Having studied Aunty Amber doing beaded cross stitch I wish to present my theories on it.  The beads are very small and a little disobedient. I suspect they are inedible but too small to even bother testing .  Good eyesight or a magnifying implement is a must.  Magnetic strips are handy for marking where you are on the pattern.  Two different needles seem to be used.  The first one is an ordinary cross stitch needle, this has a bigger eye. This confused me at first as I couldn't see any eyes but it seems to refer to the bit that the thread goes through.  I was also a bit confused as Aunty Amber was talking about floss which I thought was the pink stuff from the seaside but Aunty Biscuit said no, its an American term for embroidery thread, hhmm.  The other needle is a beading needle which has a small flat eye.  We eagerly await with Aunty Biscuits attempts to thread one of those!