Beaded Wreath Ornament

If you are looking for the Project Penguin Craft Challenge, go here.

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This time of year is tough for craft bloggers. We're making all this awesome stuff to give as gifts, so we can't share it on our blogs without spoiling the surprises. Yet no one is looking for Christmas craft tutorials in January after those gifts have been opened, which means the posts could go largely unnoticed. To share or to wait... that is the question.

I'm going to wait on most of my projects because surprising friends and family is the best part of homemade gifts. But I will share one or two. Today, a beaded wreath ornament. Affiliate links below. 

Beaded Wreath Ornament

Materials: 

• 22-gauge red wire
• seed beads (at least 45 green and 9 red)
• wire cutters
• red cord
• scissors
• glue gun

Steps: 

Begin by cutting approximately a foot of wire. String 45 green seed beads onto it, then twist the ends to secure the beads in place. Obviously, you can use more beads to make a larger wreath if you want.

Snip any excess wire off one end and curve the other end to form a hook. Shape the wreath into a circle. Attach a second piece of wire at the 1:00 position on the wreath, wrapping it around itself a few times to hold it in place.

Add one red bead, then wrap the wire around the green beads, skipping over a few before adding the next red bead.

This project takes some dexterity, so I'd recommend it for upper elementary age kids and up. Trevor (age 9) did just fine.

When you reach the 11:00 position on the wreath, twist the wire around itself to hold it in place, then snip any extra wire. Cut a piece of red cord and form a bow, then glue it to the wreath, trying to cover the wires at 1:00 and 11:00. 

The three of us whipped out nine wreaths in about 20 minutes, at a total cost of around $5 with plenty of beads, wire and cord left over. They're going to look really cute dangling from our gifts, then eventually hanging from our relatives' Christmas trees.