Pretty Palettes December 2017

Hi all!

I'm sure I should be doing end-of-the-year bookkeeping, but I'm choosing to steal a few minutes to bead instead!  I just love the color palettes on this month's  December's Pretty Palettes Challenge.



And, now, I've put the Biltmore Estate on my wish list of places to visit.

You can see why!  Here's another photo that Molly took of the beautiful decorations for the Christmas season.

Just gorgeous!

In this season, it's hard to find time to shop for beads, so I took advantage of the new online store from Halcraft!  And, Molly set up this challenge with a couple of extra weeks - yay!  Otherwise, it just wouldn't be possible for me to participate.

I got my order yesterday (1/2/17).  Here's how it looked with packaging to show how nicely it arrived.  I also got one strand free (thanks!).

And, here they are out of the packaging, except for the brass beads.

Halcraft Collection Order

From left to right, I have Red Coral Faceted Round Beads (6mm), Dk. Red Faceted Rondelles (3x4mm), Oval Hollow River Shells (18x30mm), Glass Faceted Teardrop Green Iris (8x12mm), Ocean Green Luster Faceted Bicones (3mm), Aqua Dyed Crackle Agate Faceted Oval Pendant (40x58mm), Antique Brass Plated Round Beads (3mm), Malachite Chips and my free Green Glass Faceted Rondels (4x6mm).

When I ordered, I had an idea of what I wanted to create.  So, I'm saving the pendant, malachite chips and the oval shells for another project.  Besides the green glass drops, red glass rondelles, green bicones, brass rounds and red coral beads, I added some brass filigree beads and brass chain.

I wanted to create something in keeping with the time and season of the Biltmore, so this necklace and earrings represent something that might have been worn when the Biltmore was first built.

Christmas at the Biltmore

Here's another photo on a stand:

See the rest of the designs inspired by December's Pretty Pallettes on the Halcraft blog.  And, see January's elegant Pretty Pallettes challenge there, too.

Happy Beading!