When I was living in Japan, it was very common for people to have ‘charms’ hanging from their keitai (cell/mobile phone), bag, or zippers. These were very cute, and I believe they’re still in fashion as I not too long ago received one as a gift. While wandering around Belfast recently, I found a new-to-me bead shop and had a little look around. I found some beautiful beads and just knew this would be the perfect thing to make from them.
Supplies needed for phone charms
- Coated wire
- Beads
- Crimps
- Jump rings
- Needle-nose pliers
- Scissors or wire snips
- Phone/keychain attachment
The children had lots of fun looking through the beads that were in our craft stash, choosing just the right ones for each person that would receive a Sheep Charm. They placed them down in the order that they wanted to string them together.
I helped them with the first bead and flattening the crimp beads so that the rest of the beads would stay on the coated wire. Then they did the rest. It was fantastic work for those fine motor skills!
Just look at that concentration! This is serious business because a couple of these were going to be sent through the mail as special Chinese New Year gifts. The kids wanted everything to be perfect.
They started from the bottom of the charm and worked their way up. When they reached the top, I helped them feed on a jump ring, another crimp bead, and then it was flattened and the extra wire was snipped off.
The most time-consuming part of this craft was choosing the beads!
I think these little phone charms are very charming, indeed!
Of course, they don’t have to adorn a phone, they can be used on a bag or backpack, a zipper pull, or many other things.
We made these in anticipation of the Chinese New Year, which will be the Year of The Sheep for 2015/16.
We’ll be sharing more sheep-themed crafts over the next little while, so sign up for our emails if you don’t want to miss them.
