How will you dress your holiday table this year? Why not add some fun utensils like our selection of Beadable Gifts? Last year we visited a local lunch/catering business to show how to use these beadable gifts. We’re sad to say that the business is no longer there but we still dream about their delicious soups. Here are some ideas to reel in the festivities for the holidays.
Tory had designed a cute wreath on our Facebook Live episode, using memory wire and jingle bell charm/beads (SBBM0005). This lightweight jingle bell wreath dangle would be cute as a present topper, Christmas tree ornament or even make a pair of earrings with them! Here is the video tutorial where Tory teaches how to quickly make and assemble a wreath of your own. It will be helpful to know how to make a hoop with memory wire.
Inspired with Tory’s cute wreaths, So Vang designed this larger wreath with gorgeous satin beads strung on Extra Heady Duty Necklace Memory Wire.
On a headpin slide on a seed bead and a satin bead. Make a rolled loop, coiling more than once is fine. Make a total of 22 of the 14mm Satin beads and 110 of the 10mm Satin Beads.
Cut a coil of the necklace memory wire with Memory Wire cutters.
Using Memory Wire Finishing Pliers, make a perpendicular loop at one end.
Slide on the following sequence:
14mm Satin dangle & FIVE 10mm Satin dangle.
Repeat this sequence 21 more times.
Slide the other end of the memory wire through the loop you made in step 3 and curl a loop (It’s alright to loop it a couple of times.)
Your wreath is complete. Add ribbons and a bow!
Holiday Gift Ideas: DIY Crafts
Here are some fun DIY Crafts for the holidays. Turning from our traditional DIY jewelry, we want to offer some fun DIY Craft options for your friend who loves to accessorize with bookmarks, ornaments and more!
Need some DIY gift ideas for your naturalist friend? He/She most likely love neutral colors, leather and gemstones. Here are some gorgeous DIY jewelry for the naturalist friend this holiday season!
Know someone who needs a fun holiday gift that brings sparkle, glam and bling to their outfit? These gift ideas uses the sparkle of Swarovski® crystals and pearls. Gift some exciting DIY jewelry that’ll make her shine! Here are some ideas to get you started:
These Holiday DIY gift ideas are for the Boho Beauty in your life.She seeks a relaxing vibe and a moment of zen. She loves natural and earthy tone, so make sure you design with fibers like Ribbon, Tassels, Leather and Straw, as well as some Gemstone. Here are some great DIY projects for the Boho Beauty!
Using a 3 feet piece of beading thread, add a stopper bead to the end of your beading thread, leaving 4-5 inch tail. (To add a stopper bead, pick up a bead and slide towards to end of your thread end, leaving 4-5 inch tail. Sew through the bead, looping two times through the seed bead.)
Sew through an outer hole of your beadable pendant.
Pick up 7 beads (do variation of reds and green, using more green than reds).
Sew down the hole across the channel. (The beads wont be sitting in the channel.)
Sew up through the next hole and repeat steps 3 and 4.
You will repeat this process, zigzagging through the pendant until you have gone all the way around.
While on the backside of your pendant, sew up the next hole and through the first seed bead. Pick up 4 seed beads, sew across the channel, down the last delica bead and through the hole.
Repeat step 7 as you sew back through the beadable pendant again.
Once you’ve finished, tie off your thread ends and cut off excess.
Open your earring loop and slide your beadable wreath on.
Repeat all steps for other earring.
Sparkling Beaded Holiday Wreath with Chinese Glass Beads
We have a show stopping DIY craft for you this holiday season. Make a stunning, sparkly beaded holiday wreath with beads!
Inspired by Martha Stewart, because she is the Queen of DIY, we followed the video instructions to her Holiday Druk Bead Wreath to create our own! For our version, we’re using different beads and findings, but using the same process.
What you’ll need for wreath:
8 Inch foam wreath from your local craft store. (We got ours from Joann Fabric.)
Red Wide Satin Ribbon (Also got this from Joann Fabric)
As a note, you can use different color and size Chinese Crystals. You can also use other kinds of beads, such as Satin or Miracle beads, Swarovski Crystals or Pearls, Gemstone Beads or even some wood beads. The ideas are limitless. One thing to keep in mind is to make sure to have a similar ribbon color to match the beads you will be using. If you have a variation of colors, testing on white or black ribbon would work. You can also use a variation of sizes from 4mm to 12mm beads in your wreath.
Directions:
Wrap your wreath with ribbon all the way around. Secure the end with a pin. (You can use crafting glue to help secure your ribbon in place.)
Cut all your headpin tips at an angle. This will help you push through the ribbon and foam. (Martha Stewart colored her pin tips with red nail polish or paint. You can if you want, we opted out of this option.)
Slide a bead onto a headpin, dip the tip into your glue and push headpin into your wreath. You may need to twist the headpin sometime to punch through the ribbon.
Repeat and stagger your beads throughout. (You only need to fill the front side of your wreath and not the back. However, you can if you would like to.)
Finish it off with a ribbon bow and a loop of ribbon (pinned and glued to the back).
Have a Happy DIY Holiday!
Fancy Swarovski Snowflake with GoodyBeads’ Master Mixes
Make festive and fancy Snowflake ornaments with GoodyBeads’ Master Mixes with 4mm bicone crystals in today’s tutorial.
