Pretty Palettes Challenge for May

Hi there!

Today I'm playing along with the Pretty Palettes challenge on the Halcraft site.  This Last month our inspiration was peacock feathers.



Here are the beads Molly Schaller chose for this month:


I ordered some of these - the purple dyed agate round, the green matte fire crackled agates, and the aqua dyed quartz stone drops.  And, of course, a few more that struck my fancy!

Well, I've been working on this for about a week now, trying to come up with something that I like.  I thought alcohol inks would be interesting, so I played with those for awhile.

Fun, but not exactly what I had in mind for a peacock.  It looks more ocean-inspired to me.   I need some purple ink!  So, I decided on a tassel.  I've been making lots of tassels lately - one of which will appear in Beadwork later this summer.

Here is my peacock-inspired tassel.

Peacock Tassel

These are fun and easy to make and I love the sari silk and sari yarn mixes.  (I got these at Darn Good Yarn.)  This is a little long to wear (for me), so I might just hang it on something for a fun splash of color - maybe under the umbrella on the patio.

Here are the steps to create your own tassel:

Cut lengths of sari ribbon and sari yarn.  For the above tassel, I cut 7 pieces of ribbon and 6 of yarn in 12" lengths.  It's a messy tassel, so you don't have to be exact.

Fold the strands of yarn in half and wrap a piece of 22 gauge wire about 7" long around the center of it.  Cross the wire at the top leaving one end longer.  Make a wrapped loop where the wires cross wrapping with the short end.

Slide on a large bead cap or two and a bead(s) and make another wrapped loop.

This bead cap has been painted with alcohol inks.

Trim any ends and you are done!

Check out the Halcraft site for more beady fun and join the community.

I'm so late with May that June's Pretty Palette is already out!  Looks like another yummy palette just right for summer!  Happy creating!

March Pretty Palettes

Hi Everyone!

This print from Heather Powers of Humblebeads is the inspiration for this month's Pretty Palettes.  I love how she combined a cup of tea and the woods in this print.


Here's the palette drawn from the above painting, and here are the beads Molly Schaller chose from Halcraft.



These are Czech glass beads with some golden tiger eye at the top next to the charms.  I ordered the tiger eyes, gold leaves, light turquoise, blue, turquoise, gray and pink beads.

It's a pastel springtime palette and goes perfectly with a blue bird that I ordered from Humblebeads.  I have long admired Heather's work, so this was the perfect time to order something special to go with these pretty colors.

At first, this is how I assembled the pendant:

I wasn't totally happy with it.  I wanted more color in the nest and I didn't like the brass flower hanging straight down.  So, I took it all apart and tried again.  Sometimes, I annoy myself, but that is usually the way I design!

This is what evolved into my Springtime necklace.  I added some pieces of silk ribbon and twine into the waxed linen brown nest.  It sits on a copper wire branch that I hammered, dipped into liver of sulfur and then sanded.  One of my favorite buttons is attached above.  I replaced the brass butterfly with an antique copper butterfly and wired it to the button.  Then, I tied on some beads at the bottom with waxed linen and added ties of silk ribbon.  On the chain, I added another butterfly and some of the pretty Czech glass beads.  The antique copper chain ends in a Nunn design hammered copper toggle clasp.

Springtime Necklace

I bought a nice Basswood round from Walnut Hollow at my local craft store.  I like to photograph on wood; it's a nice neutral color.  White paper always comes out blue for me, so I like a more natural, neutral color.  I usually use the fences or pieces of old wood.

Here's one on an old board:

Here's one on the fence:

And, a close-up:

Maybe the gray wood is not a good match with the pastels.  What do you think?

It was so much fun playing with these lovely beads.  A special thank you to Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I ordered this bird and another pendant.  Wonderful - but there's more - two beautiful beads and a length of turquoise silk ribbon came with my order free!

See the necklace and earrings that Molly Schaller created on the Pretty Palettes March Reveal.  And, visit the Halcraft Collection Facebook page for more inspiration.

Happy Beading and Happy Spring!

Terry

Pretty Palettes for February

Hi there!

This is the inspiration for this February's Pretty Palettes challenge - recycled plastic mosaic tiles by BOPE.

 

Above is the palette and below are the beads Molly Schaller chose.

I love these.  I've used some of these in previous designs - particularly the turquoise windowpanes.  In fact, I used pretty much the same selection of colors in this necklace, which was in the Fall issue of Stringing, 2014.

Here's the selection of beads I picked up at Michaels:

Molly says this collection is like a sunset beach celebration.  Having just come back from Hawaii, I'm ready to go back!  So, I'll use these to get ready for more summer celebrations.

Here's what I created.  I ended up substituting some coral chips and flat rounds instead of using the dyed imperial jasper I bought.  And, the lava sea stars and white howlite rounds will be another fun summer necklace!

I'm ready for a summer fiesta now!

See the Pretty Palettes inspiration here and stop by the Halcraft Facebook page to see what other beaders have made.

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!

Pretty Palettes November

Hello!

The Pretty Palettes inspiration on the Halcraft blog this month is a wonderful palette with blues and greens (my faves) with a touch of gold.  The inspiration is a beautiful piece of marbled paper.

