Thankful in India :: Electricity

This past weekend I was out to dinner at a local restaurant with my family and some friends of ours. It is a place we go to often not only because we like the food, but because it is a nice family run place. These guys on Saturday night were trying to run their business with power coming and going, back up generators kicking in, and some kind of an inverter hooked up to a truck engine in the parking lot. I give them so much credit for rolling with the situation. People all along the coast here are just trying to get their lives back to normal.

What was so weird for my husband and me was that the first time the lights went out, we both shot a glance at each other and instantly remembered our time in India. Specifically in Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. A truly amazing place to see, and somewhere I continually get inspiration from. 

I love the stone inlay, particularly all the carnelian. It's translucent look gives such a beautiful, warm feeling. 

India is a place where the old traditions and the modern world bump up against each other. In Agra you can see how population growth has affected the air quality. These pictures we took in Agra, while not the best, shows the Taj Mahal from a window in the Red Fort from across the river. You can see the haze in the air from the traditional use of 'cook fires,' which are open fires to cook your meals. At night there are not a lot of city lights, or street lights, and you can see the glow of cook fires way out into the distance.

When we went out to dinner we came across the sweetest little boy dancing in traditional dress while his father played a sort of part flute, part recorder. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of him, but a quick google search found pictures that really brought back that sweet look on his face as he danced. We headed into the restaurant that had bare light bulbs hanging from cords in a web from the ceiling. Just after we ordered, the lights went out. It was pitch black. I mean we held up our hands in front of faces and you could not see them. The lights didn't come back on for at least 3 minutes ... a very long 3 minutes when you're wondering what is going on. After the second or third time we lost electricity, we got into a rhythm and didn't let it slow us down the rest of the night.

So, as I continue my list of things we were thankful for while traveling in India, it includes electricity and the ability to see my husband's smiling face over our curry dinner, which by the way was out of this world.

Blog Hop :: Ears to You

A few weeks ago Amy Freeland over at CopperDiem organized a blog hop and asked a few of us to join her in making earrings to donate to Ears to You. 

The mission of this charity is to provide earrings to lift the spirits of women undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Amy asked us all to make 3 to 5 pairs of earrings for donation. 

The founder of Ears to You is a women named Ruth (her story here) who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. She has 3 kids, and her youngest was then just 1 year old. I can't even image the heartache of a mother going through such a frightening situation, and looking down into the face of your children.  Ruth, however, decided that no matter what she was going through, she was going to stay positive. She lost her hair within a few days of her second chemotherapy treatment. It was at this point that she realized she wanted to feel and look as normal as possible. She didn't want to go through her day feeling like a cancer patient. That is when the idea of Ears to You came to her.

Ruth is doing great today, and she's put her efforts to helping other women going through chemotherapy to feel good about themselves. That's where this blog hop comes in. Our earrings will be donated to women currently undergoing chemotherapy.

I wanted to make some bold earrings, some fun earrings, earrings that might bring a smile. I've been trying a new style of beading on brass plates, which is what the first pair is. It's one of my favorites with a bit of a boho feel. There are whimsical starfish, an evil eye pair (another one of my favorites) to serve as protection--or so my Turkish friend tells me. I did a mix of earrings because not everyone likes the same colors, shape or style. So there are hoops, plates and dangles.

I've got just a little bit more to do tonight. I still need to finish up 2 of the pairs before I ship these out, but took a break to write this post. Hopefully this will give just a little bit of happiness to someone in need of a smile, or to just feel somewhat normal when your life feels upside down. Please check out all the other wonderful ladies who joined this hop.

Give Away Winner :: Avalon

Thanks to all of you who followed my Kalmbach Bead Soup series with beads from Thistle Beads. I was in touch with Thistle Beads who are in Niantic CT. They are downtown, which is out on one of the coastal points of Connecticut. That means they were hit by the hurricane. They are safe, but still without power. 

We had planned an in-store giveaway with the Aotearoa piece from earlier this week, but sadly they were closed due to the storm and haven't been able to re-open yet. But as soon as they have power back, they'll be doing the give away! So if you are in the area please check in with them and drop by to see how they are doing and put your name into the hat to win.

For those of you who entered my website give away ... we have a winner!

