Frangipani earrings from plastic bottles

Another attempt to recycle, this time plastic bottles into earrings...

Here are the WIP pictures..

I have written a detailed Do it yourself instruction here

Tea light holder mixed media

As I was reading my blog roll , I came across 2 challenges(which I am linking to) that have highly inspired this project

Firstly,  Lulupu challenge 49 = color palette+ feminine creations + use wings which has a fantastic picture. In the picture something subtle but what caught my attention the girl in the picture holding a candle stand, the bronze clock and the tinge of pink, blue and peach.

 Another challenge that truly got me starting was CSCC #14 mixed media challenge. The romantic picture kept making me this of candle light. In the picture I loved the magnifying effect with a dash of bright red which steals all attention.

 So there I was sitting in my crafting area staring at an old cardboard box. I knew I wanted to make a candle light holder, but these 2 pictures set my mood going.

 I am making this as an inspiration for the unstampablles challenge with a theme of family tree with a twist to make it vintage. I interpreted the theme slightly differently to think of members of the family as  different elements of a tree (flower/ fruits, roots, flora , fauna), with light meaning family bond in the center.

 

I altered a cardboard box into a tea light candle holder. I added strips of cardboard and painted make it appear as wood. Further randomly added torn vintage pp , dabbed with inks and gesso.

 

I added brown and orange flowers (from flourishwithbling) and some hand made flowers. I made a metal butterfly from some broken old earrings. I also made the peach flowers of handmade paper and added pearls to it to embellish

 

 

Embellished this with pearls, beads, fibre etc. I also stuck a magnifying glass to focus on “our journey” to add some emotion and magnify emotions.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed it and play along the unstampablles challenge which is giving away a superb pillow box die from Die-namics .

materials used

Linking this project to

Lulupu challenge 49 and CSCC #14 and
 BGC #68 (make your own embellishments). I have made flowers, used magnifying glass as embellishment.

 

Pretty gift bag

This is my first post this year and thank you everyone who liked my worked and made my day by leaving your comments.

The festive season always brings loads of inspiration for me. This month at unstampabelles, is to create a thank you memento with a twist to take inspiration from something just outside the window. So as I head to my window, this is what I see looking closer.

So taking inspiration from this I decided to make a Thank you gift bag. I made plenty of these as a return gift for my daughters birthday now.
This is a quick goodie bag I made up of hand made paper. I also made crepe paper flowers and added silver twine as a handle.

Well, I made 20 of these and packed them with toys and chocolates. They are quick to make, fun to decorate and add a whole new flavor to the gifts. And kids love them (as much as the mommies!)

All out with watercolors.

The other day I planted a whole new colors of rose moss (sun rose)  flower plants, but ever since it has just been cloudy and these beauties don’t blossom unless there is full sunshine. Im going to use this theme for card.

 

After crayons and color pencils, watercolors is the first wet paint introduced to kids in school, ever since I have adored its versitality. There is so much one can do with them and I wanted to try so many techniques at one go.

 

First to create a textured paper, I mixed water colors (from tube) with white PVA glue. I dabbed blue, yellow and red of this mixture on a glossy cardstock. I moved it randomly to let the free will of colors to mix. Then I simply made a checked pattern with a fork as you can see.

 

 

My second experiment was with tissue papers. First, I dirtied my craft mat with water colors, pink, red, yellow, white & glue and then used a tissue paper to soak it up and allowed it to dry. (The glue is used to harden the tissue although it continues to look delicate.

 

 

Thirdly, I applied a thick layer of gesso in up to down direction on card stock and after drying applied 2-3 coats of dark blue. This gives a nice matte look to the paper.

 

 

Now I had created three textures with watercolors, what better than combining it.

 

I made flowers with these tissue papers. I prefer not to cut them into petals, but simple tear them out ad roll them. Flowers are so random, so why not be random while making them.

 

 

I cut out leaves from the first textured paper I had created and created a flower scene. I thought some small piece of lace will do justice so added a piece in between the flowers.

 

 

Now incase you noticed the nice clear sticker sun on top of the card and are left wondering from where I got it, well, I just pulled it out from a wine bottle...I cant help but include atleast one recycled item (even if remotely) in every project.

 

Im quite happy with the whole look of the card and the combination of textures and colors. Just hoping this inspires the clouds to move out and let the sun shine bright over my sun moss!!

