Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop

Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse. 

 ~ Clark Griswold, Christmas Vacation

Ahahaha! I love Christmas Vacation!

Thank you for joining me for the 4th Annual Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop!

[I apologize for the pictures... my camera lens has been broken since early October and my phone has stopped allowing me to snap pictures, so scans it is! Picture if you will a beautiful sparkling white light tree branch...]

First up, a nod to one of the best scenes in the Christmas Vacation movie, a SQUIRREL!

This pretty porcelain image is from White Swan Illuminations. And what would a squirrel be without a NUT? I made this one from a huge acorn bead cap (I really should get better about reading dimensions in listings...) and a really cool brown and copper leaf peeled paint bead from Jeannie Dukic. It is the only bead in my studio that can fit that cap! Little peanut beads and a sari silk ribbon scrap complete the ornament.

Did you know that squirrel was my now 15 1/2 year old son's first word?
And you will have to ask me sometime about the Great Squirrel Quest of 1974.
My dad battled a family of squirrels getting it on in the attic above his bedroom that rivals anything that Chevy Chase has done!

Next is a pretty little bauble that I whipped up by accident. 

Classify this as things-that-were-just-lying-near-each-other inspiration! 

I used a cool swirly glass headpin from Genea Beads. To that I added a polymer clay blackbird from Heather Powers of Humblebeads. On top I added a faceted golden crystal moon. I used some tiny faceted crystal rondelles to the outer edge but miscalculated the amount of wire I needed. I wanted it to go all the way around. Happy accident that I just eyeballed it. I quite like the assymetry. And then I ran out of steam to finish the top so I used a little bit of silk cord from Marsha Neal Studios. However, now that I look at this, I think I will make a little beaded swirl hook using the same crystals to carry the curve. Picture it in your mind....

And finally, I thought I should use one of my own Simple Truths for an ornament. I actually made a whole lot more ornaments this year for sale at the Gallery Q (see two below), along with some great beaded ornaments with art bead toppers a la Heather Powers' tutorial from last year which I don't have pictures of. I guess I didn't get around to listing them in my shop. Sorry about that! Message me if you think this this something you are interested in. If there are any left after the holidays, maybe I will have a flash sale. ;-)

{Jewel of Bleak Winter and Flor de la Bueno Noche ornaments with swirly beaded hooks (not shown) $25}

 I do these limited edition quarterly birds in my Simple Truths style.

For Winter 2013, I introduce the Snowflake Bird.

Again, I got a little lazy with the top and just used some silk cord from Marsha Neal, and I might leave that since it matches the silver tone of the snowflake so well.

I have these cool little branches in my stash and I wired one to the bottom so that it looks as though the birdie is perched there. There are little holes in the branch, so I added a little leaf shape from some fold formed copper that I made at my class with Stacie Florer at ArtBliss in September. I stamped it with the year and decided that a tiny gray crystal was needed for a little flash. 

My husband and I have a tradition where we gift each other an ornament every year and don't buy gifts. 21 years. This will be my special gift to him {he doesn't read my blog - I'm not even sure he knows what a blog is - so I am sure he won't see this!} ;-)

Thanks for hopping along with me. There are plenty of talented people taking part in this blog hop. So grab a cup of hot cocoa, a candy cane, put on some festive tunes and have fun seeing all the ways we add a little sparkle to December!