When I saw that Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati Jewelry was hosting the 3rd Annual Challenge of Color blog hop I jumped at the chance to participate. I was intrigued by the premise of the challenge, which is to create a jewelry piece using color palettes that were created by Brandi Hussey from satellite pictures! The images of places all over our planet are from the Earth As Art exhibit, and are breathtakingly beautiful. The other thing that makes Erin’s blog hop challenges so interesting is that she encourages you to go beyond just the jewelry creation part of it and to actually learn a little something about the topic.
Of the two palettes I received, the one I chose to use is called “Lake District”.
Here’s what I learned:
The Lake District, also known as The Lakes, is a mountainous region of Northwestern England. The area is famous for its lakes, forests and mountains, but also for being the home of poet William Wordsworth and children’s author Beatrix Potter.
The highest mountains in England are in the Lake District as well as the two deepest and longest lakes. Designated as a National Park in 1951, it’s the most visited National Park in the United Kingdom. Something that made it all the more interesting to me is that it happens that some of my husband’s ancestors are also from that region!
Another good thing about this challenge is that it forced me to delve into my stash of “stones I couldn’t resist buying but have no idea what to do with”. This pendant was the first thing I made-
Pretty close match, isn’t it? By the way, does anyone know what kind of stone that is?
Next, I thought I’d try to pick up on some of the dusky pink and rose brown tones. I had a strand of large picasso jasper rounds and two of these striped stone beads that I thought would work well for a chunky bracelet. I don’t know what those striped beads are either, but they have a wonderful silky smooth texture! I bent a couple of little gears to make bead caps for the picasso bead and wired everything together along with a few Czech glass beads.
So there you have it – I managed to use some of my mystery stones, learned about something new and had a great time doing it!
As I was writing this post I was having tons of computer issues so I apologize that I wasn’t able to include the list of other blog hop artists here – but please click on the link below to go back and visit them all – thanks for looking!
Erin Prais-Hintz http://treasures-found.blogspot.com
lilruby jewelry 
I’m fascinated by all these color pallettes and how much we all are learning about our Earth. This is a beautiful piece! So glad you could put those mystery stones to work! They must have simply been waiting for the right piece!
Thanks so much! Erin’s idea to use satellite pictures was brilliant – they’re really fascinating to look at!
Love the pendant and bracelet, Joan, and I adore the serendipity of finding just the right stone from one’s stash!
I love your pieces! These images are wonderful for inspiration!
joan, love that first pendant…did you put the center in or it came that way? It is beautiful! I need to spend some time with your blog….love your etching too!
Thanks Kim! No, I added the rhinestone centerpiece to dress it up a little bit – although it’s a pretty stone it looked kind of blah by itself.
Weren’t the Challenge of Color palettes just beautiful? I was so happy with the ones I got. You made such gorgeous pieces with yours! You did a fantastic job on this challenge!
The stone in your first piece matches the landscape of your pallet perfectly.
Your jewelry and color palette is just perfect!
Hahaha! mystery stones! I love that term, and I have a ton of them, too! The focal stone is a PERFECT match indeed! This is just lovely!
Gorgeous — and I LOVE the stones in the last one — sublime!
Thanks Lori! Any idea what they are though?
Great pieces and such a good job on the colors. I had my honeymoon in Keswick.
Wow – that must have been fabulous!
If you like hiking or travel books, my husband’s obsessed with this one: http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Around-Lakes-Hunter-Davies/dp/0099504804/.
It’s so much fun to go “hunting” in your bead stash and know in an instant that you just “found” that amazing and mysterious focal piece…your pieces are so lovely and really pick up on the colors and feel of your palette 🙂 JLynn
I’m just going to go ahead and call it lake district stone from now on. Man-o-man, totally perfect, you did a fantastic job!
I’m amazed at the way the beads perfectly match the palettes! Terrific job!
I had to look twice because that bead totally blended in with the color palette. Wow, nice find in your stash. Great choices with the bracelet beads too.
I think that first stone was carved right out of te mountains in your inspiration palette!! Great job with the colors and use of your stash!
Lol – It looks that way, doesn’t it? It was actually really hard to photograph because there’s no contrast between the stone and the background!
Absolutely gorgeous – just love your design, beautifully done Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ
I think I need to come by and look through your stash. 🙂 Those beads really are perfect for your palettes. Your pendant is gorgeous and I love your bracelet as well.
Joan, I couldn’t just stop with your challenge piece, I had to browse your other jewelry designs, too! You’ve got a new follower in me! (I had the same luck with a focal bead, too! Please come visit!) Karla
Thanks Karla – and I will definitely come visit! 🙂
Seriously awesome. You did great matching your color palette. Using gears as bead caps was brilliant.
I love how closely the beads match the patterns in the photo! And not just the pattern, but the colors, too, as if they were waiting for you to do this challenge. Total kismet, isn’t it?
Thanks for playing along!
The colors in that pendant stone to me were an exact match. It was meant to be. Love what you did with the other stones, also, how cleaver to use the little gears for end caps.
Beautiful response to the challenge. I also chose the Lake District of the two I was sent. Fantastic piece!
Wow, I love that your mystery stones matched the palette to perfection. I also like the use of gears as end caps…what a great idea! Beautiful finished pieces.
Mama mia! Beautiful pieces, impeccable worksmanship, and your creativity is so inspiring!
Thanks so much to all of you for your comments! I fought with my computer throughout my blog hop post, and it finally died the next morning (poor thing). So it’s taking me a while to get to all of your blogs but every single one I’ve visited has delighted and inspired me.
Thanks also to Erin for hosting such fun and intriguing blog hops!
Very pretty pieces. I really like the way you bent the gears as a bail for the pieces. Great choices for the palette.
Hello Miss Joan! What a wonderful trip it has been around the world! I love natural stones for their color and texture and variety. You have chosen a great one! That first one I have used before and I thought it was some sort of dyed magnesite. The others I think are either a desert or painted jasper and a matte mookaite. I think you did a great job on matching the stones in your stash with the palette! Thank you for joining me on this Challenge! Enjoy the day. Erin
Wow Joan! Love your wire work & choices of beads! You’ve got a great eye for color. Copper is fun to work with too. I like the way you bent the gears. You’ve given me another new idea to add to my “want to do” list. Thanks. Weren’t these color palettes so much fun?!