Joan's Cuff

Lucky for me that the stars aligned in such a way as to bestow upon me the perfect timing of my friend Joan's request for a bracelet to match her dress and an email from Artbeads.com with their latest challenge as part of their Blogging for Beaders program.

Artbeads asked me to create something using the Pantone 2010 Fall Colors   I'll be honest.  My immediate thought was ....?Uh.....What?  I didn't know what or who Pantone was.  I always knew there were "in" colors and "out" (as in outdated) colors, but I can't say I ever really knew who determined that. 

So I jumped over to the Pantone Report and found there were (are) 10 colors for this year.  I couldn't believe my luck!  5 of those colors would be perfect for Joan's dress bracelet!  YiPpEE!

Look at their dreamy names:

Golden Glow

Purple Orchid

Chocolate Truffle

Oyster Gray

Rose Dust

Don't they just describe Joan's dress perfectly????

Now, for the hard part.  Choosing from the HUGE selection carried by Artbeads.com!  Yikes.  I knew this was going to take a while.....

But the winners are: 

Swarovski Pearls in Mocca, Maroon and Mauve  ~ scrumptious colors!

Druk beads in Champagne Luster and Light Amethyst Luster ~ amazing luster on these!

Fire-polished faceted rounds in crystal twilight and dark bronze ~ very nice!

Toho 3mm Bugle in Raku Cabernet Iris ~ such a great color and super uniform in size!

Toho 11 seed beads in Marbled Rose Crystal and Marbled Periwinkle ~  I never knew that there were marbeled colored seeds!!  They are my new fav :)

Toho size 6 seed bead in Gilt-Lined Mauve ~ absolutely beautiful shade!

I found a perfect cabachon in my stash along with some other elements and here it is:

I edged the cuff in the 4mm Crystal Twilight Fire-Polished faceted rounds and I like the elegant touch.

I was having such a good time with this color palette, that I couldn't resist making a ring!

I think it makes a great set and matches the dress quite well!

OOPS!  After I took the pictures, I realized I wanted to put a row of size 15 seeds along the cabachon bezel!  Oh for heaven's sake!  But I was able to get them on even with the bracelet already finished:

And the best part......Joan loves it!

FTC Disclosure:  The elements listed above were provided to me free of charge from Artbeads.com in exchange for my review of the products.