Dazzled By Life

Being Thankful

2010-11-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

Hey There,

How is everybody doing? Hope everybody is having a nice, chilled out (literally and figuratively) weekend.I sure am!
After a long long time, I am enjoying a day where I have decided to put my type A, chaotic personality to the side and just trying to go with the flow.No items on the agenda, no items to cross off my never ending list, no guilt, no pressure.

On another front, this is Thanksgiving season in some parts of the world.Though we don't celebrate it here, I quite like the essence of the festival and so for once, instead of whining, I am going to put down my sometimes sillly and sometimes profound thoughts on things I am thankful for.So here it goes in random order :

1.I am thankful for the freedom to live my life the way I want to.

2.Thankful for the culture that I grew up in, where I am conditioned to make some small compromises in the way I live or behave without a second thought, so as to not offend the sensibilities of people who do not belong to my generation or subscribe to my way of living.

3.Thankful for a husband who lets me be and who ALWAYS stands by me, no matter how silly the issue.

4.Thankful for my mom for being the way she is, non judgemental and always in my corner.

5.Thankful for my Dad who just doesn't get that I am offiicially an adult and can take care of myself and always wants to shield me from life's disappointments.

6.Thankful to my in-laws who believe in the power of good thoughts and words and thankful to them for instilling the right values in their son.Especially thankful to dad-in-law who makes it a point to tell me that we have his blessings and good wishes in every single conversation I have with him.

7.Thankful for my best friends who always have time to listen to my stories and always lend their shoulder to cry on, for the silliest of things.Thankful to be given the honour of being a part of their lives too.

8.Thankful to God for providing me with a sense of humour and the ability to laugh at myself.

9.Thankful for all the trials and tribulations that have come my way.Just makes me appreciate the good times more.

10.Thankful for having 'just enough' of everything so that I can lead a life of comfort but still not get too complacent about things.

11.Thankful to all the creative people of the world for making the world beautiful and giving me the opportunity to feast my senses on the beautiful things you create.

12.Thankful for music!

13.Thankful for all the authors who write such awesome books and help me see the world through their eyes.

14.Thankful for my pesky co-worker.You make me angry and teach me to excel in my work just to show you how it needs to be done.Without your annoying attitude and demeanour, I think I would never have learnt the art of leading.(Not a very charitable thank you item, but youand your antics have been on my mind and Monday is not looking too good for you my friend .. insert "wicked laughter" here.)

15.Thankful to God for making me honest enough to know all my faults and giving me the blessing of having people in my life who accept me the way I am.

16.Last but not the least, thankful to each and every person who comes to my blog and reads it.For those 2-3 or 10 minutes that you come in here and read what I have to say, you are validating me and my thoughts.It is awesome and indeed an honour to be connected to each one of you no matter how long or short your stay.

Phew.. that was a long list and I can actually add some more, but I will keep it for some other time.Your turn now.What are you thankful for?

This was inspired by this post.Go read.

Cheers,
Sumi

'I' is for Indian Bride

2010-11-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was just browsing through Etsy to look for some interesting artwork for my home and stumbled upon this

Watercolour fashion illustration :Indian wedding1 via

Isn't it gorgeous.I love it.Go check out this shop.There are some wonderful watercolours in there.I want them all.:-)

This post is for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.Yes, I took a shortcut and did not write anything, but I am sure she will be forgiving and gentle with me.:-)

Cheers
Sumi

Advice From A Cartoon Princess I would never pass on to my daughter

2010-11-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

Delightful Recipes

2010-11-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon a wonderful blog written by Nate and Salli.They had this interesting idea of creating a recipe book with fun illustrations, which then translated into a blog.I don't know about you, but I have never seen such a cute way of presenting recipes and they have tons of them, recipes I mean.I am not a fan of cooking, but looking at the blog makes me want to try some things,so if you enjoy cooking, I am sure you will love their blog

I have taken the liberty to show one such illustration from their blog.Hope they don't mind.

Image credit :http://www.theydrawandcook.com

So fun!Go check them out here.I am sure you won't be disappointed.

Cheers
Sumi

H for Happiness

2010-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been feeling a bit jaded and uninterested in everything.I can't for the life of me figure out why I am not happier than what I am right now.I have everything going for me, a lovely husband, great friends, financial independence, a job I like on most days, my parents, my mental faculties all intact (touchwood) , then what is it that is making me question whether I am happy or not!.

This led me to thinking whether we can actively and conscioulsy make ourselves happy.I am still trying to figure out that one.The start to this is to find out what does make me happy and that is something that I need to sit and ponder about.I hope I make some headway and start appreciating my life more.

What do you do to feel happier?What are the road blocks to your happiness?Are you thankful for whatever life has offered you, yet still mildly discontented?Is thankfulness for life's gifts, the same as happiness?

I would love to hear from whoever reads this and get some perspective.

Pensive
Sumi

I am participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabet thursday.The letter this time is H and H for happiness is my entry.

Worth reading

2010-11-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

Read a beautiful post about kindness.Go read it here.It's moving and lovely.

Diwali

2010-11-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

I know I am a bit late for this, but Happy Diwali folks.How did it go? Being slightly under the weather, I didn't do much this time, but I am still pretty proud of myself, since I did some decorating, crafting AND cooking.Also, probably for the first time we did the puja properly.So what, if everything was taken from the internet.Yes,I printed out the whole puja procedure and the aarti and stuff from the net since husband and I pretty much suck at following rituals.My mom found it really funny, but I am sure Lakshmi ji will forgive us and accept our incompetence.:-)

Anyhow,here's my diwali in pics.

Cheers

Sumi

F is for friendship

2010-10-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I think I was a little bit of a tomboy, in the sense that I did not 'dig' what girls my age talked about or indulged in.My best friends in each of the million schools that I attended were more or less the same.I never had 'girly' girl friends.Dicussions about things like jewellery, clothes, nail polish, waxing and all the items which engage a feminine mind were tabboo and we avoided such girls like the plague.Needless to say, we were never popular with the gals and considered cool amongst the guys.The drawback to this was that basically after a certain age, when all our contemporaries were hormone crazed, we were neither here nor there.:-)Guys were too busy chasing after other girls and the girls were too busy preening, leaving me and my friends with nothing better to do but to wonder as to what was wrong with us.

Thankfully that phase has passed and now I have a great group of girlfriends and man do I cherish them!As I have grown older, I have realized that there's a huge difference in how men and women connect with their friends.It is impossible for me to understand how guys can remain the best of friends throughout their lives but never move beyond cricket scores and general non interesting, non personal conversartions.I may be generalizing, but you have to agree that there is a grain of truth in this.I have seen it with my husband,my brother, my dad, so I have every right to generalize.

With girl friends its so much lovelier.I am ever so grateful to have friends with whom I can discuss my innermost thoughts and imagined worries and always be sure that they will listen to me, lend a shoulder to cry on and not judge me.It is so gratifying to know that when you talk to your girl friends they instantly 'get' what you are saying.They do not try to analyse and provide solutions instantly.They just listen, empathise and most often than not add a story or two of their own to make you feel that you are not alone in thinking what you are thinking.It is amazing how easy it is to communicate with them.Don't mistake me, my husband is my best friend and it's not that he does not listen to my crap, but you have to agree it's different with women.I am not atriculate enough to put it into words, but I would say that when you indulge in a heart to heart with a girlfriend, it's truly heart to heart.There is true sharing of emotions and not just venting out of feelings.Don't you agree?

I think I will stop here.I clearly suck at writing.Found a nice poem on Friendship.Enjoy that instead.

Oh! think not my spirits are always as light,

And as free from a pang as they seem to you now,
Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night
Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow.

No: -- life is a waste of wearisome hours,
Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns;
And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers,
Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.

But send round the bowl, and be happy awhile --
May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here,
Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile,
And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear.

The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows
If it were not with friendship and love intertwined;
And I care not how soon I may sink to repose,
When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind.

But they who have loved the fondest, the purest,
Too often have wept o'er the dream they believed;
And the heart that has slumber'd in friendship securest
Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceived.

But send round the bowl; while a relic of truth
Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, --
That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth,
And the moonlight of friendship console our decline.

Thomas Moore

I am writing all this just to participate in Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Party.The letter this time is F, so here is my entry.

Cheers
Sumi

Nothing noteworthy to say

2010-10-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Wow.I have been missing for a month!No reason in particular, just life throwing its usual curveballs and of course, total lack of inspiration or drive to do anything.Does that happen with anybody else?Times when nothing is of interest and trudging through each day becomes a chore in itself.That is what I have been like lately, but not too worrying since I generally come out of it all inspired and raring to go.Generally.....

This time it has not happened... yet, but I am trying, trying real hard to not let the ennui of daily rotuines take over and turn me into an automaton.

The prospect of getting 10 days off for Diwali is also a major motivator.:-).10 free days to use as I like.Can you imagine how exciting it is?

By the way I have been writing for sometime on this blog, but writing as if I am actually talking to a real person is funny to me every single time I post something.I think I am qualified to be a radio jockey now.If I can do it here, pretty sure can be done in a studio too.Right?

This post is totally inane, I know, but some wise man said and I quote " Something is better than nothing", so there you go.

Thanks a million Gagan for checking up on me.I had made up my mind to revisit my blog and check all the other blogs out today and I got your message.Awesome timing.:-).As usual, means a lot.I need to catch up on all your posts too!

See ya
Sumi

Sari Blankets at Hand and Cloth

2010-09-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this organization called Hand and Cloth while browsing through a blog.Hand and Cloth is a social enterprising ministry in India that provides a living wage, school scholarships, and a loving community to young women at risk of prostitution and trafficking. Each young woman is paid per-piece to stitch kantha dorokha, a traditional two-sided blanket made from recycled sari material.(Lifted straight from their site)

If you would like to read more,buy these lovely creations or donate to the cause, visit here

Cheers
Sumi

A is for being an Adult

2010-09-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my favourite entertainment was playing house.I remember going to my grandparents' place every summer and getting together with all my cousins, all girls of course.There were 6 girls and just one unfortunate boy (my brother) and we would always play house.I always wanted to play the self sacrificing mother or the incredibly responsible eldest sister.If I played the eldest sister,I of course conveniently got rid of the parents in the story,because I was to be the caretaker and the presence of a pesky parent would take away my glory.

I would imagine myself with qualities reminiscent of Florence Nightingale combined with Mother Teresa.An angel of goodness for all practical purposes.;-)

I would be the one to get up the first thing in the morning,make healthy breakfast (imaginary of course) for my irresponsible but lovable children/siblings,get them dressed,send them to school with lots of kisses and hugs, get ready to go to work (I was always a working woman in these stories, wonder why?) . I would sit on my grandma's never used exercycle and pretend to ride to work.I would pass on nuggets of wisdom to my children as and when I felt they needed them.Be patient and judicious when they were being naughty.I would always make some sibling sick in the story so that I,all loving, giving , nurturuing sister could bring back that person back from the jaws of death.;-).The story never ended amicably though.After a while my cousins would be onto me and would demand to change roles which was very annoying, to say the least.

Why am I writing this? No reason really.I just realized that all through my childhood I just could not wait to be an Adult and now that I am there, it's not so much fun.I don't like the fact that people my age or older think that because I have reached a certain age,I would automatically be mature and sensible.

I resent that people my age think that I am really interested in talking about pension plans and saving strategies and discussing my career moves.I don't like the fact that people tell me to 'GROW UP ' when I am throwing a tantrum with my husband and really would like to lie down on the floor and hold my breath till I turn blue.Instead because I am an Adult ,I have to resort to 'Silent Treatment' which is equally effective but no fun.

Believe me I don't mind being an adult, gives me a lot of privileges,being an adult does,but I don't really dig the "Responsible" part of it.;-)

So what about you,do you like playing an adult?

This totally random and disjointed entry was for Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday Party.The letter this time was A so A for Adult is my entry.:-)

Cheers
Sumi

Sigh...

