Billy Idol & Beaded Trees

Let me just start this post by stating something many of us would see as quite obvious…Billy Idol back in the day (can’t speak for now…haven’t seen him in years) was one fine looking fella.

photo source

Ok, so what does that have to do with this post you ask?  Well, Sunday morning VH1 Classic runs 80’s videos for a couple of hours and I find this the perfect time to enjoy my coffee and usually write my blog post….or occasionally something else creative.

This morning it was something else creative….finishing a bead tree I had started (I really hate to admit this) a couple few years ago.  I was moving along focused on finishing the darn tree when all of a sudden Billy comes on the TV singing Flesh for Fantasy and for some reason the 16 year old in me surfaced and I was riveted.  Crazy!

Ok, back to my tree…originally when I started this tree the idea came from where most of my best inspiration comes from….a swanky little boutique.  This was one of my favorite shops in Marblehead called Piara Luna…it has since closed :-( …there is a new shop in it’s place called Surfaces which it perfectly lovely…but it’s no Piara Luna :-(

Surfaces
33 Atlantic Ave., Marblehead MA
I actually really LOVE this shop!

One of my friends & I were Christmas shopping and Piara Luna had just the most lovely decorations so of course we headed in.  A gorgeous display had several of these beaded trees as one of its centerpieces…of course we both immediately fell in love….but as usual didn’t fall so in love with the price tag.  So we headed to the craft store to pick up the supplies to make them ourselves.

Bag of supplies...at least I had the sense to put it all in a zip
lock when I put it aside unfinished...

Since I had started this project so long ago of course I don’t have a picture of the inspiration vignette nor do I have any idea of what that “outrageous” price was…you’ll just have to use your imagination here.

But, I do have my finished product….

I used 3 different sized beads…10mm faceted clear, 8mm white pearl, 6mm faceted iridescent (AB) as well as iridescent sequins and pink seed beads.  I used pink seed beads to give it just a little hint of color since the rest of the beads are white or clear.

These were stacked (seed bead, sequin & bead)on an extra-long pin and then stuck into a Styrofoam tree.  I do have to confess though…there were a few starts and stops (the first 1" pins I used were a bit too small) and another lesson learned was the beads stayed place better when the tree was brushed with some Mod Podge first.

I also had purchased the tree topper back when I originally picked up the beads at my local craft store.  I ended up having to remove the wire that was meant to hold it on the top of a tree and just hot glue the star to the top of my tree.

So another project that I had been procrastinating is finished this year and I’m thinking it looks pretty good with the rest of my holiday trees.

Linking on Savvy Southern Style, A Stroll Through Life