Christmas
is time of joy and cheer and it would hardly be complete without a beautiful Christmas tree to gather around to open presents. One of the most exciting aspects of Christmas is decorating the tree with lights and festive Christmas ornaments to celebrate the season. While it's easy enough to go out and buy Christmas ornaments, they lack the character and appeal of handmade ones. One fun and exciting way to make ornaments for the tree is to recycle items you have in your home. Do you have any old beaded costume jewelry lying around the house? These can be easily fashioned into stunning Christmas ornaments or should we say Christmas tree jewelry? Here's how to make recycled Christmas ornaments from beads:

Supplies needed to make recycled Christmas ornaments from beads:

* New and old beads in a variety of shapes and sizes
* Sixteen gauge wire
* Wire cutters
* Round nose pliers

Gather your supplies

The number of beads needed for this project will vary depending on how many ornaments you plan to make. Most people have at least a few old costume necklaces with beads that can be cut apart for recycling. Larger beads usually work best as smaller beads can look insignificant on a large tree. If you can't find enough beads lying around the house, you can often buy bags of old beaded jewelry at thrift stores and estate sales for a minimal price. Sixteen gauge wire can be purchased in brass or silver toned metal from your local craft store, bead store, or hardware store. Wire cutters and round nose pliers are carried at both craft stores and bead stores.

Design your ornaments

Spend some time arranging the beads into interesting combinations of texture and color. The basic idea will be to thread beads onto a piece of wire so they can be hung on the tree. Determine which order you want the beads on the wire to be and lay the bead arrangements aside.

Form the hanger

Cut a piece of sixteen gauge wire about two inches longer than your bead arrangement. This will give you additional wire to use for creating loops for holding the beads on the wire and hanging them from the tree. Use your round nose pliers to form a small loop at one end and completely close it off so you have a small metal circle on the tip of the wire. Thread your beads in the correct order onto your wire. Once the beads are in place, use round nose pliers to make a loop at the other end of the wire for hanging. Close off the loop completely just as you did the loop at the other end. You can now place the top loop through a wire hook designed for hanging ornaments or fashion your own wire hanger out of your sixteen gauge wire.

Once you become proficient with this technique of making recycled Christmas ornaments from beads, you can get more creative by adding twists and spirals to the tip of the wire before you add the beads. It's a great way to recycle that old costume jewelry.