Christmas may be a few month away, but you can never be too early to prep for the holidays. Plus, making these snowflake ornaments can be used and displayed all year round. Hang them on your window or as an outdoor mobile, you can surely get some twinkling reflections on a sunny summery day.
The FIRST thing to do is separate out your Mix. Each mix will have 5 different crystal color. Once you have your piles, create a crystal/color sequence of how your want to snowflake to look. A suggestion is to make piles of graduating colors from dark to light. You can see a closeup of how our sample looks.
On each spoke, slide on the following:
Three seed beads, 1st crystal, two seed beads, 2nd crystal, two seed beads, 3rd crystal, seed bead, 4th crystal, seed bead, 5th crystal and three seed beads.
Make a simple loop at the end of your spoke.
Skip a spoke and repeat steps 2 & 3 to that spoke.
Skip another spoke and repeat steps 2 & 3 to that spoke. (You want to fill in every other spoke so that your design will sit evenly.)
Spring is here and we have some lovely seed bead ideas. If you have a stash of random seed beads, these are great ideas to combine and create with seed beads.
Vendor Video: Artistic Wire 3D Jig Expandable Bangle Bracelets
Wyatt White, from Beadalon, demonstrates how easy it is to make an expandable bangle using the Artistic Wire 3D Jig! Check out this video and learn to customize one for yourself!
Bead pens are a sentimental and personable gift the gift-receiver will love and use forever. We have a few holiday-inspired bead pens that you can make and gift this holiday season.
Lampwork Tube Bead Pen
We took this gorgeous lampwork tube bead (Z007050) and reamed the hole with a bead reamer (A002370) wide enough to slide onto the mandrel of the bead pen. Then added some beads around to accent this focal lampwork bead.
Another different addition to bead pens are beaded beads. We dug up some old beaded beads and accented this gold bead pen with it’s hint of blues, golds and whites. We added some TierraCast spacers, white lampwork beads and a fancy, shiny silver bead to the middle.
Beaded bead made with MiniDuos, size 10/0 Czech Round Beads, SuperDuos and Beading thread.
Wire Snowflake Ornament Forms and Tutorial
The holidays are coming up and we’ve got a fun tutorial with tips and tricks to creating snowflake ornaments with wire snowflake ornament forms.
Wire Snowflake Ornament Forms
The Wire Snowflake forms comes in FOUR different sizes. Depending on the amount of beads you want on each peg will determine which ornament form to buy.
Tools are important when completing your ornament. Because the snowflake form has thicker gauge wire, it is best to cut the wire with a Memory Wire Cutter (FTTL0005). You will create a simple loop at the tip of your pegs, for this you can use round nose pliers and roll a loop. However, we love to use the Memory Wire Finishing Pliers (TLZ0207), which creates less stress on looping the pegs. And Serrated Pliers (A001682) to close your loops because it helps grip the peg wires without slipping.
Tutorial
Step One: Slide beads onto a peg. Keep a 1/4″ peg end. Cut with memory wire cutters, if neccessary.
Step Two: Use your round nose pliers or memory wire finishing pliers to roll a simple loop as close as you can.
Step Three: Use a serrated nose pliers and squeeze the loop together.
Step Four: Squeezed loop.
Step Five: Fill the rest of your ornament by skipping one peg and repeat steps 1-3. Skip another peg and repeat until you’ve completed your ornament.
Inspirational Ornaments
Here are some inspiring ornaments you can create with lampwork beads, Swarovski® crystals, Chinese crystals, bead caps and more!
Each peg consists of: seed bead, bicone crystal, bead cap, lampwork, bead cap, bicone crystal and seed bead. Open jump ring, slide through one peg loop, through loop of tassel and close jump ring. Open another jump ring, slide on peg loop opposite of previous peg loop, through an ornament hook and close loop.
This is a different color version like the purple and white snowflake from above. Repeat the same steps for this blue and white ornament.
Artistic Wire® Finding Forms – Beaded Holiday Ornament Charms
Make some fun beaded holiday ornament charms with Artistic Wire® Finding Forms. Watch Artistic Wire demonstrate how to create a star, snowman or tree. Hang one from a holiday tree, dangle one from a window or attach one to a neatly wrapped present! Get your finding forms, artistic wire, and seed beads today at GoodyBeads to make some beaded holiday ornaments of your own!
What you will need to create a finding form ornament charm:
Here we created a holiday tree (TL00250) with 22 Gauge Antique Brass Wire (AW00026) and included a Swarovski® star bead to the top. We took 26 Gauge Artistic Wire and wrapped back and forth on the inside of the tree while adding random seed beads. This project is perfect if you have leftover seed beads from previous projects. You can also use our Miyuki Seed Bead Grab Bag (A011619) for a nice variation of color and sizes.
Holiday Star Ornament Charm
Designed By Tory Vezina
Our star (TL00251) is made with Antique Brass Wire (AW00026) with bronze, white, clear and cream hued seed beads crisscrossed in the middle on 26 gauge wire.
Holiday Snowman Ornament Charm
Designed By Tory Vezina
We thinkthis snowman (TL00253) is just darling! We added an 8mm squaredelle (A011435) and 6mm Swarovski cube (SW00309) to depict a top hat for our snowman. We ran some 26 Gauge artistic wire side to side, and layered with seed beads and Czech melon beads for the scarf.
