Diwali 2015 part II

So here is the second and concluding part of Diwali 2015. Typically after Bhaidooj I do not put elaborate rangolis. This year I was extremely upset that someone deliberately erased my rangolis. Yup deliberately erased. Below picture shows how bad the scene was.

I decided to make elaborate rangolis everyday till Tulasi puja. So presenting my rangolis in this picture heavy post.

Below are pictures of my rangolis drawn on Tulasi puja.

Do drop in a line, I would love to hear from you.


For Diwali 2015 decor click here.

Diwali 2015 part I

Hello you lovely people!! How have you been. Ya ya I know i have been away for a while. So thought I should come up with a picture heavy post that could be a treat for your eyes :)

So here I am presenting some pretty corners of the house during rangoli.

So this time around I used all symbols of Lakshmi e.g.: Shells, Elephant, Tortoise, Lamps, and Lotus. I also used fresh flowers especially Marigold. I thought the effect achieved was just awesome. I also have painted prayers on stone alongside Lakshmi pagla.

No Diwali can be complete without my favourite rangolis. Below are pictures of baras, teras and Lakshmi puja rangolis.

Drawing the peacock during Diwali has been a personal ritual for many years. My Diwali is just not complete without the peacock. What do you think of these. Do drop a line on the comments section below. I would love to hear from you.

Stand by for the second part of the story.....

Click here

First birthday .....

Yup its the blog's first birthday. Seems like it started just yesterday with the ganesha post. Its been a year and like it happens with almost every blogger there have been many a challenges. But its been fun. Its a great gallery for all my experiments.

Happy birthday dear blog. Wish you success, fame and a great year ahead.

You may visit my first post here.

And this is how you can entertain your child indoors during the monsoons...

Any with the rains lashing out at us last week, I was a little stranded. The school had not yet reopened, weather was gloomy, outdoor activities came to a standstill and my little one gave me a hard time.

I had to think on my feet all the time, to keep him from crying or mischief. This old game that we played as kids came to my rescue. My mother collected a lot of old book's cardboard and gave it to me. I pulled it out and handed them to my son and got him to make house, school, garage parking etc.. He had a blast and I was at peace.

So like I say when in doubt run to your own 'mom'.

What's your personal ritual?

A ritual is any practise regularly performed in a set manner. These can be prescribed by religion, tradition or both. Some e.gs can be the way puja is followed during ganesh chaturthi or diwali. Or the prefunctions at weddings change from culture to culture and state to state in India. 

Some people also draw up family or personal rituals. These vary from persons taste, orientation, interests etc.. Some examples of family ritual could be having a certain breakfast on sunday OR exercising together every morning etc. Personal rituals gives us an opportunity to look within. Something as simple as listening to calming music early in the mornings can bring about calm, peace and change our outlook to the day ahead. Personal rituals are believed to draw us to a sacred space. 

Today I am not really discussing something so heavy. I have chosen to tell you my simple ritual that I try and follow most days of the week. Presenting to you the Tulasi katte rangoli .....

All above rangolis drawn by yours truly

Every morning I look forward to this activity. Besides helping in hand and eye movement, sharpening the brains function it makes my day happy :)

Do drop a line on your personal ritual. I love to hear from you.

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.

Accessories for the house, what will you choose?

Hi there! You have already seen glimpses of my house before. As a next step I will share ideas on home accessories today. Accessories can really lift the mood of a dull house. It helps to accentuate, highlight the interest of the inhabitants and make the house more pleasant, warm and welcoming.

There are various types of accessories available in the market. One can choose from a wide range of readily available accessory to DIYs. Before going all out it makes sense to do some small trials and understand one’s personal style and liking. Is the bohemian style really your type or simple rooms with just one or two well-placed accessory? You can always move from little to more. But if you invest in a lot and then not like the effect well it’s a big waste of time, energy and monies, beside you will have a large stock of things you long like.

So really what are the accessories we are referring to? Let’s start with the walls.

Wall: Wall dressing is suddenly very big now and can really make for style statement. There are several wall paints and effects available to choose from, besides wall papers. Then there are paintings, murals, photography etc to choose from. My style is traditional, simple, functional and clutter free. I have kept the walls simple and added handmade mural on one wall and a traditional rajasthani Jharokha on one wall. I am very happy with the effect.

