Bella, My New Blue Beetle....

Introducing My Blue Beetle Bella, the newest Diva in the family...Last year when we left California for England we sold both of our cars, the last week or so since we have been back, we have been driving my mom's mustang...Honest I had to buy a car...I have known for some time that I want a New Beetle...so yesterday we went and got me one, I got a great deal on a used one with only 17,000 miles on it...She is blue as you can see and her name is Bella Blue...she is a convertible & she is fast...today we took her for a spin with the top down, its been in the 70's here & it was much fun...loving the long days with the California sun, even though I miss England & my friends there...

Will have new beads up soon, I made some at my friend's house last week & as soon as I stop driving my car around, I will make some beads in the new studio which is all done & ready to go now, thanks to my hubby Speedy Gonzales...

Life is good, thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

New Beads & We are Home...

Hi all, how is your week been? I can honestly say that even though we have moved across the world in the last week, my week has been great...The whole trip was so smooth, we took off only a few minutes late from Heathrow, other than that, it was sunny when we left London, it was sunny when we got to San Francisco. We picked up Sammy, the most expensive hamster in North America without too much hassle...he is very happy in the sunshine...My awesome sister drove us home...we have been sleeping alot, but I have managed to go to my friend Garnet's studio twice already to make beads, while mine is getting set up again...The beads I have listed today are the last of the beads made in England...

They don't call it Sunny California for nothing, since we have been home it has been in the 70's...driving has been odd, in Oxford we never drove, now anywhere we go we have to drive to...we Americans need & could use a good public transportation system...I know we have some in larger cities but not like they do in England. I do miss England, I miss Oxford & Laura & our place...but we are now back in our home & near family & friends so Life is GOOD...

Now to the bad news, the weekly bead of the bead giveaway for the past 2 weeks has not been shipped I am so sorry ladies, I totally spaced it, I will ship them out on Thursday with a thousand apologies...the bead for this last week goes to Ginny of Florida...congrats girl...

The bead above is for this week's giveaway, a yummy underwater anemone bead from my splash series she is about 23mm along the hole x 35mm wide x 7mm thick...

I have added some yummy new beads, including some very yummy Silver Glass Focal beads to the shop, check them out here or on the side bar...I am going to list a couple of more items in the next couple of days, and then hopefully every day after that, my goal is to have a lot of items in my etsy shop all the time...so keep checking back, I will still let you know when there are new beads of course...

off to see the tax guy...thanks for stopping by...

Jelveh

Peace

Home & Happy New Year...

Hi all, we are home & yes it is Persian New Year or rather NoRooz in Farsi which means New Day...fitting really since we are starting a new chapter in our lives...so its a great day to come home...Persians everywhere, (save for me, I am too jet lagged, so the photo above is from 2005) get together, celebrate, eat & are merry for about 2 weeks starting on March 20/21 the first day of spring...the tradition is all about re-birth & re-newel...and it dates back 2568 years...

What you see us sitting in front of is a table set with the Seven C's or 7 items the names of which start with the letter C in Farsi/Persian...here is a break down of what they are and why...

Sabzeh: Where you germinate seeds in a plate or container so it sprouts in to a small lawn at it wore in a plate, often from lentils or wheat, its all about rebirth & renewal

Senjed: The fruit of a Lotus tree, it is very dry and somewhat sweet, it smells good too, & some thing it makes people fall in love, so it’s all about affection & love...

Sib: A large red Apple which stands for health & beauty, kind of like the Apple of life...

Samanu: Never eat this one, ok many do, but I think it tasted well BAD, it’s a pudding of some kind made from Wheat Pudding…anything to do with wheat is a representative of fertility, all about being fruitful if you get my drift...

Serkeh: Good old white Vinegar. This stands for age, wisdom & patience. All of us could use some of that...

Somagh: Ground up dry Sumac berries. This one is all about the Spice of Life & something to with the color of sunrise, although I don’t think so, Persians traditionally sprinkle this on many of their foods, I love it on rice specially...

Seer: Last but not least Garlic. This one is for its medicinal property & a sign of good health stinky as it may be, it’s good for you...

Other items on the table are Fish & Mirror for life & reflection, perspective if you will, money/coin for good fortune, candle to wish for light in your life, Hyacinth for life, and the Good Book, which can be a Bible, The Torah, The Koran, or any other book of faith that the person believes in, since the celebration is not religious based, in our house it is a book of poems by Hafiz, a celebrated & famous Persian poet...at the end of two weeks of celebrating, eating good food, visiting family, wearing new clothes, even giving brand new bills of cash as gifts, we all go on a picnic by a body of water, bring the Wheat that we grew in the plates with us & give it back to the earth as a circular symbol of life...

we are resting, life is good, thanks for stopping by...have a great new Spring & new year...

