We're All Ears January 2020: Pantone Color of the Year

Each January, my friend Erin Prais-Hintz challenges us to make earrings using the recently announced color of the year for the We're All Ears challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog.  I don't know about you, but this is the first time in ages that I've actually liked the Pantone Color of the Year!  Happy days are here again!  Not that I normally pay much attention to color trends and whatnot... I tend to just make what I want to make. 

I had a surprising amount of earring-appropriate blue beads in my stash to potentially play with this month... this picture doesn't even capture all the art beads!  As is often the case I had more options than I had time.

I have to admit that I wasn't really considering the different color palettes featuring Classic Blue.  Probably because I have a strong tendency toward more monochromatic designs!  I did pull together a couple of things that I think fit with specific color groupings though so I'll start there.

First up, a little take on the Ponder color palette.  I had some fun abstract enameled moth shapes from Gardanne that just needed to fly into a earring design.  The picture doesn't do them full justice, but there is some great color and texture on the solid side of the moths from the silver she used.  I decided to go for a slightly larger bead dangle than I might normally, but these faceted labradorite teardrops were too perfect to pass up.  The stone has some nice flashes of blue fire that was difficult to capture.

My next pair features some fabulous polymer clay charms by our gracious hostess Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  With the fun metallic foil accents and the super dark blue, these were perfect to go with the Desert Twilight palette.  I chose metallic coppery English cut Czech glass beads and some bright blue dyed agate for the dangles.

The last two pairs that I made for this month focus just on the Classic Blue itself!  I had a couple of fun spiral swirl beads from Marsha Neal that decided to come out to play.  I just added some small dark navy Czech glass beads and a bead cap at the bottom and a little silver toned bead at the top.  These are on sterling ear wires.

Next up, I salvaged some faux tin pieces from this past fall's Inspired by Nature Retreat.  The colors were perfect, but the original rectangles were a little flawed on one end.  No problem!  I just trimmed them down smaller and then got busy filing the edges down.  After punching holes at top and bottom I just wire wrapped some adorable little Czech glass flowers with crystal centers on the bottom.  Tiny, simple, and cute!

Not made specifically for this challenge, but still celebrating the 2020 Color of the Year, here's a few more.  These were all made at the end of December for the Art Bead Scene Art Journey #9 challenge.

From left to right:  polymer clay charms by Humblebeads and cocoon beads by Saga Hus; ceramic charms by Artisticaos, polymer clay discs by Humblebeads, and dyed agate; porcelain charms by Kiyoi Design.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  As this posts, I'm at the tail end of what I hope will be another fabulous Disney World vacation.  I'll catch you on the flip side!  For now, pop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog to see what everyone else was inspired to make HERE. 

We're All Ears: January 2019: Color of the Year

The January prompt for the We're All Ears Challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog is always a celebration of Pantone's Color of the Year.  For 2019, that means Living Coral!!

Here's what the fine folks at Pantone have to say about their choice:

Vibrant, yet mellow PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment.

In reaction to the onslaught of digital technology and social media increasingly embedding into daily life, we are seeking authentic and immersive experiences that enable connection and intimacy. Sociable and spirited, the engaging nature of PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral welcomes and encourages lighthearted activity. Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression.

Representing the fusion of modern life, PANTONE Living Coral is a nurturing color that appears in our natural surroundings and at the same time, displays a lively presence within social media.

As has been the case for most of the years since I've started paying attention to such things, Pantone's choice for Color of the Year has not exactly knocked my socks off!  The peachy-pink of Living Coral is not a color that I'm likely to gravitate too, especially as a main color.  I like it far better as a small accent with other colors, especially blues.  That leads me to the added irony that the color palettes that I ended up using were the ones without blues and greens!  

I'm not 100% sure which of the above palettes fit my designs best, Shimmering Sunset or Sympatico.  Maybe the truth is that they are a bit of a mix of the two.  But anyways... onto the earrings!!  

First up, a jazzy pair with tons of movement!  I wanted to break out of my normal design rut when it comes to earring charms... instead of just doing a stack of beads wire-wrapped above the charm, I wanted something a bit more interesting and out of my comfort zone.  The charms are by Heather Powers of Humblebeads and have some of the more orange tones in addition to the coral.  I used some fun flame colored copper rings and attached seed bead decorated jump rings, groups of coral colored Swarovski pearls, and of course the charms!  These are definitely statement earrings!!

