CELLAR STAIRS

 Sunday blizzard left us with a decision

do we lay around and wait on the Oscars?

or

do we tackle the cellar project!

this old house has plenty of issues

in this corner was a set of stairs

stairs to nowhere...

I would assume this old cellar was a root cellar back in the day

and the stairs led to the outside

and when they built the house, they closed up the old cellar door 

and made an entrance from the inside

but they forgot to take out the stairs

so we did

and then we had a moment of illumination

to take out the plain old shelves here

and replace them with the stairs we were tearing out!

some of the pieces were only good to make the fire burn longer

and on this very blustery winter day, I was grateful for that!

I was wondering if there were still live spiders here?

thank goodness for the very unscared Mr. PV

old dead spiders were an easy fix 

there were only 5 shelves and the thickness of the old wood makes its own statement

so even though I love the shelves and had plenty of brackets...I just stayed with 5

we cleaned them up with soap and water

(down came the rain and washed the spiders out!)

it was a fun day to take everything off the hearth and think about a different look

this monk has spent years outside on my various porches

and these old items were stacked away in other places

the books came with the house

(I bet spiders lived in the pages)

I like to put my books in color order

they look a little delicate...but my goodness...they are very very old

it could be that someone long ago sat on these stairs and read them

I like old things...do you?

I am pretty sure that the people who walked on these steps 

have been in heaven a very long time by now

I have to wonder if they got a chuckle out of us using that wonderful old wood 

to replace perfectly ok shelves

to stack old stuff on

WHAT IS YOUR STYLE?

 My mother wears orange lipstick

so do I

This is a large tapestry she gave me

I use it as a table cloth and sometimes on end of a bed as a throw

both sides are beautiful

yesterday the last of the indoor blooms...bloomed out, so I changed things up a bit--

the night before I was thinking about what kinds of things influenced me

this is a paisley table cloth

 I also use it at the end of my couch

but I've been known to wear it over my shoulders as a shawl

the color orange definitely speaks to me

kalanchoe

(thank you my friend Tina...I love kolaches too!  fig! )

so as I pondered my style as I often do

I can't help but see a pattern here

Most people would say I was greatly persuaded by my neighboring state of 

New Mexico...and I am for sure...but this old rock house seems to go much older than that

like Spain, or Morocco or ...well...I'm just not exactly sure

but the one thing I can say without hesitation is this

I am most certainly and unequivocally influenced by

Target

Hobby Lobby

World Market

Pier 1

and all the treasures that come my way via 

estate auctions

...

the colors of my mother...

and that color that I cannot seem to get enough of!

JOOOORY

The reason the market is full of synthetic turquoise, is due to the fact there is so little high quality turquoise mined to meet the market demand.  

++The supply of top grade turquoise will never meet the demand++

( Arizona Highways Magazine 1974)

During a recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico

daughter bo-peep wore a necklace that someone literally tried to buy off her neck

this vintage squash blossom was gifted to me by my sweet mother

and I love to share it and wear it!  It features baroque free form stones with silver beads.

On our most recent trip to Santa Fe

I wore a different squash blossom that also garnered a few compliments

so I decided that I would have a silversmith expert

come to my home to evaluate, identify and appraise

 the collection I received from my mother a few Christmases ago--

for fun....she calls it

JOOORY

some of the following I knew,

but I did learn a lot that I would like to share with you

If you like this style of jewelry maybe this post will be helpful to you to make sure you get the very best your money can afford....just like diamonds....you can get high quality to fake...and there is nothing wrong with any of it...as long as YOU know it!

TURQUOISE

Native American Indians adorned themselves with this cool stone before it was cool!

map of USA Mines

Right now there is a lot of Chinese Turquoise around

but I highly recommend American Turquoise

and jewelry made by Native Americans--

and the very best place to buy is at a pawn shop

look for the words old dead pawn

(remember...there is quite a lot of synthetic and/or man-made stone

which is ok...as long as you are aware of what you are buying)

authentic pieces do not necessarily have to be signed but that's always nice

and all should have the silver hallmark to indicate the purity of the silver

these old vintage silver squash blossoms have such a nice patina, you can just tell by looking

that this is authentic...and you don't polish this...the duller it looks the better

nice examples of old pawn pieces

these feature Manassa and Old Burnham with old silver squash and beads

Native American Pearls

here you can also see a "Grandmother Necklace"

it's the shorter one...legend has it that the grandmother would make the jewelry for her family and with the leftover, make one for herself

I actually purchased the grandmother necklace from Michael while he was here

I love the idea of a grandmother necklace

raw chips....the most prized today is

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Globe, Arizona

the Naja

STORY OF THE SQUASH BLOSSOM

a nice example of  bezel stones and inlay

such drama and talent exhibited in this Kachina

Shadow box cuff...stones set within

cuffs are the most popular and I am loving the turquoise and gold or brass

it looks so nice on tan skin

Zuni Petit Point (Kingman Stones)

 Lapis Lazuli set in nickel

sand cast....seen on the left...with Manassa  stones

the belt on the right is a good example of synthetic stone

have you considered the dynamic duo of turquoise with pearls???

oh my yes!

Zuni fetish charms

this necklace was given to me by my Uncle Gene when he gave me my

Indian Name...Red Bird

this beaded rosette was made by a man from my own tribe..Choctaw...

it is considered "souvenir"...but it's one of my favorites too!

also shown are garnet, amber, and coral

super duper Fetish! love the example of the matrix

This is one of my favorite sets...the Rocki Gorman dragon flies...

the piece to the right was actually made by my mother...Many Feathers

the smaller najas can adorn any necklace

This fine young Dancing Eagle can be worn as a pin, on beads

or on a bolo tie

So many other stones can be set so nicely in silver

here are a few examples of Angel Skin Coral, Charoite, Red Coral and Jasper

the bear is 

Jasper

which comes in many colors...the green squash blossom is from the Carico Lake Mine, Nevada

Charoite

Old silver and Red Coral Kachina Necklace

we are descendants of the Turtle Clan, Mississippi Choctaw

Apple Red Coral

Angel Skin Coral

from high quality best of the best

to fake and trendy 

A girl can never have too many white shirts or turquoise stones!

An investment better than a diamond!