Beaded Candy Cane Ornament

Easy Bead Ornament

Easy Bead Ornament

Lets start with the easy stuff shall we? I was flipping through magazines when I saw a blue and green beaded candycane ornament hanging on a Christmas Tree in a photo. I’m not sure which magazine it was, but I am leaning towards Better Homes and Gardens. This is a good project for kids. Although if they are little you may need to help make loops in the wire.

Inexpensive Beads

Inexpensive Beads

I bought inexpensive beads to make these candy canes. I found these craft beads at the new Smiths store. It looks just like the big Fred Meyer Stores in Oregon, I think maybe Kroeger bought them out. I’m pretty sure these beads were $1.49 a tube. (even cheaper because they were 25% off when I bought them). They came in a variety of colors. I really like the bright pink ones, but most of the ornaments on our tree are blue, so I went with these.

make a loop

make a loop

I used white artistic wire to make mine. I picked it up pretty cheap at the local craft store. (Robert’s). I used just a little shy of two feet. It was a bit much but I’d rather trim some off than come up to short. It needs to be a little more than twice the length of your candy cane because you are going to double it over and give it a twist. There are a lot of variables here. Size does matter. Well, the size of the beads matter.  The bigger the beads the longer the strands need to be. Also, you can make an itty bitty candy cane ornament, or one for a larger tree. Once twisted, the length of my beads comes to just about 8 inches. Once I made the hook the ornament measured just a little over 5 inches high.

Step one: Make a Loop in the end of the wire.

String your beads

String your beads

Beaded Candy Cane Ornament, Step Two:  String one color of beads to the desired length. I started with the Blue beads. Bend the wire back on itself and string the second color of beads, but leave a little bit of slack. You don’t want the beads to be too tight. You want the length of both colors to be the same. Initially I counted the beads as I added them. I figured I could add the same number of the second color. However, my beads are not uniform, so I had to string a couple of extra of the second color.  Trim the wire. leave enough wire to make a loop (and make the loop) I left a little bit of slack on both sides. Not much, just about a quarter inch.

Twist the beads

Twist the beads

Beaded Candy Cane Ornament Step 3: Twist the Beads together. I held mine at the bend and gave it a few good twists.

Finish it off!

Finish it off!

Beaded Candy Cane Ornament, Step 4: Finish off your ornament by gently hooking one of the ends around so that it resembles a candy cane shape. I hooked around the end where the wire was folded back on itself so that my loops were on the bottom of the ornament. I think it would look ok regardless of which end you loop!

At this point you can either hang the candy cane directly on a tree branch, or you can attach a hanger. I will probably just loop some fishing line  around the top of the hook.

I bought the beads and the wire for about $4. I am confident that I have enough beads to make several ornaments. That makes this a fairly inexpensive ornament to make. Simple ornaments also make great embellishments for wrapped gifts. Just buy some beads that match the color of your wrapping paper and you’ll be good to go. I like to add small ornaments to the outside of the boxes of cookies I give away each year. The cookies go pretty quickly, but then they have a small ornament to add to their tree.