Amuse the Muse - Rose Quartz and Serenity - with Rebecca of Songbead

Hi guys! I'm still pretty under the weather so it's another short and sweet from me today. It's proving tricky to track down art beads with a combination of these colours, but I've managed to find a few lovelies to share with you today! Don't forget to leave links in the comments below if you come across any art beads with Pantone's 2016 colours - Rose Quartz and Serenity - we'd love to see!

Phoenix Dreams Studio

Tempting Little Charms

Both colours in this charming wee pastel set from Bo Hulley Beads.

And now for the BeadBlogger Links. Have a great week!

Free Border Pattern
Is it a border or a bookmark - you decide. This free chart has a myriad of uses and can be stitched in any color.

Apply Those Crystals
Add more bling to your garments or fabric jewelry components with this super cool tool.

Illustrate Your One Little Word
Do you have a word for 2016? Why not use it in a piece of art? You can do this with any word you like and whatever supplies you have.

Taylor Knit Shawl
Here is a little knitting progress as the Crafty Princess continues to learn how to knit. 

Art Bead Scene
Check out our beautiful new challenge for January - the first of 2016!

Yes, Another Jewelry Challenge
Terry Jeanette of Tappingflamingo shows her entry in the Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry Challenge, January 2016

Repair It with Bondic Plastic Welding Pen 
Eileen repairs a small cast iron sculpture with Bondic. No waiting time required when you repair it with Bondic. Apply, cures in a few seconds, add finishing touches. Your repair is immediately ready for use.

Beading Arts
We've all been there...Cyndi is drowning in STUFF!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's Beading to Be Done!
Jean reviews a beautiful follow up to an earlier book on bead embroidery: Bead Embroidery Stitch Samples Motifs. If you like to embroider, don't miss this!

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in the capital city of Edinburgh. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.

Inside the Studio: Humblebeads

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

This week's winner is Kathy Lindemer. Congratulations! You have won a $25 gift certificate to Tesori Trovatti! Please contact Erin to claim your prize!

Hello! I'm a little late today but that's because I was busy finishing up these beauties and wanted to share them with you for today's Inside the Studio. 

One of my goals for 2016 is to relaunch my illustration career. I love beads, writing books and making jewelry but my first love is drawing and painting. In case you don't know I went to art school and then fell into beads while I getting my BFA. You can find my artwork at heatherpowersart.com, if you are curious. 

So anywho, I'm been painting and drawing every day this week as part of my daily creative process. I just wake up a little earlier and pull out my supplies and inspirations. I discovered the zebra pansy on Pinterest this week and had to paint it. (pictured above) I couldn't help but notice the colors were the same as our inspiration painting this month and decided the next step was to make beads inspired by my art. 

I started with mixing a color palette in polymer clay inspired by the one I shared yesterday. Love the fresh mix of yellow and navy thrown in the serenity and rose quartz.

Some of the beads are my standard graphic designs and then the you can see where I made disk beads inspired by the flower petals of the zebra pansy.

And of course pendants that capture that graphic design of the petals. Love the 50's design vibe that these pendants are sporting.

 Yep, seriously loving these colors right now.

And finally back to these disk beads with the petal design in navy and white. So those are it, the first new Humblebeads of 2016, inspired by my art and art history.

You can find the new beads in my Humblebeads Etsy shop if one is calling your name.

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So let's start the weekend right and do a $25 Humblebeads.com giveaway! Leave a comment below to enter in the random drawing.

My question this week - what's the most unusual place you've found inspiration for your jewelry?

January Monthly Challenge Palette

This month's color palette can be seen as an icy winter night or a burst of fresh spring shades - it just depends in which direction you decide to take! Do you spy rose quartz and serenity blue? Those Pantone Colors of the Year have potential! And isn't art amazing, a painting created over 100 years ago happens to be right on trend for colors in the year 2016. Just goes to show that great design and color are timeless. 

Here is an example that captures all the inspiration colors for this month. 

Blooms and Birds Set by Humblebeads.

Love the close up of the painting! The brush strokes are so full of energy. And this little snippet shows how you could narrow in a smaller section of the painting to pull your colors from rather than the entire palette. 

Have fun creating this month! We are giving away over $150 worth of art beads for this challenge. Make it your goal for 2016 to participate in each monthly challenge. Here are the challenge details if you are just joining us. 

January Monthly Challenge Sponsors + Prizes

Our Wonderful sponsors for the January Challenge.
We will have 3 Lucky Winners this Month!

Humblebeads

Heather Powers of Humblebeads creates Handcrafted Art Beads Inspired by Nature and Art History. She is also the founder of Art Bead Scene, The Bead Cruise and Inspired by Nature Retreats. Heather is always creating new and wonderful designs and jewelry.

Humblebeads is located in New Haven, Michigan.

Heather is donating a $50 gift certificate.