2010-09-13T04:34:00.000-07:00

art work by Mary Ann Boysen via

I have wanted to have a house of my own since I was a little girl.My dream had always been to live in a bungalow/cottage with a cute little garden and a shingled roof.My imagination did not go any further on this and I was not really picky, but having lived more than half my life in spacious houses (all courtesy of the Indian Army), I was totally unprepared for Apartment Living.

Not having a 'chatt'(terrace) where my family could sit during summers and have long long chats under the moonlight is heartbreaking.Not having a garden where I could potter around during weekends (not that I really would have) is disappointing.I wanted a tree in my garden with a swing for my non existent kids.I wanted my dogs (again,non existent) to have free rein over my backyard.I want to have the opportunity to sit in my verandah and curse my dogs when they become extra playful and dig up my garden which of course, would be verdant and a little wild.I want picket fences and a wooden gate.

I know that it's not impossible to have it, just not at this time, when I want all this the most.I know that I shouldn't whine and be thankful for what I have got, but indulging in self pity is good once in a while, isn't it?

What about you? Do you like where you live?Are you living my dream? and if you are, then I want you to get up now and go hug the tree in your backyard and roll in the grass.

Sigh....

Melodramatic Sumi

Saying it with flowers

2010-09-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a blog party!It's a unique party hosted by the duo Rekha and Sharon from "The Key Bunch' as part of their blogiversary celebrations.It's called 'Say it with flowers'.Nice :-)

So here is my attempt at saying it with flowers, though I don't know yet what I am trying to say.heh heh.

Some flowers here and there from my house

Floral extravaganza during Diwali last year

(My first attempt at floral rangoli.Sorry for the blurred pics)

A lovely arrangement at the hotel during our trip to Coorg

Some pics from hubby's nature photography

Wow!I didn't know I had so many pics of flowers stashed away.Have a lovely week.May your week be filled with colour and beauty.

Cheers

Sumi

Project # 2 : Decoupaged Coasters

2010-09-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

Here I am again.Project # 2 is also Mod-Podge so I am not really following the true spirit of '52 projects', but as long as I am making something, I am happy and satisfied.

This time I decided to do a mini makeover of sorts on some plain boring coasters I had.It was plain wood and cork and I think they sorely needed a makeover.Here's how those looked :

Sorry for the blurry pic.The camera was acting up as usual.

Sometime back, on a whim, I bought a craft kit.An origami craft kit!I had dreams and visions of turning out piece after beautiful piece of complicated Origami pieces.Let me tell you, Origami is no piece of cake.I mean first, I just couldn't make head or tail out of the folds and instructions and the second was that the kit had instructions to make origami animals .Animals! they don't fit into my vision of beautiful origami creations,complicated yes, lovely, I don't think so.Still, I tried and attempted to make a whale which my mom declared looked like a kid's paper airplane project gone bad.So you see, I am not meant to do it and 'Valley folds', I hate you!

Phew, that was quite a tangent.Okay, back to the project.The kit had beautiful origami paper which I decided to utilize to get back some return on my "investment".

This is how they look now

I like the blue one best.You like ? Here's a before and after.It's totally waterproof/resistant.Quality checks duly performed.:-)

Cheers,

Sumi

Project #1 - Mod Podged Tray

2010-09-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

This does not really qualify as my first project since I made it before I decided to do my "20 projects", but what the heck.I make the rules around here and my rule says, anything counts.;-)

Okay, so I had this ugly looking tray which I am not sure why I ever bought.I mean it's not very ugly but I hate the plywood/laminate thingy on it and wanted to change it.Let's take a look at the 'project victim' first, shall we?

Yes, I didn't clean it up before taking a pic.Why bother! is also my current philosophy in matters which require unnecessary effort.

The first step was to spray paint the heck out of it.I had only white paint handy, so that's what I used.This is after one coat.I think it's already looking better.

While that was drying, I googled "Moroccan tiles" on google images.Saved a copyright free image and used a photo editing software to replicate the image on a single sheet of matte photo paper.I was originally planning to create a tiled, mosaic-ey sort of design but I suck at photo editing and husband was not in a mood to oblige.It was way past midnight folks, so I forgave him and went with whatever I could handle myself.

After that it was just cutting the image and Mod-Podging the paper on to the tray and sealing it with varnish (which I have still not done).I did have trouble arranging the '"tiles" so if you pay attention you will see that some areas do not align with each other and are a bit different, but the image is so busy I reckon it does not really make a difference.

So here it is,the project output.How do you like it?I don't love love it but I think it is better than what it was earlier.(Expert comment from kid brother : Wrong choice of paper.aargh)

So finally here's a before after shot :

Thoughts, comments? Good or bad, both welcome.

Cheers

Sumi

52 Projects

2010-09-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of 52 projects?Originally a book by Jeffrey Yamaguchi, it is a brilliant idea to push ordinary people like you and me to explore our creative sides.The idea is to create 52 projects (or more) in a year.This could be any medium,any area.All you need is enthusiasm, imagination and a keen interest in unleashing your creative genius.See more here

So, I have been very inspired and have decided that I will attempt to do something like this here too.Well it is not exactly going to be '52' projects but maybe 20 projects and that too, I must tell you, is overreaching for somebody like me.I have a crazy busy work life right now, but I will try.I am going to merge my recently acquired 'start small' philosophy with this idea and make some stuff and I do not plan to stick to just one thing.The whole purpose is to learn something new, so maybe one day I might just bake a cupcake and call it done.No, I don't know how to make cupcakes.Surprised?

Anyway, I am pretty excited and hope that I do not lose interest in this like I do with other resolutions.Wish me lucky luck and if you do actually read this, tell me what I should call this project.20 projects is just so blah!

Creative Genius in the making ;-)
Sumi

Helpp

2010-09-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

I need advice and suggestions.One of my very close friends has a cute 3 year old daughter and her birthday is arriving soon.I really want to give her something special but not really common store-bought stuff.Any ideas?I have absolutely no clue what lil' princesses really like.If you guys have any suggestions,do let me know.Pretty please!I am thinking something sparkly and pink.Would that work?

Where do you blog party?

2010-08-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Kate from centsationalgirl is hosting a fun party over at her blog for bloggers to share the space where they blog from.I sadly do not blog very often and if I do, my headquarters are mostly my bed or the dining table.Shame on me!

This will definitely change when I move to my new apartment, but for now that's how it is and there is no way I am showing anybody the pics of my so called "space".But all you other disciplined, dedicated and tidy bloggers,wouldn't you like to participate?Go now and enjoy the fun and do check out her blog.It is awesome.

P:S: This button that she made is such a true representation of how blogging happens in my neck of the woods.Just substitute the clothes with shabby pajamas and the lovely hair with a hornet's nest.hee hee

Cheers
Sumi

Reminiscing...

2010-08-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

I am happy today.Had to open husband's mailbox to access some urgent mails(with his permission of course!) and saw that he has saved all the mails that we had exchanged during out courtship.So sweet.Most of them are quite funny though.Usual cribbing about work and pulling each other's legs but it is so much fun reading old conversations.Not a smidgeon of romance in any of them but we always had such an easy camaraderie.It was nice to remember why I chose him as my beau.:-)

We used to send poems to each other sometimes and I found one which I had sent.It is apparently a celtic wedding vow.Quite like it.Maybe you will too.

"You cannon possess me for I belong to myself

But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give

You cannont command me, for I am a free person

But I shall serve you in those ways you require

and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand"

"I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night and

the eyes into which I smile in the morning

I pledge to you the first bite of my meat and the first drink from my cup

I pledge to you my living and my dying, each equally in your care

I shall be a shield for your back and you for mine

I shall not slander you, nor you me

I shall honor you above all others, and when we quarrel we shall do so in

private and tell no strangers our grievances"

"This is my wedding vow to you

This is the marriage of equals."

by Morgan Llywelyn

Nice, isn't it?

Darn Darn Darn!

2010-08-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a dark day.We were robbed in broad ~~day~~ ....umm twilight.Somebody entered out house and took away my prized laptop while my husband had left the house to pick me up from office.

This is the first time I have been robbed and the feeling is not nice.I am pretty careless and lose things all the time.I wouldn't have minded if I lost the laptop in some other way but the fact that somebody actually entered my house and took it away is what is bothering me so much.My house feels violated, I feel violated.It's not about losing a gadget, it is afterall just a laptop and I can afford another one, but the feeling of something being snatched away from you is not a good one not to mention the fact that there were so many personal photographs, husband's months of bird photography.All those months of him waking up early and spending so much time snapping away at his favourite birds..all lost ..
All my craft project pics ........lost.

I want to be zen about it but this is making me angry.. so so angry.
Oh how I want to take revenge...

Not so cheerful
Sumi

Directionless..

2010-08-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

When I started this little blog, the idea was to document my attempts at crafting and in the process learn new things and make some good friends.While I have been progressively learning a lot of new things and made a handful of blog friends, I am really disappointed to say that my crafy activities have to come to a halt.It has been ages since I made anything and the whole idea of blogging was to develop my almost non existent creative skills.

Not any more!My problem has always been waiting to come up with an original idea of my own and doing grand projects but that does not work,does it.So from now onwards I am going to start small and DO SOMETHING.

Yes ... totally motivated.Wish me luck.

Cheers
Sumi

New Love :Painted Floors

2010-08-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

This post is really meant for my design challenged husband who just doesn't get the idea of painted floors.I really love the idea and whenever I have mentioned it for our new apartment I have only met with weird expressions.Anyhow, today I am going to prove him wrong and he better defer to my better judgement and keen sense of design.

So let's see. I started out with being obsessed with wooden wide planked floors painted white.I think those look gorgeous, but not sure how practical they are.Being practical is so annoying.:-)

via

Then I lost all control and drowned in the google images ocean and brought back these treasures.(Ahem, see the failed attempt at being poetic)

via

Via

via

Painted Lace floor! image by

via

This may look too busy inside the house but imagine this in your balcony.I can't believe somebody actually sat down and painted this.I already feel a crick in my neck thinking about how much effort it would have required.

So what's the verdict?Would you dare paint your floors?I totally would go for it, provided somebody else did it for me.;-)

And as for you mister...I win! Huh.

Cheers

Sumi

I hate being a grown up..

2010-08-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been really crazy for me.My dad was sick and was diagnosed with cancer.It was not as shocking to us as it sounds, because all of us had a niggling doubt that it could be that.It was just a relief that it was diagnosed and is being treated.

The exhausting part was to convince, cajole,threaten my dad to go to the doctor and get diagnosed.He being ex-army, is expected to be brave and all but he totally chickens out when it comes to doctors and hospitals.Much like me.:-).

The biggest adjustment that I had to make was not to get used to the idea of him having cancer, but to adjust to the role reversal.We have been brought up in a typical traditional setup where whatever dad says is to be followed without question and you can't even begin to think about arguing with him.I don't remember a single instance where I have dared to question his opinions or decisions.I may not have followed most of them when away from home, but telling him he is wrong or that I don't agree with him or telling him that he is being unreasonable is out of the question.So obviously the communication channels are not as open as they should be.

Now, things have suddenly changed.He is older and weaker and suddenly I am the grown up.I have to decide what is right for him, I have to look him in the eye and tell him that he needs to get treated (even though I know that it scares the living daylights out of him), that he cannot lose his morale.I had to see him get weak and helpless and it is not a good feeling.I also have to adjust to the fact that I am an adult now and I am expected to make some decisions if I know that my parents are not making the right ones.My parents suddenly look up to me and my brother to take decisions on their behalf.

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that my parents will be getting older and more dependent.I know all this is a natural cycle of life and one day they will not be there, but I am not ready for this.

I want more time!More time to be selfish and ask my mom to make me custard with cake and jelly, more time to be childish and tell dad my problems and expect them to be taken care of with minimal effort from my side, more time to get angry over his lectures on fitness and discipline, more time for me and my brother to laugh about dad treating us as kids.I just want to turn back time and freeze it.Change is so bothersome and I sure don't like it.

