Mardi Gras beads are fun to collect, but what do you do with them after the parades are over? Instead of letting them pile up in a closet, why not turn them into a festive work of art? A bead mosaic is a creative and colorful way to repurpose those strands while adding a unique touch to your home decor or party space.
I first experimented with making a bead mosaic on a smaller scale, using an 8x10 Canvas . I chose a simple Fleur-de-Lis design clip art design, printed it, cut it out, and traced it onto the canvas. I painted the inside of the Fleur-de-Lis yellow and the rest of the canvas green before gluing beads to the canvas. The process was surprisingly fun and the finished piece turned out beautifully!
When I started decorating for our Mardi Gras party, I realized the front of the bar was looking a little bland. That’s when inspiration struck—an oversized bead mosaic would be the perfect statement piece.
For my large mosaic, I decided to use an old beach-themed canvas that no longer matched my decor after moving away from the coast.
You can use a blank canvas (available on Amazon HERE), but repurposing an old painting is a great way to upcycle! I transformed it into a bold, festive artwork featuring a Fleur-de-Lis, but you can use any clip art-style image that fits your theme—masks, crowns, jester hats, or even lettering would work great.
Materials:
- Canvas (BLANK) or repurposed)
- White primer (Optional - only if repurposing canvas)
- Acrylic paint and paint brushes (background colors of your choice—green and yellow for my design)
- Clip art or stencil of your chosen design
- Parchment paper (optional for tracing, if needed)
- Scissors
- Tacky Glue)
- Mardi Gras bead strands (gold, purple, green, or other colors)
- Wire cutters or scissors (to cut beads)
Step 1: Prepare the Canvas
If using a repurposed canvas, start by priming it with white paint to cover the old design. This step can be skipped if starting with a blank canvas. Let the primer dry fully before moving to the next step.
Step 2: Select your design and Transfer to Canvas
For the smaller 8x10 Canvas I printed a clip art design on my home printer, cut it out, and traced it onto the canvas. When making a larger 24x36 Canvas anything printed from my home printer would have been too small.
I am not the best at drawing free-hand, so I opted to make a stencil using parchment paper and a large throw pillow I had with a Fleur-de-Lis design. The Fleur-de-Lis on this Mardi Gras Throw Pillow was already the perfect size for the large canvas.
I placed a piece of parchment paper over the pillow and traced the design. I then cut the design out and traced it onto the center of the canvas.
Once the design was traced onto the canvas, I painted the inside of the design with Yellow Acyrlic Paint and the outside of the Design with Green Acyrlic Paint. Let the paint dry fully before attaching beads.
Step 3: Applying the Beads
I originally tried using hot glue but quickly found that Tacky Glue) was much easier to work with—it allowed for better positioning and avoided annoying glue strings.
- **Detail Work:** For intricate areas inside the Fleur-de-Lis, I cut gold bead strands into individual beads and hand-placed them one by one.
- **Larger Areas:** To speed up the process, I cut some strands into individual beads for filling gaps, but I also twisted entire bead strands onto the canvas for faster coverage. I applied tacky glue to a section, placed a strand, and then filled in the remaining space with loose beads.
Step 4: Drying Time and Final Touches
Tacky glue takes about 12 hours to fully cure. Once dry, I checked for any empty spots and filled them with extra beads as needed.
My oversized bead mosaic hung on the front of the bar, adding the perfect festive touch to our Mardi Gras party setup! 
I have also used it to decorate our side-by-side during our neighborhood's Mardi Gras Golf Cart Parade. Each year after I take down the Christmas Decorations, I hang this Bead Mosiac in my living room as the perfect decoration for the Mardi Gras Season!
Whether you make a small decorative piece or a large statement artwork, this project is a fun and creative way to repurpose Mardi Gras beads.
Next time you are at a Mardi Gras parade, grab all those beads from the ground (even the broken ones work great) and come home to make your own work of art!
Have you tried making a bead mosaic? I’d love to hear about your designs—share your creations in the comments or tag me on Social Media!
*I personally purchased every product that was used to make this cake and nothing was provided to me.
**I have included affiliate links to the products I used and can receive a small commission if a purchase is made after you click on a link in this tutorial.
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