Quite Charming

I decided that I wanted to hand-make holiday gifts for my colleagues this year. I've done it at other places I've worked at and everyone always seems to love it. When I worked at the SPCA, I made my three colleagues decorative pillows, using unique fabric prints. Another year, I gave them glass coasters that I painted my own designs on. When I worked at the Aquarium, I made everyone small magnents that had pictures I cut from magazines that matched everyone's personality. However, at the Symphony, I didn't have the time to make anything, so I just gave everyone pretty pens and candy. This year, since I have a new job at the college, I want to get back into the tradition of giving handmade gifts. So, after a brief calculation of how much time (and patience) I was willing to put into it, I decided to make wine charms. Turns out, this is going to be the easiest gift I've ever made! It's so simple. Here's what I did:


Materials* (all purchased at Michaels):
-Round nose or needle nose pliers
-Beads, color of your choice (I chose red and gold beads)
-Decorative charms (I chose gold leaves and flowers)
-Wire hoops that have a small loop at one end (they look like hoop earrings) in assorted sizes
*Everything listed can be found in the jewelry supply section at Michaels


Start off by placing the beads on your hoop, in whatever color order you want. At mid-point, add your charm, then add the rest of your beads.


When your beading comes to the end of your hoop, leave enough of a tail to bed upwards with your round-nose pliers. This will secure the beads in place and give a notch to hook your loop around.


Your finished product will look like this.


It looks really pretty with a glass of red or white wine, champagne, or even Martinelli's sparkling cider.


These are just 6 of the 8 that I worked on. The one with a missing charm is an experiment. I'm trying to see if some would work without one, so that I can spread out my charm supply. I decided it looks better if they all have a charm.

What's nice about this is that you can customize it however you want. If you want chunky beads, big charms, no charms, it's up to you. These red ones are for my colleague, Jamie. I'm making aqua-colored ones for my boss and other colors for other colleagues. For the ones who don't drink alcohol, I'll just make them cookies and a handmade card. Simple as that.