Focusing

 Focusing  on myself was the first thing I started this year with.

 I mean  I learned  a  new thing this  New Years day.  It  is  taking self portrait in my smart phone.  This smart phone makes me feel pretty dumb at times and this New Year's day  its  smirk  made  me  feel like... I want to try  to shape up.  Really..

 You can say, out of a zillion resolutions I  make around this early January days,  becoming a  bit  more tech savvy is  one of them.

 Talking about using the smart phone for taking photos,  I mean taking my own picture  I had to take  at least  30 shots and out of them only a couple  came out okay  good. This one I like best.

As I was browsing through my favorite blogs I came to Sally's site.  She is having this cool project of Focusing on Life . Taking self portrait was the very first project.  .

It makes sense.  Everything starts from within, within thy self.

I was pretty happy to find that out.  How strangely thought waves link. 

Sandyhook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut and how to deal with that

26 innocent children and 8 adults are  killed in an Elementary School  in Connecticut - how do I deal with a news like that,  faraway in California, yet so close?

There is so much to do today, but as I open the television this morning I am horrified with this national tragic news.  I am stunned and stocked.

There  should be Christmas in the air and I am scheduled to deck the halls and decorate my house for the holidays according to my" to do list".  But I find myself  all alone sitting here with tears rolling down my cheeks,  listening to the  horrible unfolding  stories of the shooting that took place this morning.

I hear the President brushing off tears speaking more as a father today than as  an official commander in chief.

Sandyhook school is a small Elementary school with only 600 children ( 5 - 10 years of age) in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood in Connecticut.  People know each other here in this quaint little rural town.

The killer( 24 year old Ryan )  is a person whose mother worked   as a kindergarten class teacher and he entered his mom's class with two hand guns and started shooting.  His mom is dead with 26 innocent children.  Not only that, the shooter died too

Where is the fallacy in this equation?  What's wrong?  What do we learn from this?  How can we prevent this in future?  And most importantly WHY????

 Psychiatrist Dr. Joshua Weiner is bombarded  with these questions too. How do we answer  to the child when he asks " WHY"?    How do we respond to his fears?

His answers in a nutshell:

* Children will take cues from the adults and parents.  So first deal with your own  emotions  and be comfortable and strong.  Seek support groups to talk and do something constructively.
Realize that it does not happen everyday. Most days everyone comes back home safely.  It is tragic and unfair, yet, try to see the whole picture and be positive.

At the end of the day reassure your child that s/he is safe and you'll do everything to keep her/him safe with an extra tight hug.

*Children may not be able to  articulate their emotions.  Help them with words, writing and art opportunities to express that emotion.

* Some children may not show it all now, but it will come out in bits and  pieces over a period of time in the near future.  Be prepared for that.  This may come as extra clinging, moodiness, eating fusses, even bed wetting.  Be supportive and understanding.  It is possible that this may  manifest over the next two weeks.  After that if the problem remains,  he suggested to seek professional help.

* Most children will be resilient and take it as a bad dream  or bad scene from a movie and recover.

Statistically  speaking, 85% of the population will be able to cope with it, 15% will have hard time he concluded.

Where am I in this curve?  Am I in the 15% or in the 85% lot?  How do I respond to this tragedy?  How can I accept the fact that those 26 children will have no Christmas this year or birthdays, or graduation ceremonies, no weddings, no children of their own...  and I go on with my life?


I stare at my TO DO list  again.  It says:

* make the jewelry gift for....
* shopping for the goody...
* take out Christmas box and decorate the ...

But I feel numb.  This hour is not for any of those.

So,  I pick up my pen and let it weep.Weep  for those innocent victims and  their families and pray.

Stunning agate gemstone - how did I create the wire wrapped pendant necklace

Recently I was asked how did I create the wire wrapped agate pendant necklace.  So I decided to share it with you.

I am indebted to the tutorial I got from the Gailavira tutorial in her etsy store.

Well, the basic is there but just like all wire and stone have individual wishes what they want to be ultimately,this wire wrapped agate had it too. I did give in to that wish.

So, instead of elaborating on the details especially on the bail, I kept it simple  with just a  wire wrapped loop.  It was hard because the basket weave in her tutorial  is darn pretty. And I had practised that.

But I wanted to bring out the rust, crimson, orange, scarlet red in that piece.  So many pretty shades of red!   The shades in the agate gemstone resembled the setting sun's hue.

  I did not want the wire wrap to  over power that, just wanted to enhance that organic shades of red.

 SUNSET AGATE NECKLACE

Did I accomplish that?  Only you can say. It is in the eye of the beholder.

I made another wire wrapped agate pendant recently.  It had the magic of the mid night milky way or the  galaxy in the night sky.  I named it SILENT NIGHT.

