Beaded Star Christmas Ornament

I don’t recall where I got my inspiration for these ornaments, but the reason I came up with my own idea, was that I was not to keen to solder the wires together. So that got me thinking, how could I combine the wires, then inspiration struck: buttons have 4 holes and combining 2 buttons would give me an eight-sided star. First I made the bigger star (7 inches in diameter) and then made the smaller star (5.5 inches in diameter) and here is what you need and how to make them:

Materials

4 buttons, 2 matching ones with 4 holes and 2 other ones to cover wires in the center
4 pieces of about 8 inches of 20 gauge wire
really thin wire to tie the buttons together or beading thread
beads (I used plastic beads as I did not have big nice glass beads)
Glue to attach the cover buttons over the center buttons
Thread for hanger

Instructions

Fold the wire in half and thread through opposite holes on the button from the top to the back and then open the wire and fold each end of the wire to the outside
Repeat for the 2nd wire of the same button
Thread the beads on the wire
To finish the wire I create wound loops at each end, or just create a loop with needle nose pliers
Repeat for the other 3 wires
Repeat the above steps for the second button

Place the 2 button on top of each other and align them so that the wires of second button fit between the wires of the first button, giving the star 8 spokes.
Now sew the two buttons together. I used very thin wire as I could just twist them together at the end. They should hold together quite snug.
To finish the center use the second pair of buttons and glue them over the wires. You might have to invert the button for it to fit flat over the wires or cut of the shanks of the buttons.
Take a piece of thread and create a hanger by taking a 9″ piece of thread, folded in half and knotted and then threaded through an eye at the end of a spoke.

And here are the finished stars