.... Duni, come on down!   
         Duni's Studio

Bead Soup: Avalon :: Priestess of the Isle

This is my final reveal from Kalmbach's Bead Soup with beads from Thistle Beads. This piece is from a pattern that I saw in my favorite inspiration book: Bohemian Inspired Jewelry. I've been eyeing it for awhile and wanted to find just the right elements to pull into this lariat. 

This design is from a beautiful pattern called Flirtation Lariat by Lorelei Eurto. It isn't exactly what she had, but I never follow any pattern exactly as you all know. That is just me. But wow, do I love this pattern. 

The lariat somehow just said medieval to me, and I wanted to put a twist on it. This could be in the Mists of Avalon or perhaps from a Druid inspired outfit. I confess, the story of the Mists of Avalon just took me away to another world. And I could read it over, and over.

If you like fantasy and all the stories about court life, you might want to check this book out if you haven't already read it. It's one of my favorites. It is loosely written around King Arthur's Court, but from a completely different angle. 

For this lariat I used a similar deep rich color, which is similar to what Lorelei used in her pattern in the book. It's a dark wine velvet with wrie wrapped stones, brass findings (leaves, knot, end crimps) and briolettes of lemon quartz. The brass Celtic knot is a 4-sided version with meanings of various earthly elements:

The four directions: North South East West

The four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

The four elements: Earth Fire Water Air

The four Celtic festivals: Samhain, Beltane, Imbolc, Lughnasadh

The Celtic knots started appearing in history after about 450 AD, but their meaning is often hard to determine because there is little written history on their purpose. There are rumors that this design is a four-leaf clover design - a symbol of good luck, and legends that the four-cornered Celtic knot design was created as a symbol of protection. The Druids were said to believe it was for the four major energies, or Gods, for governing a specific quadrant of the world. These four-cornered emblem were used to invoke these powers for protection (in the home, during battle, etc)

I mentioned in my post last Sunday that I would have a second give away to my readers on Wednesday. If you are interested in throwing your name into the hat please just leave me a comment telling me you want to enter this one.

For those following my recent posts, I am happy to say I still have power and I'm online! While we have trees down in every direction from hurricane Sandy, and lost the fence, it really could have been so much worse. We are safe, dry and online. Thanks for all the many posts and concerns. I'm hoping all you out there across the East Coast and throughout the Northeast corridor made it through the storm without serious damage or much worry. Stay safe!

Bead Soup: Ashanti :: African Princess

I really love the beads that Thistle Beads sent me in my bead soup. We do still have a give away in progress from Sunday's post at Thistle Beads' store. Check out the post and the necklace for more details. Hopefully they are ok in the path of hurricane Sandy! And if you are not in the area, then come back tomorrow for a second give away for all my readers.

I really wanted to pull out the pottery beads from the soup and highlight them all on their own with a separate necklace. I used a combination of wood beads and root-beer colored seed beads to bring out the colors through the pottery beads, and I added a few jade diamond shaped beads to bring out the pale green in the beads.


Once I was done I realized that the pattern had a tribal feel to it. So I went in search of a name that I thought would reflect the feel of the piece. I went with Ashanti which is a Ghanaian name from Western African along the Ivory Coast. This name is used as a surname by the Akan people of Ghana and associated with the powerful African empire in place from the 17th to early 20th centuries. It denotes power and victory for the people of Ghana.

The fabric shown here is called the Kente Cloth, the traditional garment worn by Ashanti royalty. Currently prevalent throughout Akanland. I love the rich colors and the geometric pattern to it. I also think that the way the pottery beads are stacked horizontally in the center of this piece match the smaller rectangular pieces in the pattern. A coincidence after the fact, but kind cool to see it match up! I can just see this necklace worn with this fabric.

As I am writing this post the trees are bending sideways in my yard. We are on the coastline of CT and hurricane Sandy is approaching our shores. The expectation is to lose power later today, and so I will pre-schedule this post. If you do not hear from me for a week it isn't because I don't want to visit all of your blogs, it is simply because I can't! But I'll be back online as soon as I can. To all those in the storm's path - be safe!

AJE Mismatch Monday :: Halloween Edition

I hope that you'll forgive my rather hasty post today for the Art Jewelry Elements Mismatch Monday :: Halloween Edition. I worked on a couple pair while listening to the hurricane storm alerts. And I quickly snapped a few pictures. Not the best, but I figure you all can give me a little indulgence in editing today.

This is my first attempt at creating mismatch earrings, and I have to say that this was out of my comfort zone as I like things to match up! 

