Whether you like your jewelry simple, elaborate, or just a tad earthy, I’ve discovered that Swarovski crystals and pearls can fit in with just about anyone’s taste in jewelry. The color palettes you can create are so much fun, and Artbeads.com offered me–free of charge–the opportunity to indulge my love of color with their fantastic selection of all things Swarovski. I even discovered a new use for Photoshop by copying and pasting the bead pictures from the Artbeads.com website into a new document and moving the pictures around to create my color palette. I ended up choosing copper, powder green, and burgundy pearls of various sizes from their Swarovski bead collection, along with faceted round topaz crystals and tanzanite bicones, also from their bead collection.

And the selection of briolettes in their Swarovski crystal pendant collection is amazing. These may not be the “real” thing, but they might as well be, for all their perfect color and shine. I chose plump, translucent, teardrop-shaped tanzanite briolettes and some beautiful jet flat briolettes.

When my order arrived, I jumped in with one of my most elaborate earring designs to date, featuring all the shimmery Swarovski crystals and pearls “sewn” to an elaborate chandelier framework of 20-gauge square sterling silver wire and 20-gauge gold-filled wire.

After several hours of work on those, I decided to create some simple but elegant earrings featuring the black jet briolettes:

Later, in a slightly more earthy mood, I indulged my love of copper combined with shades of lavender and green into this fun bracelet with a beaded extender chain for extra sass.

The possibilities of creating with Swarovski crystal pearls, beads, and briolettes truly are endless. Several more ideas are percolating in my imagination, and Swarovski crystals beads and pendants will definitely be part of my staple jewelry supplies from now on. Thanks for letting me play, Artbeads.com!