Melancholy Sumi

Craftaholic's International Gift Exchange : Gifts made by me :-)

2010-08-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

As mentioned earlier, I had participated in a Christmas in July gift exchange hosted by Craftaholic's Anonymous.I have shown you the gifts that I received .

Now I want to show you what I made or rather took my mom's help in making.My giftee was Ashlee from Imtopsyturvy.She is a mother of four cute kids and makes amazing cakes.She told me that her husband had visited India and loved how colourful everything is, so I decided that I will make some colourful goodies.I had some grand ideas but not enough time, so I ended up making these.The pictures are not great.It was a last minute attempt before sending out the parcel.

I bought some burgundy fabric.God knows what fabric it was but it had a sheen to it and looked nice to me.We i.e. mom made a table runner and a set of napkins to go with it.We used mom's old wedding sari to add a border to the runner and motifs were painstakingly (for me at least, mom was good humoured about this) removed from the sari and appliqued to the napkins.

Then we bought another turquoise fabric and made a small sling bag out of it.Pretty easy to do you know.I got a lovely embellishment in just the exact colour I wanted and used it as a sort of of closure button.Bought some gold cord and the purse/bag was done.

Then we bought some towels and cros-stitch mat and MOM (again!) cross-stiched some cute teapots onto it and attached that as a border.Don't have a pic though.I had no part in doing it.If I had to do it myself , I would have killed myself.Really!

We also designed or rather copied an apron pattern and made an apron for Ashlee since she loves cooking and baking.The picture is horrible since I did not have a slim good looking babe around to model it for me and husband did not feel too keen to oblige, so this is hanging on our clothesline and I am standing behind it in a tattered nighty holding it for all the world to see.Talk about staging ,huh!

I am a bit iffy about this apron.Can't make up my mind whethere it is good or plain ugly.Let's just hope it comes in useful.

And that's all folks.Really hoping that she likes some of it!

Cheers
Sumi

Birdy Num Num

2010-08-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with the title.I just love saying this all day long and so does the husband.So there.

Actually ....the title is somewhat related to the post...silly me.. because.... I am talking birds today!

Don't you love birds?My husband does.Every weekend he gets up at ungodly hours and goes out to obscure places to take pictures.I cannot even begin to understand the passion.Anything that involves getting up in the morning is automatically out of my interest areas.:-)

Anyway, moving on.I saw an amazing wall decor idea at one of the million craft parties that I visit and instantly fell in love with it.Stefanie from More Than a House decorated her wall with all things birdy.I think it is fantastic.See for yourself.

Please go visit her blog to get more details.I simply love it, don't you?

Ann from All Things Paper featured an artist recently and she has some amazing bird papercuts.I am totally bowled over by them.

The artist is Naomi Shiek and she is one talented gal.Go check out her etsy shop "The Time Is Now" and her blog The time Is Now to see her amazing creations.

This glittered bird centerpiece from Martha Stewart is so cute.Tutorial available on the site.

Oh my! Look at this one.I want this!

image at Thisnext.com

I have looked all over for ceramic birds like these and have not been successful yet.

Ceramic Salt and Pepper shakers Via

Bird Light fixtures and lamps.Anyone up for those?I know I am.

image via apartmentherapy

image via

I love this one.Very clever design.I love the table too.It's lovely.Perfectly complements the lamp doesn't it?

via

Last but not the least, I absolutely love this bird wall sticker.Want this badly.

via

That's it for now.Have a wonderful week.

Blogger is annoying the hell out of me with the picture formatting, so please forgive the weird placement of pictures.Aargh!

Cheers

Not so cheerful Sumi

Craftaholic's International gift exchange

2010-08-01T01:31:00.000-07:00

Sometime back I participated in a gift exchange called Christmas in July party hosted by Craftaholics Anonymous (http://diaryofacraftaholic.blogspot.com/).It was a lot of fun and I made a few things and sent to my 'giftee' in the US.More details on that later.Today I want to show you what I got from Michelle all the way from Australia, who was kind enough to be my gifter.She sent me paper goods and a handmade card and I love all of it.

I got post it notes covered with beauiful paper

Lovely writing paper.It's been such a long time since I bought some stationery!

A cute laminated bookmark.Very handy for me.My house is filled with books.:-)

And last but not the least,a pretty handmade card.She used silicone to add dimension to the card.Nice!

Thank you Michelle for taking out the time to find such beautiful gifts for me.

Cheers

Sumi

A spot of whimsy

2010-07-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

For lack of, or rather inclination of doing anything better, I ended up searching for some fun decor/art elements.The weather here is gloomy and I need to cheer myself up.That's good enough for an excuse.The laundry can go to hell, for all I care.

So here it is.

This one makes me smile.The artist makes custom spray painted artwork based on a sample of handwriting you provide.Neat idea.

via etsy seller BlueDayDesigns

I can't explain why but I really dig this one.

Via Etsy seller TheMonkeysArt

Would you wear these?I would atleast like to own them.

Scissors sisters earrings by Meredith Grace

This one made me giggle.These are called barely listening earrings.See I had to tell you the name for you to be able to get the joke.:-)

Via twochickstoo

Pleated Victorian Bodice Necklace by

Washing Line Neclace by Sarah Keyes

This one describes me to a T!

by yellowbugboutique

I want to put this at my office desk.

...and of course if people don't get it, I will need to use this one too.

both images via etsy seller gotmojo

Cracks me up, this one.

via littleclouds

Organic Cotton Tshirt by LookForFiddleheads

This last one is from an online gift shop called excitinglives.com.They have some amazing gift ideas.I think this is the perfect site to go to if you are looking for quirky, funny,creative gifts in India.

Through excitinglives.com

I am all cheered up now.Are you?

Cheers

Sumi

Repurposing Bottles

2010-07-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

Old glass bottles and jars are a craze in the craftworld nowadays.These are being tinted, painted, decorated, turned into lanterns and what not and every single one of them looks good.So I thought maybe we can take a look at some ideas to recycle glass and be more eco friendly.What more could one want!The pleasure of crafting something AND contributing towards making our world greener.High five for that!

My mom has some talented bunch of friends who are really into crafting and stuff and one of them is totally obsessed with glass bottles.See what she did with some empty bottles.Aren't these pretty?

She has also decorated some bottles, attached oil dispensers and turned them into useful items for the kitchen, much like what Claire from blah to TADA! has done.By the way, if you are looking for wonderful ideas for recycling, you have got to visit Claire's blog.I do ..every single day and she never fails to impress me.For now check out these ideas from her blog.

I have also tried my hand at repurposing and turned some into vases.You can see the not so well documented tutorial here

Wine bottles can be turned into lamps.Don't these look amazing?These are called Chrysalis lamps.

Image picked from here.Original image by jerrykot.com

Here are some others

via Casasugar

via apartmentherapy

I have heard that it is pretty easy to make a wine bottle lamp.Amazon has a wine bottle lamp kit which makes the task very easy to do.Try it.

You can also easily turn glass jars into snowglobes.All you need is a clean jar, glycerine, glitter and tiny objects to put inside your snowglobe.I think this is a good kid friendly craft and look how cute this looks!

via

You can turn glass cans into outdoor lanterns

via Craftynest (tutorial available)

Via Marthastewart.com

Some people are immensely talented and creative and have gone one step further and made glass jar chandeliers.Unbelievable!Where was I when God was handing out creativity!

from here

via Michelle Kaufman's blog

So, that's it.I am pretty inspired at trying my hand at some of the things here.Hope you try these too.

Happy repurposing!

Cheers,

Sumi

A Taste of India : East

2010-07-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the series on the handicrafts of India, today we will focus on some from the East of India.Frankly speaking this is all new to me too.I have seen a lot of these but never knew the regions they came from and the history behind them

First off is Dhokra Art.It is the art of making non-ferrous cast metal sculptures.This is a speciality of semi tribal communities in the central and easter regions of India.Learn more at indianetzone.

Image via

image via

Patachitra : These are religious paintings which cover themes and events from Indian mythology.These are mainly made on silk or old cotton glued on paper

image from

image via

Kantha Embroidery : Kantha embroidery is generally done on cotton and silk fabrics.Kantha embroidery is running stitches used for making floral motifs, images of birds, animals, and geometrical figures. It is also used for making blankets and quilts by stitching five or six layers of cloth together.Courtesy(http://www.indialine.com/travel/westbengal/arts-crafts.html)

via

Kantha quilt at amazon.com

Tarakashi or Silver filigree: Beaten silver is drawn into fine wires and foils which is then crafted into jewellery of great beauty.This art form precisely has three main types known as ‘fine’, ‘non-fine’ and ‘superb-fine’. They are they further divided into three main parts known as silka (frame), rua(small balls), gopal(rose).

via

Pipli Applique work

image via

To be continued.....

Cheers

Sumi

Natural Alternative to Paint

2010-07-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard about Milk Paint? It seems that milk paint was a popular choice of substance for decorative art in the olden times.Casein, the protein found in milk, makes an extremely durable binder for pigments to adhere to most porous surfaces. The rustic finish is not usually desirable for fine art, and it fell out of favor all together with the advent of convenient, but far more volatile, canned paint.(information from)

via

I read this article on milk paints and got pretty excited (link given above).Found a tutorial on how to make this here.

Why would you want to use milk paint instead of regular canned paint? Because, it is eco friendly, has lowVOC, is non toxic, natural,water-based, fungi resistant, compostable and is versatile.What else do you need!

It is also available readymade.See http://www.milkpaint.com/.

Hope this was useful.

Cheers
Sumi

Repurposing Magazines

2010-07-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to buying magazines.I am one of those people who eagerly wait for the month to get over so that I can go and buy new ones.Magazines bring happiness to my life like nothing else.I know that there are tons of online magazines to read, but nothing can beat the thrill of buying an absolutely new, glossy magazine and devouring all the content in one go.

Nobody in my family understands it.My mom being her practical self, just cannot understand the reason why I would spend so much money every month to just look at glossy pics and then proceed to clutter my already cluttered house.I don't expect her to understand.

That being said, I do agree with her about clutter.Too many magazines is an issue and if you are a hoarder like me AND live in an apartment with limited storage space, then it's an even bigger issue.So I have been trying to find out ways in which I can recycle these.Here are some ideas that I liked

Turn them into jewellery : This idea was posted on the Craftstylish blog way back in 2009 by Diane Gilleland.Not bad,this.Go see the tutorial here

Turn them into a paper canvas :This idea is by artist and designer Alma Stoller.I just chanced upon her blog while googling for ideas and liked this idea very much.Go check out her tutorial here.She has some other very interesting tutorials,so if you are interested in crafts,you will be pleased.

Turn them into bowls or coasters: There are multiple ways in which people have done it.Some make rolled paper coasters, some prefer to weave 'em.Whatever you choose to do, these are easy to make and perfect use for the pages that you don't care to save.Here are some pics

Image via and Tutorial found at

re-nest.com

Magazine collage coasters from Cutoutandkeep contributor Charlet.See the tute here

image via Apartmenttherapy

via

Create paper beads and turn those into awesome jewellery : I don;t know about you, but when I first heard about paperbeads, I did not take it very seriously deeming it as kid's stuff.Egg on my face,I was bowled over by so many beautiful creations using paper beads.See for yourself:

Image via

via Flickr.Effemera has amazing paper jewelley creations displayed on Flickr.Go check them out here

via

Hope you like these ideas.

Cheers

Sumi

Daydreaming

2010-07-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

As I had mentioned sometime back, hubby and I bought a new apartment and after all the structural work is done, we will be moving in.I cannot wait for that day to arrive.Till then, no harm in dreaming up a perfect little house, isn't it?

If I could, I would want a bedroom like this.Lovely isn't it?

from Decorpad

A pretty walk in closet like this :

Via Decorpad

or even a well planned one like this :

Via here

A gorgeous bathroom like this :

via

or this :

Via here

I am pretty sure this will be rejected by Mr Husband outright as being too girly, with a few disgusted expressions dropped into the conversation for good measure.But we said we are dreaming here, didn't we?Frankly speaking I don't even know why I like this.I have never really been a fan of such bright pinks!

