Onyx, agates, quartz and some Meenakari

Decided to revive my Etsy store and so made some new jewellery to put them up for sale in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Tibetan silver earrings with brown agate beads and green quartz beads

Agate earrings with enamel cut glass spacers

Traditional Indian earrings with German silver spacers and green quartz beads

....and finally a onyx beaded necklace with Meenakari spacer beads.....

Bangalore update and some new creations

Finally settled well in a rented house in a eastern suburb of Bangalore! Lovely weather here, very pleasant days and cool nights. Feels like heaven when compared to the hot October weather of Mumbai. Getting refreshed by the quiet and calm after living in noisy Mumbai for the last several years, but we do miss the fresh produce in vegetables and fruits which were aplenty in Mumbai.

New place, and some new creations....
After being inspired by the beautiful creations of my clients who buy supplies from me, I decided to make something myself. It had been a long time since I created something beautiful. Maybe all the packing, shifting, and unpacking had taken a toll on my creativity. Now, after settling down here, and breathing in the fresh air of Bangalore, I am getting creative again.

Agate tear drops and semicultured pearls make a  beautiful choker necklace

Going bronze with brown onyx beads and bronze findings

Going traditional with green onyx beads and German silver findings 

Que sera, sera!

In June of 2005, I first landed in Mumbai as a new bride, full of dreams for a new life ahead, a little sad, but happy too. Sad because I had to leave behind, my parents, sister, friends, and all that had been a part of my existence. I had to leave my world behind to build a new life together with the love of my life. On the other hand, I was happy, excited and eager to step into a new place, start living with new people, and explore new places. I think every girl who gets married goes through these emotions, feeling both sad and happy at the same time. Today, its deja vu for me!  After spending seven wonderful years in Mumbai, it is time to move with bag and baggage to Bangalore. Today, I am sure, my husband must be feeling the same way I did when I first moved to Mumbai.  He has to leave behind everything that he grew up with and move to a new place. We are both very excited about the change as we both had wanted it from a long time, but at the same time, it is saddening for us to leave our world behind, the world that we had created lovingly over the last few years. Que sera, sera!!

Hello!

Hi there! Remember me?? Sorry for being off the radar for the last couple of months. Been busy with my supplies store and also an impending relocation which will eventually happen later this month. So I have been busy finishing my pending orders as I want them done before we leave Mumbai. Also my supplies store has expanded so much that it takes up most of my time and so I hardly get any time to sit and complete my projects. But I am enjoying it all!!

Meanwhile, I also tried my hand on some jewellery making with Tibetan silver connectors. Tibetan silver is an alloy which may contain just traces of silver if at all.  It is so much fun learning something new when the outcome is so beautiful!

My new earrings

Just last week, someone ordered a few earrings telling me only that she wants something round and dangling. I wanted to try something new and since this was a last minute order, I had to do with the things I already had in stock. There was no time to go to the store to search for something new. So I decided to learn something new to make something different from my usual collection. This is what I came up with.

The first one is a beaded creation using brick stitch, something that I tried for the very first time. I used green striated agate beads as the focal pendants. For the second one I used Swarovski crystals and sand stone beads and wire wrapped them on large round hoops, in a zigzag to break the monotony. I loved them...do you???

Chilli chicken with gravy recipe

I love Chinese food, or rather I love Indo-Chinese food, and chilli chicken is one of my most favourite dishes in this cuisine. 

If you grew up in the 90's and early 2000's in Mangalore, then Hao Hao is one of the places you would have frequented for Chinese food and most often than not, you would have ordered that delicious plate of chilli chicken!!!

Ever since I moved to Mumbai, I missed that Hao Hao chilli chicken. No matter how many restaurants we tried, it was never as delicious as the chilli chicken of Hao Hao.

Finally I decided to make it myself. After searching online and discussing with my friends, I finally made it today and must I say, the chicken was as succulent and tasty as the HH one. 

 

For the dish, boneless chicken needs to be marinated in little vinegar and some salt for 10-15 minutes. Then make a batter of beaten egg, 2 tbsp of maida and cornflour each, some grated garlic and some salt to taste. Dip the marinated chicken pieces in this batter and deep fry on medium flame until golden brown. Dont overcook it as it may make the chicken pieces hard. Drain and keep aside.

Make a gravy of your choice. I made a simple gravy with all the sauces.

In the same oil used to fry the chicken pieces, add a tbsp of chopped garlic, onion slices, sliced capsicum and some slit green chillies. Fry on high heat to allow them to remain crunchy. Make a mixture of soya sauce, red chilli sauce, tomato sauce, and some vinegar. Add it to the pan and when it starts to bubble, add a mixture of cornflour and water. Allow the gravy to thicken and then add the fried chicken pieces. Mix well and then cook covered for a couple of minutes so that the chicken pieces can absorb the gravy. Adjust salt as per taste. Remember, the sauces have salt in them already. Serve hot.

Walnut halwa

Walnuts, known as Akhrot in Hindi, are very nutritious and one of the commonly available dry fruits here. You are read more on walnuts here.

