January Pretty Palettes Challenge

I'm officially hooked on this challenge! I am so enjoying seeing the inspiration picture and the beads that Erin Prais-Hintz posts on the Halcraft Pretty Palettes site. For January, Erin chose this picture featuring the Pantone color of the year, Marsala.

These colors are gorgeous together, and so, off to Michaels I went, in search of that lovely rich color. However, the selection at our local M's was very limited and I was hard pressed to find anything in the right color family. From the beginning, that beautiful purple gray succulent in the bouquet had caught my eye and when I found these beads below in that color range, I went off on a tangent.

Here are the beads that were used:
94760 Amethyst Glass Mix
91560 Amethyst Czech glass 6mm rondelles
80286 Amethyst stone Nugget Lustre

I added some 26 gauge Artistic Wire, threw in a little wire crochet, and here's the result:

Purple Mountain Majesty

    

                               

   

 I'm a February baby, so amethyst is my birthstone. Maybe that's why it called my name? At any rate I love the end result.

Hop on over to the January Reveal post to see what Erin and her guest, Sarah Ostriyznick, created, and links to the other contributors as well.

Hope your day is filled with just a little more joy and grace after seeing all the pretties!

Christie

Pretty Pallettes December Challenge

It's been way too long since I've blogged. With the changes that I mentioned in the last post, I've had a lot less time to do blog challenges and play with new jewelry endeavors. I've been busy with filling orders for bangles ( you can always find the latest offerings on my Instagram account) which has been a blessing, and then a Facebook friend (Heidi) posted that she was going to be the partner for the Pretty Palletes December challenge, and encouraged me to join in and play. With an invite like that, would could resist? The colors and inspiration picture that Erin Prais-Hintz had chosen were so pretty and perfect for a New Year's Eve party.

I loved the combination of colors and shapes. She challenged us to mix metals and to use either her choice of Halcraft USA beads ( found at Michaels) or use our own. Next time I was in the store, I found these beauties. Aren't they pretty? Those gorgeous black roundels were my starting point- I love the geometric shapes within the bead, as well as the mix of colors.

 Here are the SKU numbers that I used (from left to right)
81004 Mixed metal gears
94004  14mm Glass Faceted Crystal Rainbow bicones
91688 Multi acrylic pave roundel
93970 Glass black luster faceted roundel
80287 Amethyst drop small faceted

Here's the finished result. 

Gearing Up for New Things

Here's another peek. The gear components made me think of the clock and how time waits for no one. As another New Year awaits, so do new possibilities! Here's another peek

Gearing Up set

Before you leave, make sure you head over to Heidi Parviainen's blog, Heidi P Says, to see what she created.  She's an incredibly talented lady, who also writes tutorials for Wubbers University. Thanks, Heidi, for your encouragement!

I hope that your New Year is filled with dashes of grace and many, many splashes of joy!
Christie