Serendipity at it’s best…

Interesting people show up in the strangest places!

I met this very interesting and inspiring lady yesterday named Betsy at a luncheon for breast cancer survivors and their families. We started talking about jewelry. (Shockingly surprising topic for me, I know.) She told me this amazing story she calls The Immortal Necklace. It all started with a remodel of an old farm house in Ohio in the 1940s. The house was built in the late 1800s and needed a serious upgrade. Betsy was the only girl in a family with 5 brothers and 1 bathroom. Her father decided the bathroom was the first room to be remodeled. He began ripping out the walls to make it larger and in so doing found a very old tattered pouch that contained a beautiful pearl necklace with a complete chronology. The necklace was first worn by the Bride of an Austrian named Uttendorf in 1799. The chronology goes on to describe the passage of that necklace to the oldest daughter on her wedding day until it abruptly stopped in 1901. Betsy’s father told her that it was their obligation to continue its legacy of immortality. But now Betsy has a problem. Betsy had 4 sons, who in turn had only sons. She is a proud grandmother of wonderful BOYS. She is really at a crossroad. What should she do? Or, better what would you do?

Here is a sketch of the necklace and my attempt to recreate.  Click Below!

Here is my version:

Zibbet.com/BlingBeadedBaubles
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Carol

Mangia Motifs! Read if you need a Giggle..

You know I’m obsessed when….. Beading techniques invade my kitchen. I have been dabbling with making beaded motifs. They’re fun and a very freeform way of making pendants. Some samples below. Hey, were’s the Giggle????

Amethyst Druzy

So my husband comes to me and shows me this picture and says let’s make Hot Dog Motifs!!! And so we did! This dish was positively delicious and so much fun to make. Richard has now renamed the dish “Dogatelli Ricardo”.  Click the picture for the recipe! Mangia! So let’s chat again soon, Carol Visit Me at: BlingBeadedBaubles.Zibbet.com

From Seed Beads to Quinoa…

It all started with a Quinoa & Watermelon Salad.

I met a new friend for lunch the other day and ordered this delicious Quinoa Salad. When the dish arrived I commented that Quinoa looks a lot like seed beads. (I know beads – I work it into EVERYTHING!) My friend says that I wouldn’t be ordering this dish if I were Kosher. I said Huh? Well, she informed me that it was Passover and Quinoa is one of many grains that are banned on that day. I filed that away for more research and sure enough here’s what I found.

In Biblical times, one didn’t want to cross the Rabbi’s. They made the rules upon which you lived your daily life. Break the rules and there were serious consequences both within your community and the likely hood of getting into the Hereafter. Many of the rules had to do with what you did and didn’t eat and when. Not eating bread during Passover is one of those rules. 

Most likely no one has been excommunicated for eating a sandwich during Passover in quite some time, if ever, but the fact remains that the dietary laws during the holiday, beginning at sundown on Friday, are very, very serious. And yet they’re also completely muddled and chaotic. People obey totally different rules based on where they’re from, and every once in awhile a prominent rabbi looks at an old rule and says “this is stupid” and that rule no longer counts. To this day, groups of scholars issue rulings on whether it’s okay to, say, eat quinoa.

A commonly, but by no means exclusively, accepted ruling is that any grain that has been combined with water for 18 minutes or more qualifies as a chametz product and is thus forbidden. The 18-minute rule dates to a conversation between two scholars held sometime around 200 CE; one rabbi, an enormously fat scholar named Shimon ben Lakish, opined that the time it takes for chametz-potential products to become actual chametz is “as long as it takes a man to walk from Migdal Nunaiya to Tiberias.”

On Google Maps, Migdal Nunaiya, now called Migdal and known as Mary Magdalene’s hometown, is about five miles from Tiberias, or one hour and 42 minutes by foot. It is unclear how this trip ever took 18 minutes. Today, in a car, it takes 11.

So the 18-minute mark is not always obeyed; scholars up to the modern day have debated exactly how long it takes for chametz-potential ingredients to ferment into chametz. After all, some products take longer to ferment than others—surely this should be taken into consideration! There’s no conclusion on that, partly because there’s no conclusion on any of this. 
So the net net of this is that this is a delicious recipe (click on the photo) and who new quinoa could be so interesting?  

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Let’s Chat Soon!!!
Carol

What is a Twisted Sister?

I have been crafting all of my life and I never thought it would take me here. As for crafting,  I have my parents to thank for this talent. My Dad loved to make Halloween costumes and my Mother would transform the American Legion Hall each month into some spectacular venue for their dance club.  I single handedly have the Guinness Record for carnation flowers.  

After retiring from technology, I was free to explore every whim and I did. They say it is not the destination but the journey but for this post it’s my latest destination – Beads and Beading. If you are a serious crafter you know that any hobby needs a serious stash. When you are inspired to create something you can’t slow down the process by shopping for your items. I thought my knitting and crocheting period was bad but OMG beading requires a HUGE stash of stuff. Thus this crazed Beadaholic was born.

Let’s fast forward to 2 years ago. My wonderful husband had a hip surgery that did not go well. He and I, as his caregiver, were pretty much shut ins for at least 6 months. I desperately needed an outlet for all my home time and so I decided to sell my jewelry creations online. This was a perfect solution. Everyday I was here to watch and help my husband steadily improve albeit glacial and I had plenty of time to create. The triple bonus was all those necklaces needed tons of BEADS! At last, we are ready for The Twisted Sister Journey.

It all began when I got hooked on bead embroidery. Beautiful stuff but REALLY time consuming. Weeks to finish one piece and the rage was and is now really chunky collar and bib statement necklaces. Seed beads were just not going to cut it. So, I started noodling around with wire and larger beads.  I liked the wire because it gives the piece dimensions that you would never get with bead stringing. After many failed designs and attempts, I came up with this twisted wire wrap technique I call “Twisted Sister”.

Then an opportunity arose for me to teach The Twisted Sister and viola I was off and running but I had a problem with not having enough bandwidth to create, sell and teach.  So that is why I now offer Tutorials, Beading Kits AND my Jewelry.
I just finished my Chanel Crocheted Necklace Tutorial pictured here. It is so fun and really easy to make. (Even if you don’t know how to crochet.) 

If you would like to get your free copy of this Tutorial just click HERE. I’ll email you your link.  

To view all of my work and receive your 20% Discount Shopping Pass,  20OFFPASS

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Let’s talk soon.
Carol

PS Next up…What does Cate Blanchett have to do with The Twisted Sister???