SILENT NIGHT  GEMSTONE NECKLACE

Recently SILENT NIGHT got sold. from my Etsy store.

But SUNSET is just listed.

Bead Soup Party Kalmbach

Come back Bead Soup Party!

I had join this Bead Soup Party hosted by our beloved Lori Anderson with 400 beaders across the globe.  That was in August.   Then as a cherry on the top,  a couple of months later I received a  packet with  some wonderful beads from the Kalmbach store.

If you  have ever browsed the craft section in a book store or the  library you know who they are, you are already  well acquainted with the Kalmbach Books.

Now I got this packet from  a bead store in  Lodi, CA named Bunches of Beads.  I was so  glad to know that they are in California and not that far from where I live.  Some day I wish to pay them a surprise visit and buy their awesome beads.  For now, my heart felt thanks to them.   I bow down to their generosity for sending me this awesome selection.

Here is what they sent me;

Look more closely-

Aren't they awesome?  Now there are so many things I can do with them.

Finally I made  a knitted wire necklace with the autumn beads;

Autumn Knitted

.

It was tricky in the sense that  the beads I chose to wire knit  were of different dimension and shapes.  I faced some challenges with three beads, the heavier ones.  I wanted them to be secured on top of the delicate lacy knitted wire.  So I incorporated some wire work with extra wire .  I had never done it before in a knitted wire piece.  But I think it was a good solution.

What other things could I have done?  Do you have some suggestions?

But there were still many beads not used.  Especially, I was itching to do something with those  three beautiful oval  agate beads  with orange, red, yellow stripes that reminded me of the setting sun.

So I made another necklace

Sun set

 If you are a beader you may want to check out Lori Anderson's new Bead Soup book in your book store or in www.KalmbachStore.com.  They have a discount going on now too until 11/9/12.  So I am going to go there now.



I was very sad yesterday watching the news from the hurricane devastation  in the East Coast.  Today I am feeling much happy.  It's true what Picasso had said - " Art washes away the dirt of every day life"

Some how today   I feel hopeful that the sunny days are coming soon and as a nation we will overcome.

Art Fair and how did it go

Art and craft fairs are exhausting and exciting.  How come?  Well...

A week from the event I just wind me up so much that I almost tear my own  hair and cry why do I sign up again?  Then I brush off and get busy pricing, organizing, sending e mails to zillian people and finally  pack up my van with the tent, stone bags for weights, tables, chairs, suitcases of inventory and go.  Phew!.

My hubby helps out holding up the tent and together we put it up, by then  the sun has gone  down quickly on this Friday fall afternoon.

In the wee hour next morning I start out and zip open my tent,. Yeh! it is still standing erect, nothing has fallen down.  I work quickly like a Charlie Chaplin  fast forward movie and  before  I am done hanging the last earring,  early bird shoppers emerge.

So this is how Saturday started.

Then there are  long pauses of quiet lazy hours.   Some browsers come, some play shuffling into the Bargain Basket- where everything is $10.  and I do make some sales. 

 Some feel interested to seeing me  knitting with wire.

Some take pictures of my booth and graciously sends me the copy too.

Lesson learned number one is yes, people love going through bargain bin and I made quite a few sales with last years' things that I meant to get rid of any way.  Rena is right. Those are the staples that may pay for your booth price.

 So I should make more of the low end stuff.

This is when a lady comes and buys one of my most expensive piece.

To be honest, this is my first try of this technique, and I really did not mean to sell it yet, but I priced it and hung it to fill an empty bust.  I was awed that it went so fast!  On the other hand the ones I thought would be sold  by now  are still hanging.

A Russian guy likes a knitted jade and pearl bracelet and wants to know if his daughter would like it.  He shows me her picture.  Cute, young teen ager...  but this is a tough question for me to answer.  I hate  pushy sales people.  So I just smile.  He buys it any way.

I feel thrilled that my jewelry is going all the way to Russia!

Sunday was slow.  But now they have live jazz.  A volunteer asks me if I'd like a bathroom break.  When I come back I find my two extra neighbors, one an illustrator of children's book and the other an artist are dancing to the music. And I found a sculptor  working on his project  with a big smile on his face.

 What else can you expect?


Fall has fallen.  The air is crisp and sweet.



How did I  do financially?  Not fantastic but not very bad either  and  did I have a good time.?  Oh yes. Indeed.

Did I learn any thing?

 Expect miracles.  There is no formula really.

Holiday Bling Blog hop

It's amazing how the holidays are coming  so close now.  Even though there are always some holidays some where on this earth  ( and we must celebrate all of them) , this is the time when we get into the spirit of celebrating holidays!.  That is the main theme of this blog hop coordinated by Shelly and Marlene


It was posted in August sometimes and we dived in getting  busy  making holiday ornaments.

