Great Balls of Fire part 1

As soon as started getting into jewelry (which wasn't all that long ago) I a have been fascinated by bead embroidery. I just love the way it looks, bold...big...strong! I finally found a little instructional video thing on Fire Mountain Gems' website...and it got my creative juices flowing even more! I bought all of the stuff for it...and now I am ready to start on my next jewelry journey!. I also thought this would be a great thing to put up on my blog...so people could follow along if they wanted! If you have tip and suggestions though out my project, please let me know! Like I said before...this is my first time doing this!
(You can see a lot of my current projects on the picture of my desk...I am a mess!)
The first thing I did was glue some cabachons to my cut outs of Lacy's Stiff Stuff with some E-6000 glue and let it sit over night. I also put a doll face on some Stiff Stuff in a press so that it would adhere to the whole thing...but little did I know it would also adhere to the wood of the press! It just took a little pulling to get it off, but I just about freaked out of a second! I wanted to do them all at the same time because the tips for the glue can only be used once...so I tried to get the most mileage out of one tip as I could! My first idea for bead embroidery (even before I got all of my supplies!) was to make a fire ball necklace, so that is what I am starting with. I am using white Nymo thread and English beading needles..we will see how that works. So far the thread seems strong...unless you nick it...then it becomes a pain in the arse to work with! I am also coating my thread with bee's wax so that it slides though the beads better. I am using a back stitch technique (see the video) which, while I have been cross stitching for years, I have never used with beads! Well...here it is! This is how much of the fire ball I have gotten done as of right now. I like laying the beads down with out a pattern under it because I think it will give it a more natural and organic look. I hope you can see that I am also trying to mix the colors along the way...with a little light yellow in the with white/clear beads. I just wish I hadn't knocked over the yellow seed beads...it look me like 20 minutes to pick 1/8th of the tube out of the carpet! What a pain! The funny thing was I knew I was going to do it! I also am not sure what I am going to back my pieces with...I think leather. Well, I hope to keep you guys in touch with this project, but I am sure it will take me a while to finish it (especially with school starting up again soon).