Color of the Year: Honeysuckle

Pantone has picked Honeysuckle as the 2011 Color of the Year.  They state, "Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life."

What can I say, who knew the power of color could be so, um powerful.  Need a shot of elevating, confidence-instilling pink in your creations but really not a 'pink' kind of gal?  Let me break it down into a few manageable color palettes and show you how I have added in some of this potent honeysuckle to my designs.

First up, a sugary sweet mix of honeysuckle and teal are tempered by neutrals with the brown lotus pod beads and matte silver components.  Even though pink is the dominant color, the intensity of the teal takes away some of it's thunder, offering more of a Spring color scheme rather than screaming "I'm wearing a pink heart!".

Diane Hawkey pendant, Humblebeads disk beads and egg.

This design uses the honeysuckle as an accent to the navy, melon and cream palette.  The pink rhodonite beads are combined with peach aventurine and gunmetal findings. 

The flower connectors are Arte Metal from Vintaj.  The pendant is from Gaea and the navy blue disk beads are Humblebeads.

The pink beads above, left to right: Jubilee, Spirited Earth, Humblebeads, Diane Hawkey and Lynn Davis.

Want more color inspiration? Check out Kuler where you can find color palettes based on honeysuckle and create your own.  Warning - don't click this link unless you have time to spare, it's too much fun!