But here's a fun thing I discovered during this project. I don't know about the rest of you guys out there who make earrings, but I always seem to have a bowl full of one earring in a set. I love creating a pattern, but I HATE to copy it! I know I've mentioned this before, but I don't follow instructions to the letter, nor do I cook exactly like the recipe. So even when I am the one that creates the earring pattern, I just might not copy it exactly! So I think I discovered that mismatching earrings just might be a new thing for me. 

As I am writing this post the trees are bending sideways in my yard. We are on the coastline of CT and hurricane Sandy is approaching our shores. The expectation is to lose power later today, and so I'm squeezing in as much blogging as I can before I get the plug pulled on me. I will pre-schedule a couple of posts for the week. But in all likelihood I won't make it around to all my favorite blogs for a little bit. But I'll be back online as soon as I can. To all those in the storm's path - be safe!

Bead Soup: Aotearoa :: Native New Zealand

I love the depth of color in this piece. Green. My favorite color. Especially forest green. 

Thistle Beads sent me 2 different sizes of beautiful moss agate beads, and I wanted to give it just a little more earthiness by adding some large bloodstone rounds. The flecks in the bloodstone draw on the beautiful copper pieces throughout the necklace. This rich combination reminds me of the indigenous stone of new Zealand, Green Stone, with its own dark flecks in the stone. 

The one here is carved in what is called Koru (unfurling fern fond). It means new beginnings, peace and tranquility --- which is everywhere in the New Zealand landscape. 

There are 190 different native fern species in New Zealand. The most famous one is the silver fern. The symbol worn on the All Black Rugby Team's shirts. It takes its name from its appearance as the bottom of the fern turns silver in the sunlight. 

You'll noticed that the main focal of the necklace is a copper bead with a fern on it. I simply love the copper findings and beads that Thistle Beads sent me. They are gorgeous! And I had to find a way to put that fern bead front and center.

I decided to call this piece Aotearoa, which is the most widely used Maori name for New Zealand. The word breaks down: ao = cloud, tea = white and roa = long. It was called the land of the long white cloud by the Native New Zealanders.  My sister lives in New Zealand, and thus I have been there many times, and I love it more with each visit. It is lush, beautiful and unique with so many indigenous species both plants and animals.

THISTLE BEADS GIVE AWAY: I got my bead soup from a family-run bead store --- a mother daughter team, Melody and Shaylynn. And as we got to talking, we decided on a special treat, to joined up on a couple of give aways. This first piece is currently on display in their store (click here for location and store hours), and they will be taking names for the next week. So anyone living in the Connecticut-Rhode Island-Massachusetts area (or if you happen to be traveling through) all you need to do is stop in the store to put your name into the hat. For those readers that are not nearby, I will have another surprise giveaway on Wednesday. So swing back by for my website for a second giveaway!

Kalmbach: Bead Soup :: Thistle Beads

Way back in July when Lori Anderson was kicking off her latest Bead Soup Party, she asked people if they wanted to sign up for a separate bead soup party with their local bead store. I raised my hand, and then promptly forgot I signed up.

A few weeks ago I got a package in the mail from Kalmbach welcoming me to a Bead Soup Party to promote Lori's new book! Included was some gorgeous, rich, Fall-colored beads and components! They had been sent to me from Thistle Beads, a bead store not far from me.

The rules are pretty much the same. Make something from the soup along with additional items from your own bead table. The only twist ---they asked for only a necklace. I usually let the beads speak to me before I decide if it will be a necklace, bracelet or earrings. But ok. I'm game.

You can see (upper left) the beautiful pieces that Thistle Beads sent me. My package included: moss agate, pottery beads, stones, copper toggle, copper spacers and really pretty copper beads with an etched leaf on the front. I loved the beads so much that I actually split them up and made 3 separate pieces. So over the next few days I'll tell you a little bit more about each one. Stop back tomorrow to hear about the one I made with moss agate and bloodstone!

Blog Hop: A Time to Stitch 2

It's time for the reveal from Lisa Lodge's My Bead Table Blog Hop. The fringe I gave you a peek at is the end of a St Petersburg lariat. 

Christine and Therese have paired up for a second A Time to Stitch Blog Hop. For this one, they asked us to use either a St Petersburg stitch or a RAW (right angle weave) or both. I managed to do both this time around.  

