Christmas toppers for gifts

Hi again folks!  Right, have you saved all your bits and pieces from Christmas?  Well, this blog will be about creating beaded "toppers" which can easily be arranged and glued on the top of Christmas gifts instead of bows.  I think it would make gifts look extra special, even more so if the gift is of the size of, say, a bracelet or watch, a bangle or a necklace.

Okay, so its very straightforward.  Over Christmas out crackers are usually ones with interesting patterns (which I salvage and flatten the card for use in Christmas Cards), and little beady bits and ribbons.  Its these beady bits and ribbons which I make the toppers out of, and once you see how simple this is, I bet this year you will be looking in the shops for crackers with little bits you can save and recycle yourself! ;o)

First off, I unwind the beady bits.  Usually its a piece of thin wire with a bead at either end.  Be careful with some of these because the beads can pop off if they have just been glued on the end.  Unless you know how to re-attach them, you may be throwing some beads away.

Next, I twist them together by taking both beads in my fingers, and twisting the wire to create a "stem".   Then I simply take a couple of twists and ttist those together to make a little bouquet, if you will.

The next thing is to hide the wire twist.  Now, along with my crackers came these neat little ribbon bits.  I simply unwind 1 pieces of ribbon - different colours but going together nicely - and I tie each one individually around the wire.  Try to uncrinkle the ribbon as much as you can so you can cover as much of the wire as you can.  Then that's pretty much it - all that's left to do is arrange the ribbin in a way which looks quite nice - I usually go with the "bouguet" look, tucking the ribbon behind the beads, making sure the knots in the ribbon are at the back of the entire piece.  Glue in place and then you're ready to attach more to it, or jus tpop onto a specal gift.  Here are some more photos of what I have done with others.  Have fun! :o)