Cake decoration spree

Recently I went on a cake decoration spree.....here are some pics of the cakes I baked and decorated. Most of it is buttercream icing but some figures are fondant.

Everyone enjoyed eating it..especially the little fondant animals

This is a vanilla cake

This is a strawberry jam cake

Sum of parts
 

 

Sand Art Rangoli

Hey all..I have been extremely busy with the festive season and plenty of birthday celebrations in my family. This is a rather delayed post but here is a quick glimpse of some of the Sand Art (Rangoli) I made this season. For all those who are not familiar with Diwali, in India this is a very important festival of lights, color, food and firecrackers...Ofcourse lots to do for crafters, chefs and artists also. Cleaning, decorating, preparing delicacies, gifting and vacationing is typically what we all do.

Something most Indian Homes do is draw a rangoli at the entrance of their how like a welcome gesture. Rangoli these days is a colorful sand/ marble powder which is thrown into patterns and shapes to create great pieces of art or design.  Here is a glimpse of the Rangoli I made at our entrance.....

This one was huge 6 X 6 feet

this one was smaller 3 feet...

Come sunset, and we light up with tea candles



 

And lastly, I cant resist but share with u a glimpse of these colorful sugar puffs i made

mmm...yummy!

Yes, if you did notice, this festive I was obsessed with peacocks!!!..I even ensured everyone in my house was wearing peacock- colored dresses!!!
 

Mini dressing table for a doll house

 

November 14 is celebrated as children's day so I thought of making a dressing table box unit for my kids doll house (something I have been promising her for long).

 

  

This month the theme for the unstampabelles challenges is - Box it up - with the twist being create a tutorial for others on your  blog on how the box was made; you could have a link and show progress photos and tips as an alternative . The challenge is sponsored by:

 

 

Well, this time I interpreted the theme box it up differently.  I thought out of the box quite literally!!! I decided to use boxes to create a miniature box unit dressing table, for a doll house.

 

So I gathered a couple of match boxes and cardboard. I measured an area (in my kids doll house) where I wanted to place this and cut out the cardboard as below.

 

 

 

Since I wanted to work on a grungy look, I tattered the cardboard as you can see and then folded it to my dimension. Remember the side flaps have to equate to the height of the table. Further, I used the natural corrugated portion of the cardboard to form the rims of the table.

For the drawers I stacked the 3 boxes on top of each other.

 

I covered the whole box unit with a crumpled masking tape to create an uneven texture. Yes I know it looks ugly at this stage.

 

There on I have done the following to get to the next stage:

1. Coated the masking tape with black gesso.
2. Next rubbed silver embossing powder onto the black with a sponge. At this stage naturally the protruding portion gets colored.
3. I cut out an oval shape of thick paper and coated it with foil for making a mirror.
4. Since I did not have a mirror border chipboard of this size, i decided to go with a cut out from a piece of lace.
5. After having picked the lace you want to use, cut it to dimension and dip it in glue, such that it hardens when dry and become stiff.
6. Post this I dabbed it again with black gesso.
7. The small beads paired very well with color combo and used that for my drawers and mirror.

 

This is a fully operational dressing table, with usable drawers (for the doll!).

 

hope you like my piece of furniture, all boxed up....

 

Am linking this to:

 

Lulupu challenge 41: Childs play
Imaginationsonline challenge 5 : Out of the box
 

Imaginations online products

Yesterday I received my much awaited gift parcel from imaginationsonline. The items very extremely well packaged and though it was raining in my part of the city everything was in great condition.

I received 2 packs of rubons with very handy sentiments, a pack of Epoxy stickers and bottle caps, a pack of 3d Foam tabs, a pack of die cut stickers, pack of epoxy embellishments and embellishments. Imaginationsonline is definitely a place for embellishments. This packet had pretty butterfly metal embellishments, plastic buttons, wood buttons, wooden shaped embellishments, plastic embellishments, gears, mini keys. The very adorable baby embellishments, paired with stickers are perfect for baby projects.

My favorite are the handmade flowers from happy crafters, these are very versatile and are ideal for mixed media projects. The little heart shaped buttons are so cute and will pair them up with my stamping projects.

Now my brain is already all over the place looking for craft inspirations. ..Keep checking for more on how I use these goodies in my projects.

So while you check out the Imaginationsonline store, lemme tell you they are offering upto 50% on several stamps, inks and embossing products in the clearance sale. And even if your desired products are not currently in the clearance, you can add it to you wishlist to get updates!!

 

Celebration time!!!!

Hello Belles, this is my first post as a part of the design team of UnstampaBelles challenges.

 

The challenge for October is .....

 

..TIME 

 and the twist is shabby chic!

Time can be many things - a moment, a place in the day, a memory.....

Remember also you can make a card but 

you can also make anything else that suits the challenge theme!

Just also remember - NO STAMPS to be used please either digital or rubber or clear/cling - not even in the background or for a sentiment.

October is Sponsored 

by

Flourish with a Bling

 

They are currently having a

HUGE $2 FLOWER SALE 

for the month of OCTOBER!