Visit Heather on Facebook, Blog, Instagram, Etsy and Website.

: : :

Art Incendi

Johana Nunez of Art Incendi creates wonderful torch fired enamel jewelry components. Inspired by the beautiful island landscapes, flowers and animals of Puerto Rico. 
Johana makes one of a kind art. Her love of color makes for great jewelry designs!

Art Incendi is located in Aibonito, Puerto Rico.

Johana is donating $50 in Jewelry Components.

Visit Johana on Etsy, and Facebook.

: : :

Donna Perlinplim

Kathrin Kneidl of Donna Perlinplim creates clay beads and components. 

Every item conveys a mood or a story. 

Great additions to your bead stash and jewelry designs!!

Donna Perlinplim is located in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Kathrin is donating a $50 gift certificate.

Visit Kathrin on Etsy1, Etsy 2 and Etsy 3.

: : :

Submit photos of your wonderful Jewelry creations using one or more Art Beads here.

Submit photos of your wonderful Bead creations here.

Landscape with Stars by Henri-Edmond Cross has many different elements that can be used for inspiration: landscapes, stars, impressionism, celestial elements, blues and yellows.

We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you with the art for this month's challenge! 

**IMPORTANT** Please remember to put JAN ABS in the title or tag of your submission(s).  Pinterest doesn't keep Pins in the order they are posted.

Provide us with the artist of the Art Beads used and we always love to know all the materials you used. 

***Art Beads MUST be used in your entry.***

January Monthly Challenge

Landscape with Stars 

by Henri-Edmond Cross

Watercolor over graphite on paper

Date: ca. 1905–1908 

Image Credit: www.metmuseum.org 

About the Art

"This poetic depiction of a star-streaked sky combines the long broken brushstrokes of Cross's late works with a murky landscape of pen and ink, reminiscent in its impressionistic forms of Japanese painting." - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Let's pull out the stars and moons for this month's wintry-hued challenge. We have a slight variation on last month's color palette, so you may have beads that you didn't use last month that will fit with this challenge. It's a great excuse to test drive Pantone's colors of the year! 

About the Artist

Henri-Edmond Cross, born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix, was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism, and he played an important role in shaping the second phase of that movement. He was very influential to Henri Matisse and many other artists, and his work was an instrumental influence in the development of Fauvism.

Born and raised in Northern France Henri-Edmond's talents were recognized early. He studied under several artists and schools to complete his education.

In 1884, Cross co-founded the Société des Artistes Indépendants, which consisted of artists displeased with the practices of the official Salon. There he met and became friends with many artists involved in the Neo-Impressionist movement. The change from his early, somber, Realist work was gradual. His color palette became lighter and he worked en plein air, he painted in the brighter colors of Impressionism. In the latter part of the 1880s, he painted pure landscapes which showed the influence of Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.

Cross's paintings of the early- to mid-1890s are characteristically Pointillist, with closely and regularly positioned tiny dots of color. Beginning around 1895, he gradually shifted his technique, instead using broad, blocky brushstrokes and leaving small areas of exposed bare canvas between the strokes. The resulting surfaces of the paintings resembled mosaics, and the works may be seen as precursors to Fauvism and Cubism.

Cross was plagued by a variety of health problems and account for his small but influential body of work. You can see more of his paintings in chronological order here. It's interesting to see his progress over the years. Our inspiration painting is in the signature style of his later works.

(Biography credit: Wikipedia.) 

Our Sponsors

Our Sponsors this month are Humblebeads, Art Incendi and Donna Perlinplim.

Please visit us tomorrow to see the prizes!

How to enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. You need to have a Pinterest account. Go get one ASAP if you don't have one already. It's easy, fun and inspiring.

2. Email us at absmonthlychallenge@gmail.com to get added to the monthly challenge board.

Subject: Monthly Challenge Board Request

You will be emailed an invite to the board within 48 hours. Accept the invite and you are ready to pin your entries.

3. Two ways to pin your entry to the board.

Pin your photo from the internet (on your blog, Etsy shop, etc.)

Add your photo directly from your computer

Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork.

An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

***Beads strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply added to wire or cord will not be accepted.***

Please add the tag or title JAN ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is January 31st. 

You may upload 2 entries per month.

ENTRIES for ART BEAD ARTISTS!!

• Beads Makers Pinterest Board-Art beads must be created by you and fit the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge theme. They can be made for the challenge or ones you have made before. 2 entries per month are allowed. 

One entry will be picked by the editors each month for a free month of advertising on the Art Bead Scene. Bead entries have to be pinned by the 30th of the month.

Beads only - do not post jewelry on this board. If a post doesn't fit the challenge it will be deleted.

Monthly Challenge Recap

• Please post at least one single shot of your creation on the Pinterest Board. This will be used to make a collage for the Monthly Challenge Gallery. Every creation will be added to the collage, regardless of a blog post. So everyone gets included!

