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?

For My Biggest Cheerleader

Who's your biggest cheerleader?  Your spouse?  Your sibling? Your best friend?

In my life, I've been so lucky to have lots of people cheering me on.  But for sheer force of longevity of the enthusiasm, Mom is #1.

Okay, even though she isn't online and wouldn't know what a blog was if you asked, I didn't want to show this picture of what I made for Mom ahead of Christmas.  Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that if I did, it would be the guarantee that she would become instantly online literate and the photo would the first thing she'd find.

So anyway, since the date has passed, the packages have been unwrapped, and the threat of my mother becoming an internet whiz is over, here's what she found under the tree...

It was a hit.  And now my sister wants one, too - birthday gift selection, check!

Oddly enough, I don't usually make jewelry gifts for my family.  Do you?