Pink peony

The peony might just be my favorite flower to bead: with its rings of pink deepening toward the center, it gives an instant bouquet effect even though the technique couldn’t be simpler. You work in concentric circles, starting from the little yellow heart in the middle and widening ring by ring out to the pale pink edge. The stem and two leaves only take a few minutes after that. One square pegboard is all you need. My tip: keep the same bead for each ring from start to finish — that’s what gives that lovely gradient once the flower is ironed flat. Hung on a wall or set out as a spring decoration, it brightens up a shelf any time of year.