The holiday season after Thanksgiving is all about Christmas crafting for me. I love to create fun decorations for the house this time of year, to gift to family or just to create for fun. One of the easiest items to make for Christmas is a variety of Christmas bead crafts to create a variety of ornaments. I have several Christmas tree ornaments using beads that I will show you below. These crafts go from easy to moderate and would be a great Christmas crafts for kids.
Strawberry Christmas Bead Craft Ornament
This ornament craft is one I did when I was younger, and by that I mean probably 25 years younger! This ornament is such a simple one and I think we made them in my class when we were kids but it is one of those nostalgic ornaments that is put on our tree every year.
This ornament has very little supplies needed, only some craft wire, sunburst beads in various sizes and colors and a small round bead. To start cut about six inches of wire with a wire cutter. Place a small round red bead on the wire and then fold the wire in half. All the remaining beads will be threaded through both ends of the wire . The small round bead is the point of the strawberry and then you will use two smaller sunburst beads on top of each other and then go one size up for the next layer so they all stack on top of each other. For the top of the strawberry you will use a green sunburst bead of the same size as the last red layer.
Once done you will take the wire and cut off any excess if you feel like it is too long and then wind the end of the wire around itself to create a loop for hanging.
As this craft brought back memories of creating these when I was younger I realized you could also make other fruits such as a grape, lime or lemon with the same beads. For the lemon you would just make sure once you get to the middle to stack a smaller bead and then a smaller round bead on top to create the signature diamond like shape.
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Supplies Needed for Strawberry Bead Craft
- sunburst beads (various sizes in red and green)
- small round bead in red
- craft wire
- wire cutters
Snowman Bead Craft Ornament
The second beaded craft is a cute snowman with a top hat and scarf. This craft is done with clear or white beads, pipe cleaners, ribbon, a flat bead, a pony bead and hot glue.
This was another craft that was done when I was younger so because it was glued I was reconstructing it the best I could. To start you will take two clear or white round beads in slightly different sizes and string on any color pipe cleaner. Cut the pipe cleaner flush with the bottom bead and place a dot of hot glue to hold the beads in place.
After the two clear or white beads are strung on add on the flat black bead and then the black pony bead on top of this to create the top hat look. Cut the pipe cleaner so that you can create a small loop and tuck the end inside the pony bead.
Cut some ribbon in the color of your choice to tie around the “neck” of the snowman and then clip the ends of the ribbon so that it looks like a scarf. The final touch will be to add a piece of string or ribbon to the top as a hanger.
Supplies Needed for Snowman Beaded Ornament
- Clear or white beads in 2 different sizes
- Flat bead
- Pony beads
- pipe cleaners
- Ribbon in color of your choice
- Hot glue gun
- Twine or string for hanger
Bell and Lace Beaded Ornament
The last and final beaded ornament is one I made back in the 4th grade with my art teacher Miss Tina and it still hangs on our tree each year. This tutorial will be a little more wordy because I didn’t want to take the ornament apart so I just took as many pictures as I could to show the detail.
This ornament also uses a pipe cleaner as your base for stringing. Then use one or multiple colors of triangle beads and lace ribbon. The lace ribbon you choose will need to be one that has some type of larger hole in the center as that is what you will be stringing the pipe cleaner through.
Start with a bead and then an end of the lace ribbon, then apply another bead and then the lace ribbon will be zig-zagged back and forth in between each bead to get the desired look.
Once the bell is the size you want it to be (mine is about 5″) cut any remaining pipe cleaner and wrap each of the pipe cleaner ends together and apply a dot of glue.
Shape the pipe cleaner into the desired bell shape and attach a bow at the top to hide the spot where the beads meet and attach a hanger.
And then finally to make it really look like a bell, take some fine craft wire and attach a small bell so that it hangs and jingles if shaken slightly. This craft would also look great as a wreath ornament using lace and green beads or a candy cane with red and white beads or just red beads with white lace.
Supplies Needed for Bell & Lace Ornament
- Triangle beads
- Lace ribbon
- Craft bells
- Ribbon for bow (or a small pre-made craft bow)
- craft wire
All of these DIY ornaments above would be a great activity for a classroom as a way for kids to practice their fine motor skills. I think the strawberry and snowman would be fun holiday crafts for younger kids and the bell and lace ornament would be great for older kids to complete. These Christmas bead ornaments would also make great gift toppers instead of using bows.
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