Easter Beading Projects for Everyone

I love beading and frankly, any excuse for a new beading project is a good excuse, I think! So, as Lent arrived and the shops started filling up with Easter eggs, I began to think that Easter is a good excuse. But, what was I going to make for this year’s Easter beading project?

Let me share with you how I ended up finding not just one, but two new Easter beading projects. …All in the space of one week! I also found they were pretty quick to make. So, if you’re scrabbling around for an idea at the last minute, then I’ve got you covered.

The Origins of the Easter Bunny

Now, the first Easter beading project I ever made was a wooden egg form that I encased with beads. I know I have it somewhere…probably in one of those boxes that I didn’t get around to unpacking after I moved. In fact, I have half an idea which box, so maybe that’s a job for this weekend. Go and find Easter egg!

Then, I sort of lost sight of Easter as an excuse for beading. I create at least two new Christmas designs every year, but Easter gets overlooked.

That all changed a couple of years back. My next Easter project was an Easter bunny. He (or she) looks so cute at the centre of my table for Easter lunch. I’ve hidden the bunny amongst Easter eggs and included him as a non-edible Easter gift too.

The funniest thing about all this is that Easter beading project first came about in a class where I was teaching Christmas decorations! I was supposed to be demonstrating a snowman – which I did. Unfortunately, I had run out of white beads, so I grabbed some brown, thinking I would use them to show the technique. I then planned to turn them into a beaded bead necklace.

When one of my students commented on my ‘muddy snowman’, another suggested an Easter bunny. So, I spent the class adding ears and a little tail to my brown snowman! Then I went home and made that beaded bead necklace as well.

My Second Easter Beading Project

Now, I love the my netting is a brilliant stitch for beginners. It is simple to master and it works up quickly.

I’m going to come back to netting later on, but I want to tell you about my second Easter beading project now. Circular and Tubular Peyote were the very first bead-weaving techniques I ever learned. I picked them because I could see how I might create a little ballet tutu from beads (I’m as much addicted to ballet as I am to beading!).

The Easter Basket

I think perhaps because they were my first techniques, they also became my favourite. So, this year I was sitting down to think about an Easter project as Lent began. I had also been thinking about beaded boxes and somehow an Easter basket sprang to mind. This proved to be one of those projects that just fell into place. Maybe because I have so much experience with Peyote, I knew how the design would work. …And it did work just as I planned!

I sized my basket to hold a few miniature Easter eggs, but I also thought about how to change the size if I wanted to use different eggs. So, when I wrote up the pattern, I included these tips for others to follow too.

The only thing I can’t decide is whether to make a little basket of eggs for everyone in my family (my niece is a bit young for beads yet!), or whether to use this as a centrepiece for the dinner table. Then I can always make the individual baskets for everyone next year! Decisions, decisions…

My Easter Chick

Now, I’ve been wanting to make an Easter chick for ages. Somehow the exact design idea has just failed to take shape…until this year! I was in my local supermarket and saw an end-of-aisle display with cute Easter cuddly toys. Amongst them sat an adorable little chick that was basically just a round ball of fluff! I nearly bought it for my niece, then realised it probably wasn’t safe until she’s a little older. (Don’t worry, I found another cuddly toy instead!)

The thing was, I found myself thinking about this and thinking about my beads and then the idea struck. This form would translate perfectly into a super-cute beaded Easter chick!

So, here we are back with the netting, back with a wooden bead. This time, I used my tubular and circular Peyote to make a little Easter bonnet. If you’re not so confident with those techniques, you could make an entirely different bonnet. Maybe even a tiny material one that avoids beads altogether!

Now, I have three cute little Easter beading patterns to share with everyone and my Easter dinner table has an adorable centrepiece. Will I stop there? Of course not…I already have an idea for beaded Easter eggs, so I’ll share that when it’s ready!

What Easter Beading Projects will you make?

So, now my Easter is sorted out, how about yours? If I’ve tempted you with these patterns, you can follow this link to download them. Remember, you can make any of these in a day, so what are you waiting for? Hopefully that’s your weekend sorted…and still in plenty of time for Easter!

I’d love to know what Easter beading projects you’re working on, so leave me a comment below. If you want to know more about my beaded Easter eggs, then make sure you follow my blog, or join my Beadflowers mailing list. Not only will you get some special offers, but you’ll be the first to find out about new projects!