired up my copper ornament with a Humblebeads snowflake coin bead and a lampwork glass bead by Julie Miller. I wanted to pull in the light green color peaking from under the branches with the color of the lampwork bead. For the hanger I used waxed linen and knotted on tiny copper seed beads.

So this is a party and that means we should definitely play a game, don't you think?

I will giveaway a set of these snowflake coin beads to one lucky winner by picking a random comment. Earn an extra entry by sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. The giveaway is now closed.

My question: What has been your favorite handcrafted gift that you've created?

For me? It's creating jewelry for my girls each year to add to their stockings, I match up the jewelry to a new outfit that they will find under the tree. It's a Humblebeads family tradition that is right up there with new jammies on Christmas eve.

Island Girl is the winner of the giveaway! Thank you for sharing your ornaments and comments with me. 

Add your link here and have fun visiting the other participants.

An InLinkz Link-up

5th Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop

Jingle, jingle, merry and bright! Join in the 5th Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop. We have had such a great time with our past events, I can't wait to see what you come up with this year.

How to play along:

1. Sign up to let me know you are planning to participate.

Sign up for the blog hop here:

2. Create an ornament using handmade components or art beads. 

3. December 9th post your ornament on your blog.

4. On December 10th you'll link your blog post here with the InLinkz linking tool and join me for a Holiday blog party with a few giveaways and free tutorial! 

This is an inclusive creative challenge - we'd love to see Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice themed decorations along with traditional Christmas ornaments. Have fun!

Pictured above are some ornaments that I created for previous hops.

Have questions? Feel free to leave them in the comment section.

4th Annual Ornament Blog Hop

Welcome to the 4th annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop!  This is one of my favorite events we do every year here on the ABS.  I love seeing ornaments that will one day be family heirlooms or great gift ideas.

Today I'm sharing two ornament ideas, both are super easy that you can whip up in minutes - which comes in handy when December is whipping by at break-neck speed. 

Ribbon Wreath Ornament
Supplies:
Winter Owl Pendant - Humblebeads
Vintaj Brass Artisan Hoop
12" sari silk ribbon
20" 24 gauge wire
6" 20 gauge wire
10mm brass jump ring
4mm brass jump ring
24 red seed beads


Directions:

Wreath
1. Trim the sari ribbon into a point, starting at the top leave a 1" tail of ribbon and wrap it around and down along the brass hoop four times. Thread the ribbon in and out of the filigree to create 'stitches' along the hoop.  Wrap the ribbon back up the other side four times and tie in a bow.  Trim excess ribbon if needed.
2. String 8" of 24 gauge wire through the owl pendant, create a wrapped loop and wrap around the loop several times to form a messy wrap.  Wrap the end of the wire several times around the hoop and back down around the messy wrap above the owl.  End the wire behind the ornament and trim.
3. Attach the 10mm jump ring to the hoop with a 4mm jump ring.

Ornament Hook
4. Create a wrapped loop with 6" of 20 gauge wire, form the wire into a large spiral.  Hammer with a ball peen hammer on a steel bench block. (optional)
5. With 12" of 24 gauge wire, begin wrapping the wire several times around the hook. Thread on a seed bead, letting it fall to the front of the hook, wrap the wire around the hook twice and repeat the this process until the end of the hook.  Wrap the several times around the end of the hook to secure the wire.

Beaded Ornament Hoops

Here is another quick and easy idea using one of my Woodland Friends Ornaments.
Cut 12" of 24 gauge wire, string through the pendant and center the wire, create a wrapped loop. String 2" of seed beads on both sides of the wire.  Wrap the wires around each other to from a large loop.

I like a project that takes a minute or two!

Deck the halls with lots of beads!
Fa la la, la la la!

Have fun clicking around the interwebs this morning checking out all the links below!  

For participants: please enter your link below,  spreading the word and visit your fellow blog hop holiday elves!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ornament Blog Hop

Jingle, jingle, merry and bright! Join in the 4th annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop.  We have had such a great time with our past events, I can't wait to see what you come up with this year.

How to play along:

1. Sign up to let me know you are planning to participate.

Sign up for the blog hop here:

2. Create an ornament using handmade components or art beads. 

Here is an example: Little Church in the Woods.  (Click the link to see the first hop)

3. December 11th post your ornament on your blog.

4. On December 12th you'll link your blog post here with the InLinkz linking tool and join me for a Holiday blog party with a few giveaways and free tutorial! 

This is an inclusive creative challenge - we'd love to see Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice themed decorations along with traditional Christmas ornaments. Have fun!

