Beads at Christmas

I am a confirmed beadaholic! :)  Now I find that I view everything, even Christmas, from a beaded viewpoint.  How to incorporate beads into Christmas?  Aside from designing and giving beaded gifts, beads can be used for decorations.  

One of the hottest sellers this holiday season has been the BeadSmith Snowflake wire forms.  They come in four sizes, ranging from 3.75 inches to 9 inches.  The possibilities are limitless for decorating!  And they can be an inexpensive gift with a personal touch.  

Kathy has been busy making her snowflake forms.

She added 12mm Twisted Bugle beads and says that the sparkle is much more stunning in person.

Here you can see another of her ornaments on the tree.  This one she added beads between the bugle beads to create more texture.

I like the way the lights set off the sparkles in this snowflake.  These snowflakes are great for decorating wreaths and can adorn windows as sun catchers all winter long.    Thanks so much Kathy for sharing!  :)

Another way to decorate with beads is to add embellishments to plain glass ornaments.  This adds a richness and beauty with a personal touch.  These are also nice gifts that can be cherished for many years to come.  You can even design your ornament, so that the beaded portion can be removed and added to another glass ornament in case the original one breaks.  You can find patterns in books, magazines or even on the internet.  They can be very elaborate and ornate, or they can be very simple.  The ornament below was done my by sister, Linda. She modified the pattern to adapt to her preferred Delica size 10/0.

  This was her first attempt at a beaded ornament.  I have to admit that I have been rather "persuasive" in getting her into beading.  LOL  I think this ornament is beautiful and am very proud of the fact that she was brave enough to not only modify the pattern, but then to send me the photo and allow me to add it to this blog!  Thanks Linda!

It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas... I have seen some ideas for beaded garland that I think I am going to have to try for next Christmas............

Happy Beading (oops) Holidays and Happy New Year!

Betsy