ICICLES MENU RECIPES

Steps:

• You will need the following beads in clear: 8mm, 6mm, 4mm round crystal clear beads (preferably faceted) and 18mm clear crystal propeller beads. You will need a white pipe cleaner or possibly a chenille stem cut in half. Twist a small loop in one end of the chenille stem taking care not to bend the thing anywhere else or possibly your icicle will be crooked. Slide on three propeller beads, slide on five of the 8mm beads, slide on 4 of the 6mm beads, slide on 5 of the 4mm beads. Clip off any chenille stem left showing on the straight end. I use an ornament hook to hang them on the tree because it assures a straight 'hang'. I made these up in little give-away kits for the kids of the people I work with and they loved them. Kids as well as parents. The next time I went to the craft store for more beads they were all sold out. You can make about 7-10 per package of beads and the cost was around 9 cents each. They look as good as the high dollar glass icicles I bought last year (they were $10 for only 6). I literally covered the tree with them rather than using the more traditional icicles from a box. Here's a little designer tree project for you. I made the icicles in graduated sizes from ten inches to three inches in just hundreds and hung them as follows:Working from the tip of each branch and working back into the tree toward the trunk, hang the longest icicle at the tip of the branch and gradually reduce the size as you work toward the trunk. Hang them about 2 inches apart till they will no longer "hang straight". If you do this for all branches you will be absolutely delighted with the effect. When the lights are turned on the twinkle is astounding and the sunlight shining through the window during the day casts an iridescent rainbow all over the room.