Brooches with Bling

I finished these just before we went out of town for Mother’s Day.  Sparkly pins to wear with, well, anything that takes your fancy.

It was fun to go through the stash of crystals and size 13/15 seed beads and come up with the various color variations.  These pins are made on a perforated form, so basically it’s just stitching in one hole and out another, remembering to attach some beads when on the outer side of the form.  It’s the remembering part that can be difficult!

The only other “gotcha”, if you will, was to be sure to omit stitching crystals where the prongs attach the pin back to the form.  With this project, omission was just as important as inclusion.

Other minutia?  Fireline #6 cable as the beading thread, as crystals and the metal forms have rough edges that would likely cut through regular thread.  I had fun making these, noodling around with different shapes and contrasting colors.  Sometimes, you just need to play!