Art Bead Scene Blog: beaded ornament

Showing posts with label beaded ornament. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

On the 8th Day of Christmas: J-O-Y To The World

1:: Gather some leaf beads and some red berry beads. Oh, and some 24 gauge wire.

2:: Spell out the word J-O-Y with Simple Truths Simply Charming charms. (Or how about L-O-V-E? or initials of your children?)

3:: Cut the wire into three 3" lengths. Add three red berry beads alternated with two leaf beads on a wire. Twist to close and wrap the wire ends around the beads, tucking in any stray wire with a pliers.

4:: Attach to the letter charms with jump rings. Attach a pretty ribbon for a hanger. Voila!

Erin Prais-Hintz invites you to go on a journey of inspiration at her blog Treasures Found :: Inspiration is Everywhere. You can view a gallery of her work at http://www.tesoritrovati.com/ or purchase her popular line of 'Simple Truths' in her Etsy shop.

Monday, December 10, 2012

On the 3rd Day of Christmas: Whoville Shooting Stars

Jennifer Heynen of Jangles makes the brightest and most adorable ceramic buttons and beads. I find her energy and enthusiasm contagious. Every year I can't help but buy something from her cheery booth at the Bead & Button show. While she sells the beads separately, I am always sucked in by kits and groupings. She sells something she calls Inspiration Kits. I think I may have depleted her supply at the show ;-) If you have never visited Jennifer's world, I encourage you to check her out.

{Get your stars at Jangles.net}

I came across one such kit that had several of her ceramic stars and some funky sputnik glass beads. Miss Jennifer is fond of bright colors: lime, turquoise, orange, red, really any color in the crayon box! Her work has a playful quality and a funkiness that I love, much like my favorite author Dr. Seuss.

We have been watching the Grinch Who Stole Christmas which is one of my favorite animated holiday shows. These stars looked like they would be right at home shooting across the night sky in Seuss' world. You can make them, too, in 5 easy steps! (I used 20 gauge craft wire in fun colors but you could use whatever you have on hand.)

I made these Whoville Shooting Stars to give poor ol' Max the beagle turned reindeer something to guide his way. But they would look equally as cute on your tree or adorning a package, don't you think?

What is your favorite holiday cartoon?

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)

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: