Mala-tastic

Mala Beads. Also known as prayer beads. They are simple, but full of meaning.

They are typically comprised of 108 beads and they are a tool used to keep your mind on the meditation and prevent it from wandering. Malas are generally made from different materials such as tulsi (basil) wood, sandal wood, rudraksh seeds or crystal. Each type of material has certain properties which subtly affect the subconscious mind of the practitioner.   Anyone who has mediated before knows how hard it can be to focus sometimes. By its very nature, the mind tends to wander off during the meditation practice. If ones energy is low at the time of meditation, it can be tempting to fall asleep. If the energy is too high, the mind can start daydreaming or coming up with shopping lists. At such times, the mala provides the much needed anchor. The Mala beads are moved in rhythm with the breath and the mantra, so that both-sleep as well as excessive mental distraction-are prevented by this action upon the beads. A personal mala is a wonderful accessory to meditation, which when used regularly with a personal mantra, absorbs the vibrations of the practice. It becomes like a close friend or a comfortable piece of clothing! The Mala is traditionally held in the right hand and used in two ways -In one method, the Mala is hanging between the thumb and the ring (third) finger. The middle (second) finger is used to rotate the Mala by one bead towards oneself with each repetition of the mantra. In the other method, the mala is hanging on the middle finger, with the thumb used to rotate the mala just as explained - one bead at a time. Either way, the index finger is never used to touch the Mala. Can you guess where this is going? Yes, we are going to be carrying Mala necklaces (and bracelets) within the next month or so. Many of them will be one-offs, so stay posted!
Here is a quick sneak peak! Green Sandalwood 108 Beads

I give you my heart

Phew. Busy busy busy! Sad to say, I haven't had much time lately for blogging, let alone jewelry. However, I was hit with the jewelery bug this weekend and had a bit of a revelation. I was shopping for some thin headpins to finish my mum's wedding earrings, when I found the most beautiful crystal hearts. They're shiny, girly and they fall right into this pink/nude/tan trend that I've been so in love with lately. I snapped them up and spent a couple hours creating (after finishing momma's earrings of course). This led me to the conclusion that I need to start a new line. I love the earthy, bohemian style, but it's fun to switch it up now and then.

Think of this as a sneak peek into the new, flirty line (which may also branch off into bridal accessories)!

ps. Any guesses as to what book I used for the background?

"Colour of my Heart"

"Something Blue"

You're the Apple of my Eye!

Aren't these stickers fantastic?! I stumbled upon them this morning and the best part is - you can download your own free set by clicking here.

Better late than never...

Oops...I'm such a bad blogger. I completely forgot to post my art journal last Friday. I was getting ready for a karate tournament on the weekend so I was a little distracted (excuses) ;)

My Mantra

As a graphic designer, sometimes you have just have to follow the client's direction instead of your own creative license (after all, they usually know their business better than you do). From an artist's perspective, this can be a bit trying sometimes, but I have a mantra that helps:

 

It is Latin for "Art for art's sake"; a Bohemian creed from the 19th century. Art for art's sake" affirmed that art was valuable as art. This is a good reminder when creating something that is not for yourself. I'm not saying compromise is always good, but sometimes, especially in business, it's necessary - heck, Michelangelo refused to paint the Sistine Chapel at first saying that he was a sculptor not a painter...but was soon persuaded by his "client" (Pope Julius). :)

I also created a wallpaper to use while at work. As you can see, I'm a big fan of the whole "erroded/grunge" style. :)

Modern Day Corset

Recently, Patti Ransom, a local interior designer, was nice enough to give me a huge box of fabric scraps and books of wallpaper samples. This might seem useless to some people, but I was thrilled! This meant new materials for craft time! Because a lot of the fabric samples were cut small, I had to come up with a project that wouldn't take much material. Case in point: the corset belt.

(my bum)

Honestly, I had no idea what I was creating at the time and it was very much a make-it-up-as-you-go-along kind of thing...but I LOVE how it turned out. Once I solidify the pattern these will be available to purchase in all sorts of fantastic colours and patterns. I find it's a great way to dress up a plain outfit and it even hides any, er, unwanted bumps (what bumps?). Plus, it's reversible (flip side is plain brown).

Oh and, on another note, the necklace that I'm wearing in the photo is my newest creation and is available to purchase here. 

Green Wedding

Some of you may know that my Mum is getting married in March. Of course, this means that for the next couple of months, I get to play wedding planner. We have already made several trips to Michaels to get dried flowers, vases, arches, invitations etc. Yesterday, we found these dark green pearl beads (my Mum will be wearing a dark green mermaid dress and they match PERFECTLY). My Mum had already bought some jewelry but honestly, it looked cheap and a bit tacky. To remedy this, we bought the green pearls and I told her to just let me at 'em. :)

I figured I'd give her two options. One is a chandelier style and the other is a long chain. They are both unfinished (didn't want to put too much work into till we picked a style). I showed them to my Mum today and we're going to go with the long chain version - which is the one I liked best, so yay! Now I need to finish the earrings and start on the necklace/bracelet. I will be sure to post a photo of the final product!

SNOW LOVE!