I actually really like St Pete's and for some reason just kept right on going past the length of a bracelet. Watching all the blind auditions for The Voice was good background noise, and went on for days, and days. And since I don't knit ... I bead... and well... bead, and bead.

I did add my own twist to the pattern. I used a double St Pete's stitch, andI went back through the entire lariat to add a lighter color blue through the center which helps to accentuate the pattern. 

Now you might be asking what is behind the name of this one? When I started this piece it was mid September. Fall was only just creeping in, but it was still warm. I was thinking of summer and how pretty these beads would look with a simple summer dress. 

By the time I was ready to take pictures we had our first hard frost and it didn't get above 40 degrees mid day. So A) it was a grey day, and B) while my favorite model wore white I had to let the poor thing wear a coat! She was such a good sport since I asked her to pose for these pieces, and several others at the same time (7 pieces in all!). You can see she went from a faint smile, to a bit of a pout, to teeth chattering. Can you blame her? Thus the name Frozen Blue refers to her lips! And yes, that is a little Cyrillic translation to Russian for Frozen Blue, but please don't ask me to pronounce it!

For my RAW project I decided to do a take off on my Biker Chick Cuff and switched out the peyote stitch for a RAW band instead. I did the same thing with pillow cord as the trim to the cuff, but this time used a loose weave with soft Fall colors. Yes, by the time I started the cuff I was resigned to the fact that is was indeed Fall. And my lovely model got to crisscross her arms for warmth and to show off the cuff.

This cuff uses a hook and chain closure, which I added a cute little glass tiger bead as a dangle. 

Ok those are my creations. Now it's time to hop over and see all the other bead weaving going on from these other lovely ladies:

Our Blog Hosts      Therese Frank    and   Christine Altmiller
                             Nikki Byers                Karen Williams              

                             Shirley Moore               Lola Surwillo
    (You are here)  Cynthia Machata        Shannon Hicks                 

                             Maryanne Gross          Alenka                            Karin Slaton

                             Katherine Gale           Sally Russick                   Amy Severino 

                             Alicia Marinache         Sonya Stille                    Tanya Goodwin

                             Lisa Stukel                 Marla Gibson                   Sarah Sequins

                             Mandy                       Andra Weber                   Kim Hora

Thankful in India :: Peaceful [Paid] Places

For this story about India, I'll have to use a few old, slightly blurry photos. My apologies, but it is all part of the story. You see while we were in Jaipur we went to the Amber Fort, a majestic old Mogul structure from the 1600s with long corridors, domed arches, and amazing views of the lake below.

To get to the fort, you've got to hike up the hill. Or you can opt, as most people do, to take an elephant ride. A tad touristy, but what the hell. How many times do you get the chance to ride an elephant? As we headed off, an Indian boy ran up to our elephant, camera in hand yelling "smile." We told him no, but he clicked away. We'd been in India long enough to know that he'd try to sell us that picture. 

While we had started off near the front of the pack, we realized quickly that we had by far, the slowest elephant in the bunch. And this gave our friend the opportunity to run up to us twice during our climb to us ask us to buy the pictures. Oh yes, there were multiple pictures. We were a bit trapped sitting atop a seriously slow elephant and could not avoid the boy. But we forgot about it once we were up at the fort. It was stunning. We paid our admission and walked in.

The arches of the fort gave off beautifully angled light, and overlooked a calm lake with a palace sitting in the middle. And as we looked out over the view, monkey’s jumped from the arches in the distance. Such an ‘other world’ experience. We wondered around the old fort for the better part of the morning before we decided to head back down the hill. As we climbed up on our elephant a small boy ran up with the pictures of us. Crap! Almost forgot about those stupid pictures. Now mind you, this wasn't the same boy from this morning. This was a different one, but he had our pictures in his hand and knew exactly who he was looking for. Our answer remained ‘no.’  We managed to get a faster elephant for the ride down, but once at the bottom we were once again asked to buy the pictures before we could get off the elephant. 'No!' we said in unison.

Our next stop was the Jain Gardens where we were out of reach from anyone local who was hunting us with the morning's Polaroids. We were now acutely aware that there was a network of children assigned to follow us around town for the day to try to get us to buy the pictures. The Jain gardens had a ‘paid admission’ and we were for the first time all day … left alone. It was peaceful. Quiet. No one wanting anything from us. At last.  We stayed for more than 2 hours enjoying the found solitude. Then decided we had just enough time left for a museum we had hoped to see in Jaipur. 

