Saturday, December 19, 2009

JINGLE BELL SWAG TUTORIAL

 

 

mybells 

In my last post I showed you my Pottery Barn inspired twig reindeer and Jingle Bell swag.  I had a few bells left so I decided to do a tutorial on how I made the swag.   I have never posted a tutorial before, so please bear with me.   

Here goes:

 

Step 1:  Gather your supplies.  For this project you’ll need:

  • 2 pair pliers
  • jump rings (for the tutorial I used bigger rings so you could see it better.)
  • piece of chain (mine was approx. 10 1/2 inches)
  • bells (for this tutorial I only used 16 bells because that’s all I had left.  In the original I used 40)
  • cigarettes & coffee (optional for you but a MUST for me…lol…)

 

step1

STEP 2:  Open all of your jump rings and clip off the little tags from the bells.  I couldn’t get a picture of myself  opening the jump rings because, well, it takes both hands.  So I’ll send you HERE to see a quick video. 

STEP 3:  Take one of your jump rings and pick up your bell and one end of the chain.  Close the jump ring.

step3

 

STEP 4: Keep doing this alternating sides of the chain as shown in the next 2 pictures.  Do this all the way up the chain skipping a link or two between each bell.  Leave some room at the top of the chain to put your bow on.  The more bells you use, the fuller the swag will be. 

step4

 

 

step5

STEP 5:   Make your “ring hanger thing”.  Take an old coat hanger and shape it around a can of veggies or soup to make a circle.  Twist it to close the circle and cut.  Take one of your jump rings and pick up the top part of the chain and hook it to your coat hanger circle.  Close the jump ring.  Slap a bow on your swag and you’re done!!  This is what it looks like with 16 bells (I don’t have enough ribbon to make another bow.) The more bells you use, and the closer you put the bells, the fuller it gets.

step6

Here’s a picture of the one from Pottery Barn:

pbbells

 

And here’s another picture of my original one using 40 bells:

mybells

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  If there’s anything you need help with, just holler.  And if you decide to make one of these using this tutorial, I’d love to see it!!

I’m also linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special.  Head on over there to check out some more great projects!!

satnitenew150w

5 comments:

Miss Mustard Seed said...

So pretty! What a great copy of the PB original.

Decor To Adore said...

How adorable! I love this idea.

The House Creative said...

I bet it makes a nice little jingle when you open the door too! Love it!

Amy @ Design-Aholic said...

I totally bought a bag of bells from the local thrift for $0.50, but didn't know how I was going to use them. I think I just found the way!!! Thanks!

Mary said...

Thanks everyone!! Shannon: Oh yeah! This baby really jingles...lol... design_aholic: I've had these bells since Oct. 2005. I've put them in my "give-away" boxes so many times and taken them back out everytime. I just knew I could do something with them. Thanks to PB, I finally did.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...