My second pair of earrings is more of my normal style.  I had the perfect little cocoon beads from my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus in pale yellow with touches of a coral pattern.  They are on copper wire, so that was fortunate too.  I made some dainty dangles in peachy crystal and more of those coral Swarovski pearls on copper headpins.

This may be the extent of my embrace of the 2019 Color of the Year, lol.  I'm excited to hop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what everyone else was inspired to create!

We're All Ears: January 2018 :: Ultra Violet

To kick off 2018, the We're All Ears challenge from the Earrings Everyday blog is all about Pantone's Color of the Year: Ultra Violet.  For a not so purple girl, I sure have been making a lot of purple jewelry the last two months!   ;)

I found a decent amount in my stash of beads (and art beads!) that worked for this month's challenge.  I decided to just go for it while I had the purple out on my work table and see how many I could get done in an afternoon while wrangling my tools and beads away from our three new (and VERY active) kittens.

First up, I pulled out a pair of U-shaped silk wrapped cocoons from Anna Pierson at Saga Hus.  I have a few of this shape and have been intimidated about using them effectively in a design.  I decided that the rich, dark purple of this pair was worth getting over my issues!  It's hard to tell in this picture, but the crystals I added are a pale purple.

Next, I decided to play with some small striped lentil beads from Golem Design Studio.  I almost used these for the Art Bead Scene challenge, but ended up setting them aside.  I let the ceramics pretty much shine here and didn't add too much to them.  I'm still considering adding some small seed beads along the arched ear wires for an extra impact... we'll see if I come back to that or not.

Rounding out the art bead selections for this challenge is this pair featuring some polymer clay charms by Miss Erin herself of Tesori Trovati!  I added some lovely blue-purple English cut Czech glass beads, layered brass bead caps and tiny green glass bead to top it off.

I couldn't stop there because I found some other fun purple beads in my stash!  I got a fun strand of large purple lucite beads as a prize from Allegory Gallery that were a no brainer for this color.  These beads are much bigger than I'd normally go for in earrings, but they are so light!  I kept it really simple letting the fun swirls in the purple shine through.  (They sort of remind me of bowling balls!  I'm a weirdo!)  They swing freely from the long arched ear wires from Nunn Design. 

This last pair is maybe more "Radiant Orchid" than "Ultra Violet," but I'm including it anyway.  It's got a mix of purples at any rate and I was in a using up odds and ends sort of mood when I was making all of these.  These include more lucite from Allegory Gallery.  I made the dangles with dark purple bronzed teardrops and medium purple rondelles.

Head on over to the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what Ultra Violet inspired everyone else to make!

Art Bead Scene: January 2018

A new year and it's time for new challenges!  The Art Bead Scene is ringing in the new year with a little dose of Pantone's color of the year: Ultra Violet!  The artwork is Spring by Scottish painter Frances MacDonald. You can read more about the artwork and the artist on the ABS blog HERE.

Probably the most perfect art bead in my collection for this challenge was a pendant by Nancy Adams that I picked up in the days of frenzied buying every time there was a Round Rabbit shop update.  The purple, cream, and grey plus the lovely detailed floral center were all a natural fit.  The shiny purple glaze has some blue undertones to it so I chose some Czech glass with similar coloring.  To get the darker Ultra Violet in there I chose some faceted amethyst rounds and popped some cream Czech glass flowers and melon shaped rounds to pull in the lighter tones of the pendant's center and the artwork as well.  Green just didn't seem to fit with my design for this one... I don't feel bad taking some liberties with choosing what part of the color palette on which to focus.

I also made a set that is definitely a bit brighter than the inspiration artwork, but I'm sharing it anyway.  I got these fun charms and pendant by Joan Miller from a destash event with Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery.  I started by making the earrings... in truth I've had the charms and the silk cocoons from Anna Pierson of Saga Hus sitting together for a while since I almost made something for a different challenge with them.  (Fun fact, these earrings were my first piece of jewelry made in 2018 and the first thing I made with the new kittens rampaging around!)  I pulled more pastel colored beads for this necklace to match the pendant's tones.  Green Aventurine and frosty looking blue recycled glass rounds contrast with the star cut amethysts.  I'm pretty happy with how this one came together. 