Wall accessories [Mural made by me], Jharoka and durries etc from my house

Plants: I love plants and cannot function without them. Variety of house plants are available like the money plants, succulents, palms, peace lily, and cactus etc.. The plants are a very good option to add colour to a dull room. The colour is of course very pleasing to the eyes. The plants can be kept in pretty ceramic, plastic or brass containers. Plants are the cheapest form of accessories available.

Plants around my house

Flowers: Rely on flower power for instant mood lifting. A variety of flowers are available and suit various occasions. There are the lilies, chrysanthemums, carnations, sunflower, dahlia, roses, marigold etc.. I prefer marigold for festivals. The other come in on and off. As the bouquet grows older and stems shorter I change containers and eventually the flowers are kept as floating flowers. This season is blessed with one of my favourite frangipani which are perfect for floatingJ. I also use artificial flowers in nooks and corners to add colour and just beautiful dull corners.

Flower power for various seasons and reasons

Other accessories: In the ‘other’ category I have brass lamps, brass figurines, ceramic figurines, terracotta objects, shells and conch etc.. These can be used to create vignettes on the centre tables, dining tables or any surfaces. There are the door accessories in form of bandhdwar [havediscussed a DIY on a post], variety of wind chimes [discussed in a post before] and other wall hanging available.

Bandhdwar, chimes, brass lamps, figurines and conch etc in the house.

Lights: This is yet another type of accessory that is ever evolving. There are thousands of lights to choose from the market. Traditionally we just had the up lights, down lights, table lamps, and chandeliers to choose from. But now in the range of decorative lights the colour material functions of lights have evolved. Wide range of fixtures, LED lights, and pendant lights etc. to choose from, that can bring about drama in a dull ambience. I prefer simple functional lights and my favourite is the sunlight.

Afternoon sun in the kitchen

Drapes and Upholstery: While this is not my personal style I thought it’s a good ideas to list it since a variety of drapes and upholstery are available in the market. I prefer simple light weight curtains and sofa covers. There are sofa dressings also available which again I do not use. But one could explore options in the market and try it. The sofa dressing I think is a great idea to conceal very old sofas. Instead of redoing the entire upholstery the dressings do the job well at affordable pricing.

So yes, you have a wide variety to choose from. Do try out and let me know what your personal style is. I love to hear from you, do drop a line below.

Rangoli designs in under five minutes.

I know a lot of people who love Rangoli but just cant find the time to draw one. Lets do a show of hands. How many in this category? Hmn I know many isn't it. This post is just for you! Yup you read it right, it is about...
Rangolis designs that can be drawn in under 5 minutes!

Seriously, I have actually timed myself on these. Some of these have taken about 3 minutes. So if you are an ardent lover of the floor art but cant find the time to devote to it, here are a few inspiration designs for you.

Over the years I have come up with a few tricks. Firstly you need to have the design in mind atleast the basic. Often what I have in mind is very different from what comes up on the floor. But a gist does help. Second and most important keep the design simple. Third is the colouring. This stage takes up a long time [not referring to the Sanskar Bharati variety]. This is where I have learnt to cheat. Yup, we do not really have to colour the entire rangoli. Colouring just a few parts really enhance the design. Alternately you could choose to leave the rangolis white. However some cultures consider it inauspicious to do so hence colouring is a must. 

My designs are a representation of all the above mentioned tricks. And now without much ado presenting some of my Rangoli design drawn in under five minutes.

I know you loved them, didn't you? So I want you to drop a few words in the comments section below. I also would like you to try out these designs and let me know your experience.

For more designs you could visit:
Borders
Contemporary
Traditional
Others

Alternately just search on the blog for Rangoli designs. Together lets celebrate and revive the floor art in our urban living.

DIY accessory for potted plants

Hi everyone! Like most people living in the metros I too have space constraint and therefore my so called garden is on my window grill. And yes I do struggle to keep my plants alive. The regular stuff like watering, plant food, trimming, rotation basis sunlight etc... does happen. But the difficult one to tackle are attacks from the pigeon and crows!

Somewhere I read that the birds do not like bright colours. So I decided to do a DIY accessory for the plants that will also protect them. 

This one is a very quick DIY. The materials required are pop sticks or regular kulfi sticks, readymade flowers or butterflies made of net and glue. I choose butterfly because I love butterflies.