What do you do on a snow day? :)

Beautiful in Orange - Etsy

I am so hooked on Etsy!! I made my first purchase the other day. I would LOVE to show you what it is, but it's a wedding present for my brother and his fiancée and I can't risk them seeing it. :P

Etsy has treasuries that are created by users. The themes vary from colour, to nature, to holidays etc. Check out this beautiful one that feature one of my bracelets!

Art Journal Friday

Every Friday I feature a page from my art journal. Some of the artworks are recent, some are not. I created this one while I was taking Philosophy last year (no, not during class!). Philosophy is the inspiration for a lot of my artwork.

Lyrical Emotion

I was cleaning out some files today and stumbled on this two little works of art. They were part of an old school project where we had to use typography and lyrics to convey the emotion of a song. Anyone know what band did the first song (without googling)? I'm going to being seeing them in February!

Style with Substance

I got a special treat this weekend when Andrew took me to Lucid and told me to pick out whatever I wanted as a (late) Christmas present. Now, if you haven't been to Lucid - you simply must fix that. They're located on Commercial Street, across from Serious Coffee, and they sell everything from Toms shoes to American Apparel gear. They also sell Sitka hoodies...which was my pick.Very comfy and it has a tree on it. For those that know me, you know that trees are one of my favouritest things ever. :)

On top of all of these wonderful things, they also sell Namasté Living jewelry! Yup, they have earrings, bracelets, and a couple of necklaces so be sure to drop in, say hi to Fred and Skippy, and check out the goods!

Island Time

It's such a beautiful day!!

Andrew and I decided to explore our little neighbourhood since it was so nice and sunny. Lantzville is such an amazing place...and we are two blocks from the ocean and two blocks from forest trails! We found a trail we had never been down before so, of course, we had to check it out. It was so nice. The only bad part was that people seem to be using the trails as a place to dump their garbage.

There was all sorts of garbage...even a dishwasher, a mattress and a whole couch!! I just don't get it...obviously people have these things in their cars to dump them. Why not drive a little further to the thrift store? Or the dump? Or the recycling depot? Grah. Despite this, it was still a beautiful walk. I feel very blessed to live on such an amazing Island.

And now, Andrew is attempting to make cookies for the very first time! Am I spoiled or what? ;)

Lantzville in 1925.

A beautiful reminder courtesy of Fight Club...

 

Check out this print on Etsy

A rose by any other name

I've recently starting using Etsy. I've always browsed the photos but have never had an actual account. Well, now I do and it can be viewed here!

Anyways, I've discovered the "Treasury" function and I just love it. You create themes by including thumbs from other artists. My most recent them is Romeo & Juliet - which got me craving some Shakespeare. I think tonight is going to be a reading-in-the-tub kind of night. :)

[zen]

So what do you think of my new look?

Apparently I get bored easy. Blog not up for even a month and it has a new face lift. I like it much more though. It's so clean and breezy and Zen ahhhh.

Have you noticed that the word Zen gets tossed around like nobody's business these days? It has become a buzz word and a tagline for marketing. It gets used everyday, as if it's an English word, and most people aren't entirely sure what it even means. I'll admit, if I see a product in the stores that says Zen on it, I'll probably take a second look. I work in marketing and I still fall for it all the time. ;)

So what is Zen? It is actually a Mahayana movement, introduced into China in the 6th century AD and into Japan in the 12th century. Zen emphasizes enlightenment for the student by the most direct possible means, accepting formal studies and observances only when they form part of such means. One way to think of Zen is as a total state of focus that involves a total togetherness of body and mind. Zen is a way of being as well as a state of mind. Zen involves dropping illusion and seeing things without distortion created by your own thoughts.

A bit ironic really... especially when we're being sold a Zen car seat cover or a Zen hair dryer. What do these things have to do with dropping illusion and creating your own thoughts? Ah well. 

On that note, I hope you enjoy my new Zen inspired blog. heehee

I will leave you with my Asian inspired earrings...

 

2011

It's a New Year!

Well I took a bit of a hiatus over Christmas to try to relax and catch up on things around the house. I've discovered that I'm not very good at relaxing! I had a great Christmas though and was surrounded by family and food at all times. :)

I don't usually get too caught up in all of the New Year's hype. After all, it is just a number. I did come up with some, lets call them goals, for the New Year though.

- Work. I want to give even more. I work hard right now but I know I can work harder. Work is an important part of Buddhism as it tames the ego. There's a great Buddhist proverb that says "Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water."

- Make more time for improving my own wellness. There's a zen center in Victoria that I just love. Unfortunately, it's in Victoria. However, thanks to technology, they do early morning online meditations where you can actually mediate with the monk live and see him on your computer. I'm not a morning person but this is something that I really want to make time for.

- I need to get outside more. I live in such an AMAZING place and I feel like I take it for granted. Caving, kayaking, hiking, camping, climbing...I want to do it all.

- Self sustainability - I want this as much as possible. Right now, we have chickens and get eggs which is great. We're planning on getting a goat and hopefully a greenhouse. I know nothing about gardening, but I've bought "Gardening for Dummies" so I should be fine. ;)

- And...probably like all of you...I want to eat better. I'm not too bad right now but I do have a bit of a sweet tooth! We received a blender as a house warming present and I've been using it to make healthy smoothies. It's a start!

How about you? And New Year's resolutions or goals?