My Finished Fall Collar!

So I'm a little embarrassed about how long this took me to get done, but I have finally finished my ArtBeads blog partnership fall project.  I got up at about 4:00 today and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided that I might as well take a whack at taking pictures again.  And I think I might have done okay this time.  I'm not sure If I'm going to get the desired look I'm going for, so I'm settling with acceptable.  And here we go.

Here is my finished bead embroidered collar.  It took a lot longer then I had originally anticipated, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  And keep in mind this was my very first attempt at a beaded collar, so there will be things that I change the next time I attempt one.

I used wonderful TOHO bead mixes (my favorites) for the base of the necklace; the sky and land.  I love these mixes.  The color combos are fantastic and so inspiring.

I also used TOHO seed beads for the beaded tree.  I also used the TOHO marbled seed beads for the trim, fringe, and beaded rope.

The bead embroidered part of the necklace is backed with tan leather.  It goes so well with the fall palette.    

The fringe is finshed off with a beautiful pressed glass beads.  I used a combination of dagger and leaf beads in a fall color palette.   Some of the glass leaves are also on the beaded tree.  I also used silver lined square beads and a collection of vintage beads I already had lying around.  The vintage beads really catch the light and make everything sparkle. 

The beaded rope was made using the marbled seed beads, some hex cut beads I already had, and some fun size 11/0 silver lined red triangle beads.  I threw in a few vintage beads to pull everything together.

The collar is then finished with a fantastic sterling silver clasp.  As always, I am in love with the clasp.  It's a falling leaf clasp; which I thought would go great with the whole fall theme.  It's so pretty and delicate.  I'm adding it to my list of favorite clasps.  I just think if fits the necklace so well.

So for my first try, I am pleased with my results.  Like I said earlier, I do plan on changing a few things the next time I take a stab at a bead embroidered collar.  But I assure you, that won't be until after we move and are settled in a bit.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me and hopefully there were a few of you who are still interested in how this project turned out, even if I started it over two months ago.  Hopefully it was worth the wait. :-)     

Disclosure - I have received these products from ArtBeads free of charge to honestly review. I have not been paid for this post.