As we entered the museum, yet another boy ran up to us asking us to buy the pictures. We didn't recognize him, but the pictures were the same. Completely exasperated, the answer remained ‘no.’

Once inside we were left alone to wondered the grounds. We saw lots of mogul tapestries, armor, clothing and architecture. A wonderful museum. At one point we asked the guardsmen for a picture, only to find out that we would owe them money for taking their picture. Sigh. But as you see we took it anyway, and paid them. 

When we were leaving yet a different boy ran up to us. Asking again about the pictures. At this point our guide looked at us and said that the cost (roughly $1.00 USD) was their cost and they just wanted to re-coup their money. I admit I was furious. From the beginning I was clear that I did not want the pictures, and that I had no intention of buying them and so no pictures should have been taken. Sigh.

The $1.00 USD was nothing to us, and I felt obliged to give them what it cost to take the pictures. Yes, the pictures at the beginning of this post are in fact the same ones we were hustled to buy all day. Now these pictures sit in the bottom of a box in my den. Pictures I did not want, nor ones that ended up in a frame. But I did pull them out for this post. And as I continue my list of things we were thankful for while traveling in India, it includes finding peaceful [paid] places of solitude for a few hours away from the hustling. 

Inspiration Board :: Silk & Pearls

Silk & Pearls by Antiquity Travelers

Just a little inspiration for your weekend. I'm loving the Fall colors with just a splash of turquoise, gold or orange ... such fun! And so beautifully paired with rich browns ... ah Fall .. my favorite season

Winner!

First of all, I want to thank you all for your comments! The decision was unanimous to keep vs recycle. And so, as promised this one is going home with those of you that wanted to throw your name into the hat .... and the winner is Sharla over at the BeadedTail!

Do click on the link and check out Sharla's site. She is doing a series of beautiful bracelets and her latest is a gorgeous purple one! Last week she did one in luscious browns in honor of her beautiful girl Sadie, her sweet dog who crossed the rainbow bridge a few weeks ago.

I had one taker for the pink shell earrings who reconfirmed how much she like these earrings. At the time of the reveal for the Sequintastic Blog Hop she said that she "realllllly reeaaally realllly lub lub lub those earrings!"  So Kashmira, they are yours! I know how to find you, and will be sending them your way.

Nina Design Necklace: Give Away

You've seen this necklace now a few times. I made this one with my Nina Design soup. 

So here's the thing; several people were sent the exact same components. We all did our own design. And when Nina asked their readers which design people preferred they chose Bay Moon hands down. I admit it is truly gorgeous how they used that aqua silk and pale blue beads.

The vote wasn't even close. Continuum Designs got one vote, and A Jewelry Crush and your's truly got zero. So now I'm going to ask you all a simple question: keep or recycle?

Leave me a comment and let me know. If I keep it, then I will give it away to those of you who leave me a comment who want to win this necklace. But there is a twist. If the majority of you vote to recycle (come on people be honest for the integrity of the poll), then there will be an alternate give away. See the item behind door #2. I'll post a verdict/ winner on Saturday. So until then ... let me know what you think.

How to Link Your Social Media: Anjuli's Silk

Anjuli's Silk by Antiquity Travelers

I get asked “how do you link your item through to multiple social media sites?” It is actually pretty easy and it is a great way to increase how many people you reach when promoting your work. The Pinterest team over at a site called Artisan Whimsy a creative bead chat thought we’d give you a quick and easy walk through on how to make sure all your posts on a single item can link through to all your social media. If you make jewelry, and you haven't yet checked out this site, go and take a look around this quickly growing community site.

Step 1: create a listing on your commerce site (Etsy, Artfire, your own domain, etc). Start with listing your item as you always do, but make sure to include a descriptive title (are they earrings or a necklace? what style: boho, steampunk, vintage? type of materials used?)

Step 2: ‘pin’ your listing to a designated Pinterest board full of items from your store. On Etsy you have a couple of options once you publish on the right side (tweet, pin, like on facebook). Be sure to include details on your pin just as you would have on your commerce site so people can easily find your other work and where to buy it.

Step 3: go to your Pinterest and find the pin you just added. ‘Clip’ your Pinterest pin to your Polyvore items.

