{Tutorial} Tuesday: Straight pin accents and {giveaway!}

So as I said the other day when I posted the play date cafe challenge card with the little stick pin I would be showing you some delicious {variations} on stick pin decorating. First off my favorite pins to work with are the vintage ones that I have found at antique stores and thrift stores. The heart and glass bead top stick pins in these photos were bought at an antiques store and I adore them! {there are some in the giveaway!}

Buttons buttons who's got the button! Buttons are the most common pin adornment that I have seen. My favorite way to use them is like this: with several similar button shapes and colors. You can mix and match of course or just use one. This is an excellent way to pull a little more of an accent color into the piece.

Next is beads! Beads can be done a lot of ways. If you jewelry making is part of your craft repertoire you can make a multi-layer dangly bead like you would for an earring with jewelry pins and your plier sets {picture on the left}. Or if you have some charms and are not good with the jewelry making do what I did on the right {and in the play date cafe card} put the top circle part of the charm in between a pair of pliers and bend it down so the charm and the charm hole at the top make a 90 degree angle. This will make your charm lay flat in front of the pin rather than stick straight out {and you wont have to put it on a jump ring!}

When using more than one bead you have a couple of options too. Use different shapes and colors to make an eye catching look or design a pretty shape from multiple beads.

If you liked this tutorial and you are a follower leave a comment below telling me your favorite part of adding decorative stick pins to your work. I will select a random winner during next weeks {tutorial} tuesday to win all the pins, beads, buttons, and charms used in today's tutorial, plus a few extras! {good luck}

The blog {candy}: