Merry Christmas

Wising you all Love, Joy, Peace, Health and Success. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all. 

I am all set for guests this time with a good stock of cookies, chocolates and cakes at home and yes some decoration with Christmas touch to maintain the festive mood. 

My snowman family are all set for celebrations... You can make your own snowman...find the tutorial here. 

Socks and Santa hat made out of waste paper... you can keep your kids busy in making these during these holidays..J

Christmas wreath made out of pistachio shells got a place on a side table as I always avoid nailing on wall. 

Some more pics...

DIY Snow Man

I am in love with this month of December. We can see houses, shops and malls all are in Christmas and New Year spirit. Festivities everywhere and shops are full of decoration items like artificial Christmas trees, bells, ornaments, snow flakes, Santa clause toys, lights, stars and many more items. But some hand made items at home brings a different level of satisfaction and joy. So here I am sharing an idea on how to make snow man. 

Items required are:
1- Cotton bundle (I got it from a pharmacy store)
2- Glue
3- Old invitation cards
4- Ribbon
5- Thread
6- Buttons and beads
7- Scissors
8- Bottle cap (optional)

Step-1

Take a big piece of cotton and fold it like the image below. 

Step-2

Make a round shape and tie it with thread.

Step-3

Try to pull the upper portion and make another round shape. But upper one should be smaller than the lower one. Then tie it once again with thread. Body of the snow man is ready now.

Step-4

Take a piece of ribbon and tie it around the neck. Cut the sides of the ribbon to give it a muffler look. 

Step-5

Now for making a hat cut two circles one big and one small and a strip from invitation card. I made two hats so I have cut four circles and two strips.

Step-6

By using glue join the pieces and your snowman hat is ready .

Step-7

Take a yellow or orange invitation card to make the carrot nose of snow man. Cut a small triangle and fold it. Then stick the sides with glue to make nose. 

Step-8

For mouth cut a small half circle piece from ribbon. Now the final step that is stick the hat, eyes, nose, mouth and buttons with glue.  

And now the super cute snow man is ready J. 

I made a snow man family for this Christmas. Used a bottle cap as hat for the baby snowman. If you want to hang your snow man then stick a thread on the hat. 

Hope you liked this DIY and will soon make your own snowman for this Christmas. If you have already made anything like this then share on my Facebook page I would love to see it. For more ideas click here to like my page on Facebook. 

I call it my Cactus Pot...

I believe that anything can get a new life with some personal touch. We had a puja at our home, for which the priest/pandit ji gave a list of items. One item was a clay pitcher or pot for Kalash. But he performed the rituals using a brass pot as Kalash instead of the clay pot and it remained unused. From that day it was in my mind that I'll do something with this pot. Here I am sharing a DIY idea, which can give a new look to any clay pot.

Items required are :
1- A clay pot of any shape
2- Water
3- Plaster of Paris
4- Glue or glue gun (I used Fevicol)
5- Acrylic paint
6- Paint brush
7- Plate and spoon for mixing Plaster of Paris
8- Glitter powder (optional)

Step-1 

Mix plaster of paris powder with water in 2:1 ratio. Don't mix a lot of quantity at a time as it hardens very fast. So its better to mix in batches. Mix up to this consistency. 

Step- 2

Take a very small portion of this mixture and make small peak like shapes by using hand. Cover the whole pot with such shapes. 

Step- 3

Leave it to dry under sun for whole day. Sometimes a few pieces may come out after drying. Let dry all the pieces and the pot completely. Then by using gum stick back the pieces.

Step- 4

After sticking the pieces leave it for sometime to dry. Then paint the whole pot with colour of your choice. If required apply 2 to 3 coats. I used white acrylic paint.

Step- 5

Sprinkle glitter powder on the pot before the paint completely dries. This step is optional. You can paint it in different shades.

When the paint dries completely your pot is ready. This pot is water proof so can use it in garden also.

Now why I named it as Cactus Pot...any guesses???
When my pot was done and I hold it in my hand tightly, then I felt some pinching effect of the peak like design. So I named it as Cactus Pot J

My Cactus pot in different set ups...

And now it is adding more beauty to my small balcony garden...

This pot making procedure is little time taking as we have to wait for the plaster of paris to dry for hours. But it is super easy as well as is not going to burn a hole on your pocket. Another thing I want to share is after doing anything with plaster of paris mixture don't wash the mixing plate in wash basin or kitchen sink as it may block the drain pipe. Just clean it with a paper or cloth and throw it. Or best thing is to use an use and through plate to make the mixture. 

Please do let me know how do you find it. 

Diwali...The Festival of Lights, Colours and Food

"Creativity can add more values to festivals." 

Indian festivals are full of life, colour, lights and delicious cuisines. Diwali being celebrated as festival of lights; it showers lights to my creativity as well. I being the host of my mansion shall celebrate with a small effort through  my blog and make you feel nostalgic and homely being at home or away from home to bring lights into everyone's life. Such glimpse of mine  are already published in one of my favorite blog Design, Decor and Disha. I welcome you all to begin this celebrations with me.

A week before Diwali the count down for Diwali begins at my home J. So I try to give some time for preparation on daily basis. The mantra of Diwali this year was “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” and a big NO to crackers. Thus gave a new look to a lot of items used in last Diwali by painting and re-decorating them. 

Some of my handmade candle Diyas. These are super easy to make and super easy to light up.J

During festivals we come across a lot of adulterated food, specially milk products. So this year tried to make everything at home. Sweets and Namkeens are made a day before Diwali.

Diwali look of entrance of my home on the first and second day.

Here are some DIY work of mine.

A old dry fruits tray of brown colour got a new look with white Portland cement, golden acrylic paint and some Kundans.

Tray made out of  Thermocol  sheet and red and gold colour gift wrapping paper.

I love decoration and decorating, but prefer those items which are not too expensive. For Diwali I prefer items which are made by Indian artisans and are available in the local market. 

Our Mandir on the day of Diwali.

Some more decorations...

This year Diwali dinner party starter and main course.

Must admit that I was so tired after so much cooking.L

Painted diyas and handmade chocolates as Diwali gifts.

Due to lots and lots of cooking couldn't manage to do a proper Rangoli this year. Have made this Lord Ganesha rangoli last year.

I hope you all had a great time and enjoyed a lot. Sorry that this post on Diwali is coming so late but still I hope it will inspire you to be more creative.JJ