 

Am linking this to

 http://beyondgrey.blogspot.in/2014/08/bgc57-watercolors.html watercolors

 http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/08/challenge-89-flowers.html flowers

 http://www.craftybloggersnetwork.blogspot.in/2014/08/august-challenge-at-crafty-bloggers.html summer fun

 http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.in/2014/08/a-summer-garden.html  Summer garden

 

Button buttons

I have loads of buttons and sewing materials lying in my stash..I thought of using them in this black and bronze LO.

I was inspired by the picture on Julia Stainton blog and was all charged up to experiment with buttons.

 

 

I created a layout with bronze, black and white....stuck a floral die cut and used buttons, ribbon flowers randomly. I think i have not photographed it too well (thanks to the poor weather here)....but it does look quite chic to me!

 

 

Linking this to CASE Study 4th Anniversary Week #3

http://gloriadesignschallenge.blogspot.in/ Challenge #14 Button it Up!

http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.in/ Anything goes

http://paulaholifieldcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ sew what

 

 

 

The much ado about Star lantern….

Last Christmas my daughter turned 1 year old. I remember she used to cry while teething, vaccination etc and there was only Yesterday one solution….Take her to the balcony and point out to a Star lantern hanging in our neighbors house. . .  Now she is far bigger (I mean by 6 months) but her love for star lantern has only grown. So, yesterday I decided to hang a star lantern in our balcony. But where do I find a star lantern in this season when the monsoon is ready to kick in and all shops are displaying only raincoats and umbrellas……….An easy solutions I thought…make a star lantern. . . I also involved her in the project (allowed her to color and stick glitter…..

 

And here it is….

 

You can download this layout if you like. You will need five of these

 

 

You will need card paper (You can experiment with different colors and prints)

 

 

The five side cut-outs…. (At this stage you can punch holes, paint etc all before sticking)

 

 You need paper , glue and thread to hang it. As per the layout , the dotted line is where you must fold the paper inwards like a cone. Apply glue on the pink line. Stick the pink flap to the next cone forming a chain. The last one you can keep open if to want to insert a bulb. You can insert a thread at the sticking joint if you want to hang it .  And the lantern finally

 

Kids creativity workshop...an art synergy

Every 3-4 months I conduct a Kids workshop where kids of different age bands work together on art and crafts for a series of days when they learn about drawing, painting, paper crafts, basic craft techniques like collage, gift packing, card making, simple origami, basic quilling, flower making, stamping, misting , embossing etc.....These sessions are great especially because kids come with no reservations and are always willing to unlearn, not copy and think unique.


Add caption

However, this was the first time I had kids below the age of 4 attend this one day session. Of them 3 kids (including my own) were between 16 to 19 months, who cant speak, read or write (while their mommies were sitting in the room n chit chatting). I thought to myself it would be challenging to get them to do artwork. But I was wrong, they were wonderful. I am completely amazed at them and myself!

Here is the final artwork they produced.


With the toddlers I used safe non toxic colors with special toddler grips, and home made paints like turmeric (haldi), Spinach (palak), beetroot extracts and their hands/ feet.

For the kids above 2 years let them use crayons, paint brush, gum/glue.


Now here is what they did  simultaneously but independently (I couldn't capture all pictures as I was too involved with the children at times, plus my hands were messy with veg colors.

This is how beautifully the toddlers smeared haldi all over a huge sheet...The other kids pointed out that their finger traces looked like tree barks or animal stripes...

I taught the 2.5 yrs old drip painting which is a form of abstract art where you intentionally pour paint in some spots and turn the canvas too let it flow on its own.

 

 

After practicing on this sheet of paper she ddid the same on the haldi smeared paper to create black / red trees effect (when you mix spinach green and beet red in equal proportion you get black..they discovered it!)

 

Initial session to get the kids acquainted to each other

 

 

In the mean while the 3 year + olds made some random sketches, paintings etc.

 

 

 

Then finally came the fun part. They cut the pieces to their own imagination and stuck it together and color over it using similar techniques. The team (without speaking) mutually decided to let the eldest 4 year old take over this job....

