This Snowflake goes together pretty quickly. It only has two rounds. I used about 3ft of wire and I had plenty left over. I made this snowflake using 4mm Swarovski beads and bugle beads.
Snowflake Ornament #2
Round one completed along with the first spoke.
Round One: String on 12 4mm beads. I chose swarovski crystal beads. I alternated 6 faceted rounds with 6 opaque bicone beads for a total of 12. Leave about a 3 inch tail. string the wire through the beads again and draw them together in to a circle. Take the tail and wrap it snugly around the wires between two beads and then clip off the excess.
You will be weaving in and out of every other bead. Whether or not it is the crystal round, or the bicone will depend on the order you strung them on, and where your wire is sitting. In my snowflake ornament, I weaved in and out of the crystal rounds.
Round two: String on 1 bugle bead, 1 bicone, 1bugle bead,1 bicone, 1 bugle bead and 1 bicone bead. There will be a total of 6 beads, three each of the bicones and the bugles in an alternating pattern. Then thread on one more bead. I used a round crystal bead.
Double back
Take the wire and thread it back through the last bicone bead. Pull it gently to snug it up. String on 1 bugle bead, 1 bicone, 1 bugle bead, 1 bicone and then 1 bugle bead for a total of five beads. Thread the wire through the second bead in round one.
Completed Spoke
You are going to repeat that pattern until you have six spokes on your snowflake. As you can see, when you initially string the spoke it is going to look a bit funky. Once you have completed your second (and in this case final) round you will need to go back and shape them so that they resemble petals.
Finishing off your snowflake
There are several ways to finish off your snowflake ornament. Technically you can anchor your wire as soon as you bring it back to the center of your ornament. I like to make sure that mine is good and secure so I weave my wire back up through the beads until I get to the end of one of the spokes. In this ornament I simply made a loop with the wire and then wrapped the wire back around itself to secure. Then I trimmed it. The wire is thin and soft and I worry about now this will hold up. So, on following ornaments I made the loop, threaded the wire back through the last bead, and then wrapped the wire around between the last two beads. I think this is a much more secure way to finish off the ornament.
All done!
I’m just going to toss this one up really quickly. I wanted to get straight in to snowflakes, but I needed to take apart some angels I made a few years ago to reclaim the beads for the snowflakes. Mini Ornaments are great. You can use them on Miniature Christmas Trees as Ornaments, or you can turn them in to earrings and pendants. I really like the ones that are made out of Swarovski Crystal Beads, but it would get pretty spendy to decorate a whole tree out of those. They are typically used more for earrings and pendants.
micro angel ornament
This bead angel uses a spacer, a teardrop bead, a moon shaped bead and a 4mm rose quartz bead for the head. Slide them all on to a headpin in the appropriate order and you have yourself a little angel. These are really small though. I made them as earrings for my daughter. I also contemplated making a little Christmas charm bracelet.
Small Bead Angel
This bead angel is made exactly the same way, but with different beads. This half moon bead is a size larger than the first one. Both of these were made a couple of years ago. I like a bit more sparkle these days.
Swarovski Beaded Angel
The Swarovski beads are a bit more difficult to take a picture of as they have quite a bit of sparkle. This beaded angel is made with Swarovskis margarita beads. You could also use green ones and make Christamas Tree ornaments. I picked up the pieces at my local bead shop, but you can find the silver wings at both Art Beads and Rings and Things. A small bead cap is used as the halo.
Beaded Snowman
My daughter loves these crystal snowmen earrings. They go together in a snap. These are made with swarovski crystal cube beads but they could also be made with faceted rounds. My husband thinks that they would look more like snowmen if I had made them with the round beads. I am half tempted to go buy round beads so that I can do a comparison. :p
Lets start with the less expensive of the two kits, the candy cane reindeer.
Candy Cane Reindeer Kit
This is the kit. It is best to do this assembly line style. Count up the number of kids that you need to make kits for and figure out how many you need of each piece. Then cut all of the pieces of pipe cleaners and put them in two piles. Cut a few extra. Kids find creative ways to lose things. I used brown chenille for this kit. In each kit you will need
1 6in piece of pipe cleaner
2 2in pieces of pipe cleaners
1 candy cane
1 tiny black pompom
2 googly eyes
1 tiny jingle bell.
4 glue dots
I unrolled the glue dots and started putting on the pieces. Two eyes, one pompom, and one bell. Once I get a couple of sets on the roll, I tear off what I need for each kit. When I sit down to assemble the kits I have a pile of long pipe cleaners, a pile of short pipe cleaners, a pile of candy canes and a pile of glue dot sheets with eyes, a nose and a bell..because every reindeer needs a jingle bell.
Finished kit
This isn’t the best photo but I found super cute bags to put the kits in this year. The last time I did this the kits were assembled in clear zip lock bags. I remember making candy cane reindeers as a kid. It was so frustrating. The little eyes were tiny. We had to use elmer’s school glue and they just slid all over the plastic wrapper on the candy cane. I don’t think I ever got my nose to stay on. Glue dots are awesome. There is no mess. The teacher does not need to get anything out to do this project, Everything that the kids need is in the bag. As soon as the kids place the eyes and nose on the reindeer, they are on there. There is no need to wait for anything to dry. The reindeer are easy to make. All you need is one adult in the class to lead them along. I’ll give you the basic directions though.
step one
Take the pipe cleaner and bend it in half. Slip the crook of the candycane through the bend in the pipe cleaner and twist it until it is secure.
step two
Bend the pipe cleaners up. You are making the main branch of the antlers.
step three
Take the two short pieces of pipe cleaners and twist one around each side of the antlers.
