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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Bead Color Ideas: Blue Christmas

A beader can never have too many ideas for holiday color palettes, so I’m going back to bead trios for this month’s round up of palette possibilities. But, since it’s only November, I thought we’d go a little light and do things with a twist. The challenge: to create three-color palettes with blue instead of green, which look totally festive and not fourth-of-July. It was trickier than it sounds!

I started with an easy blue, and one that reminds me of classic outdoor Christmas lights. After choosing some delicious cobalt white hearts, I naturally went for some ruby red ones in size 4/0. The boldness of the transparent glass is enhanced by the white cores, which have their own festive vibe. To give Feliz Navidad a dash of cheer, I topped things off with a hint of antique gold Swarovski Elements pearls.

Feliz Navidad Bead Palette


Sugar Plum Fairy started with some pretty aqua lined peanut seed beads. I paired these with more peanuts in pink, creating a palette like a non-traditional - though totally trendy - department store tree display. Just imagine a silvery artificial spruce with vintage style glass ornaments. All this palette needed was a dash of snow, played by opaque crystal AB seed beads.

Sugar Plum Fairy Bead Palette


For the final trio, I chose some intense blue tagua slices. These immediately had me thinking of holiday postcards from tropical locales - the kind with palm trees decked out in Christmas attire. Soft white mother of pearl chips seemed like the perfect frosting, and ruby AB druks add a hint of Christmas punch to Coconut Snow Cone.

Coconut Snow Cone Bead Palette


Do you have a favorite decoration in non-traditional colors?

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4 comments:

  1. JudyNovember 28, 2012 at 9:36 AM

    Love the sugar plum fairy combo! Now I would like to see you create something from those lovely combinations!!

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  2. WTF StoreNovember 28, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    Thanks, Judy! I wish I had time for every idea that breezes across my desk!

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  3. Sally AndersonNovember 28, 2012 at 6:06 PM

    I like the coconut snow cone best! Love that rich blue tagua. I'm a total traditionalist about Christmas colors. Bright red & bright green & white. I know a lot of people who use the mauve & olive-ish green but it doesn't ring my chimes the same way the regular colors do. I used to, when I had kids at home & bought lots of presents, even make sure the wrapping paper was ONLY red, green & white (and preferably in a contemporary design). It looked so great under the tree with those packages. Makes me sound sorta like a fussy person which I'm totally not. But that's the one thing I really loved.

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  4. WTF StoreNovember 29, 2012 at 11:05 AM

    I know exactly what you mean, Sally! I keep bringing it up, but I am very fussy about Christmas lights. They should be all white, or multicolored on a single string. No purple or orange. Those are my Christmas light rules! Purple glass ornaments with white frosting are totally okay with me though. ;)

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