Step 4: go to your Polyvore profile and click on your new item and click the button on the right that says ‘create a set with this item.’ So now you create a ‘set’ using your item. Pull in colors or a style that really showcases your item to give people excited about how to match your item within their wardrobe. Publish your Polyvore set to your profile on the site (I usually uncheck the box that asks if you want to ‘share.’ I don’t like to have it show up on my blogger postings to all other bloggers.)

Step 5: Once your Polyvore is set is published, click on the button above your set that says ‘blogger.’ It will ask you if you want to publish on your blog, or send as a draft. I usually send as a draft so that I can edit it and add a little write up about the set I’ve created. Publish your Polyvore set as you would any other post.

Step 6: now that your Polyvore board is published on blogger, when someone clicks on it the link will take them to your set on Polyvore. Once at Polyvore they can click on your item and it will click through to your Pinterest board. At Pinterest when they click on your item it will take them to your commerce site. Everything will automatically link from the origin of where you ‘clipped’ and ‘pinned’ your item. Try it. Click on the Polyvore set at the beginning of this blog and you'll see that it links through all my various sites. it's pretty cool - huh?!

My Bead Table Blog Hop

Several weeks ago I signed up for Lisa Lodge's Blog Hop over at A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasures. Lisa sent us a bead soup from her table, and she wanted us to try to use what we had already sitting on our own tables. Beads on my table? ALWAYS! And lots of them.

My first project was a memory wire bracelet. I've been wanting to try working with this wire, and could not believe how easily this 'beads up.' I pulled out a big mix of blues I had and just started string my blues with Lisa's and added in all the cute little charms she included in my bead soup. The fun part of this bracelet is that it jingles (just a little) as Lisa had a few little bells in my stash.

Then I ended up going to a girlfriend's birthday party, and I needed to quickly pull together a little gift. She loves wine, and I thought a perfect thing to make her would be a set of 'wine jewelry' so your guests can tell the difference between their glasses. I wanted them to be fun colors (and of course each one needs to be a different color) so I pulled out my daughter's crazy wood beads and matched them up with some of the bling beads from my soup. This is an easy set to whip up, and I always get lots of compliments from people with requests to make another set for them!

I did set aside a pretty little cluster of turquoise beads from my soup. I do love turquoise. I decided to make a little boho pair. I added one of my lotus charms at the end of the cluster. It fits well with my Southwestern Zen series. Might have to make this one again.

Now for my last piece, I can only show you a peek. I was simultaneously working on several blog hops and as I was working on one for Time to Stitch, I saw the pretty crystals in my bead soup and pulled them in to make some fringe. You'll have to come back next week to see the full reveal! Thank you Lisa for a fun mix of beads to play with!

Thankful in India :: Eye to Eye with Large Animals

One of the things that amazed me about India were all the animals. Animals seem to share the streets freely with people, cars, scooters, camels, buses ... and of course the many wayward cows. I do have to say that I am so glad that we decided against renting a car and hired a driver. The cost was a bit more, but it certainly was so preferred to trying to navigate the streets of India on our own. While there were traffic lights, there were no clearly marked lanes. Driving 'rules' seemed to be more of a suggestion.

On our way out of Dehli, we pulled up next to a brigade of camels who were taking over several lanes of the road. A group of 100+ camels all mounted by the Indian Army Camel Corps --- truly amazing looking and majestic. But a bit of a traffic obstacle. Again, so glad we were not driving.

Our driver, Sharma, recounted a story of hitting a farmer's chicken. There was a negotiation afterwards in which the agreement was that Sharma would pay the cost of the chicken 30x over. The rationale was that not only had the farmer lost this one chicken, but all the chickens that might have come from this chicken (assuming the eggs weren't scrambled for breakfast!). I remember thinking how crazy this rationale was, but Sharma assured us that this really was a fair exchange.

We arrived in Pushkar, a beautiful city along the shore of a lake and so picturesque. It has one of my favorite local bazaars for shopping where we wondered in and out of the shops along the water. I was lost in thought in a tapestry shop when I heard my husband say "I think there is something going on." He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but the locals were running in all directions … in complete chaos. We quickly realized that we had better take cover with everyone else.We jumped into a door frame that was just large enough to hold the two of us and held our breath. The next thing we saw was a brahma bull snorting and swinging its head just 2-3 feet away from us. A few people who were still in the street were screaming and running off into whatever corner they could find. We stood still waiting for the bull to pass. I guess this was India’s version of the ‘running of the bulls’ and thankfully no one was hurt – at least not from what we witness. 