Pictured above are some art beads to help inspire you.

From left to right:

1. Tesori Trovati     2. Kylie Parry

3. Gaea    4. Humblebeads

Have questions? Feel free to leave them in the comment section.

Ornament Blog Hop

Welcome to the 3rd annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop!  Now is the time to warm up a cup of cocoa, throw in a few marshmallows and turn on some holiday tunes while you enjoy over 20 artists sharing their holiday inspiration.

I gathered together some of my favorite woodland themed art beads, steel wire and sari ribbon to create a series of ornaments for my tree this year. I used simple wire wrapping to create wrapped loops above and below the beads.  The beads are strung on 6" of 21 gauge steel wire.  The hooks were created with 8" of 19 gauge steel wire. 

1. Sweater Weather Pendant and Teal Disk Bead from Humblebeads. Faceted Bead from Diane Hawkey, Ceramic Faux Wood Bead from Earthenwood Studio.

2. Snow Bird and Branch Disk from Humblebeads.  Peace Bead from Diane Hawkey. 

3. Mushroom Charm from Jangles.  Ceramic Teal Bead and Red Disk from Earthenwood Studio.  Branches Disk Bead from Humblebeads.

Be sure to stop back here tomorrow for the December Monthly Challenge and on Thursday we start our popular 12 Days of Christmas with free projects from our contributors and special guest bloggers!

Head on over to see the rest of the festive decorations created by jewelry designers and bead makers.  Happy Holidays!

Art Bead Scene - you are here!
Humblebeads
Treasures Found
Song Beads
Viki O'Dell
Sue Beads
Modern Nature Studio
Diane Hawkey
Suburban Girl Studio
Jen Judd Rocks
Ellie's Bijoux
Island Girl's Insights
Life By The Seat Of My Pants
Too Aquarius 
Shelley Graham Turner
Artfully Ornamental
Charis Designs Jewelry
Harrison Hollow Designs
Silver Nik Nats
Bead Soup Mix
Toodles and Binks
Bead Recipes
Play Sculpt Live
BeeTree by M.E.
Billi RS Rothe
A Half-Baked Notion
Kimis Jewelry and Gifts

Ornament Blog Hop Call

Jingle, jingle, merry and bright! Join in the 3nd annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop.  I wanted to give you plenty of time to plan for this year's hop.  We have had such a great time with our past two events, I can't wait to see what you come up with this year.
How to play along:

1. Sign up - email to let me know you are planning to participate. Please use the subject line: ABS Ornament Blog Hop

2. Create an ornament using handmade components or art beads. Here is an example: Little Church in the Woods.  (Click the link to see the first hop)

3. On December 1st post a sneak peek on your blog and send me the link. On December 2nd I'll send you the links of the participating blogs. (You'll replace your sneak peak with the ornament post so that we can have a list of direct links.)

4. December 4th post your ornament on your blog and the list of participating blog links.

This is an inclusive creative challenge - we'd love to see Hanukkah , Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice themed decorations along with traditional Christmas ornaments. Have fun!

Pictured above are some art beads to help inspire you.

From left to right:

1. Sue Beads     2. Classic Bead

3. Humblebeads    4. Honey Bear Beads

Have questions? Feel free to leave them in the comment section.

Q. What's a sneak peek?

A. You'll post a small preview of your ornament on the 1st and replace it with the full size picture and text on the 4th. So that we have a direct link to use for the hop rather than general blog url. Readers won't have to search for your blog hop posts, the links will go directly to them. Detailed instructions will be emailed to participants.

Link Library with Melanie

  I am taking a break this week from looking in the archives, because I wanted to remind you all of the Ornament Blog Hop that took place this past week!  Lots of links to inspiring ideas for the holidays, including the Humblebeads Deck the Halls Ornament above!  Check out the whole list of Ornament Blog Hop posts that we posted here earlier this week!


And now, even more links from our beady friends!
 
A Bead A Day
If you are looking for some fabulous giveaways by a wide variety of artists and crafters, Lisa is linking you up!

About.com Jewelry Making
Time and money are items many of us don't have much of right now, but not to worry. These simple projects are just what you need to inexpensively spread some holiday jewelry love.

Art Bead Scene
Erin provides an inspiring treasury of architecture inspired jewelry compontents to give us some ideas for the Art Bead Scene December challenge! 

Beading Arts
Wanna learn to work with chains in your jewelry designs? Cyndi has a copy of "Chains Chains Chains" up for grabs!