Here's the palette generated from the paper:

I headed to our local Michaels, where all the strung beads were 40% off!  Woohoo!  Plus, I had a coupon!

Here's what I came home with~

I was going with more of the beads that Molly chose, but then I saw the turquoise dyed imperial jasper and it looked to me just like the swirly designs on the paper.  Plus, it was turquoise, and it looked like the ocean.  Can't beat that!

After I got home, I noticed some of my selections at Michaels were Bead Landing beads and not Bead Gallery.   And, somehow I missed that white was one of the colors!  Entranced by pretty, shiny things, no doubt!

Here's the necklace and earrings that I created:

Imperial Jasper Necklace and Earrings

I love how this worked up with the slabs and rounds of imperial jasper with the gold bicones.  And, I have extra beads that are calling me!  I was really inspired by the marbled paper, too, and can't wait to try that.  So many ideas, so little time!  Thanks for the inspiration, Molly!

Pretty Palettes October Reveal

Hi Everyone!

This month the inspiration for the Pretty Palettes challenge is a campfire with glowing oranges, black and gray embers with shades of brown and tan.

Here's the inspiration photo from Molly Schaller - a harvest party where they drank fresh cider and fried donuts over the fire!  Sounds wonderful!



And, here's the palette:


Here are the beads I chose from Michaels:

Beads from Michaels

I don't know if I'll use all of them in this set, but there were a couple of strands that were so interesting, I just had to bring them home - those black lava sticks, for instance.  They look so versatile; there are at least three different ways I want to use them.

This is the necklace I designed.  I used the black lava sticks, the fire agate rounds, some brown shell rondelles from a previous Pretty Palettes challenge and some 16-gauge copper wiggles that I hammered.  It's strung on necklace memory wire.  To cover the ends, I painted the silver with some Antique Copper patina.

Tribal Fire Choker

Now, for some earrings and a bracelet.

For the bracelet, I wrapped the black lava stick with copper wire to create a toggle.  The bracelet is strung on black waxed cord.

For the earrings, I wrapped the waxed cord around a lava stick and a jump ring.

I didn't use the white shell discs in this set, but I did use them in my Harvest Moon Earrings in my previous post.

See all the other designs in the Pretty Palettes Reveal.

Mixed Blues

Hi everyone!

This month for the Pretty Palettes inspiration, Molly picked an ombre selection of yarn for our inspiration.  This yarn fades from soft green to purple.


Here is the palette created from the yarn:


These are the beads she selected from the palette.

Since I am designing last minute (again!),  I decided to pull out beads from the piles and bins around the room.  Here's what I found - some sodalite, blue shell beads, turquoise howlite, blue quartzite and purple amethyst chips and a few blue ceramic rounds.

I didn't use the turquoise or the sodalite, but I did add some amethyst rounds and a few multi luster hematite spacers (also from the Halcraft lines).  It seemed natural to add some fiber since the inspiration was yarn, so I created a wrapped bead focal with some recycled sari ribbon and yarn and a wooden bead.

Mixed Blues

I don't often make multi-strand necklaces, but with a large focal and small chips, I needed more than one strand.  At the top of the strands, I needed a way to bring them all together.  I had some large silver cone bead caps, but they were too bright and shiny.  So, I marbled them with a two colors of some new ink samples sent to me from ColoriQue.  It's easy to create any color cap to go with your beading.

Stop over at the Pretty Palettes Reveal and see the gorgeous work from the designers that participated.  Amazing!

Thanks for stopping by!

Terry

August Pretty Palettes Reveal

Hi all,

This lovely pond is the inspiration for this month's design on the Halcraft blog.


Peaceful, isn't it, among all the restless confusion of the world.  I think we all need a spot like this to sit and enjoy the quiet.

Here are the beads that I picked up for this challenge.

Instead of the green seed beads that Molly chose, I went with a blend of aquas in a 8/0 size.  I also added some turquoise Picasso Czech glass daggers.  They were just too pretty to leave in the store!  As usual, I head toward blue in my greens.

A couple of weeks ago, I remembered a stone donut that I had in my gemstones and intended to use it for my design.  Well, I could say that I changed my mind on using it, but the truth is I lost it somewhere in the layers of my craft "studio"!  Someday, I'm sure I will find it again, but not so far!

So, for the focal, I used a filigree button and a square wood bead that I had.  I dabbed the shiny pink filigree with some brown alcohol ink to mute the color.  I strung the button and beads together with brown waxed linen and left tails to which I added a few more beads.  The necklace is strung on black beading wire with a blend of the ceramics, wood beads and rhodonite in a choker length.

Water Lily

Here's another photo on a new stand I bought at Michaels:

I hadn't used the large rectangular wood beads, so I decided to make a second necklace.  For the focal here, I used a wood cut-out bead from a previous Pretty Palettes project.  I used the brown waxed linen on this necklace, too.  It's great for an organic natural look with the wood and ceramic beads.

Here's my second necklace:

Peaceful Garden

I still want to make some earrings with the turquoise daggers, but that will have to wait for another day! 

Stop by the Halcraft blog to see the beautiful designs from this month's inspiration.

Happy creating!
Terry