Anyway, moving on..How about this?

From here

Flowers in my balcony:

image from here

Even this will be awesome!

This is a painting by an artist named Sue Zimmerman.Found on fineartamerica.com link

*Could you make out that this is a painting and not the real thing.I couldn't.How blind can one be!

Okay end of fantasizing for today.Do you think some of it is doable and yet easy to maintain?

Cheers

Sumi

A Taste of India

2010-07-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

Today I am going to show you something from another North Indian state called Uttar Pradesh, which translates to Northern State (Uttar : North and Pradesh : State).See how convenient!People who named it must have run out of creative ideas while picking up the name.:-)

Anyway this is the state that I belong to.I don't stay there and in fact, have only spent summer vacations as a child in that area .Strange, isn't it? Not so when your dad is an Army man and you keep moving every three years.

Anyway, back to UP and its handicrafts.I am sure there are many more things that this state is famous for, but I personally know more about the following .

Chikankari

Chikankari (has nothing to do with poultry ;-) is a very delicate and intricate shadow work type of embroidery. Initially, the embroidery was done using white yarn, on colorless muslins known as tanzeb. However, today, georgette, chiffon, cotton and other fine fabrics are also being used. From being an embellishment used primarily for decorating clothes, Chikankari embroidery work of India has now spread to cushion covers, pillow covers, table linen and so on.(Courtesy http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-crafts/chikankari.html)

I love love love it.I have many clothes with this kind of work and I never get tired of them.I personally like white outfits with chikanwork.I love cotton and I love how light and breezy it looks in summer.The colours for the fabric are almost always muted pastels and never gaudy, so this works very well for summer.

Zardosi

The word 'Zardozi' is made up of two Persian terms, Zar meaning gold and Dozi meaning embroidery.Zardosi embroidery has been in existence in India from the time of the Rig Veda. There are numerous instances mentioning the use of zari embroidery as ornamentation on the attire of gods. Initially, the embroidery was done with pure silver wires and real gold leaves. However, today, craftsmen make use of a combination of copper wire, with a golden or silver polish, and a silk thread. This is because there is hardly any availability of gold/silver on such a large scale as before

Brassware

Benarasi Saris

An ideal Banarasi Sari comprises of somewhere around 5600 thread wires, all of them 45-inch wide.Usually, it takes around 15 days to one month to complete a Banarasi saree. Still, the time may vary depending upon the complexity of designs and patterns of the sari.

My mom has loads of them.Those came as a part of her wedding trousseau.The ones which were made during my mom's time were absolutely gorgeous, but I do not like the newer versions too much.Too shiny for my taste.The sad part is that these are heavy saris with a lot of gold weaving and can hardly be used for daily wear, so basically they end up getting stored at the back of the closet or in a trunk to be worn on a handful of ocassions.Absolute waste of money if I may say so.

By the way,Benares,Banaras or Varanasi is quite a well known little town.Varanasi is the oldest city of the world.Varanasi is more than 3000 years old and is famous as the city of temples.Loads of foreign tourists come to visit the city.It is situated on the bank of the river Ganges and it is believed that taking a dip in the 'holy river' can wash off all your sins (I don't know if I believe that or not.I am still on the fence about religious matters).In Hinduism, it is believed that those who die and are cremated here get an instant gateway to liberation from the cycle of births and re-births.

Too much information?I don't know about you but I am loving this short course on India, if I say so myself.

Cheers

Sumi

Pots and planters

2010-07-13T01:21:00.000-07:00

I have two balconies in my new apartment. Yippppie!I also plan to have window seats in all the bedrooms.I plan to add loads of greenery and have been looking at interesting planters.Here are a few that caught my eye.

Isn't this gorgeous.

Pic from here

Oh my!Cuteness personified

Ceramic 80s Vintage Pig planter via Etsy Seller :Furitflypie

Pretty one,this.

Marsupial Pot.So clever!

Images Via Etsy shop PigeonToeCeramics

Cheers!

Sumi

Moodboard Fun

2010-07-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

While browsing through thousands of interiors related blogs today,my takeaway apart from millions of other things was finding this application which lets you create moodboards.It's called Olioboard and it's free!You can pick decor items from the site itself .There are tons of things there and you even have the option of loading your inspirations.

I know I know,where have I been all this time since all of you have been there and done that,but please indulge me.I am new to this and get excited over every little new thing I learn.

Anyway I love it and that's all I have been doing for the past two hours.I have never done anything like this and did not know how much fun it is!I think I am design challenged and often don't know what I like.I tend to like everything pretty.I see something pwetty,shiny,colourful and I want it and there have been many a times when I have bought something and it does not go with anything in my house and ends up getting stored in a closet to be taken out from time to time and drooled all over again.BUT THINGS ARE GOING TO CHANGE.Sumi is now going to be focused,determined and design savvy and come up with awesome decor ideas and what better way to do it but virtually.I tell you,I can do this all day!

Here's some I created today.Not very professional looking but remember.. new... uninitiated..amateur etc etc..

Anyway,here goes

A dash of bright cheery yellow for my guest bedroom.

A touch of ocean inspired colurs in the bedroom: I love the rugs and the artwork

Cosy Bright Family room

Hope you like it.

Cheers
Sumi

A Taste of India -Kashmir

2010-07-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

India is a big country.Did you know that?:-)

So we Indians, or at least this Indian like/s to classify ourselves into four broad categories.The North Indians,the South Indians,East Indians and people from the West(No,we do not call ourselves West Indians) ;-).Every region has it own subculture,language,folklore,music,costume and handicrafts,so I think taking up each region one by one is only fair.

We wil first start this series with North of India and today we will take a look at some awesome work which is representative of Kashmir.Kashmir is often called "Heaven on Earth" and it totally lives up to the moniker, notwithstanding the strife and struggle going on there.I have spent a few years there and it is absolutely gorgeous with its verdant mountains,the beautiful lake and flora and fauna and of course with so much natural beauty around,the handicrafts cannot be far behind.Take a look:

Carpets

Crewel Embroidery

Walnut Wood Carving

Papier Mache

Pashmina Shawls

New feature on the blog.

2010-07-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

I recently participated in an International handmade gift exchange on a blog and while doing research for an appropriate gift to send for my "giftee" ,I decided that I want to send something which represents a little of the culture that I belong to.I then realized how rich my country is in terms of art and culture and handicrafts.I know ,I know late realization, but you know how it works ,don't you.You often take a lot of things for granted when you are surrounded by them day in and day out.So I have decided to take this matter up seriously and am going to educate myself about the various arts and crafts indigenous to India.I will try to make it a weekly feature and hope the few of you who actually read my blog find it interesting.

Onward we move.Heigh ho.

Cheers
Sumi

Vote For Debbiedoos!!!Only one day left!

2010-07-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hello folks,

Debbie from Debbiedoos has submitted a video for Oprah's Search for the next TV star audition.Please check it out and if you like it ,please go ahead and vote.Remember you can vote multiple times.Tomorrow is the last day so hurry!!Go here to vote for the video.When you are done,go visit her blog to get a taste of some crafty goodness.

Enjoy.

Cheers!
Sumi

Mirror Revamp

2010-06-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hi

I am back again.Shocking,isn't it? Two days in a row!Well,there is a reason behind it.Yes,everything has an explanation and the expalanation is that I had taken off from work so I had spare time to work on some things.Going back to work tomorrow :-( so back to my normal,infrequent posting.

Anyway,today we are going to revamp a mirror.I am living in a rented flat right now and there are some awful plastic framed mirrors in each of the bathrooms.I am going to move into my own apartment really really soon,so I did not want to bother with buying new ones.But why live with ugliness when you can beautify for cheap.Long story ahead,prepare yourself.

So for this project I took one of the mirrors from our guest bathroom.It had a plastic frame made to look like pine wood apparently.Me no likey.Things had to change .

First step.Sand the whole thing with a fine sandpaper.Wipe it clean.

I wanted to try the crackling effect on the plastic so I spray painted it a bronzy metallic colour.

Let it dry and applied the crackling medium.The instructions said that one needs to wait till the medium becomes tacky.Well,I couldn't figure out whether it was tacky or not.Also,this medium was meant for acrylic paints and I was using spray paint so I was clueless if it would work out or not.I still applied a topcoat of flat black spray paint over the crackling medium and waited and waited and waited.Okay,I am lying,I just waited for one minute and figured that no crackling is happening.So I took a stiff paintbrush and tried to run it over the black paint to "give the crackle an incentive to crackle".It worked a little bit .The bronze started showing through.Everybody else liked the effect but I didn't so much.So back to the drawing board ...err to the balcony to cover up the mistakes.

I sprayed the whole thing over again with black.Applied two coats.The good thing is that all the experimentation with the crackling and brushing and what not had given some texture so when I applied the coats of paint,it had some sembelance to a wood grain.Also appied a coat of varnish to seal the whole thing.

The next part was beautifying the mirror.Fortunately I could remove the mirror and the cardboard backing from the frame so I did not have to worry about paint getting on those.I then used a stencil and glass etching paste to etch some designs on the mirror.It's very easy folks.

All you need is a stencil.(Contact paper,sticky back paper,transparencies would be best for creating your stencils).You just position it where you want.Secure it with a tape and cover the whole design with an etching paste.Make sure that you use a thick coating.Leave the whole thing alone for 30 minutes.Wash the area with the etching paste under running water.Once the paste is gone,remove the stencil and wipe and dry the surface and you are done.

Note : I did read somewhere that after the 30 minutes of processing time you can transfer the paste back into the bottle and it can be reused.I didn't try it this time though.

Here's the end result :

Okay, so the next item on the agenda is beautifying the frame.I did not want to overembellish it so I chose a grosgrain ribbon and glued it to the vertical edeges of the mirror.

All done.The whole description sounds tedious but the actual work did not take too much time and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hope you do too.

Note : Oh my Gawd!Have you ever tried photographing a mirror.Royal pain in the A***!Husband and I kept trying to figure out how to picture it without any distracting reflections showing up in it.Painful,I must say.So please do not go by the pics alone.It truly looks much nicer than it does in the pic.Take my word for it.;-)

Cheers!

Sumi

Submitting it for the CSI Challenge

Beachy Centerpiece

2010-06-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hey There,

I am here with a new project.May be it has been done before by millions of people, but I still am pretty pleased with myself.The reason for that is "I did not buy a single thing for this".See,I told ya I am going to be thrifty.Pat on the back.

Enough said,here it is .Ta Da...

I saw a picture like this somewhere.Do not recall at all where!So I am sorry if it seems like I picked up somebody else's idea and did not give credit.Anyhow,if I remember I will add that in the post.

So how do you make it?

Here's what you need

A small earthen or plastic pot.
Glue
Twine
Dried Moss
Candle
Florist's foam/Oasis
Seashells of various sizes
Other embellishments
Pins or sturdy wire

If you have a proper terracota pot ,some of the steps are not needed.I didn't ,so I picked up an old plastic takeout container and covered the whole thing up with twine.I glued it using a fast drying clear glue.

Next you fill the pot with the florist's foam.Make sure that the inside of the pot/container is properly packed with it and it is firmly lodged inside.

Take your candle and attach some sturdy paper pins/thin wire to the base of the candle using a tape.Insert the pins with the candle into the foam and make sure it stays upright and in the center.

Now you decorate..

If you have dried moss readily available then your job is simple.I didn't ..again !! So I had to think of something else.Husband had bought a carton of Mangoes just yesterday and the mangoes were covered with some sort of long stemmed dried grass.So I took that ,bent and twisted it into shape and tried to glue it around the rim of the pot.Did not work too well, so I tied the whole thing up with twine.It just blends in with the grass and you are none the wiser.