Now, have a look at my project. I interpreted the theme quite literally, using a clock. My project indeed has a flavor of shabby chic but is also what I call "cute".

 

I received this triangular desk clock with a big corporate logo inside…and I couldn’t help but alter this one. I wanted to go with the baby theme. I made this as a gift for namakaran  (It is a festive celebration in India  when a new baby is born and is also named in this ceremony). To the clock, I also added 3 photo areas where  photos of one’s choice can be displayed.

And dear readers, I also have and easy step by step tutorial for you!

 

 

To start with I opened the clock piece to paint (white)the inside to hide the logo. Since a new mommy is tearing herself part between feeding, changing diapers, playing with  the baby and taking care of herself I thought of adding stickers / sketching cartoons with copic markers to add flavor. I also  stuck a monkey on the long hand of the clock suck that he can do the rounds(pun intended) 24 times a day, accompanying the mommy.   

Click for an elaborate view

Next I cut out a tree with my paper knife from a Kraft colored cardboard (Which is one ingredient I almost always use for my mixed media project).

 

 

Please click for an elaborate view

 

 

I had hoarded the yogurt cup holders we buy from the store. When I stick two together in allows me to even slip  photo through it acting like a frame. I decided to use it here as the radius of these perfectly matched the clock (I broke the 3^rd circle as you can see).

For the base of the clock, I first coated the glass with masking tape. Then I coated it with gesso and modelling paste and scratched with a fork to create a checked pattern. I once again smooshed the ink pads directly on this. Then I stuck my tree onto the side.

 

I cut out my textured papers and stuck them onto the created frame. This is the space created to add photos.  Now comes the fun part, embellishing this. You can see a lenient use of chipboard, beads, lace, twine.

The bird is a chipboard, the eggs are beads while the nest is burlap string. The baby and the milk bottle are embellishments  (of polymer clay) by Sunglow Art.

 

 

Note that I have leniently used lace behind each embellishment and inked it for adding drama!

 

 

I made flowers  using the same textured paper and pearl. The green moss/ grass is fibre moss. If you do not have this green wool which is torn and tattered will work equally well!

Did you also notice a tad of shimmer i added?

'

And here it is!

Hope this inspires you to play along and make your own time piece….Link your project HERE

 

Supplies used (If not mentioned in the post already):

Embellishments/ stencil from itsy bitsy

Gesso white

Modeling paste

Hot melt stick

Archival ink pad: rose, magenta hue

Dylusions ink sprays: Funky fuchsia, bubblegum pink 

  

Am also linking this to

Imaginationsonline: Festive Celebration of baby birth

BGC 61#: Baby shower

Lessology: Created a baby scene

SSS: Show us what you made

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #5 - Ribbons, Twine, & Fibers

 

Seasons greetings

Here is another card made by my 9 year old niece, Reva. She has used Autumn stamp set, home made ink sprays, crackle paint, modeling paste and has had loads of fun (and created loads of mess for me to clear up). Think this is a great activity for kids!

Here is a glimpse of her card.

 

 

 

Linking this to CSCC 8: One card one stamp set

SSS: O for October fall

Craft Hoarders Anonymous: Fall

Jellypark challenges: autumn

 

 

 

Once upon a time.....altered book cover

Small things in life often leave a lot of inspiration for me charge my crafting instincts. This weekend I had arranged a play date for my kid. I spent half the time reading fairy tales after fairy tales. …All the books started with “ Once upon a time…..”..With a calligraphic capital “O” written distinctly at a start the story….And the next night (almost all night) this is what I came up with.

 

I had an old black diary, the cover of which I chose to alter…..I started by sticking a beautiful vintage pp from paper theatre while allowing some black to sneak through  the side. I cut out small pieces of cardboard to appear as bricks and stuck then to create a wall (was inspired by the tale of the speaking wall). I further used my ink pads to directly smoosh on the card board allowing the natural color of the card board to play its role.. .

With My stencil and modeling paste I created a design, once again smooshing it with my ink pads.

 

Now was the fun part. Last week a friend sent me samples of crackle paint and copper embossing powder. I thought of using them here to create a rust effect. I pulled out a key whose lock was broken, and some chain and ring from a broken key chain and gave it a rust look. Further I made net flowers, black lace, wooden beads and used flower cap spacers from my stash to embellish. I cut out the heel of my kids old rexine shoe (yes I cleaned it well) , dabbed it with walnut stain distress ink to appear like an old bag ( inspired by the tale of Puss in boots tale/ buff colored bag). To add value (quite literally) I got hold of some old non-functional (and no antique value either) coins and stuck them onto the bag.

 

On the top I sketched a hand on water color paper and once again added some ink and copper embossing powder. The word ‘love’ is made my twisting a kraft paper string, and coloring it with glitter powder and pigment inks. (inspired by the magic hand tale)

 

Finally I had used this beautiful vintage digi stamp (totally apt for my project), colored it with water color pencils and stuck it unevenly.

 

Hope you enjoyed it.

