Beading up a storm...

And having a blast in the process!!!

Look at what I found - I was looking through some of my stash, searching for focals that I might use for the upcoming One World One Heart giveaway. While the posts with giveaways will begin showing up on blogs the week of January 19th, the winners are to be announced on February 12. Close enough to Valentine's day to have me thinking hearts, flowers and all things related.

I'm not a big Valentine Day person - commercially speaking. I abhor the thought of anyone buying me flowers or chocolates at inflated prices just because that's what some people feel obligated to do that day. But if you gift me that stuff on a random Tuesday (just because), my heart will sing! I digress, back to beading...

I love hearts and flowers everyday and have incorporated those elements into my beading on many occasions. This giveaway is one of those occasions.

The flower pictured at the top of this post is a wonderful ceramic button created by the very talented Lisa Peters. I used heavy duty yellow Pellon as my foundation for the beading. I punctured a small hole in the Pellon in order to push the shank through the foundation. I also added a little bit of glue (E6000) to the back of the button for extra security. Because of the uneven edge of the flower I knew I would not be able to peyote stitch around the edge to secure it to the Pellon, so I wanted to make sure it would not detach from the foundation when worn. On the backside of the foundation where the shank was poking through, I slipped a small bugle bead through the shank loop and stitched it in place - safe and secure now!

After embellishing the front with beads, I moved on to the back. I added a touch of fiberfil, and a round piece of poster board cut a bit smaller than the Pellon. Next, I cut a round piece of mustard colored Ultrasuede for the backing. At that time I laid the pin back on the Ultrasuede to make the marks where I needed small cuts in order to push the pin back through it.

Next, I get out the E6000 and glue together what looks like a little cabochon sandwich. Ultrasuede on the bottom, pin back, poster board, fiberfil and Pellon with the button attached. I WISH I would have taken photos of the progress. This also the first time I used a pin back with bail and I like the versatility it provides. The edge stitch is a raw edge with 'pointed edge' stitch as found in 'Beading with Cabochons' by Jamie Cloud Eakin.



The only thing I would change (which I did on the next one) is that I would take the button shank (they are metal on these particular buttons) and bend it sideways - eliminating the need to add the fiberfil as a cushion for the shank and the bugle bead. That's what I did on the lips and I think it worked out better. The back is smoother that way and it just looked better to me. I've included photos of the backs for both so you can see the difference between the two.



The lips - are SO cute! This is stoneware shank button, also created by Lisa Peters. This button is pretty deep (high?), but had a nice edge - perfect for a peyote stitch! I am not sure how many rows I added. I started with a matte AB size 11 bead at the base and added transparent AB beads towards the top.



I finished it with a raw edge stitch using size 11/0 beads as well as 4mm padparadscha and 3mm AB dark red coral Swarovski crystals.



Now to decide which I will give away... or will it be both? I'm working up at least 2 more in the next few days (both hearts) and once done with all of them will then decide if one or all will be given away. So check back if you're interested. The only requirement to participate is that you have a blog - that's pretty easy don't you think?

As always you can click on each photo above for a bigger version with more detail.