Glass beaded Christmas ornaments

I love to collect Christmas Ornaments.  Before any trip, I stake out any Christmas Specialty stores in the vicinity of my next vacation or long weekend outing and plot it on the map, the navigation system or in my brain.  Of course, I must also look in the yellow pages since many stores featured online  have gone out of business or closed since their last posting, and have my eyes peeled as we drive around (yes, dear the map says to turn left at the light.). 

I have various themes that I collect but my assortment is very eclectic. Lately, I have been taken with teeny, tiny, funky frames, (I have gone back into the photo albums to find cute pictures of the kids when they were little -- since as of late, well, the older pics don't look as adorable.). Shhh! Don't tell them I said that!   There are no sets of 30 of the same on my tree, NEVER!! That takes all the fun out of collecting. I really enjoy unpacking them in December and reliving the excitement of all the neat ones I forgot I had; and, finding where I hid the ones I bought over the summer. But I digress, more about that on a later posts, with pics!

Today I want to share a little idea I had bouncing around my head last season. It involves tiny glass beads, reversable tweezers, but any pair will do, and glass or plastic ornaments from your favorite craft store.



Glass teeny tiny beads, all colors,
reversble tweezer opens when you
sqeeze, easy on the hands.




Round flat side ornament, Gingerbread girl.




Round flat sides ornament, Gingerbread House.




Round flat sides ornament, attempt
at Mary Engelbreit FEF PEP flower.




Glass sphere, Flip-Flop Ornament, beachy!

First I decide on the design. Then I paint the craft glue onto the ornament a little at a time. The craft bond glue is easy to wipe off and is thick so the beads adhered rather easily and it dries clear.  I would like to experiment with other glues but this one worked fine. Once the glue is on a small area, I start glueing the glass beads carefully in the same direction so the holes are unseen. I repeat until the design is complete. This is easier said than done because all the beads are irregular as you will notice on the pictures.  But I got it this idea out of my system and it worked!