Gift wrap and gift cards DIY

Gift wrap and gift cards, yeah this one is a first on the blog. I enjoy trying out different styles of wrapping. I do believe in recycling and reusing. So I save up a lot of gift wraps, ribbons, brown papers etc...

The below is a regular glossy wrapping paper I have used. I do not liked using the coloured surface on top. I use the white/silver part of the paper outside. I stuck a rainbow print wasi tape to bring about spur of colour.

A handmade paper or brown paper with washi tape would also look very pretty. Instead of the washi tape you could try using ribbons.

And now is the time for gift cards. The gift cards available in the stores are too boring and I resort to their use only if I have absolutely no time to create something. Below I have used handmade paper and some stick on glittery sequins. I tried one in the tent form and used a gold thread to secure it to the gift.

Do try try out these and share. I love to hear from you, do drop a line.

Christmas DIY Part III

Hello friends!! we have just another day before Christmas and I am bursting with ideas and unfortunately do not have enough time for execution. Frankly I had not planned the part III, but it just happened.

My son wanted to make something for his teachers for Christmas and I wanted him to help in the creation [as usual]. One of my favourite gifting option is the bookmark and hence I got a brainwave!!!

Christmas DIY part II

Hello!! you beautiful people. I hope the last month of the year is treating you well. I know a lot of you the Christmas DIY part I. I do hope you have tried them. Do send me pictures of your trials. As promised I am back with the second part of the Christmas DIY. This post is a savior for all those running late for their Christmas decorations. As always my DIYs are simple, easy and quick to make.

I had visited Ooty during one of summer vacations. I saw pine cone tree for the first time and was elated. I went overboard collecting pine cones. I have a heap of them to say the least. I decided to use them for christmas decor in many ways. Below is the DIY to a ornament.


Pine Cone ornament:

1. Take two equal sized pine cone, tie them together
2. Tie a decorative cord through them, to this cord tie bows [green and gold in below pic]
3. Tan to dan.... the ornament is ready! either use it on the christmas tree or hang it from the ceiling or windows or door etc..

 above ornament made and clicked by yours truly

The snowman has fascinated me ever since I was a kid. Untill I finally experienced snow as an adult and well it wasn't exactly great. I still like the 'thought' of snowman from my memory! I decided to bring that snowman to reality. Below are the steps to making one.

Snowman:

1. Take a used ketchup bottle with an existing red lid [clean it before use], draw eyes, lips and buttons [shown in picture below]
2. Take kids clay[orange colour] and make his nose
3. Tie a bow, red satin ribbon to separate the face from the rest of the body

Here you go the snow man is ready, and looks much better than what I made with real snow :). This is one of the fastest DIY i ever made. It took me less than five minutes to make this one and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Picture of snowman made and clicked by yours truly

I had fun making these decor elements. I want to know if you liked them. Now come on drop a line, I am waiting. If you do get inspired to make any of these, do send me a picture and a line. 

Christmas DIY part I

We are in the second week of December and for some reason it just doesn't feel like Christmas. In my part of the world even the proverbial 'nip in the air' is missing. Tried surrounding myself with the colour of the season, but sigh! not much use. Was going through some old pictures. Came across simple Christmas DIY I made last year. This immediately lifted my spirits. Hence I decided to share it on the post here.

Christmas Bells:

One of the important association with Christmas is the Christmas bells. I decided to make them myself. 

1. Picked thermocol glasses and painted them in red and gold as shown below.
2. Then I made a hole at the base of the glasses and inserted a decorative thread across each glass. 
3. At the base of the thread I hung tiny bells [as shown in the right hand side picture below]. 
4. I then completed the look with a golden lace bow. 

 These bells are ready to be hung from the ceiling of the room or on the Christmas tree, or from the door etc...

Cherry:

Another association with Christmas are the cherries. I didn't really like the ones readily available in the market hence decided to make it myself. I used epoxy bond for the purpose. 

