Palomi has been taking piano classes for more than a year. Here she is at the baby grand piano at her teacher’s place. The teacher lives in Albany and it’s not far from home.
About sheelaj
Palomi at piano class
New blog entries
Am hoping this is the start of a blog for Jhaveri-Atkinson-Schacht family. We’re all spread out in California, London, New York City and Nepal. A blog to connect all of us, to be seen by mum and dad? And here they are. I love this photo taken March 2018.
It’s September already
August was a busy month. Two weeks of travel out of the country, the beginning of the school year for our daughter, a new preschool for our son and a birthday for me. We traveled to London to visit my family, then took the Eurostar (a great way to travel!) across to Germany. We hung out in Koln (Cologne) for a couple of days before moving onto other cities. Here is a photo of love padlocks on the Hohenzollern Bridge in Koln. The love padlocks started appearing in European cities in the early 2000s. Typically, a couple’s name is engraved on it.
For my birthday, our daughter went 
through our garden and collected this lovely display of flowers she put together. I love the color combination and array of different flowers.
And just before we left for our vacation, I got some of these lovely sterling silver Om charms, now available in my shop!
Customized design
Made for a particular individual, the design features a 3/4″ sterling silver disc, a sterling tree of life charm and a hessonite garnet stone bead. The text can be personalized. Oh, the text says fearless! As usual, can be found in my shop!
New resin designs
New designs that feature resin. Jewelry grade resin is a finicky substance. The biggest challenge is bubbles. I have researched this and followed all guidelines but even then, a bubble or two can surface. But I love resin and keep trying. Here are a couple of new designs that I’ve had in the works for a long time and only recently had the time to make them. Find them here and here in my shop.
Infusing oil
A mason jar of dried calendula flowers infusing in organic olive oil. A future batch of home made lotion will incorporate this healing infusion. The days are blissfully warm right now here in the Bay Area. Perfect time to make some oil infusions!!
Art in the house!
Here is what the kids and I did this past weekend. Big sheets of paper and lots of finger paints to create messy art! This is the kind of art I love—messing around with items found in the home and creating textures with them. Another not so great photo—I need a DSLR!!
Memory locket re-worked!
I like the idea of memory lockets—having the names or initials of your loved ones in the locket together with charms/stones that have personal meaning. In my new design, instead of the idea of a personal story, I created a theme: one that would have meaning to a Buddhist or a yogi. Or to those of us who connect to those elements for different reasons. The locket features a sterling Buddha charm, a hand stamped sterling disc and a garnet bead stone. During my travels around Asia in my early-20s, I spent some time at a Tibetan monastery in Nepal as well as a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. I learned many things from the teachers and community at both places. Having the Buddha in a locket inspires me to focus on some of the teachings of the Buddha: to practice compassion and loving kindness. The hand stamped Om always reminds me to stop and breathe and to notice what is happening NOW and the garnet is a beautiful deep red, and in Ayurveda is a replacement to an expensive ruby. It helps to give insight. Find the necklace here.
Popular design
This is one of my more popular designs, perhaps for its simplicity and splash of color. I created it more than a year ago and at the time, I was staring at all my supplies on my messy jewelry table looking for inspiration. I had just bought the sterling silver Om charm and the teardrop shaped glass Czech beads—I strung them on the chain together with the sterling silver Buddha. I didn’t mess with the design and knew that I didn’t need to play with it anymore. Usually after I create a piece, I put it aside and return at a later time to see if all the elements of the design work together. My final question is always: “would I wear that?”