Jelveh

Peace

Bitter Sweet...

Hi all, So by now most of you know that we are on our way back to America. California, the land of sunshine, where our home is & most of our family & friends live...the last year in England has been awesome, we have visited so many great places, we have lived in Oxford known world over for its lovely spires and prestigious schools...one of my fave is the New College which was built in 1379 ...This town is so gorgeous that during WWII Hitler told his military not to bomb it, he wanted to live here after the war...we have met some lovely people & made great friends here...going back home is always sweet, but leaving great new friends behind is the bitter part...what more can I say, our life is good indeed & we are grateful for all of it...

over the weekend we went to the British Museum & saw a couple of exhibits...I must say the one about Shah Abbas, one of the Kings of Persia who ruled about 400 years ago, was not as cool as I thought it was going to be. It seems that the new Government of Iran is trying re-write history again. They were responsible in a large part for making the exhibit happen, this was so apparent to myself & many other Expats as we noticed that the Persian part of Iran was kept out of the exhibit for the most part, all the writing & art that was displayed from the time of Shah Abbas was all in Arabic & Islam related...it was kind of deflating to see that the new Muslim Government of Iran is trying to kill off the Persian in the Persian History of Iran...After all Persia's history precedes Islam by about 1500 years or more, don't get me started...

The photo above is of the Egyptian part of the museum, its of core formed glass perfume bottles, coal eye liner bottles & fish made over 3200 years ago, I actually teach this technique of Core Forming in one of my advanced classes...as you can see contrary to what modern glass bead makers might tell us, raking designs have been around for many a millenia...

I have listed 2 new bead sets on etsy, click here to see them...

Kristen wins the bead for last week, send me your addy girl...The Pink Berry Splash bead above is this week's giveaway bead, you can enter to win it by making a comment on this blog post...

I had such a great time with Laura these past few weeks...will miss her lots...

Thanks for stopping by & for all the love...see you on the other side...

Jelveh

Peace

Hamster goes to America....

Ok, so today is the day we drop off Sammy at the airport getting him ready for his trip to America...I will miss him but soon shall see him on the other side...he is such a joy and much larger than your everyday hamster as you can see above in the photo playing in the sunshine with his daddy...the hamster gets a bit of sunshine...

Lucky Girl & New Beads...

Ok...what can I say I am the luckiest girl around, life is good & I am so very thankful for it all...below a quick look at the last few days in my life...quick since there are so many good things going on...first I have blogged below about 2 of the lucky things that happened to me here are the links, I made beads at Amy's , Relating to History

We went to Bath & had an awesome time...

Then yesterday, I spent the day with the lovely & talented Laura Sparling again, she is the best, she not only let me play on her torch, she made me the yummy cupcakes you see, then she gifted me with the lovely braclet you see, that she made with her own yummy nugget beads...I am such a lucky girl I tell you, we went out to dinner with hubby & had a great time talking glass all day...I will so miss her when we go back to the states...

Millie from MillieDogDesigns wins the bead for last week, send me your addy...the bead above is for this week's giveaway...enter to win it by making a comment on this posting...winner in a week or so...

I have also listed some yummy new beads in the shop, check them out here...

Thanks for stopping by & for all the love....

Jelveh

Peace

I made beads at Amy's...

This past Thursday I met up with the lovely artist bead shop owner Amy Surman at her shop in Oxford...I have just found out about her by way of one of my new clients who is taken jewelry classes from Amy at her shop...one of the nicest, most creative, hardest working people I have met, she is not only the shop owner, the jewelry teacher, a new glass bead maker, but an amazing Silver artist as well...I have traded & purchased some of her silver work which I will share with you when I take some photos...

She has been so kind to let me play on her torch in her studio, I started on Thursday, I came back on Sunday & met her lovely & also very creative sisters, we played on the torch for a while, then I was there again today, we played some more...I had such a good time, she even bought my kiln, since it would not have worked in America, this one I had got just to use with the UK power...above are some of the beads I made while visiting, they are not for sale...and a photo of the front of her shop, Amy is the one on the left...the place is amazing...I am going back to pick up some beads I made for me & to take more photos later this week...

Amy & her sisters, Kay & Lucy, were so kind to me, they fed me & hubby on Sunday as well...just a very kind cool creative group of people that I am so glad to have met & will be friends with for a long time to come...

