Every piece has a story behind it!

Isn't it true that most of us love stories?
Well...I do...both listening and telling stories!
And I feel very happy when a story gets attached to my jewelry pieces.

The necklace set below is one of the sets I made for the Winter Art & Crafts fair held at my work place in the beginning of December. The set is made of oval cream fresh water Pearls, pink Swarovski crystals and Silver beads.

From Menka's Jewelry

One of my colleagues really liked this set during the show but couldn't decide whether she wanted to buy it or not. Next morning when I went to work, she peeked into my cube and asked me if the necklace or the earrings were already sold. Then she told me that she really wanted to buy it but was not sure about the size. I customized the necklace as she wanted and she was so happy to have the set :)

Featured Artisan @ Winter Art & Crafts Fair

Really thrilled to be one of the featured Artisans @ Winter Art & Crafts fair at work. First time my jewelry was featured in an article...just can't describe the joy and happiness it brought to me.

The fair is tomorrow, Dec 2nd from 7:30am-5:00pm.
Am I ready? Well...you are never fully ready; always have this feeling that you could have done much more but you can always plan do better in the next one!

I know that its going to be a long day but the excitement to showcase my new jewelry and opportunity to meet other Artisans with their fabulous art work will be rewarding enough to beat the tiredness:)

Here is one of my favorites from the new collection.

From Menka's Jewelry

Necklace made of Blue and Green Turquoise with Silver beads accentuated with an irregular heart shaped Green Turquoise pendant; ending with a Silver clasp.

And here is the complete album.

Princess Necklace Set

One of my favorites...simple, elegant and royal in itself.
Set in silver with white & olive green fresh water pearls and purple Swarovski cubes.



I am glad that it found a home already and is on its way to NY!

My first shipment...

Today, I shipped an order of my jewelry to a friend in NJ...my first shipment:)

Feels great to know that my friend, whom I know for past 14 years; when she saw the pictures of my jewelry, right away wanted to possess some of my creations!


The necklace has different sized Tiger Eye gemstones with silver beads and findings. A drop like Tiger Eye pendant with silver around it, adds to the beauty of the necklace.

It took me some time to finally ship the order to her due to numerous other things in my life that kept me ultra busy, I hope she will like the necklace and the small earrings she wanted. Waiting for her feedback now:)

Chandelier Earrings

It seems time is flying way too faster than I could realize. Its been more than a month since I could post a blog entry. Lots of activity in the past month both at professional and personal front which kept me away from the blog. But better late than never...so here I am :)

During the Arts and Crafts Show at Intel, one of my colleagues bought a Jade and Malakite necklace and wanted me to make bigger earrings for her.

I myself like Chandelier Earrings a lot so right away I had a design in my mind. The earrings have matching Jade and Malakite gems in oxidized silver.

I am glad that I could put the earrings together and hand them to her in time before she delivered her baby :)

1:1 with Craig Barrett

Last week, I got a chance to attend an Open Forum with Intel's Chairman Craig Barrett at our Santa Clara office. After having a very exciting, busy and eventful 35 years at Intel, Craig is retiring in couple of days. For many of us @ Intel, it was our first and may be last chance to actually meet him in person and talk to him. All set with my camera not to miss a picture with him, I reached the auditorium well in time to get a good seat.



It was amazing to hear Craig talking about various topics involving Intel and current economic conditions; face to face. Later on, he opened the forum for Q&A and answered lot of questions ranging from how he came into Intel, his life, challenges and wins at Intel and of course, life after Intel. He rated people @ Intel as the top thing he is going to miss and while answering my question on that he said Intel's biggest asset are the people here and they are the ones that makes Intel the great company it is.

Some of my colleagues were joking with me that I am lucky to meet two big bosses @ Intel in one week - first our CEO Paul Otellini at the Arts and Crafts Fair and then the chairman Craig Barrett :-)

Art & Crafts Show @ Intel

Yesterday I participated in Employees Art and Crafts Show at Intel, Santa Clara. The show was a whole day affair from 7:30am-5:00pm with 20 Artisans displaying their art work which included handmade jewelry, purses & baskets, photographs, paintings, homemade honey, soaps & cosmetics. I showcased my handmade semi-precious gemstones jewelry and my sister in-law's mural paintings. Being a first timer, I was very excited & anxious at the same time.


The show had a good turn around with around 300 employees, friends & family visiting it. The best part was that our CEO Paul Otellini took out few minutes from his busy schedule and stopped by each booth to encourage Intel's own silent Artisans.


I made few sales, got few orders and valuable tips & suggestions on how to take nice pictures of my jewelry. The amazing part was one of the ladies found the jewelry set I was wearing as the most interesting one and I ended up giving away the earrings :-) It was very encouraging to see how people really appreciate your creative interests and want to know more about what else you do besides being a hard working employee @ Intel.

You can check out the websites of some of the other Artisans from the show
Nance Wheeler's Fine Art @ www.NanceWheeler.com
Shobana's handmade jewelry @ www.shobanajb.com
Santhosh's photography @ www.clearsnaps.com

My key take away from the show are the acquaintances I made; I am sure few of them will turn into long lasting friendships:-)
And of course, keep a spare set for yourself in case you end up giving away the one you are wearing!