Your entry must be on Pinterest 2 days BEFORE the recap to be included.

• Be sure to share with us the name of the art bead artist in the description of your photo so that if you are selected for the weekly Perfect Pairings on Wednesdays, both you as the designer and the art bead artist can get the credit you both deserve!

• An InLinkz button will be added to the bottom of the Monthly Challenge Recap post. Here you will be able to link up your blog post if you have one. It is no longer necessary to add your blog post URL to the description unless you want to. Be sure to hop around and see all the great inspiration and leave some comment love!

• The Monthly Challenge Recap with Blog Tour will be posted on January 30th.

Monthly Challenge Winners

• One prize winner will be selected at random from all pictures posted on the Pinterest board.

• One prize winner will be selected at random from all blog posts added to the hop for the Monthly Challenge Recap post. So if you want to be in the pool for the second prize, be sure to use the InLinkz code at the bottom of the post to share your process and inspirations!

• Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on February 1st.

Perfect Pairings :: Designer + Art Bead Artist

• Formerly the Featured Designer of the Week, our new Perfect Pairings will focus on both the jewelry designer and the art bead artist. 

• Be sure to point out all the art bead artists in your work in the description of the photo on the Pinterest Board. Links to their website or shop are appreciated. That way we can all find new art beads to love!

• From all the entries during the month, an editor will pick their favorite design to be featured every Wednesday here on ABS, so get those entries in soon.

What is an Art Bead?

An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.

***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.

Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***

Amuse the Muse - Rose Quartz and Serenity - with Rebecca of Songbead

Hello all! And a happy new year. 2016, eh - it's kind of crept up on me this one! And unfortunately, it's brought with it (for me) a nasty cold, so I'm typing this feeling rather under the weather today. Forgive me if this post is on the short side! 

This month, I've decided to feature the new Pantone's Colours of the year. Yes, you read that right - colourS! They've decided to go for two shades this year, kind of merging them together in an ombre effect, instead of the usual one, strong hue. Meet Rose Quartz and Serenity. 

Let me be the first to say that I am NOT overly convinced by this combination. I do like occasional pastels, but baby blue and baby pink....together?! Not doing it for me yet. And I know I'm not alone from the comments online. 

Meh...

HOWEVER, what I love about exploring colours is the unexpected things that you find, and how colours you thought you hated can really set you alight when you see them in an alternative palette/context. So this month is going to be about exploring these colours - together and separately - and seeing how bead artists can convince us that these are THE colours for 2016!

I've got to say, seeing this little scene from Little Big Bell, the official announcer (I believe!) of the new colours of the year, has got me thinking just a little. I have a feeling that the key to these colours not being too wishy washy may well be the addition of black....watch this space. But I'm also interested to see that both in the above scene, AND in last month's challenge piece...

...there are pops of yellow that really add a touch of something solid and definite to the delicate pastel tones. As always with colour, it's going to be HOW you use these colours that really makes or breaks them. 

So what do you all think? I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I'll start sharing beads I've found in these colours from next week - if you spot any, please leave links below! 

And now for the BeadBlogger Links. Have a great week everyone!

Atmos Flare 3D Pen Review
Are you intrigued by tools for 3D drawing? Sarah got to try out a fun 3D pen, though she found it to have a steep learning curve.

Scarfutopia
Here's a quick video review of this free knitting pattern.

Altered Binder to Store & Enjoy Your Mail Art Collection 
Tall binder rings of an old Franklin Planner binder accommodate a lot of bulky pages while leaving them easy to flip.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's Beading to Be Done!
There's nothing like a brand new beautiful calendar to encourage you to express your creative hopes and dreams for the new year. Jean has hers for 2016--you can get one, too! She will show you where!

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer; currently living in the capital city of Edinburgh. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.

December Monthly Challenge Winners

Congratulations to the December Monthly Challenge winners! 

1 winner was chosen randomly from all the challenge entrants.

1 winner was chosen randomly from the InLinkz blog entries.

Winner of a month of advertising on ABS from the Monthly Challenge Bead category.

Our First lucky winner is Bijoux by Delphine. She has won a necklace, earring and toggle set from Creative Impressions in Clay.

Our Second lucky winner is Dawn of La Touchables. She has won a $50 gift certificate from Glass Bead Art.

Our Winner from the Bead Entries of the Monthly Challenge is Earthshine. She has won a Month of Advertising here on Art Bead Scene.

     

Thank you Creative Impressions in Clay and Glass Bead Art for being our December Monthly Challenge sponsors!

Winners, please E-Mail Tari, tari@claybuttons.com with your information (Name and address) so your prizes may be sent to you.

A Big THANK YOU to everyone who entered this month! We were so fortunate to have so many beautiful entries and experience such creativity from our wonderful readers.

Visit us tomorrow to see what January's challenge brings.