Bead & Sequin Christmas Ornament Kits Review

Make Your Own Treasured Keepsake with Beaded Christmas Ornament Kits

Handmade beaded Christmas ornaments are a fabulous gift to give to just about anyone.  My own Christmas tree is loaded with Christmas tree ornaments that have been given to me over the years.  I have a whole collection of ornaments from my grandmother.  Since she is no longer with me, I cherish them more now than I did the day I received them.

I have keepsake ornaments that my parents gave to me and beautiful handmade beaded ornaments that my mother made for me when I was still a child.  I also have handmade ornaments from my children.  Now that they are grown, it is a walk in the past to touch the ornaments those precious little hands made.

Giving Christmas ornaments as Christmas gifts has become a family tradition in our home.  Why not make your own beaded Christmas ornaments and start a new family tradition today?

Beaded Ornament Handmade by My Mother

This is one of the ornaments that my mother made for me when I was a little girl. It is approximately 45 years old. It is one of my greatest treasures.

In my minds eye, I can still see my mom sitting at the kitchen table, placing each bead, each sequin in just the right place to make this lovely keepsake.  Year after year, this ornament finds it's special place on our tree.

 

An Ornament I Made for Our Son

I made this spider ornament for my son 22 years ago.  Each year, regardless of when I decorate our Christmas tree, I hold the little spider aside for my son to add to the tree.  To this day, our tree is not completely finished until he comes home and hangs the spider on the tree. 

I made the spider long before the internet and computers became a household "utility".  I have never gone back to write my own instructions online.

 

This Was A Gift I Made for Our Daughter

I chose to make this ornament for my daughter because her favorite color is purple.  However, there is another meaning behind the color choice.  Purple is a combination of red and blue, the warmest and coolest colors, therefore purple is considered to be the ideal color.  Thus, an ideal beaded ornament for an ideal daughter!

 

I Made This Ornament for Each of Our Children

In addition to the ornaments I made with the individual child in mind, I have also made matching ornaments over the years for both of our children. The green carousel ornament is one that I made for both children. 

Ornament Kits or Instruction Books

I personally prefer the ornament kits because they come prepackaged with everything needed to complete a beaded ornament, except the craft glue.   However, sometimes a kit is not available in a specific color or design.  Then I pull out my trusty books and buy the supplies required separately. 

Either way, the gift of a handmade ornament is special to the recipient and will be a cherished treasure, just as the ones I have shared above, for decades to come.

 Christmas Crafts for Kids,36 Sets Christmas Beaded Ornament KitCheck Price Vintage Walco Holiday Silver Bells Beaded Ornament Kit Makes 3Check Price Sunrise Craft & Hobby Ruby #56 Collector Ornament Ornament KitCheck Price Beaded Ornament Covers: A Beginner's GuideCheck Price

 

Beaded Ornament Kits

Because of my on love for making beaded ornaments, I have several beaded ornament kits available in my own Ebay store.  My inventory changes often simply because they sell out and additional kits are not always available from the suppliers.

Here are a few that I currently have in stock:


RSS feeds don't always load properly. If the feed is not showing above, you can see the ornament kits available in my Ebay store by clicking here!

See More Craft Reviews at
ReviewThisCrafts.com
Where you will find some awesome Craft Reviews & Tutorials like these, and more!

 How to Make Easy Christmas Tree Ornaments Homemade Christmas Centerpiece Decoration Ideas Do Not Toss Your Greeting Cards--Reuse Them!

Bead & Sequin Christmas Ornament Kits Reviewed by:

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

Photography Tips for the Holiday

Christmas at Missouri Botanical Garden

Everybody enjoys looking at photographs from the holiday season.  It is the time we gather with friends and families, decorate for the occasion and celebrate the birth of our Savior.  What a great time to document these wonderful memories with photos.  Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Before the season is upon us check out your camera.  Make sure it is in good working order and that all your lenses are clean.
• Make sure your batteries are charged and recharge them after each use.
• You may want to consider purchasing an extra memory card to use for your holiday photos.
• Make a list of things you want to photograph during this Christmas season.
• Every year I try to photograph something different for the holiday.  This year I plan to go to my church after the decorations are up and take some photographs of the nave.  I'm thinking they may make a nice card for the following year. What can you try new this year?

