Pantone Persuasion

When Pantone announced its color(s) of the year for 2016, I'll admit I had a moment of "huh?"

Soft pink and baby blue? I was not thrilled (as though the folks at the Pantone Institute had been holding their collective breath until I decided whether or not I approve).  Then I read this:

"Huh" turned into "Hmm.."  So the other day, while excavating the piles of beads in the workroom poking around in my bead stash, I found some lovely Czech lentils in rose quartz, and decided to play with them. A tube of Serenity colored seed beads, some soft pink druks, and a while later, this turned out.

 The colors are tricky for me, or at least my photographic skills, to capture perfectly.

Here's a close up, showing a little more detail of the flat spiral.

These aren't going to be my primary go-to hues, I don't think. But they're nice and calm and spring-like, and who can't use as much warmth and calm as we can find?

And how about you? What do you think of Pantone's choice this year?

Wherein We Dream of the Ocean

This is not an icicle...

'Tis the season of single digit temperatures and unforgiving wind chill factors.  The kind of weather when you step outside and rediscover your most colorful language.  For a Southern girl, I'm dealing with it just fine -- nothing a few extra layers of clothing and a giant puffy down coat can't help with.

But that doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome a whirlwind trip to a warm tropical beach right about now.

Of course, my bank account might differ with that dream, so I'll channel my tropical fantasy into some beady fun.

In the last ZNet Shows design outing, I got some really fun light turquoise cultured sea glass spikes, like the one in the picture at the top of this post. The color looks like the water in the Gulf of Mexico off the Alabama coast. The beads have two holes, and the base is slightly squared off rather than perfectly round, so I always wanted to experiment with using them in a beadweaving style.

It's fun, it's breezy, and it's nothing complicated. I loved being able to use these spikes in a modified right angle weave. 

You can get an idea of the height of the spikes, and you can see the second hole (which I didn't use in all cases)

Even if I can't sink my toes into some warm sand while sipping on a cool and fruity beverage, this necklace makes me think of summer. It'll look great with my puffy down coat, too!

Getting Ready To Swap

I just signed up for a new (to me) bead swap and blog hop.  I look forward to taking part in this, to meeting a new beady friend, and to being challenged by a palette chosen by another artist.

And of course, I always enjoy the opportunity to obsessively check on my mail, awaiting new beads! Perhaps I should warn my mailman that the crazy bead lady is in his future.....

Hooray! BSBP 9!

Okay, y'all, 2016 is already looking pretty fabulous -- there will be another Bead Soup Blog Party!

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!