1. Handcrafted tiny balls for cherry and coloured them red
2. Next I made the leaves and coloured them green. I decided to make the veins on the leaf with 3D glitter
3. Tadda its ready [picture below]

These can be either put up on the christmas tree or many such can be made and put at the base of a candle.

I sure had fun making these Christmas decorations. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much. Do drop a line to describe how you liked it. If it inspires you to copy the DIY please do send across a picture of your work, I would love to see it.

Standby for the part II ...

P.S.: Please note, when I made the christmas bells I wasn't aware of the side effects of thermocol on our planet. Please avoid using thermocol for any decoration at all.

Upscaling used plastic containers

Much against our wishes we all use the dreaded 'plastic' in various forms - carry bags, tiffin boxes, storage boxes, readymade food containers, cosmetic bottles, etc... We throw these containers once their utility ends. I thought of trying and upscaling these containers or atleast some of them. Besides I like to facelift old things to enable them new use. 

Below are pictures of some of the upscaled old plastic containers, they are simple self explanatory DIYs. 

In the below picture I have used a curd container. 

• Cleant it and decorated it with a decorative tape at the base and 3D outliner on the body. 
• This can be used as a planter or as a container to hold the TV/music system remote controllers or to hold mobile chargers etc...

In the below picture I have re-purposed old moisturiser bottle. The bottle is cleant cut and decorated as per desire. These could be used as mobile charger holder.

I got a brainwave and thought of using the same container as a notepad holder. It can hold a few cut blank paper and a pen.

I am ofcourse very thrilled with my work. I had fun crafting these. Do write to me if this inspires you to follow. 

Click here for some more recycled designs.

Tissue paper holder

.........and the child friendly home saga continues. In the same spirit I decided to make a tissue paper holder. Yes my beautiful ceramic tissue paper holders have broken in the past and I cant go through this pain again, not to even get to the cleaning of the mess part.

Here is my beautiful tissue paper basket woven with old newspaper.

Clearly I am in love with my work hence clicked it from different angles.... :)

In case this interests you, below are pictures of the DIY in a nutshell.

Applying a primer before coloring helps in giving it an even finish. Do drop in a line to tell me what you think of my work, love to hear from you.

Handmade coaster basket

Having a child proof home is a tough job and takes forever to do so. Simple things like the beautiful coaster stands and cruet sets have a life of couple of hours in a house with a child living in it.

Talking of coaster stands, I have had my share of many broken ones. Hence I decided to make a child proof coaster basket. I decided to use the newspaper weaving method for this.

Below are picture of steps involved in its making. Make the skeleton for the desired shape, weave to form the shape, prime the finished product and colour of your choice. Simple! 

Below is a picture of the finished product. I am very happy with the result. What do you think?

Coloring the newspaper weaved products are tricky. The crevices somehow don't take well to coloring. In case someone has any tips/tricks please do share for the benefit of other readers. I would love to hear from you.

Pretty handmade utility items

I like the idea of creating things from scratch. I have made many pretty handmade utility items. This post displays these.

Below is a picture of an Udbatti stand made from epoxy compound, decorated with sequins. 

I liked the white and blue effect and made another set of Udbatti stand [shaped like a modak] and paper weight [coiled]. Below is the picture that displays it

Happy with my work I thought I should gift it to someone. But needed something equally beautiful to wrap the gift. Decorated a plain white plastic glass. Put the paperweight and Udbattistand in it, covered with transparent wrapping paper and gifted to a friend with love. Below is a picture of the plastic decorated glass. 

Unfortunately I do not have the picture of the wrapped gift. But do drop me a line with your comments. I would like to hear from you.

Craft

I tried my hand at some craft. These are done using mixed mediums namely foam, cardboard, velvet paper, sequins, mirrors, lace, ribbons etc..

These can be used indoors or outdoors as re-arrangable reusable rangolis, coasters or wall art.