Step Four: The fun bit
Have the kids peel off the eyes, bell and nose one piece at a time and stick them to the candy cane in the appropriate places.
Voila! One Candy Cane Reindeer. I went with the black nose. I thought about making the noses red, but I firmly believe there should only be one Rudolph. :p If you are feeling particularly difficult, go ahead and make one of the kits with a red nose, although you may want to check with the teacher first. If you go that route, the kids should draw the kits out of a bag randomly. Another option is that Rudolph could be awarded as a prize in a game. I’m pretty sure though that if you do this, you’ll lose any brownie points that you scored in making the kits in the first place.
I do not recommend tossing Rudolph in to the middle of the room and letting the kids the scramble for him.
When you send in the kits, always send in a few extra, or send in extra parts. That way if a candy cane gets broken, there are a few extra to go around. Ditto on the pipe cleaners, googly eyes and noses. I dont do the extra pieces as kits though. I just do a small sheet of noses, a small sheet of eyes and a small sheet of bells. That way, if someone needs an extra piece, whoever is in charge can just tear of what is needed. There is no reason why the kid that sits in front of the class clown needs to get on the bus with googly eyes and a pompom nose stuck to the back of his shirt. I’m just sayin’…
If you are wondering how this particular project relates to beading, the reindeer have “beady” eyes. I know its weak, but its all I’ve got.
Two and a half years ago my sister became engaged. She decided that she wanted to get married on Christmas Day and she decided on a snowflake theme. Originally she wanted four Christmas trees covered in snowflake ornaments. As favors, she was going to let her guests pick some ornaments off of the tree.
I was very excited for her. I saw some neat wire snowflake forms and I told my mom that if she wanted to buy the supplies, I would make some beaded snowflake ornaments for the tree. I also found some beautiful quilled snowflake ornaments online. I sent a link to my mom and told her I thought that they were pretty. I had never quilled before. My mom suggested I make the frames myself to save money. I thought that sounded like an awful lot of work. I mean, they wanted enough ornaments for four Christmas Trees. I told my mom that if she wanted to make the frames that I would use them, but that I wasn’t going to be making them.
A few days later craft supplies started to show up in my mailbox. I had offered to help, but it seemed that I was now set to make all of the snowflakes for the trees. I’m not sure if it was before or after I stopped making ornaments, but my sister decided to scale back and only used two trees. At any rate, quilling kits arrived, craft bead kits arrived, pattern books for crocheted snowflakes and spools of thread arrived. The crocheted snowflakes were gorgeous. Some of them were three dimensional and then they required sewing on beads and sequins after they had been blocked. Ultimately though I decided I did not have the time to make those.
I learned to make a TON of beaded snowflake ornaments. Don’t worry, they’re coming
My daughter’s birthday is in November and she thought my new found snowflake skills were awesome. For her birthday she wanted to have an ornament making party. I however, was burned out on making ornaments so I ordered a bunch of kits from the oriental trading catalog. All of the girls that were invited to the party were in TAG programs at their schools, so these were really bright third graders. Kits from the OTC should have been a no-brainer. The party was a real challenge though. Several of the girls wanted to do their own thing, which is fine. One couldn’t follow directions at all and another one was so used to having her mom do things for her, that she needed help putting the beads on the wire frame. It seemed as if everyone needed individual help. I was happy to assist, but there were only a few girls. My daughter had a fabulous time and everyone left with a small collection of ornaments. The party was considered a hit by the girls.
So then it came time for the class Christmas party and I’m not even sure how this happened but I offered or was volunteered to help with the craft. But when your daughter is looking up at you adoringly, how can you say “no”? She thought that I was the absolute most talented mom in the world and well..I’m a sucker for that. 🙂
But then I remembered her birthday party and I became a bit concerned. We were preparing to move. I was very busy and did not think that I would actually be able to attend the party to help. Personally assisting a few girls is quite a bit different from helping an entire class. Whatever craft they did, it needed to be easy enough for the kids to do on their own. I decided on two very easy projects. The first is a classic that kids love because they get to eat it . The other is a SNOWFLAKE.
It is an expensive task to take on, especially if the class size is large. The snowflakes call for quite a few beads. My daughter’s teacher absolutely loved it though. I hear the other mothers at the party were also impressed. The party ended up being the day we left town so I did not get to attend. I was busy packing the car, but I’ve been told that this is a great way to earn brownie points with the teachers if you are in to that sort of thing. I swore though that I would never, ever do it again.
As it turns out, my son is in the third grade this year…. and since I did it for his sister, he is hoping that I will do it again. I’m such a sucker. My daughter is now in the fifth grade and has asked if I can do something for her again, you know, since I’ll be doing something for her brother. So I’ll be making kits this weekend. Her class is going to get the pony bead star ornament. It looks cute and I don’t think it will be too spendy to make. I am going to have to rewrite the directions though to make them a bit easier for kids to follow.
One word of advice though. If you decide to take on the holiday party craft, whatever grade the kids are in, find a project for kids that are a year or two younger. The kids are going to be hopped up on sugar and unfocused. The goal is to find something cute for them to take home that they can make without getting frustrated. Parties are supposed to be fun! Also, if you do it for one child, chances are good that you’ll be doing it for the rest of them. 🙂