I chose to add lots of seashells to the grass to further embellish it.I also had some dried baby's breath lying around so I tied it up and attached it to the rim.Added some dried flowers from a potpourri bag I had lying around and it's done.

See,absolutely no spending involved!I had received some bouquets on my birthday last month so had the florist foam lying around.I already had the twine and the seashells and which self respecting crafter does no have glue of some sort.:-)So it's free!free!free.

The photo does not really do justice to it.It looks chaotic and cluttered in the pic but looks pretty if you see it yourself.I might do some more finishing and get rid of those straggly grass blades that you see in the pic, but maybe I will not.I actually quite like it the way it is.

I know exclamations are annoying but do indulge me.

Cheers!

Sumi

Joining the following parties

Thrifty or Plain cheap

2010-06-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

I have to attend a friend's wedding this week and I am planning to wear traditional Indian wear.I am going to be wearing Saris and handling myself in a sari is difficult enough and I don't want to add a big huge purse to the situation.Yes, wearing a sari is an art and carrying it off is not easy.See,the wearer of a Sari needs to be extremely graceful and let me tell you grace and I are not well acquainted with each other.

So I want to use a clutch but I did not want to buy one because I would have had to buy something blingy and where else would I use it AND I am trying to be thrifty .So you know what I did!

See this ?

Know what this is ?This is a mini cushion cover.I love the pattern and the colour and this will go with everything that I plan to wear.No,I am not going to carry a cushion instead of a purse.I used my newly acquired thrifty ideas producing grey cells and turned it into this.

Can you make out that this is a cushion cover.Please don't say no!I do not have the time to buy a new one now.I did not want to cut it up since it's practially new so I cut a thin cardboard to size,padded it with some cottonwool,tied it up and inserted it inside the cushion cover.Then I just folded the whole thing into half and attached some fasteners to it and done.There is a zipper at the back of the cushion which automatically creates a space for keeping my cell phone and a lipstick or two.

Now please pray that nobody wants to look inside my "clutch" because it looks like this .Makes me laugh.

Now you tell me is this called being thrifty or am I gravitating towards being downright cheap!

Pardon the bad pictures.Quite gloomy here,weatherwise.

Cheers.

Sumi

Incredible India

2010-06-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

People automatically taking a woman's side if some untoward incident happens out in the open : highest crime rate against women in some cities,

My brother never smoking in front of my dad even though dad knows about it,

Automatically reaching down to touch somebody's feet out of respect :Throwing our parents into old age homes,

Absolute guilt if there ever have been raised voices with parents,even when you know you were right.

Long and much publicized debates about " appropriate "attire for colleges and schools,

North vs south,cricket fanatics,Bollywood aspirants,Indi Pop,Old songs,Item numbers,wannabe singers,

The ambitious middle class and the elusive upper class,

Absolute poverty, extreme wealth.

BIG Bazaar and baniya ki dukan,

Flats with " Garden Views",

Paan,Bidi,Gutka,Panama and Wills

Our Hospitality,

Lajja and Sharam,Izzat and Pagdi,

Ambassador cars,Auto rickshaw meters,

MG Roads,Army Cantts,

National obsession with "Fair and Lovely",

"Sanskaari Bahu" ,"Well Settled" boys earning six figure salaries,

Kaaju Katli and Boondi ke laddoo.

Cinthol nahane ka bada sabun,

Ghar ki beti and her Maryada,

Kadhi Chawal and Masala Dosa,

So called " shifting of our value system",

Requirement for Convent educated bahus from " Traditional" families,

Laughter clubs,

Rampant Voyeurism,

BE and MBAs,IIMs and IITs,coaching classes,IAS Aspirants,

Cutting chai malai maar ke,

Handpumps and municipality water,

ST buses,

eveteasing,chivalry ,

blocked sewers,planned cities,

Westernization of Indian culture,ban on Valentine's day cards,DDLJ running successfully for eons.

Good.. bad ...a multitude of contradictions ..that's India for you.

I'm a little teapot,short and stout.Here is my handle and here is my spout.

2010-06-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have a project.New! New! New! :-)

I cannot claim it to be my idea.I saw it in a home decor magazine and have been itching to try it out but I had run out of spray paint.Weekend was utilized in repleneshing my stock and hence the project.

Remember this ?

Okay ,so I did mention that I was a little iffy about this teapot and wanted to experiment a little bit.I wanted a white porcelain-ey look for it.So I spray painted the heck out of it.I used a fast drying glossy white enamel spray paint.

Then,I did this

Okay,please don't click on the pic.This is one of those things which look okay if you look at it from a distance, because... because distances make the heart grow fonder??? Giggles.

The real reason is that the whole writing is very childish looking and I intend to redo this, but I liked the idea so much, I couldn't wait to put it out on the blo.So now since that is cleared up, I will proceed with details of what I did,

I just picked up some text (Hubby's contribution here,he picked it up from his fav book) ,freehanded it on the pot with a dark pencil and then just used black acrylic paint to write over it with a fine brush.Results not so awesome if you look up close.I don't have the best of handwritings,BUT,I am going to work some more on the "technique".I am thinking on the lines of printing out the text,tracing it onto the pot and then using paint over it.

Anyway,I kind of like it when I look at it from a distance and understandably cringe when I get up close.What's your view? Honest opinions please.

By the way how do you like the metal bird.It's a new purchase and I totally dig it.:-)

Idea shared at

Craft Schooling Sunday at Creativejewishmom

Cheers!

Sumi

Another Mod Podge Makeover

2010-06-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

I am back after a pretty long time but I am back with a small project to make up for it.Nothing special, but since I have done pretty much nothing crafts-wise this would have to be it.

My colleague at office has been using a cheap wooden paper /magazine rack thingy to store her office papers and I have been dying to make it pretty.Ever since I have discovered Mod-Podge,all I do is look at different surfaces and want to "cover 'em up".Does that happen with you?Anyway I asked her and she happily gave it to me to "beautify" it and that's what I did.

Here's the before :

This is the after

Here's how I did it :

Started without a plan and painted half of the thing white.......Realized ,I need to have a plan....Took a look at all the papers available with me....Realized white paint was not such a good idea....Re-painted it black....

Measured and cut strips of paper...Realized that I can never draw a straight line....Too lazy to cut paper again,decided to go with what I have ....Thin coat of Mod-podge....stuck the paper,smoothed it out,...Let it dry....Realized it was looking too plain......Decided to make a flower.Made a simple one...Flower looked unfinished umm..blinged it with a rhinestone center.Admired it and gloated....Hot glued it to the wood.The final product still looked plain! Decided to stamp all the areas which were not covered with the paper with silver ink.....Got too impatient and decided to see if the ink has dried,smudged it......Repainted the inked area black......Stamped it again........Grew impatient again! Touched it to see if it has dried and yes! smudged again......Not so polite sounding words follow but in the end gave up and called it a day.All done.

End result : Still like it.Love the silver paper.Isn't it gorgeous?

Lessons learnt : There's a reason why people sand wooden objects!The surface was rough and uneven so the paper is a bit wrinkly at places but since most of it is black it is not very obvious.and anyway it will hardly ever be seen ,so no big deal.

Hope you like it.

Submitted for

Cheers !

Sumi

Beautylicious Tuesday

2010-05-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ladies and .. er Ladies.

For today's beauty therapy session, we are going to target Hair.It is the pride and joy of every woman and I think I can safely say that every single one of us wants it to look fabulous.I am ,of course not talking about facial hair ,but if you are proud of that too,good for you!

Here's a question.If hair on the face is called "Facial" hair,hair on other parts of the body is called body hair then what is hair on one's head called??? Scalpal Hair ,Headly Hair,Cranio-Scalpal Covering ? Husband says its plainly and simply called HAIR ON YOUR HEAD!duh!

Getting on...... I found quite a few home remedies and would like to share them with you.Today we will focus on "Dandruff "or rather how to get rid of dandruff.

1. Mix camphor cubes in coconut oil and massage on your scalp.Leave for 10 minutes and wash off.

2.Rub a mix of of curd (yogurt) to which salt and water have been added onto the scalp.Wash it off after half an hour.

Note : Don't you go and start using flavoured yoghurt.We are doing hair treatments here, not preparing breakfast.Please stick to plain yoghurt.End of note.

3.Rub a lime on your scalp and leave it for 10 minutes before you shampoo hair.

4.Dilute Cider Vinegar in water ,add lavender oil.Massage into the scalp and keep it overnight.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Sumi

Beautylicious Tuesday

2010-05-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

I am back with some beautylicious tips for you.Today we are going to talk about Papaya.Here is some information I picked up after googling for it.Why is Papaya good for you?

1.It has an enzyme called Papain that helps in skin renewal and skin whitening.
2.It contains important nutrients and vitamins which help your skin remain blemish free and supple.
3.It also naturally moisturizes your skin,exfoliation and skin tightening

Papaya Mask: Peel,remove seeds,chop a ripe Papaya.Blend to form a smooth paste .Apply as mask and and wash off with lukewarm water after 15 minutes

Papaya and Oatmeal Mask : Peel,dice and seed two Papayas.Mash 'em up,add 5 tbsp Oatmeal,2 egg whites and juice of 1 lime.Mix all the ingredients.Use as a mask on a clean face and neck.Avoid eye area.Wait for 15 mins or so and wash off with warm water.

Information courtesy : www.ayushveda.com and http://www.ehow.com/

Cheers
Sumi

Oopsey Daisy!

2010-05-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have always been a selective perfectionist.What does it mean ,you ask? Well basically it means that I choose to be a perfectionist whenever I want to . ;-)

I am too impatient to care for perfection in every area but if I am trying something for the first time I expect or rather WANT it to come out perfectly.If it does not,I throw a mini tantrum of sorts and keep sulking.Hubby has never understood this and in the past tried to use encouraging words like "No Big Deal,try it again".and my response to that is to get even more melodramatic and just proclaim that I am never going to try it again and most times I don't.I know it's pretty ridiculous,but I am weird like that.

So why am I writing an essay on myself? Well I am coming to thaat.Patience my friend is a virtue, even though I don't possess it.Well moving on,I have been dying to make a string pendant lamp for ages.I had bookmarked the blog where I saw it.Did research on various ways of making it and searched high and low for the darned jute string.

Saturday was earmarked as the appropriate day for the project ,when Sumi and her enthusiastic helpers (READ : Mom) wore our shabbiest clothes,neary burst our lungs inflating a balloon and got down to beginning the project.

The tutorial shows a rounded ball as the base.

First disaster!!Ours looked like an oversized pear.

Did you know that not all balloons are round?I didn't .But no,we didn't lose hope.We decided to go ahead with the project and decided that this shape will be our interesting little "variation".Afterall it's a "Pendant lamp" and this does look like a pendant.Doesn't it?

Then it was on to glue,string,wrap,mess,curse and repeat.Finally after using 4 rolls of string we thought it was passably okay and hung the string covered balloon to dry.I ,using my scientific reasoning thought that if I hang it in my balcony it will dry faster since it's so hot.Duh,common sense, I figured.But,nooo,did you know that extreme heat will make your baloon burst! Apparently I did not know that either.

So instead of a a lamp that should have looked like this

Mine looks like this:

Uncanny resemblance to a Weaver bird's nest, dont you think!!!Now if I were being true to form,I should have been mighty angry, but the whole thing just cracks me up.It has pride of place on my craft table and I get a fit of giggles everytime I look at it.

So this is the end of my weekend saga.I think I will keep this thingy with me and maybe one day I will host a wildlife theme party and use this as decoration.Giggles.There,it happened again.!

If you would like to take a look at the original and extremely well explained tutorial,please go visit this tutorial on Craftynest.

Happy Monday!

Quilled Artwork

2010-05-08T04:06:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

I picked up some small canvases on my regular trip to my favourite stationery shop and was trying to figure out what to do with those.I was too scared to attempt to try my hand at drawing or painting ,so I figured that I will go with paper quilling.To tell you the truth,I am a novice at this quilling thingy too but I so love the different things people make and wanted to try my hand at something similar and came up with this.