As is often the case, I'd initially pulled more beads than this to play with.  If time allows, I'll circle back for at least one more design before the end of the month.  And who knows... if I get around to it, maybe I'll even do something other than stringing!! 

We're All Ears: January 2017

Per annual tradition, the January inspiration for the We're All Ears challenge is based on Pantone's Color of the Year... this year they have chosen "Greenery."  This is the first time I've actually like the color of the year since they picked "Tangerine Tango" in 2012!  I'm actually pretty pleased with the whole Fashion Color Report for Spring 2017.  Bright greens and turquoise tones are among my favorites to design with, so this month's challenge is right in my wheel house!

This is just a small sample of my "greenery" colored beads and charms... I had a ton to choose from!  I really like my bright greens.  I didn't end up using everything in this picture, but I did pretty well!

First up, two pairs that stick to shades of green.  The one on the left may be the least true to Pantone's pick, but I was happy for the excuse to work with some recycled glass teardrops that I bought a while back.  It's hard to tell from my photo, but the matte finished glass round has a nice iridescent shine that works well with the rhinestone rondelles.  The pair on the right was actually the last pair I created for this challenge.  I thought I was done with four pairs, but then I took a closer look at what was still on my bead board and whipped these right up!  I love the leaf charms by Humblebeads... they have a translucent iridescence that is truly yummy in person.

As much as my brain often craves symmetry and monochromatic color palettes, I wanted to bring in some other pops of color into the challenge!  I pulled in some accent colors from the Spring Fashion Color Report for the rest of my creations.  There's a little Primrose Yellow in the ceramic rounds by Golem Design Studio but I otherwise stuck to shades of green including the tiny seed beads along the arched ear wires.  Next up, I chose some (almost) Pink Yarrow hues in dyed howlite to accent the lovely green charms from Marsha Neal Studio.  There's also some Czech glass and dyed, faceted agate rounds.  Last, but not least, a pair of Humblebeads disks already had touches of Island Paradise that cried out for me to add more!  I added in some rondelles on top and some tiny seed beads into my bottom set of wire wraps above the glass leaves.

Stop by the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what everyone else was inspired to make with "Greenery!"

We're All Ears: January 2016

This month's We're All Ears challenge is jumping on the Pantone Color of the Year bandwagon... Erin has challenged us to make earrings using hues from the spring color forecast... not necessarily just in shades of Rose Quartz and Serenity.  I think I've said it before, but I'm really not a huge fan of this year's Color(s) of the year.  I just don't get the appeal of baby pink and blue together, but I love a challenge so I'm going to try and play along! 

When I was digging through my "craftermath" for my late entry for last month's challenge I did find a few beads that I had set aside for earrings that sort of work for this challenge.  A while back I had been playing with some Vintaj brass pieces and little pearl dangles.  I had started sorting sets of coordinating pearls from a mixed strand but then, as things tend to go, I got distracted and moved on to other projects.

I made use of one of those little sets that were in shades of pinky-purple and blue.  The colors aren't perfectly "Rose Quartz" and "Serenity" but I think they're close enough to count!  I was originally thinking I might add some paint to the the brass pieces, but I ran out of time and energy.  Anyway, less is often more!  

   

Art Bead Scene: December 2015

The inspiration for this month's Art Bead Scene Challenge is Paris by Maria Helena Vieira da Silva.  You can read more about the artist and her artwork HERE.  With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I almost let this month's challenge go... in truth, the artwork really didn't speak to me.  I'd love to hear how this month's inspiration hits you.

Paris

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, 1951

I know that the ABS editors choose the year's artwork fairly far in advance, but I think it's pretty amazing how well December's choice fits into the recently announced Pantone Color of the Year!  Are the editors psychic?  or is one of them a spy within the hallowed halls of Pantone? 

While going through my art beads (trying to get some new ones put away and also thinking about upcoming projects) I noticed a pendant from Marsha Neal that has been hiding in my stash for quite some time that I thought might work.  At the very last minute I decided to try and whip up a necklace design.  So, without further ado (since I already missed one of the ABS deadlines) is what I came up with!  Sorry for the picture quality... I had to snap this picture at night indoors.