Pretty Palette Reveal for May

Hi everyone,

This spring has been amazing in the number of shades of green and the abundance of flowers here in California.  We've had a record amount of rain after five or so years of drought and the change has been dramatic.

So, it's wonderful to explore the shades of green in the palette that Molly Schaller chose for this months Pretty Palette.  Inspired by shades in succulents and the Pantone color of the year, she created this palette.

Not only are there lots of shades of green there, but there are some interesting patterns, too.


Molly chose these beads from the Bead Gallery line from Halcraft.



I had some leftover Bead Gallery beads in shades of green and aqua from previous projects, so I thought I'd combine them.  I also had some of the Czech seed beads from Bliss Beads.

I managed to use most of these (everything except the wood round).  I also discovered a carved adventurine pendant from Bead Gallery that went into the mix. 

From these, I created a two-strand necklace and a memory wire bangle.

Here's another photo with both of them:

As usual, I tend toward the blue side of green, but, that way, I'll be wearing this spring into summer!  Thanks for the inspiration, Molly!

Now, head on over to the Pretty Palettes Reveal for May at the Halcraft blog to see all the amazing designs!  And, one more special blog post to see the designs of Erin Prais-Hintz for Pretty Palettes.

Pretty Palettes Reveal

Hi Everyone!

Today is the reveal of the Pretty Palettes challenge for May.  I was able to find all the beads at Michaels this time, though I ended up not using one the selected beads.  The Pretty Palette for May was inspired by this fabric.  It's a Scandinavian design from the early 60's.  I grew up in a home inspired by this very style so it's colors and shapes are very familiar to me.

Fabric Inspiration

Bead Selections

The fabric has a very dramatic assortment of colors and shapes; I tried to replicate some of the striking combinations in the inspiration fabric.  One of the design motifs that I incorporated is the triad of black leaves.  I also liked the pop of red-orange color in the brown berries.

Here's the result:

I'm pleased with the way it hangs.  Here it is on a stand:

And, although I didn't think that I wore this combination of colors, I found that my new skirt was a perfect match!  I love when that happens!

I can't wait to see everyone's designs at the link-up.  There were so many ways to go with these beads that deciding on a direction was the hardest part!  Here's the Pretty Palettes::May Reveal so that you can see what all of these fabulous designers have done with this inspiration!

Happy Beading!

Terry