DIY Wood Bead Ornaments

Hi friends! 

As some of you may have seen, there is a big trend going around with beautiful ornaments made out of wood beads. I’ve seen some of these ornaments or garlands ranging in price, some were affordable and others were super over priced. Either way, I have been obsessed with these ornaments and garlands and knew I could DIY these myself so I gave it a try and thought I’d share with all of you! 

After looking up inspiration and multiple retailers selling these beads, I ended up finding the most affordable options and best bang for your buck from Amazon. Of course though, I found this after spending a lot of money for them from Hobby Lobby. Now, I love Hobby Lobby but the wood beads didn’t come in large packs for an affordable price. Thankfully they had some sales going on. Also – Joann Fabrics also has tons of coupons online that can help with the cost. 

Overall, it was a relatively low cost DIY. All items I used will be linked below!

What You Will Need:

• Wood beads (you can get these in different colors and shapes too)
• Twine or string
• Sewing needles
• Memory wire
• Memory wire cutters
• Scissors

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How – To:

Regular Ornament on String:

Have fun with this ornament! Add a bunch of different sized beads, change up your order if you want and see how creative you can get. These are perfect additives to a gift as well. I made mini ones with just three wood beads and tied them to Christmas gifts for an added homemade gift. 

1. Cut a long piece of thread and fold it in half so you have a “double” piece of thread.
2. Take the end that has the loop on the bottom and create a knot, making sure to keep the loop part with enough room to hook it onto the tree.
3. Once your knot is created, pull the end of your thread (Non looped ends) through the needle.
4. One by one add your wood beads onto the thread in the style you would like.
5. Knot the end thick so no beads fall off and you’re done!

Circle Ornament:

I am obsessed with this ornament style! This is such a pretty ornament, and surprisingly pretty simple to make. Let’s get started!

1. Cut enough memory wire to create the size circle you’d like.
2. Take your Memory Wire Cutters and bend one end of the wire to create a loop. Fully close the loop to make a small circle. 
3. Add your thread through the little circle you created to form a loop and tie a knot on the end. This will be the loop that gets hooked onto the tree. 
4. One by one, add your wood beads to the wire. Make sure to keep the wire in the form of a circle as you do so and leave a little bit of wire exposed on the end so you can make your final loop. 
5. Once you have all the wood beads on the wire, make your final loop on the end with the memory wire cutter, but don’t completely close the loop like we did earlier.
6. Take the open loop you just made and hook it around the circle you created in step 2. 
7. Once it is hooked together, close the open gap with your memory wire cutters to ensure your string is secure.
8. Done!

Garland: 

This garland is super easy. The only preplanning you may want to do is decide the pattern for your wood bead sizes and the arrangement you want them in. Or you could do what I did and just wing it lol. 

1. Cut a long piece of thread. Make sure it is as long as you want your garland to be.
2. Tie a knot at the end. Make sure it’s a thick knot because you do not want all of the wood beads to slip off the end. 
3. Pull the end of your thread through a needle.
4. Add your wood beads one by one.
5. Tie a thick knot at the end and you’re done!

Obviously, SEEING someone do a DIY is a lot easier – so, I attached two quick videos below for you to watch these steps in action. Follow my Instagram, @katerinaharos for more little videos like these!

Don’t underestimate this DIY, it’s really simple, but can get tricky without the proper tools. I would get a few sizes of needles and definitely the Memory Wire cutters. It will help to get a few different thickness in twine or string as well because some won’t fit through your needle. 

Once you have this DIY started you will not be able to stop! It is so much fun and I loved picking out different looks and styles for each ornament. 

Comment below how this DIY worked out for you and send photos to @katerinaharos Instagram to share your DIY results!

-Kat