Beaded Christmas Ornaments

Children can thread the beads, while you'll need to help them with bending and cutting the wires.

(Suits kids 4 and up. Younger kids will need a lot of help, while the older may need help cutting and bending wires.)

To Make Beaded Christmas Ornaments, You'll Need

Now Make Your Ornaments

1. Cut off a piece of bracelet wire that's about two and a half loops long, using wire cutters. Bend one end into a loop to stop the beads coming off.
2. Thread seed beads onto the wire until one whole loop is covered.
3. Hook the wire through the loop you made at the other end, then give it a right-angled bend using the pliers.
4. Thread more beads on until the second loop is full of beads.
5. Cut the rest of the wire off, leaving about 1cm free of beads. Bend this into a loop around the other wires at the top of the ornament. You should now have two bead-covered loops attached at the top.
6. Bend the loops so that they are at right angles to each other and wrap a short piece of soft wire around to hold them in place at the bottom of the ornament.
7. Cut a 10cm piece of soft wire. This will run across the centre of the ornament and hold the heart bad in place.
8. Wind one end of this wire around one of the beaded loops on one side of the ornament to anchor it. Now thread seed beads on until you get almost to the centre.
9. Thread the heart bead onto your wire, then more seed beads until it is long enough to reach the opposite side of the ornament.
10. Wrap the wire around the beaded wire on the other side of the ornament to anchor it. trim off the end.
11. Bend in any sharp ends of wire. Use soft wire to make a loop to hang your ornament from. Attach this to the top of the ornament.
12. Hang your beaded Christmas ornaments on the tree. Happy Christmas!

Try out your own colour combinations. Red and gold would look fantastic. Purple and silver? Pink and silver? You could hang beaded tassles from the bottom of your ornament. How about gluing a tiny photo of someone you love to the central bead?