Two Gem Shows on Two Weekends

I got a chance to attend two incredible Gem Shows on last two weekends.

First one was the International Gem & Jewelry Show @ San Mateo County Event Center. The Show was on April 10th-12th. It had both retail and wholesale sections and one got to see and buy beautiful gems & beads, ready to wear jewelry, tools, stylish displays and much more. The vendors were from all across US. It helps to know ahead what you want to buy otherwise the amazing collections from each vendor easily overwhelms you. I have learnt it over time and now I go to the show with a list of things to buy or look for. I had only couple of hours this time at the show as we were leaving for LA the same evening but still managed to get few findings, gemstones & pearls. You just can't comeback empty handed from the show:-)

Second one was the Annual Show from Santa Clara Valley Gem & Mineral Society. During one of his morning jogs, Arun noticed a flyer about the SCVGMS Annual Show and asked me to check out the show. SCVGMS is a non profit organization that helps its members and community learn about rocks & minerals by expanding knowledge of the earth sciences. The show was lot different from the gem shows I have attended in the past. It had two different sections - one was Gem Show with dealers selling gemstones, tools and ready to wear jewelry; second was an Organized Kids Area with demonstrations and exhibits focusing on children and earth science education.

My 6 years old son is very much interested in gemstones and rocks so we went there as a family. Our main attraction for the show was the kids area with the opportunity to learn about rocks, minerals, the rock cycle, caves, volcanoes, fossils, geology, soil, and much more. He got to go on a treasure hunt in which he found a Shark tooth, made his own rock collection - of course by buying rocks at a very nominal price and spin the fortune wheel; and painted a Phacops rana, a trilobite - official "State Fossil" of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, we forgot to pick the fossil after it dried :-( We also tried our hands on sand panning to discover gold (pretend one) and gemstones. There were number of Boy and Girl scouts and other kids on a field trip to this show.

The exhibits were wonderful and very creative. You could see different perspective of rocks, gemstones & minerals through each exhibitor; ranging from jewelry, show pieces, play cards, fossils etc. Check out the photo album at

I was always looking forward to join such a Society to broaden my knowledge for gemstones and I am so glad that I finally found one!

Small Steps Foundation Family Walk 2009

Sometimes our busy lives don't give us enough time to even think about little things that make difference in somebody else's life. In our effort to make a difference, my family has associated itself with Small Steps Foundation (SSF) charity that works towards providing the education for the underprivileged kids.

SSF is a non-profit organization backed by highly energetic volunteers and is going places in first three years of its formation itself. They organize 2 funraising events every year and their first fundraising event of the year 2009 is SSF Family walk (5K/10K) in Coyote Hills on May 17th. My family plans to walk 10K to support the cause.

You can help us in this cause either by
1) Donating money for this walk on our personal page.
I know times are tough right now, so donation as low as even $5 will also help. Remember...each drop counts and helps to make an ocean eventually.

2) Participating and registering for this walk yourself.

Together we can make a difference...Yes WE CAN!!

Art & Crafts Fair on May 7th

I am planning to showcase my handmade Jewelry at Spring Art & Crafts Fair @ work on May 7th. Its exactly one month from now and I am sure the time will fly very fast. As the Fair will be a whole day affair it needs lot of planning and preparation...so charging up!

Good for me that International Gem & Jewelry Show is coming to San Mateo on the weekend...time to replenish the inventory this Friday:-)

How I got interested in beads and beading...

It all started with organizing small beading projects for my nephew's birthday party few years ago.

My sister in-law wanted me to coordinate a bead activity for kids at the party. She got few packets of bright-colored plastic beads and stretch chord. It was amazing to see that not only girls but boys were also interested in making beautiful necklaces and bracelets. I still have the bracelet I made that day :-)

The same year I stopped by a local beadstore. I was amazed by the vast collection of beads the store had. I bought few glass beads and metal separators, made couple of bracelets and gifted them to my sister in-laws on different occasions. They loved them and it encouraged me to make more. I started making bracelets for them as Rakhi every year for the festival of Raksha Bandhan. My niece used to fight with her mom to wear those bracelets and called them 'Her' collection. When I came to know about it, I started sending one for her too.

After attending couple of Jewelry Workshops at the local Community Center, I started making earrings and necklaces too. Soon I was visiting local bead & gem shows and oh boy...our office room was getting stacks of crafts boxes filled with beads, findings and beading tools.

Yes, I was getting hooked onto the colorful world of beads!!

My first blog!

Finally...I created my own blog!

For a long time, my husband, Arun has been asking me to create a blog to share my thoughts behind the jewelry I make but I kept thinking...nah, its not my cup of tea, where do I have the time to write my thoughts etc etc.

Recently I came across a news article in San Jose Mercury News which talked about couple of very famous blogs - My Romantic Home and Daisy Cottage; and how the writers got into blogging. I must say that I was really very impressed with these blogs and was wondering why can't I do the same...well...at least I can give it a shot for some days:-)

Here I am writing my first entry...stay tuned for many more;-)