Ever since man has walked the Earth, he has embellished clothing, hats, and boots with beads.

Beads made of ivory, semi-precious stones, pearls or shells were sewn to animal hides in a decorative manner.

This craft gained popularity, and centuries later, beads were stitched onto various other things, including home furnishings and religious items.

While this type of beadwork has evolved over time, its concept remains the same, and today, it is an art that has been embraced by almost every culture of the world.

This craft is known as bead embroidery.

I fell in love with bead embroidery because it allows me to create 3-dimensional paintings.

Many of my subjects are birds and animals, and I love to make them come to life using beads.

I can add exciting textures to my ‘paintings' simply by using beads of different shapes and sizes.

However, I also add dimension and movement to my pieces either by layering seed beads or adding beaded fringe.

Tonight, I'd like to show you a few of my techniques.

First, you need to have the right supplies including seed beads, beading needles, Lacy's Stiff Stuff (or felt), Ultrasuede, Nymo (nylon thread) , Thread Heaven (or beeswax), a fabric pen, and scissors.

It also helps to work on a Vellux matte so your beads don't bounce around.

Both seed beads and beading needles are made in different sizes. If you are a beginner, you can start out with larger glass seed beads, such as size 11's or 8's.

I enjoy using Japanese size 15 seed beads, which are very small. If you decide to use this size, you'll need to use #15 beading needles. This size needle will allow for multiple thread passes.

Start out by drawing a simple design directly onto your felt or Lacy's Stiff Stuff. For my piece, I began by sketching a cat onto tracing paper, which I then stitched directly to the Lacy's Stiff Stuff.

For simple bead embroidery, first, condition your thread with Thread Heaven or beeswax to minimize knotting. Then, thread your needle and knot the other end of the thread.

Use relatively short pieces of thread, so you can work small sections at a time.

When you run out of thread in a section, carefully knot it at the back, then run your needle under several stitches before snipping the end.

First, bring your needle up through the Stiff Stuff, string 3 beads, and go back down through the material, following the outline of your design.

Make sure to leave enough stitch-space so that the beads lie flat on your material.

Next, bring your needle back up just behind the last bead strung., and pass the needle through the last bead.

This is called the backstitch, and it's the stitch that I use the most.

Continue with the backstitch all the way around the outline of your sketch.

Next, I began working on the white as well as the smaller sections of the piece, including the cat's nose, eyes, and ears.

When those sections were complete, I continued filling in the rest of the cat with black, (following the lines of my initial sketch) until the entire image is completely beaded.

Next, I began to add a second layer of black beads on the cat's face. To do this, just bring your needle up through two rows of beads, and continue with backstitch just as before.

Here is a side view of the completed face.

Then, I started layering the cat's tail beginning in the same manner, but this time, each row ends with a fringe to create realism.

To do this, backstitch until you've reached the place where you would like the fringe to begin. Then, string the number of beads needed to create the proper length of your fringe.

Skipping the last bead strung, pass your needle back through the rest of the beads.

Then, go back down through the fabric, and start on the next row. Here, you can see how the cat's tail looks with a second layer of beaded fringe.

Since I can't do anything simple, I even went so far as to add a third layer of shorter fringe. Then, I stitched the ends of the fringes down to shape the cat's tail.

And, just when you thought I was done, I strung gold beads and some fun holiday light bulbs. Then, I stitched the bulbs in place.

Now, the cat is wrapped in a string of Christmas lights, and my beadwork is complete.

Next, carefully trim the excess material around the beadwork. Try not to snip any of your stitches, as it will cause all of your hard work to come apart.

For my cat, I trimmed very close to the stitches because I'm not adding any edging around the outside of the cat.

If you do plan to add a beaded edge, leave a tiny bit of excess fabric around the beadwork so that you have something to stitch to.

I decided to turn this cat into a pin, so I found a 1.5" pin-back to use. I measured 1.5" on my piece of Ultrasuede, and cut 2 small holes in it - just big enough to allow both ends of the pin to fit through.

Next, I cut out a small piece of heavy paper just smaller than the shape of my cat to use as a stiffener. I glued it to the back of the beadwork using E-6000 glue.

Afterwards, I glued my piece of Ultrasuede onto the back of the piece.

Lastly, I trimmed the Ultrasuede to the shape of my piece and stitched the edge all the way around.

To do this, cut a new piece of thread and knot one end. Sew down through the Ultrasuede to hide the tail of your thread. Then, sew back down through the edge of the beadwork.

The stitch should pull the Ultrasuede up over the edge of your Lacy's Stiff Stuff. Continue in the same manner all the way around.

Now, my piece is completed.

As you can see, beading is quite time-consuming and laborious.

However, with a little imagination and a LOT of patience, you can create your own adventure in bead embroidery.