The pink birdies featured last time were part of our local guild's bead challenge. The rules were to make a dozen heart-themed beads, using red, pink, white and black, or any combination thereof of those four colors, in either transparents or opaques.

As the co-ordinator of the challenge, I added black into the traditional valentine mix to keep things from getting too syrupy sweet. That said I was honestly surprised by how many people took advantage—more than I had expected, certainly!

black red-dotted hearts by Cindi B. February, 2013. Effetre. I shot these on her counter, positioning them on a white towel to enhance the natural light coming through the window, using my phone, a Nokia N8.

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