Sometimes when we see a certain style of bead, we instantly see the perfect project to use it in. Something about the color, shape and texture calls out, providing inspiration before the beads are even out of their package.
That is the way I see cobalt blue beads. Unlike most blues, which are cool shades, cobalt has a mysterious warmth to it. Even turquoise, which can be used to represent a tropical ocean, can’t compete with the heat of cobalt blue. I like to combine them with bright, electric colors, like toxic chartreuse green or sunny opaque yellow.
In my large collection of vintage beads, I have a stash of round cobalt blue lucite that I’ve been hoarding for years. Even when I still used plastics, I could never bring myself to work with these beads, because they were just too beautiful to part with. The 10mm rounds are perfectly clear, and when they catch the light just right, they seem to amplify it, like a fiber optic cable.
It seems like such a waste to let these beads hide away in my stash, never to be seen in a piece of jewelry. So I’ve decided it’s time to pass them on to another beader who can appreciate their beauty. Will it be you?
How to Enter the Cobalt Blue Giveaway
For a chance to win my collection of vintage cobalt blue beads, just answer the following question:
If you could capture and recreate any memory with beads, what would it be?
Leave a comment on this post with your answer, and you’ll be entered in the draw! There are 161 beads in the set - about ½ a cup of gorgeous cobalt blue rounds. The draw is open to residents of Canada and the US.
Receive a second entry by Tweeting this post. Leave a link to your Twitter account, or your Tweet, along with your comment.
You can also receive an extra entry by mentioning this giveaway in a blog post, and link back to Inspirational Beading. Leave a link to your post with you comment!
The winner will be randomly drawn on Monday, August 23rd.
If you do not have a public Blogger profile with email contact enabled, you must include your email address with your comment. You can type it spam free like this: beadlover AT yourmail.com.
Good luck, and happy beading!
Copyright 2010 Inspirational Beading
If I could recreate a memory in beads it would have to be of the view from my hotel balcony of Lake
ReplyDeleteGeorge, NY. I have never been on a tropical vacation, so to me Lake George is the most beautiful place on the plantet. Anyhow that view was in the early am, sun just coming up over water, mountains in the background. The various shades of early am sky, water, foilage and distant mountains was absolutely breath taking. I swear it almost made me cry, if you know what I mean. It was just so beautiful and peaceful.
Debbie
I was 21 when i got pregnant with my son. I knew at the begining that something was not quite right with my baby! I would sit in the shower holding my ever growing tummy, crying, and begging God to make my son be ok! On January 3, 1998 my son was born emergancy c-section. He was missing half his heart, was underweight, having seizures. After they told me and my husband all this terrible news, they put my son in my arms for the first time. In that instant all the worries dissapeared, the love i felt, the love that radiated from me to my son that day was amazing. It is that love that i would like to recreate in my beading. My son is almost 13 now, he has incountered 36 surgeries, and we just regerstered him for middle school!!! He can not speak and is delayed but that love that radiaded from me that day still is present every time i look into those beautiful brown eyes!!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most peaceful times I can remember as a child is night time camping at the beach and hearing the ongoing rolling of the waves breaking onto the beach. Walking, running and playing in the beautiful sand. Swimming, collecting shells and drift wood. All the beautiful crab in their holes. We spent every holiday there and I have all those wonderful, wonderful memories. My beading would have to reflect the ocean and beach.
ReplyDeleteThese are great inspirations indeed! Thank you for sharing your stories, and good luck in the draw!
ReplyDeleteThe older you get, the harder it is to bring a memory forth on command!
ReplyDeleteI would capture the moment I met my brother when I was 30 years old.
There was one evening during college, there was a new snowfall and my friend and I seemed to be the only ones out. We decided sled down a big hill. It was a VERY happy few moments. The only way fresh snow can, with more snow soon to arrive. Like the inside of our own personal snow globe. Dec. 1984 :)
ReplyDelete