I started out with the grand idea of making a wrought iron sort of window box but it ended up looking like a planter.Never mind,it's not too bad I think.Since I am pretty new at this, I know a very few basic types of flowers . I just made some rolled and fringed flowers and some quilled and rolled roses and called it a day.For the background,I painted the canvas a pearly yellow using acrylic paint and lifted off some paint using a paper napkin.You can see that there are places where I lifted off too much but I don't intend to fix it.Making these flowers and scrolls was pretty easy but assembling them was a pain.I still think it's worth it though.The beauty of quilling is that whatever you make, it ends up looking pretty.At least that's what I think.I am going to make one more flower themed artwork using paper quilling anf gift it to my mom.She is sorely in need of something on her walls.

Here's a closeup

I also attempted to try staging a photograph.See..

What do you think? I dunno if this looks good or bad.All I know is that I suck at photography.:-(

By the way ,the kettle that you see was bought on an impulse and I just can't make up my mind whether I like it or not.I intended to use it as a flowrerpot but now I want to try my hand at painting it some other colour and using it as a decoration.Can't make up my mind though!

To learn more about quilling,see these videos on youtube:

Quilling Spiral Roses

Inroduction to Quilling

Submitted for

Also participating in the

See you later

Cheers

Sumi

Polkadots and Paint

2010-05-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hiya,

I finally woke up after a long long time and indulged myself with a very very quick project.I have noticed a lot of bloggers who have been attempting to paint glassware and it completely fascinated me.I was a bit scared too, to be honest.I suck at using a spray paint.I envy people who just pick up a can and spray away to glory.Mine always turns out streaky and uneven.Anyhow,today I decided to overcome my apprehensions and got down to try it out.I had a few nice and shapely empty whiskey bottles and I conducted my experiment on those.

And.. I am happeeeee!It was easy ,quick and the results were good.Atleast I loved it and so did my mom.We may be prejudiced of course! :-)

So here's what they look like.Do not have a before picture.I was so convinced that it will be a disaster that I didn't bother taking a before picture.

It was pretty simple.I removed the labels from both the bottles.Painted one all white but used a very thin layer of paint.The other one I first painted a bronzy gold.Let it dry.Then I stuck some small circular lables which I got from a stationery store and stuck it on to the bottle randomly.Painted the bottle again with white paint,let it dry and removed the lables.

Yes I could have painted on the polka dots with a brush but I don't trust myself to paint equal sized dots ,clumsy as I am.This solutions worked for me.

Here's how it looks, up close .

Me likey ,me likey very much.:-).Hope you do too.

Showing off at
And Madebyme Monday at Creative2xmom

Cheers
Sumi

Beautylicious Tuesday : Aromatherapy Recipes

2010-04-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have been very interested in learning about Aromatherapy and in fact did a short online course on it to learn some basics ,but just like my other interests, this one has also taken a back seat for now.But never mind,in my quest to learn about this I did buy some interesting books and did a lot of reading on the web.Here are some great recipes that can be used for becoming beautyliciousss..

So here goes.

1. Cleanser : 50 ml grapeseed oil
20 ml Sunflower oil
20 ml Sesame Oil
10 ml Wheatgerm Oil

Blend these oils together.Add 5 drops of your favourite essential oil and blend.This works as a makeup remover and cleanser.

2.Body Splash :
Base : 10 ml high proof Vodka
100 ml white wine or Cider Vinegar
500 ml Spring Water

Essential Oils:
Lime - 10 drops
Lavender : 10 drops
Peppermint : 5 drops
Lemon : 3 drops

Blend the essential oils together.Add to the Vodka and shake really well.Leave it for a while and then add the vinegar.Pour this mixture into the spring water and shake well again.Finally pass the liquid through a paper coffee filter.The longer the essential oils are left in the vodka and vinegar mix before adding the water ,the stronger the scent will be.

If you have sensitive or dehydrated skin,then don't use it or atleast do a patch test before using.

3.Cuticle Softener
Jojoba Oil : 5 ml
Carrot Oil : 5 drops
Eucalyptus peppermint : 2 drops

Blend and massage well into the cuticles.

4. Hair Conditioner
1 Tbsp Jojoba Oil
3 drops Rosemary Essential Oil

Mix the Jojoba and Rosemary in a small bowl (tiny condiment bowls work great for this). Wet your hair with warm water and then apply the conditioner. Let it sit on your hair for 15-30 minutes. Then, wash your hair as normal. Jojoba and rosemary are helpful for dry hair. The rosemary is also said to be helpful in aiding dandruff.

5. Mouthwash : Going to try this one

4 oz. Water

4 oz. Vodka (vodka may be substituted for water or a pure rosemary tea infusion)
4 teaspoons Liquid Glycerine (available at many drug stores) - optional and simply sweetens the mouthwash
10-12 drops Peppermint or Spearmint Essential Oil
5 drops Myrrh (optional - Myrrh can assist in mouth and gum care)

Notes: This recipe makes a rather minty mouthwash but as it contains no added flavorings, it is not as sweet or strong as commercially available mouthwashes.

Directions: Boil the water and vodka then add the glycerine. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Add the essential oils and let cool for 1/2 hour and bottle.

Hope you try it and find it useful.

Cheers
Sumi

*Recipes 1-3 taken from the book The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann Wormwood
Others taken from armaweb.com

Beautylicious Tue..um.. Wednesday.

2010-04-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hey there ,

Yes ,I am one day late for this and Yes! I know all the thousands of followers who eagerly anticipate this feature have been let down and .......yes I do have the capability of occasionaly laughing at myself.I also am capable of cracking jokes which nobody else around would understand.

Well off I go on a tangent !So where were we?Trying to be beautylicious ..are we? So here's a question.Did you know that turmeric is often used to get rid of facial hair? I didn't .So this information was useful.Maybe I will try this.I really could use some simple formula to get rid of the fuzz on my face and chin (Hormonal issues you see)

Anyway here's what you are supposed to do:

Mix turmeric powder with milk and apply on the face. Scrub it off slowly moving your fingers in circular motion, and then wash with cold water.

For the life of me I don't understand HOW that will get rid of facial hair but I am willing to try it.You know why???

Because ...Turmeric is a great antiseptic and is known to make your complexion glow and if not for anything else it will help heal some zits that I have been getting lately.

Yes, in India we have a ceremony where brides use a face and body pack made of Turmeric which is supposed to turn them into lovely glowing blushing (optional) brides.Didn't happen with me though.Just so you know .;-)

Cheers
Sumi

Beautylicious Tuesday : Gram Flour

2010-04-06T02:43:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to talk about Gram Flour (chickpea flour) and it's many uses in the area of skin care.Gram Flour or "Besan" as it is called in India has been an ingredient which has been quite commonly used by Indian women as a facial and body cleanser.We were often told by our grandmoms to give up artificial facial cleansers and soaps and use besan instead for our face.But did we listen???

Now that I am trying to find ways of incorporating natural stuff in my routine ,gram flour seems to be a good option.It's inexpensive and does cleanse my face effectively.Here are a few concoctions that any of you can use.

As a face Wash :Take a teaspoon each of turmeric powder, milk cream, sandalwood powder and gram flour. Use it daily.

As a Complexion Revival Mask : Mix together a teaspoon of gram flour with a pinch of turmeric powder, a few drops of lemon juice and half a teaspoon each of olive oil and milk. Apply it on your face. Remove after 10 minutes.

As a cooling mask : Take a spoonful of gram flour, two spoonfuls of yoghurt. Mix well, and apply it on the face. Let it stay for half an hour and wash off.

As a body scrub : Mix together a tablespoon each of gram flour and corn flour. Use this mix to wash your face and body. This is an excellent scrub and will remove your dead skin cells, leaving you feeling clean and glowing.

Mix some fresh cream and besan. Apply this paste on to your body. Avoid the area around the eyes, eyebrows and lips. Shower after five minutes. This will make your skin smooth.

For removing blemishes : Add cucumber juice to some besan to form a paste. Apply it to the face and wash off after it dries. This will also tighten the skin pores.

Hope you try it.Enjoy a Beautylicious Tuesday!

Tshirt Refashion

2010-04-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hiya,

I have been doing absolutely NOTHING for the past two weeks.Just going for work,waiting for the day to get over ,counting days till the much needed weekend..taking one day at a time..Sigh..Consequently no new craft attempts lately.Shame! But ! I do have something to show.I did it a couple of weeks back as a random urge to do something hit me.

I have been seeing so many people doing so many awesome things to refashion their clothes,so I decided to join the bandwagon.I am in love with the different fabric flowers that such a huge part of the craftworld is interested in and decided to make some of my own.I had to think of some gifts for my friend who was leaving town forever, so I thought I will do some t-shirt refashion for her.Here is what I came up with.

That's my mom holding the tshirt for me .Sweet.:-)

This is nothing but simple rolled fabric flowers made out of some scrap fabric that I had lying around.There are thousands of tutorials on this so I don't think I need to explain how it is done.Ignore the threads hanging about on the shirt.I promise I did clean it up and ironed it before gifting it.

Here's a closeup

I also made another one.I fell in love with the bright vibrant fresh green of the shirt and had to buy it.Nobody else in my family understood my excitement over the colour, mind you.Well not that I care !!

To add some extra pizzazz to this shirt I used wooden beads that were attached to an old shirt of my niece and look how nice it looks!!! At least I thought it was pretty.

Note that I did not hide the logo on the tshirt.Small oversight but I hope my friend didn't mind too much.Heh heh.I stiched or rather my mon stitched the beads on to the shirt but people who can't sew can use a fabric glue too I think.

I love it.Simple and easy.Hope some of you do too.

Cheers

Sumi

First attempt at Jewellery : Cheap and Easy

2010-03-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hiya there,

Yes, I have been incommunicado again as usual but as I said ,with a full time job I don't really get a lot of time to spend here.Anyhow,though I have been not very active here ,I have not been idle.No sir .. or madam.

One of my good friends and colleague relocated to another city and I was busy making things for her as farewell gifts.Yes,I MADE gifts for her.Did not pick up something off the rack from a store and I am mighty proud of that.Pat on the back.:-)

First off was this necklace that I made out of saftey pins.Yes,you heard right!It was made of safety pins and tiny beads.Of course ,the idea is not original at all.It was ~~stolen~~ borrowed from here.Kelsi is a genius in my books.Such a brilliant idea and so easy to make.Totally loved it.Go visit the link and see the tutorial.

I will attempt to explain how it is made here for my friends who are too lazy to go blog hopping.

Basically,you need to have a chain,preferably a thin one.You will know why in a minute .
Safety Pins : Preferably all of the same size but you can experiment and used different sizes
Beads: Should be small enough to fit into the safety pin
Clasps and Jump rings: My chain already had those.I just used a plier to open the ring from one side and slid the safety pins

Step 1 : Open the safety pin and slide the beads onto the pin.The number of beads would depend on the length of the pin.Just make sure that you can close the pin after sliding all the beads.

This is what it looks like.

Slide the rounded end of the saftey pins into the chain and you are done.Easy!My friend loved it and wore it almost immediately and it does look great.Not tacky at all.See for yourself

If you visit the tutotial link,you will see that I followed the instructions to the T.I was in a hurry and did not have much time to experiment but I think adding different beads and some more interesting elements would add some more pizzaz for sure.

Cheers,

Sumi

Cute as a button!

2010-03-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

Did I tell you that I love visiting the kids' section in bookstores.Yes I do and I love looking at the cute craft products there.While browsing through stuff yesterday,I came across something that I loved too much.I don't care if it's meant for kids.It was too cute to be ADULT about it.Notice how bad my vocab is !!Cannot think of any synonyms for cute!

Note to self : Buy a Thesaurus.;-)

Anyhow,So this is what it is

The box had some plastic frames ,preprinted mini canvases,cardboard backing for the frame and of course paint and a tiny paintbrush.They also provide small magnetic strips for you to be able to convert these into fridge magnets.You can also hang it ,or use it just as a mini photo frame.

