Pretty Palettes :: November Reveal

This month for the Pretty Palettes Challenge Erin Prais-Hintz chose a palette that really felt like fall to me.  The star of the palette was orange which intrigued me because I rarely work with orange in my designs.  But I am always up for a challenge.  Click here for the palette.  

This month I decided to stray a little from the chosen beads and picked up some things that reflected the warmth of this pile of pumpkins.  I fell in love with these little flower pieces when I was at Michaels and just knew that I had to use them somehow.  

I wanted to use some wire-wrapping in the piece because  I wanted to mix up some warm colored metals in the design.  I love being able to use things that I might otherwise throw away so I have bags of scraps everywhere.  I decided to take a left over piece of memory wire to make the focal.  I took about half a loop and rolled down the ends so I could connect to it.  Then I wrapped some copper wire with orange beads all along it.  When I was done I connected little dangles in between some of the wraps.  I thought it made for an interesting focal and it made me feel validated for holding on to so many of those scraps!  I connected the focal to the flowers and then linked together some gold jump rings to finish it off.

Here is my finished piece:

I also made up a quick memory wire bracelet to use some of the other beads.  I wanted to make some earrings too but this is the time of year when there are never enough hours in the day so it will have to wait for another time.       

Thanks Erin!  I love that you do this every month it is so much fun!

Check out the other designs at the Halcraft Blog and even look at some of the previous months while you are there!

Sarah O

October Pretty Palette Reveal

I just love playing along in the Pretty Palette Challenges. I love how it makes me work outside my comfort zone using beads and color palettes that I probably wouldn't have thought about using. Plus, I love having an excuse to go to Michaels and see what new beads Halcraft has been putting out. Although, my husband would tell you that I normally don't need much of an excuse :)

There were a couple of things that I could not find so I had to tweak the materials a bit. But in the end all of the colors were there. I thought the colors were a bold mixture so I went with a bold three stand necklace. I went back and forth on what to place as the middle pendant and actually started working with the waxed linen thinking I was starting from scratch on an entirely new piece. In the end, I thought that the medallion with waxed linen tassels added a natural element to the necklace that I thought was missing.

This is quite out of the box for me but I like the finished piece. I can't wait to see what Erin has up her sleeves for the next challenge and I look forward to seeing what everyone created.

Check out the other designs here:

http://www.halcraft.com/design/pretty-palettes-october-reveal/

-Sarah O

September Pretty Palette Reveal

I really love getting to create along with such talented artists. It is great fun to see the gorgeous palette of beads that the wonderful Erin Prais-Hintz has selected for the month.

I enjoyed the challenge of this pallete but looking at that dessert picture really made me crave some sweets. Once I got some dessert :), I headed to Michaels. Some of the beads were tricky to find. The little gray rondelles had fallen back behind some other beads but my mother-in-law was on a quest to help and finally found them. However, I never found the glass pearls so I just used some round ones that I had in my stash.

When I sat down to create I had circular brick stitch on the brain from a fun online class. I went to work making the round that I would use as the pendant. 

I really liked how all the silver beads and cones set off the design. And I liked the way the other rounds fit into the necklace.

I like to use leftover bead mixes to make memory wire bracelets. It's a great way to use up odds and ends.

I had a great time and love how it makes me think outside of the box with my designs. I can't wait to see what everyone makes!

August Pretty Palette Reveal

For the August Pretty Palette Erin Prais-Hintz drew inspiration from some unique graffiti art.  Click here to see the beads and palette.

I went to Michael's immediately to gather the beads that I needed to begin creating.  I dragged my husband with me which I assure you that he loved ;)  Most of the beads I came across quickly, however, I had trouble finding the bronze beads.  I found some that were the same color but flat rather than a rondelle shape so I went with those. Also, I am sometimes a little cheap and I couldn't bring myself to pay for the red bead clusters.  So I used this as an opportunity to work on some of my beading skills.  I bought red coral beads for about 1/4 the price and made little clusters myself.

When I got the beads home I started cutting apart the strands to start laying out different ideas.   I have to admit I'm always a little scared of pinks and reds together.  I felt part of the challenge was harmonizing those colors.

I started digging through my home supply to see what I could find to compliment what I had bought. I found some great bronze chain that I had bought at Michael's a while back and some cream and brown colored beads that I love.

I ended up making a couple of necklaces and a bracelet and earrings with all the beads I had.

Here is the first necklace:

I separated the beads at the bottom with jump rings and wrapped a couple of the bronze beads within the links of the chain.  The problem was I really liked the way this looked without the red beads so I thought I would make another necklace that had all of the elements. 

So, for the second necklace I created individual beaded elements that I incorporated with different lengths of chain.  I also brought in some deep green freshwater pearls.

I really liked the feel of the individual components so it inspired me to make more of those and make a bold, funky bracelet.

There were so many beads that I went ahead and made a pair of earrings that can really be worn with either necklace:

I fought with this thing and for some reason it really wanted the picture to present the earrings horizontally.  It was late and I was tired so I let it win.

I had a great time participating and can't wait to see what everyone else did.  Looking forward to the next one :)

Have a great day!

Sarah O