Procedure: [refer to pic above]

1. Stick the ready made butterfly to the stick
2. Allow it to dry and then place it in the pots

I choose bright pink and purple butterflies. Look above don't they look beautiful. Now I just hope the birds don't like them as much as I do.

I used to stick flags of different colours to stick and put it in the pots, also used some of my son's craft stuck it on the sticks and put it in the pots. But I liked this the best.

This one is such a quick and easy DIY that you have absolutely no excuse not to try it. Do try it and share your experience with me. Do let me know if you liked my idea, drop a line below I am waiting :)

Check my other work here. Or simply search for craft and art on the blog.

Kids book storage DIY

In my last post I mentioned there was an eye soar and that i'd fix it and write a post around it. So here I am with my DIY post. If you remember my post Glimpses of my house, I had created a reading nook for my son. In the rack I had reused old cartons to keep his books. Yup that was the eye soar and I have fixed it :)

Glimpses of my house

Ever since I was in college one of my favourite pass times was to read décor magazine namely Inside outside, Ikea, Interior Design, Home design, House garden etc.. I would be in awe of all that I saw, the beautiful interiors, plus décor, huge entryways, luxurious furniture etc..

Seeing all the design always brought many basic questions to my mind which never really got answered. e.g.

• Who cleans such large spaces, especially dusting

• How do they maintain the décor on a day to day basis

• Does the interior not get ruined during the rains

•  Do the furniture or drapes etc not get spoilt? If they do get spoilt will the set not break!

• Who designs such pretty homes, but what if the owner doesn't like the design!

•  Do they not get bored of seeing the same thing

While none of the above got answered I did get a sense of my individual style. Yes there is a learning process even in mere observation. So what is my individual style? Well it is:

• Simple, functional and clean straight lines

• Bright warm lights

• Light weight furniture

• Easy to clean and uncluttered spaces

Easy of maintenance tops the chart. No matter what I Choose for the house be it a piece of furniture, accessory or drapes I pick it on the basis of complexity of its maintenance and its endurance levels of the Mumbai monsoon.

Having said that, nothing is final, after all these years I am still at experimentation stage :) Maximum experiments happen in my house. Below are few glimpses of my house.

Above is a picture of my living room. We experimented with one colour on each wall and it looks nice. There is a bright yellow wall which I absolutely adore. A simple big watch tells the time. I prefer ethnic over contemporary style. I like to pick up things from our various travels. The jharoka is from Udaipur, the terracotta Krishna idol inside it is from Kolkata, the brass lamp from Cochin etc. I also prefer durries over carpets for easy maintenance. I prefer accessories made by myself. The mural, painted food containers, Newspaper weaved basket, Warli painting etc.. are made by yours truly. Don't miss the light weight seaters and sofa. I also like plants in the house. They give so much character and charm to any room.

Above is my pink wall. This is a cozy corner full of soft toys, ideal for ideation, reading or just day dreaming. The terracotta dhol below the plant is from Jaipur and the wooden Jagannath statue from Puri in Orissa. Yes I love natural materials and fibre hence you will see a lot of wood, bamboo, terracotta and brass around my house. Hmn and my favourite flowers, easiest way to lift moods, muah!!

Lovely na I know :) But guess what boredom hits me very easily. I cant see the same things around me all the time. So I like moving things around and it brings about instant visible change. And that's precisely why I have light weight furniture, minimal wall decor and minimal fixed furniture.

Look at the above picture, its from the living room. I filled this space with two individual chairs and have placed a multipurpose table in the centre. The plant always a part of the interior, and have thrown in a terracotta tortoise and a soft toy. What say do you like the effect?

The above picture is a reading corner I created using the bamboo corner table. I collected all my sons favourite books and stacked them here. In the summer vacation I wanted these books easily accessible to him. It has a stool for him to be seated and an easel for him to scribble on. My son helped me assemble it and was super excited with the effect. What do you think? This area though has an eye soar. I will fix it and bring a DIY post soon.

That's all for now. 

Would you like to drop a line or story of your house? Do write in, waiting to hear from you.

Kids activity with multiple benefits...

Hello all you beautiful people.

The summer vacation is upon us and that means it’s not just the heat but also the children’s free time that will take its toll on us. Of course we all are by now looking for summer classes, play dates and outing to keep the little brats busy. But well guess what we have like almost 90 days of vacation and phew that’s quite a bit! I have not yet found any activity or sets of activities to span this period.

