In honor of June being pride month I decided to make some simple little pride flag hearts. You can use these for pretty much anything, I'm making mine into pins and necklaces but you could also attach them to a bracelet, a keychain, earrings, just have them around your home, hang them on a wall or any other way you can imagine!

These are really easy to make, you really only need some perler beads and an iron. I picked a handful of flags that I had the colors for and I tried a couple different heart patterns on different shaped peg boards.

A note about flags and layout:

I wanted to do as many flags as I could but simply didn't have the colors for some. I have included a layout of how I placed my colors depending on how many colors/stripes a flag has, this is what I found worked best, you should be able to adjust my layouts for pretty much any flag you have the colors for or just use these patterns to make some funky stripy hearts.

Supplies

Perler beads in the colors of the flag you want to make
Parchment paper
Iron

Optional stuff

Some type of string (for a necklace or bracelet)
Keyring (for a keychain)
Some thread or a small metal keyring (to attach to string or keyring)
Poster putty (to hang on a wall for decoration)
Anything else you want to attach them to

Step 1: Pull Your Colors

Decide which flags you want to make, or colors you want to use and sort those colors out. I've included a reference sheet of flags for anyone who may want to make these for others and don't necessarily know (or want to double check) the colors/order.

Step 2: Layouts

Decide which heart shape you like best, and find that shape board. Lay out your stripes and fill in your colors.

Step 3: Iron

Turn your iron to the lowest setting with steam and let warm up.

On a heat resistant surface, lay a piece of parchment paper over your bead trays and iron. Make sure to keep your iron moving a little so it doesn't melt one place too much. I like to set multiple shapes together so I can make a circle going over all of them at once.

Once the tops start getting melty and they hold their shape without the peg board, flip them over and remove the peg board. This should result in the melty side on the piece of parchment paper and a less melty side facing up. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and iron some more until both sides are melted together.

Step 4: Finals

Pins

There are probably better ways to do this but the easiest I know of is to hot glue a safety pin to the back.

Necklace/Bracelet

Use a needle to poke a hole through one of the beads. String either a piece of thread or a small metal ring through this hole. String your necklace/bracelet material through the ring or use the thread to tie on.

Wall Decor

Again, might be better ways but I just stuck some poster putty to the back of them and squished it on my wall. You could also hot glue or poster putty them to a box, tin, binder or anything else you'd like to decorate.

Keychain

Poke a hole through one of the beads then thread some thread or a key ring through the bead and onto a big key ring.