How to make beaded Christmas tree cones

I don’t do much crafting nowadays (I’ve not yet picked up again my half-finished crochet blanket that I put down back in March), but do love it when I get the chance.  Of course I love pinterest, so I probably have a stash of items I want to try, but don’t get round to.

However, I spotted beaded Christmas trees on another blog the other day, and decided that I wanted to have a go…but doing an easier version than gluing on hundreds of individual beads.  Once I’ve tracked down some cardboard cones, and dug out my glue gun, it was time to get crafting.

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What you need

• Cardboard cone – I got mine from ebay, but somewhere like Hobbycraft would have them
• Beaded garland – I love these beaded garlands on my Christmas tree rather than tinsel, but I did buy some more cheapo ones rather than using my nicer ones.  Mine were 5 metre lengths
• Glue gun or double sided sticky tape.

Add Christmas music if you want to get into the Christmas mood.

How to make beaded Christmas trees

The original tutorial I saw used a glue gun to add rows of individual beads, but I found it much quicker (and it’s probably much cheaper as well) to use the beaded garlands.  It would also avoid young children stealing off with your beads to use as marbles, as I’m sure N would have done!

1, If using a glue gun add a little glue at a time on the bottom of the cone and stick the beaded garland round.

I found my glue gun was a bit rubbish and didn’t really hold the beaded bits, so resorted to double sided sticky tape instead.  The only downside with that is that it’s not cone shaped so if you stick your tape round and round, you’ll end up with bumps (which you can’t see once covered).  My second cone I did bottom to top strips of tape instead which worked just as well (although with that you have to unpeel all at once, instead of as you go.

2, Continue sticking your beaded garland round the cone in neat rows until you reach the top.  You can use all one colour or stripes.  Just cut off your strand and stick on a new strand when you want to.

3, At the top I put tape over the top but it didn’t stick the final bead down in the gap very well, so there I did resort to the glue gun.

4, Admire your single or multiple beaded Christmas tree.

My beaded garland was 5 metres long, and my cones were 20cm, so I needed about another 10cm for the top.  But it’s seemless to join another strand.

Have you tried anything similar?  What else do you use your beaded garlands for?

Edited: My tape didn’t hold the bottom rows on past Christmas, so I redid with a better glue gun.  Glue guns are definitely the way to go if you want the beaded christmas trees to last into the next year.

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