 It could be any ornaments...to dress up the tree or your home  or your self.

My partner is  Cynthia  O'Toole who makes cute earrings. Here is her face book link

I sent her my ornament on Sept 15th.  Want to see how it looks?

Here it is:

I am into making  the Tree of Life ornaments these days.  So that is what I sent her.  Cynthia likes blue, pink and purple.  So I chose turquoise, one purple pink teardrop bead and some crystals,  and it is made with copper with a pink hue.  Turquoise brings good luck and healing and it is also the stone for the month of December.  May she be blessed and this little token goes to symbolize that wish of mine.

 I hope she likes it.

This Christmas is special for her and I hope she can wear this ornament as a pendant or she can hang it on her Christmas tree.

Just a little ago I found a packet from Cynthia waiting in my mail box and when I open it see what  I got

 and another one:

Aren't they darling?  The cutest angels and Christmas tree!.

Thank you, thank you Cynthia.  I love them both and will be wearing them for sure during the Christmas time

Our  special holiday is Divali- the festival of lights, which is just about a month away. I wish you HAPPY DIVALI - may your life be filled with love and light .

 What is yours?

Here are the rest of the participants.  Please do pay them a visit too to see what they have done.

Michelle Fanucchi http://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com  Monique Urquhart http://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com Therese Frank http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com Heather Otto http://www.thecrafthopper.com Jo-Ann Woolverton  http://itsabeadifulcreation.blogspot.com Linda Florian http://lilysofthevalleyjewelry.blogspot.com Debbie Rasmussen http://kepirasmussen.blogspot.com Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca Ginger Bishop http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com Lo/  Lynn Jobber  http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.com Leanne Loftus http://firstimpressiondesign.blogspot.com Rita/Toltec Jewels http://www.toltecjewels.blogspot.com Shelly Joyce http://www.aujourlejour-shelly.blogspot.com Shai Williams http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com Lori Bowring Michaud http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com Lennis Carrier http://www.windbent.net Marla Gibson http://spiceboxdesigns.blogspot.com Mary Howell Govaars http://mlhjewelrydesigns.com Linda Younkmann www.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com Shirley Jones Moore http://​www.beadsandbread.blo​gspot.com Melinda Orr http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com Marlene Cupo http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com Shelley Graham Turner http://shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com Sonya Stille  http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com Dyanne Cantrell http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com Anindita Basu http://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com Dee Elgie  http://cherryobsidia.blogspot.com Gina Hockett http://freestyleelements.blogspot.com Lori Jean Poppe http://lorillijeanscreativecorner.blogspot.com Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/blog Stephanie Stamper (Woods) http://skwds.blogspot.com Mary Hicks, Shannon Hicks http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com

How to make the The Tree Of Life Pendant

TREE OF LIFE PENDANT

Recently, with the new born baby on my lap,   the image of the Tree of Life comes to my mind's eye..   Trees have such  a rich symbolic history in so  many cultures.

 The cherry tree blossoms in Japanese culture, from the Celtic to the African culture,  trees are symbols of our lives in a strange way.  The branches spread their limbs for the blessings reaching up  to the heavens, and  the  roots  go  down deeper and curl in  Mother Earth's bosom .

For me, whenever I think of stability and strength I envision the Tree of Life.

This made me go deeper into the meaning of it, as if the tree of life  shows how to dwell in all the worlds, how to unite the worlds above and below.  All these emotions made me research more into how to make  a Tree of Life pendant.  As a jewelry artist that is what I wanted to do now!  

I found that there are several nice You Tube demonstrations.

Tree of Life Pendant by Camille Sharon

Tree of Life by Magpie Gemstone.com

I followed mostly  Sharon's instruction  but also  changed a little bit in the process .

 My mom  had told  me long ago that I have trouble following directions and it is so true.  So,  some day soon I may probably write a tutorial to show how I did it.

Try it.  It is not very hard.  In the beginning it took me like an hour to do the first one, then I could make them in forty minutes or so.

In case you don't have the time but  need a Tree of Life pendant right now,  perhaps  to give an August born a birthday  present,  the Peridot in copper Tree of Life Pendant  is available in my Etsy store, freshly made. If you like it and want it with other stones or metal  I'd gladly do it.

Here are the other  Tree of Life Pendants I made. .

Peridot and copper Tree of Life Pendant

Pearls in Silver Tree of Life Pendant

Peridot and coral beads in si;lver Tree of Life Pendant

Peridat and pearls in Silver Tree of Life Pendant

 Which one do you like best?

Also you may like;

                                         Tutorial- How to make a wire wrapped earring