A lot has been written and read about educational activities, activities to develop fine motor skills, gross motor skills, sensory play etc… but don’t we all know that when the child puts up a tantrum she just creates a scene no matter what. And all those readings go down the drain. Keeping up the child’s mood and in turn outs is one hell of a task. No two days are identical and well we have to fend for ourselves every single day. Which also means that if you have planned for a particular activity for the day there is no assurance that your child will be

Rangoli borders

Hello beautiful people. I have been missing from action for a while now. And I am back with a topic close to my heart. Yes its the rangoli. I have compiled a few borders for your use. Borders have various utility, they can be drawn at the thresholds of the entrance to the house, on steps, on window sills, and around a rangoli to define it etc.. Essentially its rangoli design for small spaces :)

These can be drawn with the rangoli powder, with chalk or with paint. Essentially borders are a compilation of motifs in a series. Borders can be of various types: floral, geometric, and free hand etc.. This post is a picture heavy post. 

was difficult to put them all on one piece so below are some more

All above borders are drawn by me using the rangoli powder. I have maintained most of them in just the white colour. You could use colour in between like dots or dashes. Please do try the above designs and drop in a line. 

Do leave a comment in the below box. I would love to hear from you.


To see my other rangoli work click here and here. You could also hang around and see my mehandi, paintings and crafts etc.. Do drop a feedback.

My Madhubani ...

Madhubani painting also called Mithila painting is practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar state. The paintings are done with fingers, twigs, nib pens, matchsticks, and colours are made from natural dyes and pigments. There are paintings for various occassions such as birth, marriage, festivals, thread ceremony etc... These paintings are characterized by bright colours and eye catching geometric patterns. The motifs are outlined with black colour, the image of gods have big eyes. This art is typically passed down generations. However I picked it by observation.

Below is my experiment with this beautiful art. Let me know what you think about it. This art work takes a very long time the book marks took over an hour to be made. The larger piece took over three hours. It can be framed and used as wall art. I have used pencil colours and ink for my work.

Do drop a line would love to hear from you.
Click here for some bookmarks.

Contemporary, small rangoli designs

Hello everyone! 

I have brought eye-candies for you. Yeah I know I have been guilty of not posting my Favorited art for a long time. Though I draw the rangoli at the doorstep almost everyday, I don't click and upload it. Today I bring to you a few choicest ones. These are my own designs, do let me know how you like them. So without much ado....

Do drop in a line and let me know what you think of these designs. Incase you've missed my earlier designs, just click here and here.

What's with the bells?

Yea really what's with the bells?

Well, lets figure out through this post :). Bells are usually hollow metal objects typically in the shape of a deep inverted cup and has a deep musical note when struck by the clapper inside.

Each bell produces a different sound, depending of the size, shape, material it is made up of. Yup! now that's what gets my attention. I would go a step ahead and say each bell has a unique sound. Some sound like a gong, some have a short sound like say "ting ting tin" some are soothing sounds, and some sound like the 'Om' absolutely pure.

Bells have different utility e.g. there is the school bell and it rings best when it rings for the last time in the day. Umn, fortunately my son hasn't started reading my posts yet.

The bell in the mandir are used to attract the attention of the god. Its also believed that the mandir bell helps clear the energy of the devotee, thereby creating a peaceful mind that enables prayers.

Then there are the copper bells, the show bells that really dont make any sound as such, and ofcourse last but not the least the windchimes. 

Incase you are wondering why such a detailed post on bells.......... thats because I love bells and have them in various shapes and sizes around my house hee hee. 

So without much ado lets jump to the bells around my house.........

The above is the picture of the the bells I painted right outside my main door. Yeah these pretty lively bells welcome visitors. Its also a hit with kids in the building.

The extreme left is the picture of a terracotta bell, that makes no sound. The middle one is the picture of a wall handing and has a bell at the end. The extreme right one is a handmade door hanging I created and has a bell at the end.

 The above is a common temple bell used during puja and aarti in households.

The above are little chimes which I have hung on the door handles of the wardrobe. Aren't they just so pretty!

The above is the picture of the wind chime. This produces the best sound. I just love it, its so soothing.

The extreme left in the above picture, is a gift from Istanbul. The other two above are Chinese bells. They look very pretty, one goes in the car as well.

