Last year we had fun making these little beaded elves from pipe cleaners and wooden beads. With some creativity, bits of fabric and ribbon we ended up making lots of fairies too and strayed into Fimo heads and faces too; the possibilities are pretty endless.

First of all we bought some assorted wooden beads on ebay and some proper pipe-cleaners from a real tobacconist (not chenille craft stems, they are too thick). Next we made the body shapes out of two pipe-cleansers.

Make two shapes like this, one more twisted than the other and slot the less twisted one on top of the main body. It makes arms which you tighten around the neck. Then add a large bead body, leg and arm beads and a head on top of the whole thing. You can buy wooden face beads, or draw on plain ones with Sharpies. Fold back the pipe-cleaner to make hands and feet and hold on the beads. Accessorize with gauze, silk petals etc. We made pointy Fimo hats, with a hole pressed through the top for a hanging loop, and stuck them on top.

This craft first featured on our family blog.