 

Special Events

Special events are always a great time to take photos.  In the photo at the top of this article I photographed a tree at Missouri Botanical Gardens.  Since the photo was taken in the evening I used a tripod and a remote shutter release.  If you don't have those items available to use try to find somewhere to stabilize you camera.  A post, the top of your car, a bench and other stationary items will help you to avoid camera shake and capture some beautiful evening shots.

Try a Photo Walk

A photo walk through a decorated area is a great way to capture some street shots and decorations.  In the photos below I walked through historic Main Street in St. Charles, Missouri. This historic town on the banks of the Missouri river served as the first capitol of the state.

Below are a couple of the photos I shot.

Click Here for Zazzle products from these photos

 

Group  Photos

Group photos are a great way to preserve the memories of the people that attended the gatherings during the holidays.  Although candid shots can be fun, a planned group shot is a great way to include everyone.  Take the time to check the background in your photo.  You wouldn't want to end up with a candle sticking out of someones head.

Also make sure to check your lighting.  I prefer natural lighting, rather than flash, so in these photos I used a lens with a lowlight capability and a 1.8 aperture on the camera.  If I end up with a yellow tone, I can always adjust it in post processing with a slight slide of the tint or exposure slide.

For both the lighting and the background you may have to move your group to a better location in the room.  The first photo below is of my sister and her family.  Although the tree is in the background, I zoomed in on the people.  I see too many photos where someone has tried to get the whole tree in with the people.  That is usually not a good combination so my motto is decide what your focus is (the people or the tree) and set up your shot accordingly.

The second shot below is a group of high school friends of my husbands (he is in red sweater).  These guys have known each other for over 55 years and I wanted to capture them all in the photo.  They were somewhat patient with me as I moved them around to make sure everyone was seen in the photo.

 

Special Moments

Be sure to have your camera ready for those special moments.  Here is my husband with our oldest granddaughter, Rachel.  In these shots the background are not always perfect but I zoom in on the faces and capture the moment.

 

 

Kids and the Tree

Kids under the tree is always a good shot for Christmas.  Remember to take some shots before the presents are unwrapped.  In these photos you see our youngest granddaughters.

 

Zoom in on the Ornaments and Decoration

Along with the photos of family, friends and events, I like to take some artsy photos.  Christmas decorations and ornaments are always good subjects.  I like to use a little Bokeh ( a term that refers to keeping what is important in focus and blurring the rest).  In the first photo I was sitting on the sofa right in front of the candle in the foreground.  I set my aperture to 1.8 and zoomed in on the candle.  I was hand holding the camera so I steadied it on my knee.  I got the effect I wanted with the candle in focus and the fireplace blurred.   The second photo used the same principal but was taken of an ornament on the tree during the daytime.

Another fun Christmas shot is to take a photo and then edit out all of the color except the red.  I did that in the photo below of our Christmas tree and fireplace.

Merry Christmas in Black and White
by mbgphoto

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON:

Butterfly Christmas Tree Ornaments - A Beautiful Holiday Theme

Butterfly Christmas Ornament Photo by Louanne Cox
of  Lous Designs.com

Have you ever heard of butterfly Christmas tree ornaments? I had never thought of adding butterflies onto my Christmas tree until recently when I saw this tree (pictured) decorated in a local store with it's large silver butterfly ornaments on it.

This year we've been treated to record numbers of Caper White butterflies in our garden along with the usual Common Crow, Orchard Swallowtail and just a couple of Monarchs so I'm very pro-butterflies at the moment!

There's just something magical about butterflies and the way they flit around, there's also something magical about Christmas which means they're a perfect fit!