I am not very fond of walnuts, but my husband loves them. I can eat them along with other dry fruits, but never walnuts alone. Last year, at a dinner party, we tasted a new dessert, walnut halwa. It was a cold winter night and the warm halwa tasted awesome!

Today, being my husband's birthday, I decided to make this halwa. I had a whole lot of walnuts in my kitchen and luckily this recipe calls for very few and common ingredients.

Ingredients: Walnuts 1 & 1/4 cup ground coarsely
                   Ghee 1/4 cup
                   Sugar 1/2 cup
                   Milk 1 cup
                   Cardamom powder 1 tsp

Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pan and fry the coarsely ground walnut powder in it until lightly brown and the ghee starts to separate. Add the milk and cook the walnut mixture on medium flame, stirring occasionally, taking care to see that it does not get burnt. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add sugar. Mix well and cook on low flame and allow to thicken to desired consistency. Garnish as desired and serve hot.

Note: For the health conscious, the amount of ghee given in this recipe can be reduced slightly. I drained off the layer of ghee that appeared on top of the halwa.

March went marching away

The month of March went by so quickly, it amazes me! We had my family visiting us and days just flew by. My seven-month-old nephew filled our lives with so much laughter and happiness that we never knew how the time passed away so soon and ever since he's left, we have missed him so much! It is so amazing that a child's innocence makes you forget everything else in life and brings so much joy and happiness around him.

Another thing that gives happiness to me is my craft and I just love the shiny acrylic beads! So many colors and so many variations to combine them with, and when the bags are lined with matching satin fabric, it just adds to the beauty of these shiny little beads. How amazing when we can create so many different things with a little thought, a little patience, and a hunger to keep learning new stuff in life!

Btw, did I tell you my sister is an Etsian too? She has opened a shop on etsy for Indian fabrics and supplies.
Do check her shop out if interested. I wish her all the success in her new venture. 

Something new...

I tried my hand at something new this time...but something to do with beads itself.
I made a Russian spiral bracelet.

Though it looks delicate and takes up a lot of time, it is an easy bead weaving method. Really enjoyed it!

I have used 8/0 and 11/0 seed beads for this bracelet.

Hellooooo

Its been sooo long! Almost a month since I last posted here. The last two months, I have been very busy with my online stores. Did I tell you all that I opened another online shop in December. This shop is basically for supplies. Since beads are always available in bulk at the local craft store, I had a whole lot of beads left in my stash and did not know how to put them to use.  Then one lady from my hometown suggested that I sell these beads to her as these are not available in Mangalore. This prompted me to open another shop www.beadwaali.etsy.com. Yes, BEADWAALI!!! Name courtesy, my hubby dearest!!! Please have a look through my shop if you are interested.

The last two months, I have been busy establishing this new shop. Listing, selling, promoting, participating in forums, managing a team by virtue of a team leader in one of the forums.....so on n so forth!! So my blog was neglected. I just couldnt find the time to juggle all these together. But this is the best phase of my life!!  I have always wanted to start a business of my own, from the comforts of my home, where I can be my own boss, nothing too stressful, something that I can enjoy as well as earn from.  Hoping to keep the momentum going.

Here's some of the stuff I made over the last few weeks.

A pearl clutch

Glass rondelle and lampwork beaded bracelet

Cellphone cozy

  

There are crazy ppl out there!

In our lives, we come across different types of people on a day to day basis. I too have come across lots n lots of different people. Some are wonderful, some are nice, some are superficial, some are skeptical, some are demeaning, and then there are some who are outright crazy!

Wonderful people: These are some people who go out of their way to appreciate other people and their talent. I have a few clients who swear by my work, who always are on the lookout for new creations in my shop, who always recommend my name to others, and who never fail to encourage or motivate me. Thanks guys!

Nice people: These are people who are nice to your work, your talent, talk sweetly and gently, may or may not buy my creations, may or may not be interested in my work, but always have a good word to say. I like them!

Superficial people: These are people who go on and on saying good things about my creations and telling me how I should set up a boutique/store and how my creations would sell like hot buns and how they would love to possess some of my creations. When I gently remind them about already having a store of my own, they smile and then find some excuse, and change the topic altogether, never mentioning my creations again!

Skeptical people: These are people who are always worried whether I will do a good job on their orders, whether I will be able to get the right colors, whether they will get their money's worth. All this in spite of already having seen my work and my collection!

Demeaning people: These are people who do not respect the fact that hours n hours of time, labor and energy have been spent on each one of these creations. They place orders for bags and give me just a  vague idea of what they want, and in the end, when the bag is ready, they calmly say that that was not what they wanted!! This despite the fact that I always try to do my best and create something special for every client of mine. What I want to say to such people is that, I have succeeded without you and I don't ever want you to have any creation of mine!

Crazy people: Then there are the crazy ones. I had one lady who sent me an email accusing me of passing off some junk as her order and that half the order was missing from the parcel. She in no uncertain terms told me that I was trying to cheat her. After spoiling my peace of mind and exchanging several emails, she finally sends me an email saying that it was not my parcel at all that she was talking about. She had mistaken my name with someone else's!!!!

Do you want to add any other group to the above list?