The above one friends is a brass wall hanging from Khan market Delhi.

Amongst all these pretty bells in the house, there is one bell that I absolutely do not like and its the door bell!! 

So what do you think of bells, what comes to mind? Also do write what you think of my bell collection, in the comments section below. 

Boarnahan 2015

As promised, here I am with my detailed post on Boarnahan. 

Boar, Sugarcane, and other goodies set for the ritual. Aarti plate is also set.

What is Boarnahan:
Lets start with understanding the word Boarnahan. Splitting the word gets us Boar + nahan = Showering with boar (winter fruit). Also called Ber, Jujub, Indian plum etc.. Little children [below age 5] are showered with Boar, sugar cane, churmura, phutana, sugar candies and other goodies. Picture above. In some parts Boarnahan is also called loot.

When is this ritual performed?
This ritual is performed on or after Makar sankranti and before Rathasaptami.

Where is this ritual practiced?
This ritual is widely practiced in Maharashtra, North Karnataka and some parts of Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Some perform this ritual once while some observe it for five years. I preferred to do it for five years. This was his last boarnahan. 

Details:
Little children are dressed and adorned with 'Halvya che daghine' [Marathi for ornaments made of sugar candies]. These ornaments include a neck piece, crown, armlets, bracelets and a murli. Picture below. Boys are usually dressed as Krishna. The eldest lady of the family performs the Aarti and tika. And then all the elders shower the child with goodies. 

Ceremonial ornaments also called Halvya che daghine

My mom performing the Aarti to our little krishna

These goodies are then collected/looted by the other children who are specially invited to loot. This is the messiest part. hence what I do is pack the smaller goodies viz churmura, mamra, til gud etc.. in small plastic packs and the other things like chocolates, biscuits, other savouries, pencils rubbers etc are left open since they do not mess as much. I also provide each child with a loot bag and get them to write their initials on them so that their bags do not mix up. After the loot, the kids are served refreshments.

This time my boy was mighty upset that he got looted and said, "arre saab le liya kuch bhi nahi rakhha mere liye". I was so amused.

We all showering him with goodies

.....and the kids loot our little Krishna.

Why is this ritual performed?
There are a lot of stories or benefits listed. 

• Some say by performing this ritual the parents pay gratitude to the god for bestowing them with a child and promise to take care of the child forever.
• Some say showering the child with boar and other goodies bring in good luck to the child and ensures no evil eye can be cast on the child.
• Some say showering the child with goodies involves blessing the child.

My personal explanation is this ritual is performed so that parents share their bundle of joy with others in the society. It also helps the child make friends. Its pure socializing. 

My boy and the kids had a blast or what.........

This was our last boarnahan the end of another phase. Singing out with mixed feelings.

Do drop in a line I would love to hear from you.

Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Lohri, Bihu, Bhogi and others....

The first festival of the year 2015 is here and different people celebrate it differently and call it different names. Essentially its the harvest festival. On 13th the North Indians celebrated Lohri, on 14th Andra celebrated Bhogi and Gujarat celebrated Uttarayan, East celebrated Bihu and on 15 Makar Sankranti and Pongal. There may be others I am unaware of. 

In all these festivals few ingredients are common like the laya, til, gud, sugar cane, coconuts, peanuts, and boar etc... Few variations occur region to region e.g. In Gujarat people feast on Undhiyon [winter special vegetables], in north they feast on Makkai roti and sarson ka saag, in south it is the Pongal. Festivals are all about food, decorations and dressing up well isn;t it? Of course there are other things like flying the kite, haldi kumkum and the boarnahan. 

Like many Indians I am not exactly aware of the whyz of every ritual, but I follow some because it brings in sheer happiness. While there are many sankranti through the year I have no idea why just this one is celebrated on a large scale? Any of your beautiful peoples want to share any additional information for the knowledge of people reading this article are welcome to do so.

So whatever it is you are celebrating just remember to be Happy!! That's the core message ENJOY!!

Festival special rangoli and decoration

More on Boarnahan a little later. In the meanwhile do drop a line, I'd love to hear from you.

2015 it is!!!

Hello beautiful people.............. 

Trust you had a blast welcoming the new year! I wish you a year filled with happiness, prosperity and creativity. May you dream big and realise all your dreams this year.