There are lots of different types of butterfly Xmas ornaments around so I've just selected a few that I like the look of to share with you and think about how to incorporate them on your Christmas tree.  Let's review some of the gorgeous ornaments I've found including glass ornaments, silver ornaments and bright ornaments....

Glass Butterfly Christmas Ornaments

Personalized Oval Crystal Christmas Ornament - Swallowtail Butterfly

& 

I love this glass butterfly ornament for a couple of reasons (besides the fact that it's gorgeous that is!), one is that it can be personalized which means it can be used to commemorate an occasion/person or be used as a gift idea.

The second reason is that it's clear so you can use it with any color scheme on your tree and it will reflect the other decorations beautifully. This ornament is definitely on my short list for adding these gorgeous creatures to my tree for the holidays.

I also like the idea of getting a set of butterfly Christmas ornaments and I thought this next set of three was absolutely gorgeous.   My daughter would have found them very pretty when she was younger (as a teen I'm not sure what her thoughts would be now!)

Set of 3 Colorful Glass Butterfly Christmas Ornaments
Each of these gorgeous ornaments has hand painted detail on them and also come with a silver cord for hanging.

Reading through the reviews it sounds as though these ornaments are a nice weight for hanging on the tree which is really good. I definitely think these make my short list for butterfly Christmas ornaments, now I just have to convince my hubby that I need even more ornaments for our trees.

One of the happy customers also mentioned adding this set of butterflies to a set of hummingbird Christmas ornaments to pop on their tree which has me thinking 'ooh hummingbirds'! I do think that these ornaments would look great with any bird ornaments, but they would also look good as a change from the 'standard' bauble style ornament as well.

& 

& 

Silver Butterfly Christmas Ornaments

Adding Sparkle to Your Holidays!

As it was a silver looking (although not genuine silver) ornament that first made me aware of butterfly Christmas tree ornaments I just had to include some here and there are certainly a lot to choose from starting with this following set found on Amazon.....

Set of silver butterfly Christmas ornaments

It doesn't tell me what these ornaments are made of, but looking at them I think they look very lightweight and certainly not a really high quality ornament (although I could be wrong),  I do like this set of 6 though because it looks very similar to the large ornament I saw in the store I mentioned.

I could see these ornaments shining on my white Christmas tree with my 'vintage colors' bauble style ornaments that I purchased earlier in the year.   These are dusky muted pinks, muted golds, very pale blue colored ball ornaments.  They are remarkably similar in color to the other ornaments used on the tree I featured in the introduction image.

Another idea of silver butterfly ornaments are the range of filigree ones that are available like this in loving memory one -

Rememberance Silver Filigree Butterfly Ornament

& 

So do you think you'll be hanging a few butterflies on your Christmas tree this year?  I'm hooked on the idea, I just have to get it past hubby as he does think I have too many Christmas ornaments (I didn't realize that too many existed!)

How to Showcase Your Butterfly Christmas Ornaments

The best way to showcase your butterfly ornaments really depends on which ornament you choose and how many.   Since I've been looking for some of these ornaments I've come across a few different images including a tree that was heavily laden with butterfly ornaments (and no other type) in lots of bright colors.

A combination of butterfly and floral ornaments on your tree will help to give a feel of spring to your Christmas tree which will make it unique.

Although I'm thinking of adding any I buy to a white tree, I do think a green tree would best suit butterfly ornaments.   Having said that silver butterflies on a black tree would look very dramatic.

Let me know how you think butterfly ornaments should be showcased on a Christmas tree.

Before we go though let me share a few gorgeous butterfly ornaments that I've found on Etsy (I do love that site, but my savings account doesn't!)

Blue - Gold Butterfly - Handpainted Silk OrnamentFairy Butterfly Christmas OrnamentMulticolor Enamel Butterfly Christmas Ornament

& 

Oh, I so NEED a third Christmas tree!  You can find me indulging in my love of Christmas ornaments at Christmas Tree Ideas.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

FOLLOW US ON: