We're Hopping today with ChocoLatte BROWN

WELCOME to the Crayon Color Challenge once again!

Our apologies that Blogger chose yesterday to have a major hiccup with some blogs...unfortunately, our Color Challenge Post "vanished" into thin air - but on the plus side, all of your lovely comments remained!

So if you were one of those that missed seeing our design yesterday,
we thought we would share ONE more time!

  

A special thanks to Sally - it was fun to be a part of of her Crayon Color Challenge and we are looking forward to "catching" up over the next couple of days.   The purpose of the Challenge was of course to pick a monochromatic hue and design with it...and our color was...

BROWN

I love BROWN...because it brings to mind many favorite things...two of which are Chocolate and Coffee!  I went through my vast collection of Focals, Gemstones, Artisan Glass & Ceramic Beads and found a beautiful and romantic set from Gaea with a glorious mix of browns.

The set had this beautiful Heart focal in it...it's a very deep dark chocolate color with a tad of that grunge black/brown/grey colors running through it.  When I originally started designing, I had a Bracelet design in my head...however - I'm one that always goes with the flow and as soon as I started "playing" with the focal...along with a group of Swarovski crystals, Smoky Quartz and Jasper gemstones, and some Wire Lace Ribbon in a Mocca Brown...this pendant emerged with long fringe dangles.  Since I was keeping with the Brown theme, it only seemed fitting to design with Vintaj Natural Brass chain and findings.

I love the Rustic and Romantic feel to this set...

All of the ceramic beads have that warm, old-world, Victorian feel to them and when I picked up the remaining ceramic beads from the set...I just had a vision of how fun it would be to have some asymmetrical links in between some chunky, classy etched oval chain pieces.  The simple beauty of ChocoLatte is that when I started designins, I had nothing concrete in my mind...so it was fun to allow my emotions and hands the complete freedom to simply sit back and design.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was to "try out" different chain combinations and lengths with this piece.  I had a variety of chain styles out on the design table to create multiple strands...however, in the end I decided to go with a simple double strand to frame out the top of the focal area...and then compliment that with a long single strand in between the links.  If you have never worked with Wire Lace - give it a try!  With the thinner pieces, you can clip them without worrying too much about raveling...and if you have the large Wire Mesh Ribbon lace - you can stretch it out to look like a wave.  For this piece I tried both...but ultimately just wanted a bit of texture, so opted for the thin Wire Lace Ribbon as a petite accent.

Two coordinating beads in the set allowed me to create these lovely pair of earrings to compliment the ChocoLatte Necklace.  Keeping with that romantic, old-world style feel...I added complimentary dangles as I did in the necklace, along with Key Charm dangles with the thought "Key to my Heart"

And if you are a fan of Gemstone Lore...

The two gemstones included in our ChocoLatte design set are:

~Jasper~

Is said to bring stability and courage to balance your emotions

~Smoky Quartz~

 Is said to relieve sad feelings and stress, while building self confidence

And here's the complete set of ChocoLatte!

And on the off chance you haven't had a chance to visit all the blogs of my fellow designers participating this Hop - here is the listing of links!

Hosted by:

Sally Russick  http://thestudiosublime.com

Red

 Therese Frank  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com

 Rochelle Brisson  http://acreativechelle.blogspot.com

 Lisa Lodge   http://pineridgetreasures.blogspot.com

 Malin de Koning  http://beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

 Bobbie Rafferty   http://beadsong.blogspot.com

Orange

 Linda Landig  http://LindasBeadBlog.com

 Cherrie Fick  http://designsinthelight.com

 Beth McLarnan http://threetrees-art.blogspot.com

 Cece Cormier  http://thebeadingyogini.com

 Renetha Stanziano   http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

 Tanya Goodwin  http://pixiloo.blogspot.com

 Jean Welles  http://jeanawells.blogspot.com

 Amy Severino   http://amybeads.blogspot.com

 Rebekah Payne   http://treewingsstudio.com

 Lola Surwillo  http://.beadlolabead.blogspot.com

 Judy Turner   http://silver-rains.blogspot.com

 

Yellow

 Jennifer Justman  http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com

 Rose Brisson    http://ahteesblog.blogspot.com

 Kim Bender  http://www.kimmykats.com/

 Heather Powers   http://humblebeads.blogspot.com

 Shelly Joyce  http://www.aujourlejour-shelly.blogspot.com

Blue

 Cherie Reed  http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com

 Rebecca Anderson  http://songbeads.blogspot.com

 Hope Smitherman  http://craftyhope.blogspot.com

 Patti Vanderbloemen  http://myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com

 Michelle Buettner  http://MiShelDesigns.blogspot.com

 Alicia Marinache  http://allprettythings.ca

 Charissa Sloper   http://blog.obsidiansoda.com

 Sonya Stille  http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com

 Maria Grimes  http://mariagrimes.blogspot.com

 Nancy Saccoccio  http://risingdesigns.blogspot.com

 Sandi Volpe   http://sandivolpe.com

 Joanne Tinley  http://daisychaindesignsjewellery.blogspot.com

 Catherine Pruitt  http://boobeads.blogspot.com

Green

 Mary Harding  http://maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

 Karin Gilman http://www.qaygee.blogspot.com/

 Jayne Capps   http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com

 Lorelei Eurto  http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com

 Melissa Meman http://melissameman.blogspot.com

 Alice Peterson  http://alice-dreaming.blogspot.com

 Jenny Davies Reazor   http://www.jdaviesreazor.com

 Cynthia Machata    http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com

 Melissa Essenburg  http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com

 Regina Santerre  http://reginaswritings.blogspot.com

 Lauren Streets  http://ornthoughts.wordpress.com

 Elizabeth Auld  http://beadsforbusygals.com

Purple

 Tracy Mok   http://bumblebeadsdesigns.blogspot.com

 Jennifer Judd Velasquez http://jenjuddrocks.blogspot.com

 Marti Conrad  http://marticsclay.blogspot.com

 Lori Anderson  http://prettythingsblog.com

 Donna Bradley  http://strandedbeads.blogspot.com

 Courtney Breul  http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com

 Linda Younkman   http://lindysdesigns.blogspot.com

 Susan Kennedy  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

 Lisa Liddy   http://Lisaliddy.wordpress.com

 Tracy Stillman  http://www.tracystillmandesigns.com

 Dawn Doucette  http://designsbydawnmarie.blogspot.com

Brown

 Diana Ptaszynski   http://suburbangirlstudio.com

 Shannon Chomanczuk  http://formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/

YOU ARE HERE...

Janice Everett   http://JLynnJewels.blogspot.com

 Karen Williams  http://Baublicious.blogspot.com

Black

 Kashmira Patel  http://sadafulee.blogspot.com

 Heidi Post  http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.com/

 Birgitta Lejonklou  http://lejonklou.blogspot.com/

 Holly Westfall  http://silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/

 Karin Slaton  http://backstorybeads.blogspot.com

HAVE FUN!

~JLynn