Little Flower Charm From Leftover Perler Beads

I’ve done a leftover perler bead project on here before but sometimes you have so few beads in certain colours or shades, that you can’t really use them in any traditional ironing bead project. That’s where this project comes in. I used up all my leftover orange beads: some shades I had more of, some – as little as 3 beads. The googly eye was an impromptu decision, but I think it makes for such a cute result. I like to hang charms on my table lamp and in random places at home, but you could also use it as a key chain or even a zipper pull.

• leftover perler beads in matching colors (I used shades of orange)
• cookie cutters in 2 different sizes
• parchment paper
• iron
• knife
• clasp
• jump rings
• sheep eye (a.k.a. screw eye) nail
• hot glue
• center piece (I used googly eye, but a bead or crystal would also work)

Gather beads of different shades. I used shades of orange. Cut the beads in half lengthwise, then in half again, then cut those pieces into irregular shaped pieces. Repeat it with all the beads.

Sprinkle the pieces on a piece of parchment paper., mixing the different shades. Make two piles and flatten them with your fingers. They should be slightly bigger, than the cookie cutters you’re using. Fold over the parchment paper and place a hot iron on it. Melt the bead fragments together into two “pancakes”, then flip and melt the other side.

Place the cookie cutter on the plastic “pancake”, place a hot iron on top to slightly melt the cutter into place. Flip the cutter and plastic upside down, place parchment paper on top. Slowly push the hot iron down so that the cookie cuter from under the plastic slices all the way through the melting plastic. Repeat this process with the second cookie cutter and plastic “pancake”.

Use an acrylic marker to colour the edges of the flowers. This will neaten up the look and make the flowers pop when they’re placed on top of each other. I coloured the larger flower using a light orange and the small one with a dark orange.

On the back side of the large flower hot glue the sheep eye nail, flip. Glue the smaller flower on top of the larger. In the middle of the small flower, glue on the googly eye or any other centre piece you have chosen.

Attach one jump ring to the loop of the sheep eye nail and one jump ring to the clasp. Use a third jump ring to connect the two. And you’re done. Attach it to wherever you like. 👁️