Halcraft November Pretty Palettes Challenge

Time for the reveal for the Halcraft November Pretty Palettes Challenge.  If you'd like to see more info about this challenge, check out my post from this post or the Halcraft Inspiration Blog. 
I used this color inspiration:
 

And received these beads to play with and come up with something fabulous!!!


I hope I did this color scheme justice.  Orange and grey were difficult for me to jive in the same pieces.  I liked some jewelry with the orange color and I liked some jewelry with the blue grey color but the colors together were just not working well for me.

So here it goes.  First, two bracelets. 
The first bracelet has the round orange dyed jade, hematite and natural shell beads.  Finished off with a gunmetal clasp.  Perfect for fall.  Perfect for Thanksgiving.  Definitely within the color palette.  I like thick bracelets - I figure if I'm going to wear a bracelet, especially when I have long sleeves on, then it better be big enough to stand out.  And this one works great with my cream sweater and black shirt. 

I feel kind of like I cheated on this second bracelet.  And I also love this bracelet.  I wore it at a party with my Cousins that I haven't seen in quite awhile and got lots of compliments.  The colors are a little subdued from the color palette.  The second bracelet has the black and white shell lentil and some Czech glass beads in tortoise, blue-grey seed beads and some small white shell beads (coincidentally, also purchased from Michael's).  The chain I got from the recent local Intergalactic Bead Show and wish I would have bought more - love the detail on it.  If you try to make a bracelet like this, here's a few hints:  1) make sure to pick chain that turns like this one and has even links.  I tried another chain that continuously turned and it was not good.  2)  make sure to loosely wire-wrap the links or else the bracelet will not move organically with your wrist. 

Next, a necklace.  Hmmmm..... Still think it needs work.  I like the front beaded part on it, but the circle links are a little big and don't seem to go with the leather quite right.  I think I will have to bring it back to the drawing table.  I was trying to keep it from being too heavy.  I have a problem with wearing necklaces that are too heavy.  But, man, those beads - banded onyx faceted beads - how pretty!  Such awesome stones!  I really wanted to make some kind of necklace with them.  This one includes the banded onyx and bronze plated beads and some copper washers.

And some earrings.  These include the white shell lentils and have been worn a few times already.  I like mixing the metals.

And a failed attempt, but I thought I'd show anyway.  I was trying to make a different type of link earrings with these, but the onyx beads, although the right size, are just a little too heavy for this design.  They just distorted the circle links.  But a good try. 

And all together.

Thank you Erin for including me in this month's pretty palettes challenge.  It was so much fun!   Can't wait to see what next month brings. 

Check out what Erin did with these beads here.