I have been playing around with some Indian embroidery stiches and am particularly taken with herringbone circles. By adding to a relatively simple (once you know how!) stitch with some beads and sequins you can get quite 'blingy' little motifs!

 

This is the stitch with a few French knots added to it (in green)...

...and this is the same stitch with lots of bling!

It's fun to play around with stitches and see what you can create without the pressure of having to make a perfect/finished/planned piece. You never know what you might discover! This is the same stitch but this time with a shisha mirror in the centre and the herringbone worked tightly together....

How to work Herringbone circles:

Lightly draw yourself a circle on the fabric then another one a little to the outside of this as in the diagram (drawing around coins works well). Start your stitch with half a cross between the two circles going down into the fabric on the outer circle. Come up on the outercircle to make the second arm of the cross but take your thread down into the middle of the circles. Don't pull all the way through but bring the needle up inside the thread on the inner circle. Repeat by stitching the first arm of the next cross stitch. It's complicated to describe but hopefully you should be able to work it out from the diagrams below! Have fun...