Lucky Monday ornaments

I love handmade ornaments, and Super Sock makes adorable gingerbread men. They have great expressions (like "What the?") and some of them look like they're dancing. I was planning on giving them as gifts, but when they arrived, I couldn't resist keeping a couple for myself. They will also make good pals for Angry Gingerbread Girl — unfortunately her string fell off after she kept turning her back, so she hangs out on a plate now.

I placed another order on Saturday.

Yesterday night, I came home to a box stamped with little gingerbread men. (The fastest shipping ever!) Plus, there was a hand-written card:

We hope our gingerbreads and ornaments will bring you much joy... we made you something VERY SPECIAL (unlisted)... just for you for your loyalty and kindness. PEACE.

And yes, the something specials are also supercute. Bonus! Thank you, Super Sock. And thanks for the little pack of cookies, too! The nice surprise was a pre-Christmas miracle.

Sophia's ornament wreath

Jane's daughter, Sophia, made a beautiful ornament wreath last night. Sophia has extensive glue gun training and a fearless spirit — plus she worked in the finial ornaments, a challenge I hope to master someday.

Thanks, Sophia, for sharing your awesome work with us. Your grandma will love it!

Jane will be beading this weekend, but I don't have any crafty plans yet. Making an ornament tree is on my "someday" list... I was searching for cone-shaped trees but found this Christmas tree screen and now have a new ornament obsession. Onward with the glue gun.

Happy a creative Thanksgiving, everybody!

Another ornament wreath

Taking a break from outlet shopping and pie eating and tree decorating, my sister and I made this ornament wreath.

There were lots of gold ornaments left over from my Bead Style video, so we merged them with some of last year's leftovers and went for a more subdued palette.

Yukie had a great idea: Vary the size of the ornaments around the inner and outer edges of the wreath base, instead of just alternating two sizes. Then you'll have more flexibility in what to attach to the rest of the base.

Unfortunately she had this idea after we were done, and my wreath is a bit too tall to fit into a storage box. Oops. (At least this can be a 2014 problem to solve.)

If you want to make your own wreath, you can find basic instructions and extra tips in the Bead Room. Happy gluing!

Holiday ornament wreath

I've been wanting to make an ornament wreath for years — years! — and have finally done it. I'm not especially crafty, but this was a really fun project. Glue guns are the best!

For a supply list and instructions, check out "Naomi knows: How to make an ornament wreath" in the Bead Style Bead Room.

Then you, too, can cross that off your holiday bucket list.

Las Vegas sparkle

Three weeks ago, Tom and I designed jewelry for his fiancee, Meg, to wear.

On September 6, they got married at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. Here's a photo he took as she was getting ready for their wedding. Doesn't she look gorgeous?

I love how jewelry comes to life (not literally — and not like beads talking, of course) when someone wears it.

Though I don't do too much custom work anymore, putting this jewelry together was fun and low-key. And look at what Tom brought back for me as a souvenir: an ornament! He called it "an homage to ornaments" (and, later, "an ornament of ornaments").

I'm already looking forward to the holidays. (In fact, I practiced by eating a turkey dinner with all the fixins at Joe and Sarah's house on Sunday. With apple pie for dessert.)

Okay, one last thing about ornaments: If you get a chance, check out the November issue of BeadStyle. I've got an ornament project there. Because it's never too early to start the holiday crafts.

Lions and cookies and ornaments, oh my!

Last week at World Market, I spotted this little paper lion ornament who had only one eye. I brought him home (well, to the office) and made him a beaded eye patch. I'm not a person who thinks "The more, the better" when it comes to beads, but I wanted Leo to have some holiday spirit. I may leave him to hang out with my lucky bamboo; otherwise, I'll give him a place of honor on the tree.

I love Christmas. Not for the gifts, though I'm not opposed to gifts. I love ornaments, especially candy canes, lollipops, cupcakes, and fruit — especially in retro colors like purple, hot pink, and teal. I love decorating my tree and greeting the ornaments like old friends: "Crocheted Oreo, I've missed you!" or "Angry Gingerbread Girl, why do you keep turning your back?" I love watching Ginger try to squeeze behind the tree, even though it's in the corner and she's not a small dog.

The holidays are a time I reflect on the abundance in my life. Sometimes that means overeating cookies and picking out the odd ones, to be overeaten at a later time. Or, sending handmade Christmas cards (not handmade by me but by talented artisans). I've been absent from my blog for a couple weeks — busier living than writing, I suppose — but it's good to be back. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are easing into the holiday season, one ornament at a time.

Ways to finish snowflake ornaments

I was making some snowflake ornaments and realized that my hands hurt from making all the loops to finish them. The spokes are so stiff (like memory wire) that I had to use roundnose pliers to start each loop and chainnose pliers to close it. Loops are fine if I’m making one or two ornaments, but in November I’ll be teaching a class, so I needed to figure out a less painful way to finish the ends. Options:

• Attach a crimp bead on the end of each spoke. And possibly a crimp cover over it, to make it look pretty. This is a good solution, but still requires me to do most of it — as opposed to being something that kids can do themselves.

• Attach a rubber ear nut on each end. Not quite as pretty, but it works well. Also, it’s handy to string the ear nuts to hold the beads in place while you decide on a pattern (then you don’t need tape).

I like the ear nut idea, but I wanted to make the finish extra-secure by gluing each one. So, which glue? I visited This to That, a web site that helps you figure out what glue you need. But then I remembered that Michaels has a brochure that lists their different glues. So I bought some Amazing Goop, a stinky glue that requires time to set before you put the pieces together.

When I finished the snowflake design, I slid the ear nuts out, applied glue to the spoke, waited a few minutes, and then slid the ear nut back down, on top of the glue. Then I trimmed one of the spokes to 3/8 in. (1cm) and made a loop. I trimmed the rest of the spokes flush with the ear nuts and attached a wire hanger to the loop.

One last thing: make sure the holes in the ear nuts are small. I buy mine from Fire Mountain. Just type in "rubber ear nut" and you'll get lots of options.

Favorite Cool Jewels projects: No. 2

July isn't typically a time to think about holiday ornaments, but "Fabulous Flakes" (page 88) has always been a favorite. I first came up with this idea for the January 2004 issue of BeadStyle. When I showed Mindy (the editor) my prototype — a pink, purple, and orange number — she said to just make sure that the colors were ugly. Really, I'm not making this up. She'd say blunt stuff like that all the time. Hilarious!

Snowflakes take just a few minutes. For me, they're far less labor-intensive than necklaces and way more fun and relaxing. I like to make ornaments as gifts, too — last year, I gave a set in different shades of white and ivory. I'm always on the lookout for cheap beads (in groups of six, for each of the spokes). My brainstorming with vintage strands almost always starts with "Can I make an ornament out of this." By the way, Fusion Beads carries metal snowflake forms year-round and has free shipping. And World Market sells cute holiday tins and paper takeout boxes for pretty packaging. At the magazine, we also do a pizza-and-ornament lunch in December, which I'm already looking forward to.

A minor change I make when I'm putting together ornaments for myself: I prefer the cheap wire hooks (you can get huge packs on sale at Walgreens for 79 cents). The ribbon hanger looks pretty for gift giving but can be a little distracting when the snowflake is actually on the tree.

Happy holidays!