 

The leaves that you see are not painted but are vegetable prints made from a cut okra (bhindi) and little gourd (tindora)

 

......And finally what a beautiful piece of art they put together. . . This was a great learning from me, them and their mothers (especially some who thought their kid didn't like arts and craft)...It was great to see the otherwise helter skelter kids sitting in one place, taking inspiration from each other and producing this beauty of synergy..Will do something similar soon. I hope you feel inspired too



 

2 minute Gluten free oats cookie chocolate (microwave)

As I see my kid munching on junk it troubles me that probably I’m not offering her sufficient alternatives. Wanted something low fat, more nutritious and of course tasty. Hence after much experimenting I have arrived at a perfect and easy recipe of oats , ragi ( finger millet) and raisins which is a hit among kids (and adults)…

Here is the list of ingredients:

1. One cup Oatmeal (this is a great source of fibre among other benefits and will also give your cookie a nice munchy texture)
2. Half a cup Ragi/ Nachni/ finger millet flour (you can add all purpose flour instead if you like but ragi is extremely rich in calcium)
3. One egg (you can choose to skip this one, but I found the cookie to turn out less brittle with egg)
4. One table spoon castor sugar (you can add more if you please)
5. One and half table spoon unsalted butter  (you can add oil instead)
6. Three table spoons cocoa powder.
7. Pinch of baking powder.
8. One tea spoon salt
9. One cup milk

 

To these you can add any of these ingredients as per convenience and preference. (not more half a cup)

·         Sunflower seeds/ Pumpkin seeds/ crushed peanuts

·         Dates

·         Raisins(if u like you can soak these in rum for an hour before using it)

·         Assorted dry fruit pieces (make sure these are broken into smaller pieces (powdered if necessary)

·         Choco chips

·         Rice crispies (lesser than 1/4th cup)

·         Flax seeds (this will give you your dose of omega 3 nutrients too but add very few as it may add a very strong taste)

 

Process:

Beat the egg well , gently add flour, sugar, oats coco powder. Continue mixing till you find it difficult to stir anymore as it hardens. Now slowly add milk as you continue stirring the mixture. Now add rest of the ingredients till mixed well. The consistency is thicker than that of cake but thinner than bread dough. Line your baking tray/ microwave friendly vessel with butter/ oil and place the dough in it. Here you have to ensure that the dough sits flattened (hence it has to be flowy in consistency) , because if it’s too thick it will not bake well. Remember we are using less oil than normal!............just a 2 minute wait and your cookie is ready (depending on the power etc, you may have to cook it a little more…if you cook lesser it will be like hard cake which is better than it being burnt!)  Just poke it with a fork and check. Your fork should come out clean if cooked.

Once done, let it cool completely and you can pack it in a jar to carry some daily for the next week. I can’t really comment on how many days it lasts without refrigerating it as it has been polished off within 3-4 days in my house.

faux metal wall art

Here is some experiment with home made clay and metallic paints.....

These look great with different light effects in the room......

 

Orange (Citrus) cake microwave

I never thought id ever post recipes...but here I am my experiment with citrus cake turned out extremely tasty!

You need 2 eggs,  1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or butter), 1 cups flour, 1 cup semolina,  3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup fresh orange/ sweet lime pulp, zest from oranges, vanilla essence....

 

First beat the eggs well and add all the other ingredients except zest. I dint use a juicer but manually extracted the pulp such that it remains intact and tastes great when u bite into it. Gently sprinkle the zest. I added lesser sugar as the oranges and sweet limes I used were extremely ripe and sweet. Pour into a microwave bowl lined with butter/ oil and I let it cook in the microwave for 7 minutes (keep checking that it doesn't over cook or will lose the pulp taste

 

Once done I scooped out the center and put some orange marmalade, sprinkled icing sugar and designed the cake to look like an orange slice....

It tasted great and kids love it! Later I experimented the same with fresh pineapple juice, turned out lovely too!

glass painting on window

Had a shabby window where no curtain could be put, so painted the glass

Love it, 6 am in morning my daughter gets up , points at the colorful shadow of the painting on the wall and shouts..."Hey!!!"

 

Custom made wall art

This was custom made for a restaurant with an interiors themed based on contemporary form of  Indian gods

 

(16" X 20")

16" X 23"

16" X 23"

 

Oil pastels and experiments

My quickest oil pastel sketch (8 mins)...with some photographic experiments... presentation does make a big difference....

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Some more photographic experiment