  Beads & Books
Michelle turns an inexpensive printer's tray from a craft store into a beautiful display for a jewelry show.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi has a series of bezels filled with last year's Christmas cards to share this week.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean hosts a very lovely giveaway from the sublime bead and jewelry store in Florence, Italy, Beaded Lily!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew creates a piece to be silently auctioned off to help a fellow artist out! Bid on his necklace to win and check out all the other fantastic auctions going on!  

Melanie Brooks is the ceramic beadmaker behind Earthenwood Studio, who blogs from her Metro Detroit, Michigan home.

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)

14mm polymer clay disk bead

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: 

Humblebeads 

Suburban Girl Studio

Spirited Earth

Garden Path Beads

Life in the Lyon's Den

Blog by Salla

It's Been a While

Sue Beads

Artist At Work

Modern Nature Studio

WireWorked

Too Aquarius

Artfully Ornamental

Gem Rose Designs

Jewels by Ine

BeeTree by M.E.

Islandgirl's Insights

Angela Lund-Logan

Gem's PC Corner

Summers Studio

Sandy Volpe

The Next Bend

Skye Jewels

Janina Grigore

Elysian Studios

Jeannie's Blog

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!

Holiday Ornament Blog Hop

Jingle, jingle, merry and bright! Join in the 2nd annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop.

How to play along:

1. Sign up - email to let me know you are planning to participate. Please use the subject line: ABS Ornament Blog Hop

2. Create an ornament using handmade components or art beads. Here is an example: Little Church in the Woods.  (Click the link to see last year's hop)

3. On December 4th post a sneak peek on your blog and send me the link. On December 5th I'll send you the links of the participating blogs. (You'll replace your sneak peak with the ornament post so that we can have a list of direct links.)

4. December 6th post your ornament on your blog and the list of participating blog links.

This is an inclusive creative challenge - we'd love to see Hanukkah , Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice themed decorations along with traditional Christmas ornaments. Have fun!

Pictured above are some art beads to help inspire you.

From left to right:

1. Donna Millard      2. Lynn Davis

3. Heather Powers    4. Miss Fickle Media

Have questions? Feel free to leave them in the comment section.

Q. What's a sneak peek?

A. You'll post a small preview of your ornament on the 5th and replace it with the full size picture and text on the 7th. So that we have a direct link to use for the hop rather than general blog url. Readers won't have to search for your blog hop posts, the links will go directly to them. Detailed instructions will be emailed to participants.

Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop

Thank you for joining me on the 1st annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Hop!  I hope you'll find the projects inspiring and helpful as you finish or maybe start decorating and putting together gifts for the holidays.  I want to thank those who have joined in the fun today.   

Little Church in the Woods

by Heather Powers

When I saw this pendant in Lynn Davis' shop I knew I had to have it immediately!  As soon as I saw it I envisioned an ornament from my grandmother.  The design reminds me of a decorative plate she has in her dining room.  My grandmother was also the biggest influence on my faith as I was growing up and even still to this day, so this gift holds lots of personal meaning.

Supplies

Pewter pendant - Lynn Davis

12mm ceramic round - Elaine Ray

10mm disk bead - Humblebeads

8mm rhinestone rondelle

10mm rhinestone bead

Pewter bead cap

1 1" gunmetal headpin

1 2" gumetal eyepin

5" 20 gauge steel wire

Directions

1. String the rhinestone bead unto the headpin, create a large loop.  Attach to the bottom of the pendant.

2. On the eyepin string the polymer clay bead, rhinestone rondelle, ceramic bead and the bead cap.  Create a large loop and attach to the top of the pendant.

3. Create a wire hanging with large spirals on the ends of the steel wire.  Hammer the wire with a ball peen hammer on a bench block to strengthen the wire and add texture.  Slip through the top of the ornament.

Happy Holidays!

The blog hop participants:

Art Bead Scene - you are here! 

Creative Impressions in Clay

Diva Designs

Elysian Studios

Fab Fibers

For the Love of Beads

Humblebeads

Island Girl's Insights

Jangles 

Jeannie's Blog

Lampwork Diva/Cindy Gimbrone

Mary Harding

Michelle Mach

Spirit Rattles

Wondrous Strange Designs

*If you have sent me an email and don't see your name on the list, don't panic - just leave your link in the comment and I will add it in the morning.

And starting on Wednesday we are bringing you the Art Bead Scene's 12 Days of Christmas - we'll have 12 free projects from our editors from now until December 24th.  Just our way of saying thanks for another great year here at the ABS!