DIY: Christmas Decorations - the 2014 edition

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to make my own Christmas decorations – I make a few each year for my mother and for myself. I make them myself because I find it very calming and soothing to create something with my hands. Also, it is cheaper than buying them. And so I thought I would share…

What you will need:

• Metal wire (I used 1,5 mm wire, but 1,1 mm or 1,3 mm would be just as good).
• Glass beads in transparent and blue/black (I had mine in two bowls, as it was easier).
• Thread and needle (note: the needle should be able to get through the beads).
• Fabric in black or blue.  
• Jewellery metal wire.
• Sequins.
• String.
• Tools (side cutters and round-nose pliers/ flat-nose pliers).

Most things I already had, so I didn’t need to go out and purchase anything. But if you don’t have these materials, you can find them in a mix of supermarkets, DIY retailers and hobby shops. 

For metal wire Christmas decorations, you start by cutting an appropriate size of and shaping it with either your hands or pliers. I recommend pliers if your wire is 1,5 mm like mine because I struggled. I did a leaf and a heart. It won't be perfect, but that is the charm of homemade Christmas decorations! 

For fabric Christmas decorations, you start with getting your needle and thread ready. Now, you can decide whether you want to cut your fabric in a shape from the beginning or wait until after you have sewed on the sequins. When you start sewing, your needle and thread should go through the fabric, then sequin, bead, sequin again, and lastly fabric; this secures the sequin and bead to the fabric. Remember to tighten!

My finished wire-bead leaf decoration.

After you have shaped your decoration with the metal wire, you take the jewellery wire and cut a piece off. You wrap a bit of the jewellery wire around the metal wire to secure it. Then you put beads on the wire and then wrap it around the metal wire. My leaf decoration is tightly wrapped with beads, but you can do it loosely. Afterwards you attached a piece of string so you can actually hang it somewhere. 

My finished fabric-sequin-bead leaf decoration.

You continue with the sequins and beads by placing them close to each other and let them shape whatever you like. I went for a leaf again… surprise! On the back I sewed on longer beads that would form the general outline of a leaf, so it would be easier to guess for others and because I thought it looked nice. For my mother I made a Christmas tree, where I replaced some of the tiny beads with bigger beads to replicate Christmas baubles and as the Christmas star/angel/whatever you place on top of your Christmas tree, I attached a big bead to replicate that.

Do you make your own Christmas decorations?

Until next time,

Mia ♥