Connie Crystal Ornaments

This is an ornament that I made for the Connie Crystal CHA booth.  It was extremely easy to do.  First, I purchased a plastic ornament from my local Michael's.  I bought the smallest size for this ornament, although I made one of each size.

First, I removed the top of the ornament. I used Connie Crystal suncatchers in blue.  I clipped off the top above the crystal and pulled out the clear line that it was threaded on.  You could easily use a heavy duty fishing line for this.  I threaded the teardrop first and left even tails on both sides.  I then just threaded the rest of my crystals on that, using both ends of the thread.  I measured it into the ball occasionally so that I could make sure I didn't make it too long.  When I was done, I threaded each end of the thread through the holes that the wire comes out of and tied them together a few times. I dropped the crystal into the ornament and then reattached the top. 

Next, I started on the exterior.  I used some inexpensive beads that I already had, a heavy duty thread and a regular smallish hand sewing needle.  I first made a ring of enough beads to make a collar around the top.  This is trial and error because your top and your beads might be a little differently sized.  Make sure to really tie the string around your starting bead so that it doesn't slide off.  Also, when the ring is done, go back through a couple of beads to make it secure.  Then comes the fun part.  I first counted how many of the showy drip beads I had, which was three.  Then, I counted the number of beads I had around the collar, which was 24.  I divided 24 by 3 and came up with an extension every 8 beads.  I simply started stringing beads and crystals until I thought it was pretty and repeated that three times.  You may notice that I used a single bead above and below the main drop crystal.  I found that passing through that bead above again made the prettiest drop for me.  You might also notice that my ornament has the same patterns all the way around.  I tend to be a very symmetrical person, so that works for me.  Use your sparkle any way that makes you happy. 

Here is another picture of the finished project.  It hung against white in the Connie Crystal booth, but I am sure that it will be a fixture on my tree for years to come. 

So make it your own style and Sparkle On!