Beaded Christmas Crafts: A Little Sparkle Goes a Long Way

Beaded Christmas Crafts - Beading is all the rage, once again for those of us that went through the love bead stage. With access to the internet, nearly every bead known to man, is available. A quick search will net you hundreds of sites, offering a mind boggling display. As with most crafts, the actual cost of your project, depends on the quality of the materials. There are seed beads, then there are the Japanese manufactured beads, which offer perfection in size and shape. It's also a matter of style. Some beads give a more traditional if not rustic look, but the Japanese style of bead yields exquisite loom or flat work. Choose which ever works best for your budget and taste. Here are a few of my easiest beaded Holiday crafts. Feel free to embellish, expand and make the project your own. Enjoy.

1. Easy Beaded Glass Ornament. If you look at the upper end stores, this style of ornament is very popular. It is a beaded fringe that covers the sides of a round glass ball. The object of this ornament, is to create a cover for the glass ornament. Then if the glass ball should break, you can simply slip off the cover and drape it over another ball. Try different colors under your cover, as each color will accent the beads differently. To make the ornaments you will need an assortment of beads, some seed beads and some larger beads. Crystals, like those by Swarovski, are fabulous. Add as many as you can afford! You will also need needles to fit through the beads, and nylon beading thread or a flexible wire. For these I prefer the nylon. Start with a thread about 3 feet long. To begin, make a stopper bead. This means you take the first bead and run the needle through the hole and slide the bead almost to the end. Leave a 6 inch tail. Loop the needle around and go through the same bead several times. This should lock the thread into place and keep the rest of the beads from slipping off, as long as that first bead isn't the smallest one you have! Now string on enough beads to fit around the neck, or cap of the ornament. When you come to the Stop bead, go through it again and again through all the neck beads one more time. When you return to the stopper bead, go through one last time and pull to snug the beads up, and exit between the stopper and the next bead. String on beads for 2 inches. Add a small bead to the end of this string. It must be larger than the hole of the last bead. Take the needle and thread it back up the line of beads. Make sure you do not go through the small bead. By skipping this small bead, it will act as a stopper bead. Pull the string snug, by holding the small bead and pulling the thread at the top, until all the beads slide up to the top neck ring of beads. If you pull too tightly, the fringe won't hang straight. When you reach the top, you have several choices. If you go directly into the hole of the next bead, and back out, your fringe will be very thick and some of the beads may bump each other. I prefer to skip a bead or two and exit farther along the neck beads. When you exit the next bead, string on beads in a matching pattern to the first fringe or make them a different length or completely different assortment of beads. Continue around the neck of the ornament, spacing the fringe drops evenly until you come back to the beginning. To add new threads, sew the new thread back and forth on the neck beads to lock it in and then continue adding fringe. If you were to use a thread long enough to make it all the way around it would fray and break, so it is better to add new thread. To finish, just as you did when adding thread, sew the thread back and forth to lock it in place. You can add a tiny drop of glue for extra security, but often the glue will show, so be careful. Now that you've made one, try different combinations and colors. Have loads of fun.

2. Icicle Rings. Taking what you learned on the Beaded Ornament Covers, you can make fringed rings to hang on your trees or wreaths. You will need assorted beads, needles, nylon thread and silver or gold 1 inch rings. I use the ones found in craft stores, or business supply stores. They can be the soldered ones, or the split ring type. Tie a secure knot at the bottom edge of the ring. Add a tiny dot of glue and let dry. When dry snip off the tail, not the long end. I've done that before! You will be beading over the knot so it won't show. String your first line of fringe. This will be the shortest string. I usually make it 3 inches long. Add a small bead to the end, one that won't go through the last bead. Skip the small bead and go back up through the other beads. Pull the string snug, by holding the small bead and pulling the thread at the top, until all the beads slide up to the ring. If you pull too tightly, the fringe won't hang straight. Loop around the ring several times, then make another fringe, by adding beads in a line. I like to make this next fringe a little longer than the first one. The middle fringe will be the longest then start decreasing of the other side. You may also vary the lengths of each fringe. It's just a matter of preference. If you use larger rings, you will get more room to hang fringes. When you are finished, push your needle through the loops around the ring. Go back and forth like that a few times, to lock in your thread. To use these rings, you can add a hanger, or simply hang them by the ring. When put just on the tip of the branch, they give a really icy sparkly look. Please have fun, use your imagination, and all your left over beads, or do in a color them. And don't forget those Swarovski crystals, for the brightest flashes!

3. Beaded Felt Ornaments. I filled a tree with tropical themed ornaments one year. The tree was a tinsel white tree, with loads of beaded garland, silk flowers and my felt ornaments. It was gorgeous, my sister said it was tacky. Maybe it was, but I certainly had fun making the ornaments. They are easy to do, basically you are adding a sequin and beaded border to a piece of felt, cut out in holiday shapes. This technique will work with any theme you can dream up if you don't want pink flamingos. To make each ornament, you will need two pieces of felt, beading needles, nylon thread, sequins and seed beads. Lots of sequins and seed beads. You can add a little cotton ball stuffing in them if you desire.

Transferring your design to the felt, can be done in a variety of ways. I have found the best results are to draw or trace the design on the dull side of Freezer Paper. Your shape should not be too complex as it will be too hard to cut out, and any long extensions can be too floppy. For your first few keep them simple, such as a ball, holly leaf, mittens etc. As you gain skill, and you will as these are really fun to make, you can make fancier designs. Look in coloring books, or non-copyrighted designs on the internet, if you don't draw. After you get the design on the dull side of the Freezer Paper, you will need two of them, cut them out with a large margin. Don't cut on the lines. Now place the shiny side of the Freezer Paper down on the felt and press lightly with an iron set on cotton. The shiny side has a plastic coating so it will stick temporarily to the felt. NOW cut the paper and the felt on the lines. Pull the Freezer Paper off and throw it away, it usually will not stick twice. Once you have both sides cut out, set one aside. Take the nylon thread and put it on a beading needle. Tie a large knot at the end. I don't usually double my thread, as it gets too kinky. I use a single thread. Are you ready? From the backside of the felt, about 1/4 inch from the edge, bring your needle up and pull the thread all the way through until you reach the knot. Next pick up a sequin and one seed bead. Next you will go back down the same hole on the sequin, but not back through the bead. Your thread will form a loop, with the bead at the top of the loop. When you pull it snug, the bead will act as a stopper and keep the sequin in place. Then from the backside, come up with the needle one sequin width away and pull the thread snug. Add a new sequin and a seed bead and go back down through the second sequin. Continue adding sequins and beads all around the edge of your felt shape. When you come back to the beginning, you can tie a knot on the back so secure the thread. You can add rows and rows of these sequins and beads, or do one simple outline. Use matching colors or ones of high contrast. It's your design. My flamingos had pink, iridescent, and black sequins. I made a sun in shades of yellow, orange and red, and added long fringes from the middle. When the first one is completed, take the second felt shape and match it to the back of the beaded one. You can whip stitch them together, or glue, using a thick white glue, like Aleen's Fast Grab tacky glue. Regular thin white glue will soak through and ruin your bead work. If you desire, before closing the two shapes together, stuff the shape with a little cotton. You can also add scents to the cotton before stuffing them. MMMMM, pretty and they smell good too! I hope you have as much fun as I did making these holiday decorations. They make great gift tags too!