Normally when I think of CZ, I think of the sparkly white version that is often used as immitation diamonds. But it can be made in a rainbow of colors, so I picked some lavender and olive green beads to test.

The colors are gorgeous – the lavender is pale and beautiful, while the olive green is a rich deeper hue. They look great together, so I started by making a pendant combining both colors.

The huge lavender beads are 9×36 mm teardrop pendant beads, and the smaller olive green ones are 6×9 mm faceted teardrops, in case you are tempted to nab a few for yourself.

I had to try these lovely flat square cushion beads, so I went with some very simple earrings – I think the shape and facets on them are so pretty they deserve to be the center of a design.

The square cushion beads are my favorite of the three styles, not because the others aren’t beautiful (they are) but because I could see these beads as part of so many different designs. They’d be lovely as a simple wire wrapped pendant on a skinny chain, and there are a bunch of colors to choose from.

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