The holiday season is fast approaching but there is still time to whip up these simple festive earrings to accompany the traditional Christmas jumper (be it delightfully ugly or not)!

BASIC KIT

You will need:

• Earring hooks (source sterling silver ones if your ears are sensitive)

• Thin craft wire

• Jewellery pliers (and optional wire straightener) or decent pair of rounded tweezers

• Scissors

• Beads, baubles, and embellishments of choice

• Clear nail varnish (for lacquering anything glittery)

• Paint of various colours (optional)

• Glue or clear thread

EASY PEASY BAUBLES

The first make couldn’t be simpler! We repurposed small parcel baubles, first coating them in clear nail varnish to prevent the glitter dropping over your shoulders and hair when you’re rocking these accessories.

Once dry, it’s time to assemble. Cut a 4 cm length of wire and loosely feed through the loop at the top of the bauble, over the top and back under. This creates a second loop above that of the bauble which is thin enough to thread onto the earring. Take your pliers and carefully wrap the leftover ends around the bauble loop, cutting the wire shorter after a few wraps and tucking the cut ends into the covered space to prevent scratching.

Finally, use the pliers to gently widen the loop at the base of your earring, thread on the bauble and close up the loop. Repeat for a matching earring.

And voilà, you’re all done!

SPARKLY SNOWMEN

These super cute, understated snowmen are easy to rustle up. We used malachite and lapis lazuli gemstone chips to make the hat of these snowmen, with two sizes of sparkly clear beads for the head and body.

Firstly, search through your string of gemstone chips for suitably flat and square beads to form the hat, keeping these to hand for later. Cut a 5cm length of craft wire and roll the end into a very small loop – this will prevent the beads from falling off your wire. Next try threading on the ‘body’ bead, checking that the loop you just made securely holds the bead in place (if not, roll the loop again to make it thicker). Follow by threading on the ‘head’ and two hat beads. 

Firmly hold all the beads in place with one hand, using some round nosed pliers to form a loop above the hats which will allow the snowman to be threaded on to the earring. Wrap some of the spare wire around the base of the loop to secure the beads and cut away any excess, flattening the sharp ends into the knot created.

Optionally, you can use a very thin brush to dot on some black eyes and an orange nose. Repeat for earring number two. 

These snowmen are guaranteed not to melt, so save them for next year!

ROCK THOSE WREATHS

These wreath earrings are trickier to make, but very festive when completed. Start by sorting through gemstone chips to find beads of roughly the same size and shape. You’ll need 15-20 beads, depending on their size and the size of the wreath you want to make.

Cut a 10cm length of craft wire, threading on all of the beads to make up your wreath – now is the time to add more for a bigger hoop. Settle the beads to the centre of your wire and gently bend into a circular shape, twisting the free ends a couple of times to secure the chips. Use pliers to bend both pieces of excess wire together to form the loop for threading onto the earring, wrapping the ends around the original twist a few times before cutting off spare wire.

To decorate, you could tie a small piece of ribbon into a bow and attach to the wreath with glue or clear thread or create a bow out of seed beads (note this is quite fiddly). For the latter, cut a 5cm length of wire (adjust depending on the size of your wreath) and make a small loop at one end to hold the seed beads on. Thread beads of your choice in a desired pattern until your ‘ribbon’ is long enough before rolling another loop at the end to secure, cutting off any excess wire. Carefully bend the wire into a ribbon shape, twisting at the centre to hold the bow in place. Attach to the wreath with glue or clear thread and optionally dot on baubles with various paints.

To complete, thread the decorated wreath on to the earring and repeat to make a set.

And there you have it, three festive projects that you can customise for this most wonderful time of year. Alternatively, if you’re short on time, you could buy charms and add these to the earring stems, creating some Christmas accessories in a matter of minutes.

We hope you will be inspired to try out your own festive jewellery - please share your makes with us using #citygirlnetwork.

Happy crafting and Merry Christmas!

Written and made by Charlotte Bird who can be found at @charlotte_m_bird