Picasso Passion

Admission time.  I'm a sucker for a picasso finish on a bead.

So when I found some delicious little picasso lentils that had swirls of turquoise, cream, caramel, brown, and grey, those babies practically leapt into my shopping basket.

What a lousy photograph! Trust me, the beads are far more fabulous than this.
Just think of this as the bead's drivers licence photo - those are always a little wonky.

And who am I to argue with the beads?  They are luminescent and light, and just brought a smile to my face.

When it came time to introduce them to their beady friends, I decided to play up the turquoise and let them all shine in a fairly simple right angle weave design.

The necklace curves nicely around the neck, and falls right inside the collar of a blouse.

Sometimes the beads just tell you what the design needs to be. This was one of those, and it made me very happy.  I hope you like it, too!

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?