the big, big tree topper

The topper for The Big, Big Tree is my all time favorite holiday thing found on deep post-holiday clearance. I don’t remember exactly when I found it, but it was at least fifteen years or so. I found it at a K-mart, ninety percent off on the last tiny little table of Christmas decorations. I […]

my giving tree

The distraction of the Great Bead Garland Caper of 2020 helped. Having an on-going adventure of tedium kept my creative brain engaged and occupied, allowing me to disengage from the preoccupation of a holiday season with no guests. The third and final set of garland strands has a color set of pink, hot pink, red, […]

pre-post-holiday newbies

For a few years, I’ve seen a trend of early holiday clearance sales. Ages ago, I used to stock up for next Christmas in January at seventy-five percent off. Now, it’s fifty percent in mid-December. I’m good with it. Tonight, getting hardware for the last round of bead garland, I might have acquired a few […]

the gbgc ’20: update

Round two is complete. (I think) I’ll make one more round…

the gbgc ’20: round 2 underway

The color set for the second batch of beaded garlands:

the gbgc ’20, how to: final assembly

Assembling the garland sections uses exactly the same process I learned to make a wired necklace, or earrings. It’s important to note: the flat-nose need to be the type specifically made for jewelry, with a smooth pinching surface. Traditional needle-nose pliers with a serrated surface will chew up the surface of the wire pins. A […]

the gbgc ’20, round 1.2

I am nearly out of segments comprised of smaller glass/crystal beads that are needed at the scallop peaks to let the strands meet up well at the hooks. I’ve nearly completed three tiers of double-stranded garland. At this point, the longterm goal is two more rounds of the same. I would ultimately like to see […]

the gbgc ’20, round 1

Since I’m not likely to run out for more eye pins on Black Friday, I’ve moved on to assembly. Knowing that future rounds of making new segments will involve different color sets, I’m leaving space between this round of garland, so the final results will have a consistent color variation throughout the tree. I decided […]

the gbgc ’20 how-to: beaded segment

The first stage of the Great Beaded Garland Caper is to make individual beaded segments. Hundreds and hundreds of beaded segments… Using the pre-cut, pre-formed eye pins speed up the process. I have made my own from spooled wire. Head pins need to be purchased and are for dangly bits; eye pins will connect to […]

the great beaded garland caper of 2020

I am anticipating the need for a holiday season distraction to help keep me distracted as we get closer to a holiday open house that won’t be happening… So, I’m moving forward with a holiday project that has been on the back burner for years… I removed and destrung the glass bead garlands from the […]