Tribal Monday...

It's Tribal Monday here at Nomadic Tara.  Today's collection is of some of my favourite jewellery plus a few snippets from around my home.  As I fluffed around arranging this collection of bits and bobs I did pause and consider where these treasures had been before they made their way into my little world.  Don't you love that about second hand tribal things?  They have always been loved by some other lady (or man!) with the same penchant as you, for vivid colours used in wild abandon (for I do admit, this lot is colourful!).

 Afghani pouch and necklace...

 Indian garnet and silver necklaces on an Indian spice box...

 Prayer beads from Tibet with a Moroccan bowl (a gift from a friend)...

 A special piece... a Tibetan necklace made with a Bhutanese coin, bought on my first ever trip to Tibet in 1998...

 Tibetan necklace with Afghani earrings, Indian spice box and Tibetan singing bowl...

 Shiva with Indian earrings and Tibetan pendant and prayer beads...

 Thai necklace and Indian pouch...

 Tibetan Gau with Tara image bought after trekking in Nepal...

 Indian toran detail...

 

 Dancing Ganesh... (Mr Tara lugged this one home in his backpack from Mumbai)

 Children's hat from Thailand...

Wooden Ganesh...

 Ganesh dangles over an Indian wall hanging...

 Turkish ball hangs in front of a Tibetan belt...

 Bali umbrella...

 Afghani tassel necklace...

 Om carving bought on a trip to Bali...

Indian rupee necklace from Delhi on a Turkish mat bought on a cycle trip in Turkey many moons ago...

There you have it - Tribal Monday.  After that lot I'm dreaming of far off lands.... once again.

Tara

Tribal Heaven at Gypsy River...

Yesterday Shannon and I took a trip out to the country to visit the lovely Kerrie from Gypsy River.  We'd been ogling her blog for many a month now, so to visit her on her farm was pretty special for us.  Plus, its always good to meet another tribal textile enthusiast.  It seems Kerrie may have joined as many "tribes" as Shannon and I in her travels (no mean feat I can tell you...).

We potted about her studio, happy as can be, and managed to restrain our buying to 3 items each - not bad for a couple of tribal obsessed girls in tribal heaven now is it?...  Thanks Kerrie for kindly letting us in your home.

Here are some pics of our day out - which also included a visit to the river at Warrandyte, lunch in a park at Research (for the record, I did not even see so much as a Library in this oddly named place), and a stop in at Thomas Lloyd Guitars at Montsalvat so that Shannon could see the acoustic guitar that Mr Tara is building on Saturdays... 

Tribal heaven at Gypsy River...

 Henna inspired floor - we did like this very much, being henna-heads and all...

 Look at the size of some of those cushions...

 I'd wear this if I had half the chance...

 Shannon's purchases... a big cushion, a tassel and a beaded disk...

My treasures... a beaded pouch and a clove and mirror tassel

 

Plus a Thai embroidered necklace in my favourite colours...

 Next stop was Montsalvat where we marvelled at the old stone buildings and the lead light windows...

 

 We had the place to ourselves...

 Chapel windows...

 The Chapel at Montsalvat...

 Upstairs in the Great Hall... magnificent window setting!

Hmmm... what this room needs is some colour...

I wasn't long before the emptiness of the room got to us, but our Gypsy River treasures soon sorted that problem out...

 Shannon contemplating life in such a space...

Alas!  these two tribal loving girls were not destined for great halls and stained glass windows - oh no, we're more at home in our little tribal homes.  As soon as we got back to my house, Shannon started trying out her new Gypsy River cushion (its the big blue and red floral one taking centre stage in this picture).  The contents of my linen cupboard were emptied and she styled my bedroom for me. It was awesome (but trust me readers, this story does not have a happy ending.... Shannon took the awesome cushion home with her at the end of the night...sob!).

Anyway, back to the story, my room has never looked so nice!

Mr Tara came home from work and looked on with mild amusement - he's used to constant re-styling, but did wonder where his alarm clock had got to (hidden from view Mr Tara - its too techie for our tribal scene...)

  Shannon, if you are reading... I miss the cushion.  I can hear her now... "get your own Tara..."

If you are as inspired as we were by the lovely products available from Gypsy River, you can visit her online store at www.gypsyriver.com.au

If you would like to follow the stylings of Shannon (my awesome henna partner), you can follow her on instagram..... @littlewiseones

While we are on the subject, I'm also now on Instagram (which I love!).  Just search @nomadictara

Hope you are all having a nice week - if you are in Melbourne we are in for a hot one!  I shall be hibernating tomorrow since the mercury is going to tip 39 degrees....

Tara

Happy Birthday Erika...

It's my little cousin's 21st Birthday party on Saturday night.  She asked me to draw a "21" on her canvas, so of course I jumped at the chance.  I had to make sure I didn't get too carried away as all of her friends are going to sign the canvas around the outside of the "21".  Here's how it went...

Circle template and printed numbers...

I traced around the printed numbers since its a bit hard to eyeball it...  taped them on for good measure...

I used a trusty Sharpie - careful to keep within the lines... all that colouring in practice as a kid helped here...

 Then I added some Nomadic Tara henna leaves and flowers...

 Working with a circle is a bit tricky but worth the effort.  Here it is all ready to go to the party and be signed by friends and family...

 Happy 21st Birthday sweet Erika!

Tara