Artisans Create Together: November 2017 Color Inspiration Challenge

While I don't always get around to playing along with this monthly challenge, I love the Color Inspiration challenges over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook group.  This month is no exception with this muted fall palette and we've been given so many luscious inspiration photos to get us motivated!

As you know by now, I'm not always the greatest at making seasonal jewelry ahead of time... but this challenge got me going!  Not long ago I got some lovely, rustic fall leaf ceramic pieces from Artisticaos and I've been itching to design with them... this is the perfect excuse!

I ended up making a necklace and earrings set that make me so very happy!  I had just gotten several strands of new beads that felt perfect for this set including some plated hematite saucers in "mocha" and a strand of medium sized English cut Czech glass beads in really soft and lovely muted shades . (Lima Beads calls them "Glowing Amber Picasso" for what that's worth!)

I decided to stretch my brain and go asymmetrical for the necklace.  I strung a pattern of Czech glass beads with the mocha hematite as spacers on one side.  Some Czech glass rondelles in pale orange bring in some of the warmer tones from the pendant and keep it from being too neutral.  (This girl loves color after all!).  For the opposite side I went with links on blackened metal connected with textured brass jump rings.  I used a combination of Wild Horse Jasper puff coins and some funky grey-green Czech glass rounds flanked by the hematite saucers.  It's hard to see it in my photos, but the jasper has a glorious mix of earthy colors!  I finished it off with a brass plated leaf clasp to keep with the leafy, autumnal theme.

The closeup of the pendant lets you see some of the beads a little better as well as the wire-wrapped details that I added to the pendant's connector wires.  I grabbed a couple of beads from the body of the necklace as well as some Czech glass leaves for the dangles.

I'm so lucky to have snagged a pendant and earring charms that matched in color so well from the Facebook sales event.  For the earrings, I used more of the English cut Czech glass and mocha plated hematite and continued the mix of blackened and brass components.  I topped off the earrings with some orangey glass beads to bring more color into the mix.

Now pardon me while I turn on the fire place and snuggle up in a sweater with a kitty in my lap.  If I can't keep winter from coming, I can enjoy the finer aspects of cooler temperatures.