Farmhouse Beads for Valentines

Farmhouse wood bead strings are very popular and surprisingly easy to make. To create this Valentine farmhouse beads string took about an hour. Let me show you how to make a plain string of wooden farmhouse beads that you can quicklly update into Valentine farmhouse bead by adding a clip on.

Buying Wood Beads

I was able to purchase one container of natural wood beads at Michael’s.  The only natural wood beads came in a container of various sizes.

After purchasing the large wood beads they were sorted by size.  My package of wood beads had three sizes small, medium and large beads.  Divide and count each type of bead.  Mine had twice as many medium beads, then small beads, there were less large beads.  Using my bead number I came up with the following stringing pattern. Start with 1 small, then 2 medium, 1 large, 2 medium, 1 small.  Then starting with 1 small and repeating.  Please note this was to get the most out of the one container of beads, any pattern works as long as you repeat it throughout the garland.

Stringing the Wood Beads

Decide how long you want your garland to be and cut your twine a two feet longer.  This one is six feet long so I cut my twine 8 feet.  You can make it shorter if you like, but I had enough beads and thought I may want to use it as a banner some day.

To string the beads you will need just, and a small set of tweezers, or a large needle.  I only used my tweezers once, but you may need something to help you pull the jute through the beads.

Starting the Farmhouse Wood Bead Garland

Start by folding  one end of your jute so that you have a six inch tail.

Pinch the loop end  and push the jute through your first  bead.  Tie two knots, the first one before the bead, so that you have a 1/2 inch loop.  Tie the second knot after the bead.

Thread the two ends of jute through the next bead. To do this I twisted the two ends of the jute together.  Wet them and pushed through the bead.  I pulled on the first string that came through, and the second one followed.  It this doesn’t work, use a large needle to push the jute through, or a set of tweezers to pull them both through.

Using the longer thread tie  a simple knot around the shorter thread.  Once knotted, trim off the rest of the short thread.

Continue stringing your beads by whatever pattern you like, making sure to tie a knot between each bead.

Ending the Farmhouse Wood Bead Garland

Once your reach six inches from the end of you twine,  create a 1/2 inch loop in the twine near the last bead.  Wrap the twine to form a knot, and then trim the excess twine.

Making Tassels for the Wood Bead Garland

Now the farmhouse wood bead string is finished decide how long you want your tassels to be.  Find or cut a piece of cardboard the length you like.  Mine are five inches long.

Starting at one end wrap the twine 15 times around the cardboard ending at the same end as you started.

Cut the twine at along the edge where the two twine tails are, remove from the cardboard.  Holding the bunch together feed all the just strips through the 1/2 inch loop.  Fold so the end are even.

Cut an 8 inch piece of yard.  Make a loop about three inches from the end.  Place this over the loop over the bundle so the loops align.  Pull the short end downwards and hold in place with one hand.

With the other hand wrap the longer length of twine around the bundle several times.

Once the twine is wrapped around the bundle 5 or six times, take the end of the twine from the back and thread it upwards through the loop.

Now grab the other end of the twine, that you placed downwards at the beginning.  Pull on it drawing the loop through the wraps.  Once the other end is pulled through tighten and trim any excess.

Do the same thing for the other end.

Adding the Bling

I thought it was fun to add a glittery set of pink beads to the end of the farmhouse wood beads.  I purchased the string of beads at Michaels and attached them using a clip on hangar.  You can just tie them on with more twine if you like.  That way you can remove them after Valentines day if you just want to use them plain or replace with something else seasonal.

Other Wooden Bead Ideas

If you love wooden bead crafts as much as I do here are some more ideas.