Beaded Flower Spray

Ok so as you can see I have been having fun with lately! I was following links and came across one from Wild Orchid Crafts for Floral Bead Sprays. So I decided to give it  a go :) With my own flavour  added of course lol.

I gathered some beads, iamroses flowers in various sizes (all white) and beading wire and set  off on an adventure lol. I, loving butterfly's, had decided this time I must have a butterfly. I resisted the urge on my previous bead sprays so now was the time! I also decided my favourite colour, purple, would be my colour of choice.

Supplies in hand and working on my twist, the first things I grabbed were the butterfly and a rose bud. I wanted my rose bud to be the top of my spray so had to work out how to incorporate the butterfly and rose in reverse order to the video instructions.

I started with my butterfly bead as per the video instructions for beads but only gave a little twist to the wires underneath. I then stuck the long stem from my rosebud through the butterfly and incorporated it into the twisting wires.

I then made  four more bead/flower  combos one bead and flower on each. However after  I twisted  it all together it looked wrong to me lol.  I grabbed two more  itty roses and twisted them onto the two stems that felt too long and bare lol...

I coloured my flowers using dusty concord distress stain on the tips and then spraying with home made pearl mist.

My 8 yr old daughter took some pics for me :) I will add  one that  shows the whole thing when my camera batteries charge :)
Happy Scrappin'
Purple

Pic  showing  the whole spray

Home Made Bead Sprays

Well I found a tutorial on youtube to make my own bead sprays. So I had to try it out as bead sprays are not something I would usually buy. They are after all a bit on the expensive side. The lady who I am emulating is Leanne from LovleeScrappin. Click the link to see her tutorial. It is very clear and well done :)

 My first effort is well... Iffy at best lol. Not bad for my first try I guess. Of course I didn't follow directly what Leanne said soo erm yeah anyways... here it is.

My next effort was much better, however I had the wire break along the way. Twisted too tight I guess. I had to undo that section and reattach the wire to the main body... That was fun for a non beader lol. I know no secrets. So what I did was add the blue bead in the middle and used that to anchor the broken wire to and reintegrate it into the spray. I added another bead in the middle because I thought one looked weird lol.

Then I decided to try one more time and do something different. I added extra beads to each line, all except one have three beads on each arm. I added a bead at the bottom to finish it off. As you can see by my spacing I am learning as I go. I will get there in the end! lol

None of the ones I have made tonight have any colour theme. I was just playing and learning how to make the sprays. I'd still like to try and work out how to get the effect I was going for in the first one to work but as a non beader I am happy with baby steps!

The first and last sprays were made with swarovski crystals. The middle one was made with acrylic beads.
Thanks for looking and Happy Scrappin'
Purple