 

 

Supplies used:

Beads and other embellishments from Itsy Bitsy

Distress Ink: Walnut stain, Black soot

Tim Holtz Crackle paste

Ranger embossing powder copper

Home made modeling paste

Stencil from itsy bisty

Momento inks blue, lilac, yellow

Vintage Stamp: SKD

 

Original diary

Lessology 40: Create a scene (have created a magical scene)

BGC: Human Character stamping

Lawnscaping : use pp
TMC: the beautiful body: Magic hand
Our creative corner: Go rustic
 

Paper Mache Table cum lantern: Perfect Festive spirits

How can we celebrate festivals without lights? ...I decided to make this camel table cum lantern to place in the living room while several guest visit us during this season.

Camel Table light

 

 

For paper mache on such a big scale, I started with building and armature. 

building the model

                                                 I got my kids to help me shred paper

Preparing the paper mache

To make the paper mache dough I used the finely shredded paper, pinch of zinc oxide (to prevent molds) and PVA glue with water.

Before starting to paint I have coated the camel with primer.

freehand modeling and painting

 

 

Here are some other completed snaps

 

 

I have decorated the top wooden plank by sticking a hand made paper with wood glue. Further, Have used thick red and golden ribbons to wrap around the tubing. I made net flower and leaves to add to the table.

This Camel is 4 feet in length X 1.7 feet in width X 2 feet in height. I have inserted power saving LED lights and fixed four wheels to drag the camel as per convenience as a center table, bed side stand/ night lamp or during barbeque nights on the terrace.

 

 

Aerial View

To decorate the face off the camel I have used beads, golden ribbon and golden net sheet.

Front View

Inside the camel's belly (the table ) I have stock layers of red, green and blue gelatin paper so that when it lights up it throws various colorful lights.

Side View

 

 I have stitched around an elastic the golden net and black mirror worked cloth, such that it can be easily removed and washed (during festivals with plenty of guests this does get dirty)

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Linking this to Imaginations: October Festivals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thrilled with the imaginations blog candy

www.Imaginationsonline.com is a great place to shop for all your crafty needs whether you are a crafter, jewellery designer or any other hobbyist. I am a big fan of their inks and embellishments. And I definitely drop by the Clearance section before I check out as there are some great deals.

 

Imaginations has now turned 3 and is offering this blog candy (you can also click on the picture in the sidebar to redirect you to the blog).

Isn't this yummy?

Are you focusing to see what it includes...lemme make it easier..They are giving 2 packs of Rubons, 1 pack of Epoxy stickers and bottle caps, 1 pack of Handmade Flowers, 1 pack of 3d Foam tabs, 1 pack of die cut stickers, 1 pack of epoxy embellishments and embellishments (shown in pic which includes, metal embellishments, plastic buttons, wood buttons, wooden embellishments, plastic embellishments, gears, mini keys, baby embellishments)....

 

Yipee! definitely share this on your blogs (till 23rd Oct). Also continue shopping with imaginations, they are also very prompt with their delivery and have apt packaging.

 

Also do drop by their blog,  the DTs have some nourishing inspirations for the monthly challenge that they host.

 

Cheers!

Heer Ranjha Painted Mural

Custom made this hand crafted 25" X 31" inches painted mural, with a black stone sand background which beautifully compliments the painting under artificial lights...

 

Watercolor card

This weekend I went for a short trek after very long and feel really kicked up after that….a whole lot of mountain ranges, un-ending green grass with grazing herds, beautiful lakes and valleys, I mean my eyes refused to believe the earth is not a flat stretch of land!!! Feeling refreshed and inspired to make this one right here.

 In my last post I shared quick 60 second technique to create water color backgrounds.. For this card I used one of those landscapes I created. I trimmed it down to fit into this card stock.

 

To create a frame effect for my card, I cut out strips of patterned paper and stuck it around. Then I pasted the watercolor landscape.

 

 

I sketched this crazy cow with my drawing pencils first and finally with copic markers and colored the cow patches with Faber Castell water color pencils. These are great to work with as they allow you to color intricate details.

 

 

Next, I cut out the head of the cow (yikes…sounds terrible!) and sketched a little black patch to fill that area with my marker.....and pasted this on the created card frame.

 

 

 Next I took a medicine bottle cap to create the cow’s neck, stuck it and pasted the cow's head on it (intentionally with a slight tilt). The black patch behind the head serves as a shadow and a patch, depending from where you are seeing it.

 

I created a removable tag, to put around the cow’s neck. Once again I used the strips of PP and added a hand written sentiment “Grazy about you”…..(I love playing with words!)

 

 

 

 

For the neck band and tail, I have used pretty twine, green shimmer from The Twinery as it contrasts and sticks well.

 

 

My card is ready.

 

 

Supplies used:

Faber Castell graded drawing pencil

Copic Marker black

Faber Castell water color pencils

Camel Artist  watercolor tubes (for background)

Holidays Stripe PP from GG

Shimmer Twine from The Twinery

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am linking this to

Lawnscaping: Critters Galore
CSCC #7 - Water Colors!

Unstampabeles: Funny

Just us girls : watercolors