So here's what I did.Isn't it adorable???

Does this qualify as DIY if one has cheated????? I am too lazy to figure out how I could have done it without buying the product,but I think if you are clever enough ,you can figure out how to do this all on your own .I am thinking of making somtehing with quilling paper and attaching it to the frame.Let's see how that works out.For now this is going to my Fridge magnet collection.

P.S: Synonyms for "Cute",courtesy dictionary.com

Beautiful,Charming,Adorable,Delightful,Pleasant,Pretty,Dainty.Ambrosial,Captivating,Fetching,Delectable.I hereby proclaim that the above pic is all of these things.Hee Hee

Cheers !

Friend Making Monday and Yes I am late for it!!

2010-03-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon Amber's blog over at aefilkins and she hosts a party called Friend-making-Monday.Loved the concept and I am gonna participate.One of the objectives of hosting a blog was to make friends afterall ,so here we go.

I am : Too idealistic sometimes
I think : Too much
I should : Make fitness and health my priority
I dream: about owning an awesome and big house
I want : Peace of mind and happiness always
I know: I can be better if I try
I don't like : noise
I smell : Cigarette Smoke
I hear : The whirring of the ceiling fan
I fear : Failure
I usually : am "chilled out"
I search : For my calling
I miss : Summer vacations at my Grandparents'
I always : wash my hands after waking up
I regret : not trying a lot of things because of a fear of failure
I wonder : what my life will be 10 years from now.
I crave : Fizzy drinks .ALL THE TIME
I remember : All my good friends' birthdays
I need : loads of encouragement
I forget : to take my multivitamins almost everyday
I feel : tired all the time lately
I can : cook
I can't: Sew
I am happy : When I get things done as planned
I lose : patience very easily
I sing : Whenever I get a chance to and often offkey
I listen : when people talk to me
I shop : like crazy for makeup and magazines
I eat : unhealthy
I love : my family and reading

Hey this was good! I remember filling up loads of slam books for friends in school.It was fun then and it's fun now and if it's going to result in getting a few more friends, nothing better! I am going to be a regular there.Thanks Amber!.

Honey Honey

2010-03-16T02:32:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been moving towards using natural products to take care of my skin.My skin has recently turned very oily and acne prone and I have been researching various masks which could benefit my kind of skin.One of the ingredients that seem to work is honey.Here are are some concoctions featuring good ol' honey.

1.Honey Oatmeal Facial

Honey is a natural antiseptic and is used to bind the honey and yogurt. The oatmeal will absorb excess oil from acne-prone skin and serve as a gentle exfoliant.

1/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk

1/2 cup oatmeal

2 tablespoons of honey

Finely grind or process the oatmeal in a blender or food processor. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together honey and yogurt, and then add ground oatmeal. Mix thoroughly until a smooth paste consistency has been reached. Smooth over your face and neck, leave on for fifteen minutes, and rinse off with warm water. Can be used daily.

2.Frozen Egg & Honey Facial Mask

Recommended for dry skin

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (but not hot)

1 tbs. honey

Step 1: Beat the egg in a small bowl until frothy and well-mixed. Slowly add the liquid coconut oil and honey, beating until your mask is the consistency of mayonnaise.

Step 2: Take an empty toilet tissue roll and set it on end in a clean bowl. Spoon mixture into the cardboard toilet paper roll (or consider using an empty deodorant container). Place tube, in the bowl, in the freezer overnight.

Step 3: To use, peel away just the top 1/4 inch of the cardboard roll and smooth the frozen stick over your face (think of it as a push up pop). Leave your mask on for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse off with warm water.

Return the cream stick covered with plastic wrap and frozen between uses.

Particularly soothing on a sunburn. Keeps indefinitely.

3.Firming Facial Mask

Whisk together 1 tablespoon honey, 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon glycerin (available at drug and beauty stores) and enough flour to form a paste. Smooth over face and throat. Leave on 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water.

4.Hair Conditioner

Mix 1/2 cup honey with 1/4 cup olive oil. (Use 2 tablespoons oil for normal to oily hair.) Using a small amount at a time, work mixture through hair until coated. Cover hair with a shower cap; leave on 30 minutes. Remove shower cap; shampoo well and rinse. Dry as normal.

5.Honey-Oats Face Scrub:

Combine 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon finely-ground almonds, 2 tablespoons dry oatmeal, and some lemon juice or yogurt to a luxurious and exfoliating facial scrub. Massage mixture gently onto face, then rinse with warm water.

Enjoy!

Edited : So that you can make informed decisions.:-)

Honey : http://ezinearticles.com/?Honey-and-Skin-Care-Favourite-Tips!&id=413814
Oats : http://www.naturalnews.com/024319_inflammation_water_eczema.html
Lemon Juice : Has a mild bleaching effect
Egg White : Tightens pores
Ground Almonds : Mild Exfoliation
Olive Oil : Do I really need to say anything here?
Glycerin : Natural Humectant.Adds/Retains moisture in the skin.
Yoghurt : http://www.ehow.com/about_5139582_skin-benefits-yogurt.html

Inspiration : Bedrooms

2010-03-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

So I have been visiting tons of decorating sites to get some inspiration for the various rooms for my new house and as usual, I am in a conundrum.I will eventually have to make up my mind about what I want, but for now no harm in looking at these beauties.

Love the beautiful wallpaper,love the colours.Not liking the flooring too much.

Love how serene this room is but too bland for the main bedroom.Thinking on these lines for the guest bedroom.Love the wall colour.Wonder what it is???

Also loved the following but hubby has said a strict no ..too FEMININE for him to handle.I think both are pretty though.

Look at how pretty the headboard is.The colour scheme is not too bad either.

I love this colour scheme.Not terribly innovative but very pleasing.Isn't it?

The next one had some elements that I loved .The curtains are pretty amazing and the headboard is absolutely lovely.It's made of framed vintage hankerchieves.Pretty inexpensive, yet makes a nice impact.The side tables are pretty clever but I am not digging them so much.I do love the paint colour.This is my inspiration room.It has loads of colour and if you get a simple sort of a side table I think I will be happy with it.

Image courtesy : bhg.com

Then there are others which I liked for the wall treatments or accessories.

Aren't those butterfliy decals pwettty.Me likes.:-).The bedspread and lamp are lovely too and I like the innovative colour combination.

Don't you love the stripey painted walls.I really love the colours here too.May try and get this done in one of the rooms.

Sigh..I don't know what to pick up what to drop.People say everybody has a decorating style.In my case,nope .. don't think so..

Blingin' it up!

2010-03-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hiya There ,

Phew! I have been missing for a long time ,haven't I!! Not that the two people who actually read my blog are going to miss me much.:-).I really don't have a legit excuse.It's just plain ol boring day job and the stress associated therewith.By the time I get home,I am plain exhausted.BUT,to give myself credit ,I do make it a point of visiting other people's blogs to lap up all the crafty goodness... so much so that I spend more time looking at other people's projects than doing something of my own.

Anyhow,this weekend I finally motivated myself to do SOMETHING.Some days back Amy at Mod Podge Rocks featured a project by Selliz.She makes altered compact mirrors and all of them are mighty cute.Go check out Selliz's site here and you will find true inspiration.

I wanted to try making one immediately.Mine is nowhere close to hers in the detailing and gorgeousness but I still like mine too..:-)

I started out with an old battered compact mirror for the experiment.

A little bit of Mod Podge and a collection of my blingy stash and here it what looks like now..Pretty isn't it?

Sorry for the bad picture quality.This was late at night so no proper light.
I am still in two minds about covering the whole lid up because of the visible scratches on the surface but for now this will do.

Cheers!

Submitted for :

Gift Box -Before and After

2010-03-01T02:01:00.000-08:00

Hiya there,

Today I am going to feature a small makeover of sorts that I did on a gift box.My mom's friend has loads of pretty gift boxes and she asked me if I can "jazz" one of those up.The box was not so bad on it's own and had a pretty green and blue fabric lid but since she asked me, I had to oblige.

This is what it looked like in the beginning

Out came my quilling paper and tools and this is what it looks like now.

The small flowers are simple quilling flowers which any novice can make.The bigger flower was based on a picture I saw on google images whille searching for quilled flowers.It's supposed to look like a cornflower but hardly does .-).I still like it though.The fabric had some glitter over the pattern and silver lace edging so I add some silver glitter to the flowers.Here's a closeup.

Not bad.Wat say????

Cheers!!

Linking to Lori's awesome craft party!

Decisions!! Decisions!!

2010-02-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in my previous entry,we are now at the stage where we have to start thinking about getting some work done in our new house and the BIG secret is that I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT.I can't even decide on the colour scheme for each of the rooms.One day it is green for the bedroom and the other day it's neutrals.I can't decide if I want to remodel our bathroom or leave it as it is.Change the flooring to laminates or tiles or what!!!

Everything looks nice ,everything looks perfect but I can't make up my mind whether these things will appeal to me 5 years from now.I am known to be impulsive but this is one area where I don't want to be.I want to make informed,sensible,cost effective and sustainable decisions.

After putting a lot of thought into this which was apparently not a lot,I have come up with some things. Here it goes
1.I want my home to look lived in and not overly decorated.

2.I don't want dull colours in my house.This does not mean that the house will have bright walls but I do plan to use a lot of colours for accessorizing.

3. I want loads of storage.

4.I would love to have an all white theme but it can be really high maintenance and I don't have the time,so we will see about that.

5.I don't intend to have everything done in one go.I want to be able to be flexible and want our house to grow with us.

For now this is it.We will see how it goes.Wish me luck..

Cheers.

Random Update (AKA can't think of a catchy title)

2010-02-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

I am back and how I missed being connected.We shifted to a new temporary house and our internet connection is still not up.I can go ahead and surf during my office time but simply don't find the time to.I so miss using my home laptop and looking at a hundred different things.Right now I am really "understimulated" :-(

But thou shall not lose heart.There will be a day when the Gods of Internet connectivity will see reason and help get us our beloved broadband connection back.Amen..

Having said all this,I am still very happy.Why? Well we are 90% done with getting possession of our brand new house .Hurray and congratulations to Mr and Mrs. I for finally owning a property.I suddenly feel all grown up.
We will soon have to get down to the most difficult part of deciding what we want our house to be like and THAT part is exciting but SCARING the hell out of me.More on that later.

Cheers!

Adieu

2010-02-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

It's 02:00 a.m..The house is empty of everything that made it a home ,OUR home.Our voices echo through the empty spaces.Didn't know I will be so maudlin.It's not that I am leaving the city altogether.I am just moving to another building in the same complex, yet this terrible sadness has come over me.This house was the first proper home we had after our wedding and we spent five happy years here and to leave is like abandoning a loved one.. ......Am I being overly foolish??? I know I will get over it in a few days and get excited about our new house, but today all I am gonna do is to listen to sad songs,touch the walls of MY HOME and bid adieu.
P.s.- Even though the other house is EXACTLY like the one that we have been staying in all these years,I still can't bring myself to appreciate it.I have been finding non existing faults in the house since morning.HOW DUMB AND MELODRAMATIC is that!

This poem is so apt.If I had any skill I would have written exactly this as an Ode to my home

We are leaving home tomorrow.

Leaving it behind for some place better,
Leaving it so that we can have more space.
Leaving this place we made home bit by bit.
The same things that we bought, collected and proudly made a part of our home,
Now being, dismantled, given away or discarded, they are after all, old.

A new home needs new things.

Moving it ain't as easy as it seems,
What do I take and what do I leave.

Those moments of fun and those new friends made,
Wish I could carry them wherever I go,
The darker ones, the dreary days,
Make me close my eyes and not look back.

Moving always makes me emotional.
As long as I stay, my whole being is present in the house,
The day I leave, something gets left behind.
As hard as I try, a part of me wants to stay back
And refuses to say goodbye.