In another city, Udipur, we were drifting through the main bazaar of town. Yes, I love to shop. I felt what I can only describe as a presence behind me. There wasn't a shadow as it was high noon, so I had no idea what I might find when I turned around. As I did I nearly jumped out of my shoes. Standing less than 2 feet away was a large elephant looking me straight in the eye. The old girl was actually sweet. But that's not the point! I mean, who expects an elephant to be peering over your shoulder?

So one of the many things I am thankful for while traveling in India was when I was eye to eye with one of the larger animals ... she was quite gentle. 

BTW: My Bead Table Challenge

This Saturday there's a blog hop set up by Lisa Lodge over at A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasures. Several weeks ago we all signed up for a bead soup from Lisa's bead table. She wanted us to try to use what we had already sitting on our own bead tables. You know ... all those beads we all have scattered across our own tables? I always seem to have about 5 or 6 'almost' finished pieces in progress. So I had plenty to work with. I even started blending some of the pieces from one challenge to another. Oh no .. is this a sign that I need to go on a "challenge diet?" Say it isn't so!

What you see here is the soup that Lisa sent me, and I'm working away at finishing up a few pieces to show you on Saturday. Stop back and see mine, and all the other people participating in this hop. So until then, this is what is on my bead table this week.

Inspiration Board: Carnelian

Florence October by Antiquity Travelers 

It's no secret that carnelian happens to be one of my favorite stones. The color is rich, the stone has character ... I mean what's not to love. I am always on the look out for an unusual cut stone and this soft-cornered, carnelian triangles are just so luscious  While my usual preference is silver, this rich orange color pairs so beautifully with gold. 

Thankful in India :: Traveling Laundry

I have written a few times now about the things that I am thankful for while traveling in India. I promised to finish up this series with a top ten, but first I've got a few stories to tell. And so as we wind down the year, I'm going to complete my list of reason to be thankful while I was traveling in India.

We were in India for several weeks traveling around the Northern part of the country, which was long enough to need to have our clothes laundered. Pretty much any vacation longer than 3 weeks you run out of ‘essentials.’  And so 2 weeks in, we sent our clothes out to the hotel's dhobi wallah (loosely translated means 'laundry worker'). One thing we'd noticed as we traveled was that there was laundry hanging from trees, or Indian women beating it against the rocks near rivers. But we told ourselves that this was just how the locals did their laundry, and that our laundry was of course cleaned as we might traditionally do at home in the US. You know at some sort of laundromat - although I confess I never saw one. 

Funny thing was that when our clothes came back at night there was a tell tale sign of how all laundry is done in India. There would be a smudge near a collar, a small twig near an elastic band. Nothing really quite noticeable, but nonetheless it was there. The wonderful thing about it tho was that every thing, and I mean every last piece of our laundry came back lightly starched, ironed, folded and smelling sort of earthy. I did really love that. 

As the weeks went by, I looked for my items hanging from a tree, or perhaps hit up against a rock by the river, but I never did see anything that looked like my clothes. There were entire networks of people who did laundry. Who moved it from one station to the next. From the washing near the river, to the drying in the trees, to the tent cities where they were steamed and pressed before returning each item to its owner. How it all ended up where it needed to go is such a mystery to Western eyes, but I did not lose one item.

So one of the many things I am thankful for while traveling in India was never seeing my underwear hanging in a tree, and that all my laundry traveling through the local laundry network ended up beautifully cleaned, folded at the foot of my bed each time I sent it out. 

BTW: Using Pillow Cord

My latest boho-inspired design uses a mix of beadweaving and bits from my sewing box. 

I hit a sale awhile back and picked up a few yards of this, and a few yards of that. I was thinking pillows. So I also bought some cord to finish the pillows I had in mind. The thing is ... the fabric is still very nicely folded and stored away. But I started thinking that I just might have another use for that cord. 

I pulled out a bit of the cord, and matched it up to some pretty purple matte beads that I realized would make a beautiful trim to a boho bracelet. I started with a peyote band and stitched it into one of the pillow trim cords. I fit a matching piece to the other side and stitched that in on the other side. Then I created a hand-hammered hook that I slipped into one end of the bracelet and added a woven hook on the other side. 

It is a simple cuff, but fun and comfortable to wear. I really like this new pattern and I'm working on adapting the pattern to other stitches, colors, beads and cords. This style will be back.