Jelveh

Peace

Relating to History...

The other day we went to the Oxford Antique & Food Market that happens every Thursday...Martin's great eye found the old belt buckle that you see above. It was a promotional item made for the visit of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar in 1873 to England. On its face this is already a great find for £10.00 ($14.50). But this item has a special meaning to me, the Qajar were my relatives, Ahamad Shah Qajar, the last of the Qajar kings to run Iran, was my grandmother's 2nd cousin, which makes Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar my great great great grandfather...

As families or monarchs go, The Qajar were an obnoxious lot who brought Persia down the ladder of greatness in their 131 year reign. So its not always a proud or even safe moment in some circles to admit you are related to them...but it is very cool to hold a 136 years old piece of history in your hands & know that you are related to it...

Off to see the city of Bath...

Jelveh

Peace

New Beads & No More Studio....

Hi all, hope you have had a great week, mine was really nice, links to all the fun things I did below...the studio is all packed and shipped...its kind of fun being done with it all...Life is good...

I have some very new yummy beads that I have just listed in my shop check them out here, I am really happy with them all, love the Slim Profile & the umbrellas on water specially well...

I have blogged more this past week, I am taking a lead from my friend Laura who has invited me to come over one more time before we leave to chat & torch. So click on the following to catch up, Great Day With Laura, New Shoes & the British Museum NOT, What is a Munny & Casualties of Moving...

The winner of last week's focal giveaway is jozd5150, please email me your address...for this week I have a very yummy bead photo above, love this one too, she measures 27mmx23mmx7mm...enter to win it by making a comment on this post, winner picked at random by hubby in about a week...

And lastly here is a couple of more photos from our trip to Paris last week, here is me and the Mona Lisa...at the Louver Museum and here is a photo of a yummy bakery we walked by...we did not get anything there, we had just had a huge meal... Thanks so much for stopping by & for all the love...life is good...

Jelveh

Peace

Casualties of Moving...

I have the best hubby ever, he practically packed this whole house and got us ready to move all on his own, the movers came today and all of our stuff is on its way to America... When I was torching last week, he was behind me in the studio (garage) helping me pack my glass, he said these wont fit in the tubes and i was not looking so I said oh yeah ASK glass they are longer than the normal rods, just use my glass cutters...I guess I should have said to cut them in half...not being a glass bead maker himself, he did not know that it would be best to cut them in half and not just at the tips...

This glass is now discontinued as many of you know, I use my stash of it sparingly, specially this color the Mediterranean Olive...he felt so bad, but what can you say, the guy is a gem and things like this happen...we laughed about it...I thought i share with you just one casualty of moving...no worries, I will melt them back in to larger working rods...

Jelveh

Peace

What is a Munny???

Well, a while ago as I was looking at Rosie O'Donnell's web site, (I just love her what can I say), I saw photos of these guys...they are so funny to me, a company named Kidrobot makes them, they come in 3 sizes I think. They come unpainted so you can put your stamp on them, be an artist, there is a whole world of people out there involved with these little guys and a few others from the same company...

So the other day we were in London & walking, window shopping on Oxford St. & what do you know, there he was, the biggest Munny I have ever seen in person, this was a plain blue one & in the window of a store...it was hubby who pointed out the window belonged to Selfridges, which is one of the most famous department stores in the world...packed with designer tummies after designer yummies, this one very simple dress I liked was £1275.00 that is about $1810.00 so it is a bit of a high priced place, needless to say we need a couch when we get home, so the dress will have to wait for now...this guy was in the window...he was so cute, check out below what Rosie does with the ones she sells in her etsy shop for charity. She sells them really fast so the one below might be sold by the time you get there...

New Shoes & the British Museum NOT...

Yesterday we decided to visit the British Museum in London, we have always wanted to go and we found out they had a really cool exhibit about one of Iran's kings & his time as the ruler, Shah Abbas, he was not that cool, since some things that he did changed the face of Persia not in very good ways & forever...but the art & artifacts from the era are amazing...anyway long story short we got there too late and instead spent the day shopping on Oxford Street in London...it was like walking in a tossed human salad, there were so many many people out, both visitors & locals, perhaps it was that bit of elusive sunshine that had decided to show itself, in any case we had an awesome day exploring & shopping...

I got myself the shoes you see above, they are made by Fly London which is a great shoe company, kind of reminds me of Dr. Marten's shoes made for fun girls who want to look good and be comfortable...the British Museum will have to wait for another day... we had a great Sat, hope you did too... Jelveh Peace