By Jennifer Cavilleri

Lil' Sumthin' A.K.A my failed attempt at creating a work of art.

2010-02-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

While setting up the craft room in the new house I got distracted as usual and started dreaming of projects that I will do in my "New and Improved" craft area.Then I looked at my storage shelf and saw a brand new bottle of Mod-Podge and then.. I wanted to use it immediately so I made this.

This is nothing but a not so successful attempt at decoupaging.I had some pretty paper napkins lying around and a small framed canvas.Pink acrylic paint ,mod-podge and this is what I made.

I don't like the fact that there are so many wrinkles and the edges of the napkin are so ugly.I didn't have scissors around and did not want to get it from the "old house " :-) so I just tore if off.Am hoping that with a few more coats of mod-podge it will become a bit neater.If not ,then I will pretend that the crinkled wrinkled edges of the paper are clouds.:-)But I do love the vivid colours.

Had it been done with patience ( which is required for anything that you do in life,or so my husband says) it could have been better.Well,there will be other times for doing that.For now,this sure is cheering me up.

Moving..

2010-02-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

Shifting is hard work! We are shifting temporarily (if 6 months or more is temporary) to an apartment in an adjacent building and since it's right next door, we decided not to enjoy the luxury of professional packers and movers.I still don't know if it was a wise move or otherwise.One thing I know though that it is slightly easier.We just pick up a room ,dump the stuff (Oh my God ,how much junk do we have!) in a carton ,heft it up ,transfer and set it at the right place in the new house.Sounds easy enough, but let me tell you.something. have been doing this for only two days and every muscle in my body is screaming in agony.Muscles that I didn't even know about!

The good thing is that we will not be overwhlemed with unpacking everything in one go and can move to a fairly settled house.Also,we had a lot of storage space in the current house and now that we are emptying those,I find so many things that I had completely forgotten about.I didn't even know that we had a spare dinner set and a complete bone china tea set! I got it as a wedding gift some 5 years back and have NEVER used it.
Anyway ,I am glad that we are shifting and getting an opportunity to get rid of all the junk and clutter that we had accumulated over the years.I am also taking time out to really look at all the pretty things that I have in the house and appreciating those all over again.Now if only we had the Incredible Hulk at our beck and call to just move all the items in one go,I will be a very happy woman.

An ode to Spring

2010-02-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

So the seasons are changing and we are on the way to spring in my neck of the woods.Not that we had much of a winter here, but considering people in other parts of the world can't wait for the "awful" winter to get over,I shouldn't be complaining.Personally, I LOVE winters. So much so that we make it a point to go to a cold place every year during December.Call it masochistic but I love it.

Anyway ,so keeping in mind that Spring is about to arrive and also because I needed to justify the need for a spare room to be converted into a craft room, I made this for my mom.

You may want to click on the pic to see an enlarged view.The pic anyway does not do full justice to the object ,it looks better when seen for real.

How did I make this ? Well,as usual,I did not think of taking pics of all the steps but if anybody is interested I can just go through the whole thing without 'em.

The supplies

Glue Dots

Artificial flowers : I had a few artificial flower stalks lying around at home

Styrofoam

Ribbon

Any other embellishments you may want to use

Step 1 : I took the styrofoam sheet and cut out a circle out of it using a sharp craft knife.Take a thick sheet so that wreath is a bit sturdy .Styrofoam is pretty light so ..You can decide the size of the wreath of course ,mine I think was 35 cms or so.Frankly speaking I JUST DON'T REMEMBER! How silly is that!

Step 2 : I then measured another 4 inches I think throughtout the circumference ,marked it and cut out that portion .This will give you a disk.

Step 3 : I removed individual flowers from the flower stems/stalks.Pretty easy to do.The stems are plastic and the flowers can easily be tugged out of those.

Step 4 : IF your flowers are dirty like mine were.Wash them with a mid soap solution and let them dry.Doesn't take long since these are generally made of some synthetic substance and dry pretty fast.

Step 5 : I used plain satin ribbons and glued them to wrap the whole styrofoam disc up.I figured that the flowers would stick better if I did that.I still don't know if that was really needed or not but you can try without the ribbons.I think the glue dots stick better to the ribbon or any other covering that you may choose.I decided to cover it with a red ribbon because that was the longest length and I thought would cover the whole thing.But no..I ran out of it and then used a white one and lo and behold! I ran out of that too so I used a brown one ...Giggles.That was not enough so you will see some white styrofoam showing through in the pic.But who cares,right?

Step 6 : Assemble the wreath.Use glue dots to stick the flower blossoms to the disc.

Be creative I alternated with light and dark pin blossoms and also stuck some to the sides of the wreath so as to give it a three dimensional look.Also attached the purple flowers here and there and voila! it's almost done.

Step 7 : I left some gap at the top of the wreath to attach a ribbon and bow to hang the whole thing.Now if you remember the ribbons were in shortage so I didn't really complete this step ,but, since I was presenting the thingy to my mom ,I told her to take care of it.What are mothers for afterall? ;-)

Hope you like it.

Cheers!

Table Makeover (also my first experiment with Mod-Podge)

2010-02-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

A few months back,we decided to change our bed.The old one was getting to be a little too boring for our taste,so we bought a new one.Why am I telling you this you ask! I will come to the point in a minute but I love to ramble so let me be.;-)

Well ,we don't have things like Goodwill here where you can just donate stuff, so most times one ends up with all the old junk lying around.Anyhow,we decided to recycle and used all that junk wood and fiberboard and converted it into some small storage items and stuff.One of the things that came out of that was this :

It is supposed to serve as a coffe table and is quite useful ,but let's just say it was too boring for me.After much thinking ,I thought of something and turned it into this :

I may be biased, but I love it.It matches the colour scheme of my living room perfectly.I hope others like it as much as I do.

The process was simple.Here are the steps I followed, if anybody is interested.Sorry, I did not take pics of each step.Did not know I will be putting it in a blog, but it is pretty simple, so read on.

Supplies :

Mod Podge - I used Matte

Spare cheap paintbrush or a sponge brush for applying the glue

Decorative paper

Clear Varnish

Sander/Sandpaper and......

a Table !!

Sand the table surface lightly.This helps in making sure that the surface is ready for the glue and the paper sticks properly.
Clean the surface with a cloth or painter's rag.
Oops ,before all that you can go ahead and measure the table length and width wise and decide on your design.I chose three different kinds of paper.One was a not so expensive rose patterned gift wrapping paper ,another with a nice paisley pattern and the last one was a beautiful cream handmade paper with gitter crystals.Loved that one.Since I was trying Decoupage for the first time, I wanted to keep it simple,so I cut just 1" X 1" inch squares of each paper.Do this step before you move on to step 4.Obviously ..duh.The control freak in me had woken up.Sorry!
Apply thin coats of modpodge and lay the paper carefully as per your design.Use a small brayer to smooth the paper on to the surface and get rid of bubbles, if any.Be quick since Mod-Podge dries up pretty fast.Best to do it in small sections.
Once the design has dried, apply another layer of Mod-podge over the entire surface .Don't worry, the glue dries clear.I applied 3-4 coats since Mod-Podge acts as a sealant.Use thin coats since you do not want visible brushcoats.
Let the whole thing dry .Seal with a varnish.I don't know if I really needed to do this ,but I had read somewhere that it gives extra durability and since the table is expected to hold all sorts of things ,I thought why not!
That's it .This is the result

All you experienced decoupagiers (Is that a word?? ),hope this process does not make you cringe.I do not have extensive knowledge about it and I will appreciate any comments your may have .

Cheers and have a happy weekend!

and

Debbiedoos' Before and After Party

Newspaper Basket

2010-02-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

One of the items on my everincreasing and never happening long list of projects was using newspaper or magazines and turn it into a basket.I saw the project on one of the craft blogs that I follow and after much procrastinating finally got down to it one night.I won't say it was not fun but man.. it does requires a lot of patience and that is one of the virtues that I am always running short on.

In any case,I rebuked myself for ten minutes, and got down and dirty with it and here is how it turned out.

What do you think? It's not overly neat or well put together. I tried to to hide the unsightly edges with some leftover ribbon and since it was looking a bit plain I " attempted" to make an easy paper flower and stapled it to the basket.The flower looks like a five year old made it, but remember folks, I am a newbie to the world of crafts and this is as good as it gets for now.:-)

Since this was my first attempt at this and it was close to midnight by the time I finished it, I let it be.If I try again, I will measure the srips properly and use doublesided tape or glue dots to make it a bit neater.Staple pins can look a bit unsightly.I think edging it with a lot of small paper flowers is what I am going to try out next.

This now sits proudly in my craft space and I store stamps and other small crafty paraphernalia in it and I must say it is quite sturdy, which was a bit surprising for me.

If you would like to try this out ,then check out this excellent tutorial / by Jessica from " How about Orange"

Cheers!

Going Natural

2010-02-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am one of those people who never suffered from any skin problems when they were young.It's only now in middle age that I have to go through the torture of suffering from acne.Somebody who has not gone through that would never understand how sickening it is to have your unremarkable face suddenly turn into a topic of conversation among friends because of those hideous,...... throbbing ....... never mind.And have you noticed how when you have any problems on your skin,any beautician that you go to considers it their birthright to provide unsolicited "advice" on what you should do to get rid of it.It makes me want to get up and hurl a bowl full of astrigent at them.Mean I know.. but honest at least.

Welll,after wallowing in self pity and telling everybody who would listen that I once had clear skin and even producing photos to prove that ( How pathetic is that!) I have recently started looking at various natural ways of controlling this problem.

One of the things that I have been hearing a lot about is the Apple Cider Vinegar toner for acne prone skin.It seems it helps a lot n controlling oiliness and general toning and upkeep of skin.Here is one of the recipes that I found for a concotion on the Acne.org message board.

Here's the link : ACV

Enjoy!

Decor Idea : Lit tree.

2010-02-03T00:29:00.000-08:00

This Diwali,I wanted to jazz up my house and decorate it to reflect the true spirit of the "festival of lights".Lazy that I am, I did not want to put too much effort into making something from scratch.
I love those tiny lights that you get in the market.What are they called......Fairy lights I think.Such a cute name.

Anyway, so I wanted to use fairy lights inside the house and the easiest thing to do was this :

I thought it looked pretty and considering that it took me just 15 minutes to make it ,not at all a bad idea if I say so myself.I love the atmosphere it created in my living room when all the harsh fluorescent lights were turned off.Don'tcha think so my non existing readers?? :-)

Note : Ignore the other junk that you see in the room.This was just a test shot.:-)

Mixed emotions

2010-02-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

We have been renting a house for the past few years and now suddenly have been requested to move out.While the very thought of packing ,moving and unpacking all the junk that we have accumulated over the years makes me panicky,I am secretly a bit thrilled too.

Why? Well, this ultimatum to move has finally woken up RA-V and he has made the first sensible decision in years ,thus reclaiming the esteemed honour of being the "Man o da houzz".Giggles...We have decided to buy a house... la la la la... twirls ,skips and grins..

I know that nothing is finalized yet but I have already started dreaming about our new house and assuming that suddenly I will get extremely creartive and turn it into a house which everybody will marvel at.I have even imagined conversations with people ( and that's a leap of fancy since I am kind of a non social person) asking me how wonderful my house is and what makes me so creative.Heh heh..My responses are ready!!

Well.a girl can dream can't she..:-)

New Beginnings

2010-02-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is my very first post and though I know that I may end up with zero readers,i am still a bit apprehensive about writing here.

The thing is that I get these sudden urges to do things but history will show that there's not one single thing that I have really stuck to for long.Zero, Zilch..I am like a child who keeps getting dazzled with every shiny thing ,only to lose interest when I have seen it up close.

I follow a lot of blogs and keep getting inspired to start something on my own, only to get caught up in the various mundane things of life and forgetting all about it.This blog is a sort of a challenge to myself.I seriously hope that I stay committed to this.Amen..