Beaded skull brooch

Over the years I have collected beads, buttons, and other little bits and pieces. Sometimes I've used them in projects but mostly I've just collected them. I don't have much, it all mostly fits in one of those Christmas cookie tins but I want more :)

I've always had this idea in my head that I could combine embroidery floss, sequins, and beads to "paint" a picture. Like everything else that we crafters think is "new" it's been done. Search bead embroidery on Google or Pinterest but don't blame me if you get lost in the time suck ;)

A few weeks ago (I have so much to get y'all caught up on) I felt drawn to try bead embroidery. I've been watching as many videos as I could find on YouTube and just had to play.

So I made a black and red beaded brooch with a mini skull accent. I learned a lot with this piece. The main thing is almost anything can be fixed by just stitching on some more beads.  When all the tutorials tell you it is best to add the beads only 2 at a time it's best to listen. I'm one of those people that is willing to do as you tell me but I need to understand why. Nobody said why I should only add two beads at a time until I watched a video yesterday. The reason you only stitch 2 beads at a time is so that they lay flat. BAM! That makes sense and will make my next project even better because there will be more. Many more.  Have you looked at beads and beading  supplies lately? All the colors and variety are just gorgeous. Good thing beads don't take up much space and overall they're not very expensive.

The back is a piece of suede with a pin back. My back is cupped a little so I'll need to figure out why. I didn't pull the beading thread too tight so that's not it. Maybe it's just that I need to put something on top of it while it dries so it flattens out. I guess I'll just have to make more beaded embroidery pieces to figure it out. Darn. lol