So I finally started my embroidery last night.
I drew up my patterns for the main front piece Wednesday night,and yesterday I transferred that to the back side of my fabric. I did a few test runs to see which thread I liked better (I had a non-metallic gold, and a metallic gold to choose from), and which bead size I liked better. Then I started on the front.
Those beads may still be a little small; I’m going to go with them for now, but I may see if I can find something else that’s in-between my two sizes (the other ones I bought were too large) and mix the two together throughout.