Less is More Week 112 - Use Beads

Hi Blog fans, I'm an early bird this week with an entry for Less is More's weekly challenge. I'm usually a Friday evening submitter so I don't know what's come over me this week! It might have been the excitement of going to the ICHF show at the NEC on Sunday. Living about a 20 minute motorway drive away, I go twice yearly without fail, but on Friday night Birmingham was engulfed in a very, very thick blanket of snow. I left it until Sunday to brave it and the most difficult part was getting off the drive and down our road.
Anyhow, here's my card for this week's challenge which is to 'use beads' on your CAS card.
 

       Stamps: SU 'Fabulous Florets', Kaisercraft 'Grid' , Personal Impressions sentiment  

            Ink: Staz-on 'Jet Black', Memento 'Angel Pink'     

                                    Beads: Black seed beads from Hobbycraft                              

 

                   

 And an extreme close up!!

 

I stamped the grid stamp first (a new NEC purchase) in a pale pink, then stamped the stem and leaves stamp over it in Staz-on for a strong black impression. I stamped the 2 poppy-like petals from the same set again in Staz-on onto a deep red card and fussy-cut them out. I popped foam squares on the smaller petal for a bit of dimension then added seed beads to the centre of each flower.
I'm not sure whether I should have done the stem in black embossing powder so it matched the glossiness of the beads, or am I being over fussy?
Off to start on a shamballa bracelet to go with a new grey floaty top I'm wearing on Thursday for our work's traditional Maundy Thursday pub crawl - there are some benefits of being a civil servant! Musn't forget to make sure the children are all sorted though lol!