Swirled Wire & Chain Ornament

I am loving creating some new ornaments for the tree this year.

I’ll confess. Some of mine were pretty sad. Ok. Really sad.
It’s been fun to make some fun, unique ornaments to freshen up the tree a bit!

Anthro has some really cute ornaments – shocker. So I’ve been doing some knockoff-ing –
Here’s my super cute Swirled Wire & Chain Ornament:

It’s kind of a mishmash ornament inspired by these two over at Anthro:

 This ornament is quick and really fun!

You’ll need:

1 Plastic Clear Ornament
20″ chain
Thin Wire – I bought a spool and had lots left over
Heavy Florist Wire for the hook
2 Jump Rings
1 Eye Pin
Small bit of Jute for Bow
Saw, Drill
Round Nosed Pliers, Flat Nosed Pliers, Wire cutters.

Start by getting your ornament ready. Mine had a really wide opening.

Saw that opening off so that the base is just a round hole. Drill a small hole at the bottom (which will now be the top of the ornament)

Cut your chain into two, 10″ pieces. Fold the chain in about half, but leave the lengths for the pieces different. Add a link at the top of each folded chain to a large jump ring.
Add an Eye Pin (a wire with a loop on the end) to the jump ring.

Feed the chain/wire up through the large hole at the bottom until the thin, straight wire is feeding through the small hole you drilled.
Bend that wire to form a small loop. Add another jump ring to that loop.

Form a “?” shape with a length of heavy florist wire. This can look any way you’d like, it’s to hang the ornament on the tree, but make sure there is a small loop at the end.

Add your hook to the top jump ring. For the next party you will probably find it easier if the ornament is hanging and you can work on adding the wire with both hands.

Begin wrapping a small piece of wire around the loop just below your top jump ring. Twist the end around the wire and trim.

Make a loop with the wire and wind it around the wire below the jump ring.

Keep adding loops of different sizes and widths until it looks as full as you want it.

Anthro left theirs that way – but I am not fond of the wrapped section in the center – it’s a little too messy for me.
If you feel the same way – knot a little bit of jute around the section and tie it in a bow.
I think it helps finish it off!

That’s it!! Fun right?
You could easily change out the wire/chain colors – I think red would look great too!

I hope you like it!

Have you made any new ornaments this year?

(This was originally a guest post over at I {heart} Naptime.) :)

I’m linking to Sunday Scoop, Today’s Creative Blog, Met Monday, Skip to my Lou, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday, Funky Junk Interiors, and the other fabulous parties on the sidebar – make sure you check them out!