Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe

, by Shaylynn

Sketchbook 7

, by Shaylynn

A couple of weeks ago, I was very inspired to make some new jewelry designs and try out new techniques.

However, it was one of those uninspired inspirational days; when your fingers want to create and your mind wants to be challenged, but they both get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new things to be done. The result? I really, really wanted to play with my jewelry supplies, but I really, really had no idea where to start.

So I looked for some specific inspiration.

Did you know that there is this website that decides what colors are going to be popular each season? Yup. There is. The above is Pantone's color forecast for Fall 2011.

(If you look at their website, they even give flowery descriptions of each color!)

You can be sure that these are the colors you will be seeing everywhere, from clothing stores to notebooks to maybe even candy wrappers. Because the whole design world apparently uses the colors that Pantone picks out.

(I'm quite sad because few of these colors look good on me, but I guess that's okay because I'm one of those weirdos who only buys basic clothing and who makes her own accessories).

While on the whole, I think that the idea of someone proclaiming "Everyone will use and like these colors because we say they are popular!" is rather silly... I was intrigued by the colors they chose. They aren't your typical Autumn colors. No reds or oranges or deep dark browns. Quite a few of them are colors I don't ordinarily use, and some of the colors I really don't like (think phlox), but they look beautiful together.

*edit: I just learned that Pantone highlights colors that are being favored by designers, not the other way around. Should have done my research!

And that made these Pantone Fall 2011 Colors the perfect, challenging inspiration for new jewelry designs. I have relatively few supplies in these colors, which meant that I had to get really creative...

I actually only finished a small amount of the jewelry I wanted to... but I shouldn't keep delaying this blog post until autumn is past and next summer is well on the way. So here goes, these are the designs that I have made so far.

Click each image for more and bigger pictures. All of these jewelries are available in my Shoppe.

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons. I can't wait for it to come. :) Doing schoolwork on the porch in the crisp breeze... raking leaves... drinking hot tea... a rainbow of colors in my backyard... *sighs happily*