Friday, December 5, 2008

Beaded Christmas Tree Topiaries


I was flipping through an old copy of Better Homes and Gardens and found a photo of these great beaded Christmas trees.

I used two different sized beads (4 mm & 6 mm) to create a striped effect. I used hot glue to attach the beads to the cone form. If I were to do this again, I would use a super strong adhesive instead of the hot glue to avoid all the "gluey stringiness". The string was difficult to get off and caused the paint not to go on as smoothly as I would've liked.


I sprayed the beaded cone with a pearl glaze. After the glaze dried, I used a moss green acrylic paint and a foam brush to apply the paint. You have to work the paint in a little to get the color on the string. I repeated this step twice, and if I find the time and the energy, I'll probably do a third coat of each.

I got into a rhythm by the third one (which is the middle sized one). The beads look so much better if you're able to keep them in an alternating pattern and not lined up on top of each other, witch I didn't figure out until the last one.


WARNING: This project will take more glue and beads than you buy on the first trip to the craft store. If you are interested in making these and you live in the Annapolis area, you may not be able to find any beads. I'm sorry.

14 comments:

Scribbit said...

LOVE this--I just Stumbled it!

Cathy said...

Very cute and satisfying project because it can be done relatively quickly.

Anonymous said...

Your trees look awesome. Do you know how much time and $ you spent on them?
Bridget

The Reeves Family said...

Wow, those look great! I had no idea you were so crafty!! I love all the things you have posted! Where do you find the time to do it all? I have 4 kids with 3 in school and I don't think I could pull it off!!

Anonymous said...

OH, STOP IT ALREADY!!! They're beautiful!

Misty said...

i'm so inspired to do my own this weekend!!! i'm thinking silver.... or candy cane striping!! woohoo, the ideas!

Anonymous said...

Darling, just darling!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

These are SO pretty, I love them! I'll be linking.

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful. Luv the vintage feel of them.

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

Ha! First of all, you are hilarious with the "I'm sorry" comment. Secondly, I love these and wish I had enough courage to make them myself...but I am scared of losing more of my fingerprints from the glue gun. I should try to get a different adhesive, maybe that would help...anyway, I love them!!
Carrie

Kimba said...

Those look fantastic! I love them!

suzannah | the smitten word said...

these are gorgeous and would cost a fortune in any store. great work!

i gave you an award over at my place:)

Anonymous said...

Wow !!! your trees are looking fantastic. This is very very creative. I would like to make these trees in coming Christmas day.

ocean said...

Looking at these late or early-depending on how you see things. Love them!!and BTW-I too and a big Bama fan, born in Alabama and went to U of A.