Being Thankful

Hey There,

How is everybody doing? Hope everybody is having a nice, chilled out (literally and figuratively) weekend.I sure am!
After a long long time, I am enjoying a day where I have decided to put my type A, chaotic personality to the side and just trying to go with the flow.No items on the agenda, no items to cross off my never ending list, no guilt, no pressure.

On another front, this is Thanksgiving season in some parts of the world.Though we don't celebrate it here, I quite like the essence of the festival and so for once, instead of whining, I am going to put down my sometimes sillly and sometimes profound thoughts on things I am thankful for.So here it goes in random order :

H for Happiness

Lately I have been feeling a bit jaded and uninterested in everything.I can't for the life of me figure out why I am not happier than what I am right now.I have everything going for me, a lovely husband, great friends, financial independence, a job I like on most days, my parents, my mental faculties all intact (touchwood) , then what is it that is making me question whether I am happy or not!.

This led me to thinking whether we can actively and conscioulsy make ourselves happy.I am still trying to figure out that one.The start to this is to find out what does make me happy and that is something that I need to sit and ponder about.I hope I make some headway and start appreciating my life more.

What do you do to feel happier?What are the road blocks to your happiness?Are you thankful for whatever life has offered you, yet still mildly discontented?Is thankfulness for life's gifts, the same as happiness?

I would love to hear from whoever reads this and get some perspective.

Pensive
Sumi

I am participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabet thursday.The letter this time is H and H for happiness is my entry.

Worth reading

Read a beautiful post about kindness.Go read it  here.It's moving and lovely.

F is for friendship

Growing up, I think I was a little bit of a tomboy, in the sense that I did not 'dig' what girls my age talked about or indulged in.My best friends in each of the million schools that I attended were more or less the same.I never had 'girly' girl friends.Dicussions about things like jewellery, clothes, nail polish, waxing and all the items which engage a feminine mind were tabboo and we avoided such girls like the plague.Needless to say, we were never popular with the gals and considered cool amongst the guys.The drawback to this was that basically after a certain age, when all our contemporaries were hormone crazed, we were neither here nor there.:-)Guys were too busy chasing after other girls and the girls were too busy preening, leaving me and my friends with nothing better to do but to wonder as to what was wrong with us.

Thankfully that phase has passed and now I have a great group of girlfriends and man do I cherish them!As I have grown older, I have realized that there's a huge difference in how men and women connect with their friends.It is impossible for me to understand how guys can remain the best of friends throughout their lives but never move beyond cricket scores and general non interesting, non personal conversartions.I may be generalizing, but you have to agree that there is a grain of truth in this.I have seen it with my husband,my brother, my dad, so I have every right to generalize.

With girl friends its so much lovelier.I am ever so grateful to have friends with whom I can discuss my innermost thoughts and imagined worries and always be sure that they will listen to me, lend a shoulder to cry on and not judge me.It is so gratifying to know that when you talk to your girl friends they instantly 'get' what you are saying.They do not try to analyse and provide solutions instantly.They just listen, empathise and most often than not add  a story or two of their own to make you feel that you are not alone in thinking what you are thinking.It is amazing how easy it is to communicate with them.Don't mistake me, my husband is my best friend and it's not that he does not listen to my crap, but you have to agree it's different with women.I am not atriculate enough to put it into words, but I would say that when you indulge in a heart to heart with a girlfriend, it's truly heart to heart.There is true sharing of emotions and not just venting out of feelings.Don't you agree?

I think I will stop here.I clearly suck at writing.Found a nice poem on Friendship.Enjoy that instead.

Oh! think not my spirits are always as light,

And as free from a pang as they seem to you now,
Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night
Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow.


No: -- life is a waste of wearisome hours,
Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns;
And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers,
Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.


But send round the bowl, and be happy awhile --
May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here,
Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile,
And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear.

The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows
If it were not with friendship and love intertwined;
And I care not how soon I may sink to repose,
When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind.


But they who have loved the fondest, the purest,
Too often have wept o'er the dream they believed;
And the heart that has slumber'd in friendship securest
Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceived.


But send round the bowl; while a relic of truth
Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, --
That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth,
And the moonlight of friendship console our decline.

Thomas Moore

I am writing all this just to participate in Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Party.The letter this time is F, so here is my entry.


Cheers
Sumi

Nothing noteworthy to say

Wow.I have been missing for a month!No reason in particular, just life throwing its usual curveballs and of course, total lack of inspiration or drive to do anything.Does that happen with anybody else?Times when nothing is of interest and trudging through each day becomes a chore in itself.That is what I have been like lately, but not too worrying since I generally come out of it all inspired and raring to go.Generally.....

This time it has not happened... yet, but I am trying, trying real hard to not let the ennui of daily rotuines take over and turn me into an automaton.

The prospect of getting 10 days off for Diwali is also a major motivator.:-).10 free days to use as I like.Can you imagine how exciting it is?

By the way I have been writing for sometime on this blog, but writing as if I am actually talking to a real person is funny to me every single time I post something.I think I am qualified to be a radio jockey now.If I can do it here, pretty sure can be done in a studio too.Right?

This post is totally inane, I know, but some wise man said  and I quote " Something is better than nothing", so there you go.

Thanks a million Gagan for checking up on me.I had made up my mind to revisit my blog and check all the other blogs out today and I got your message.Awesome timing.:-).As usual, means a lot.I need to catch up on all your posts too!

See ya
Sumi

A is for being an Adult

When I was a kid, my favourite entertainment was playing house.I remember going to my grandparents' place every summer and getting together with all my cousins, all girls of course.There were 6 girls and just one unfortunate boy (my brother) and we would always play house.I always wanted to play the self sacrificing mother or the incredibly responsible eldest sister.If I played the eldest sister,I of course conveniently got rid of the parents in the story,because I was to be the caretaker and the presence of a pesky parent would take away my glory.

I would imagine myself  with qualities reminiscent of Florence Nightingale combined with Mother Teresa.An angel of goodness for all practical purposes.;-)

I would be the one to get up the first thing in the morning,make healthy breakfast (imaginary of course) for my irresponsible but lovable children/siblings,get them dressed,send them to school with lots of kisses and hugs, get ready to go to work (I was always a working woman in these stories, wonder why?) . I would sit on my grandma's never used exercycle and pretend to ride to work.I would pass on nuggets of wisdom to my children as and when I felt they needed them.Be patient and judicious when they were being naughty.I would always make some sibling sick in the story so that I,all loving, giving , nurturuing sister could bring back that person back from the jaws of death.;-).The story never ended amicably though.After a while my cousins would be onto me and would demand to change roles which was very annoying, to say the least.

Why am I writing this? No reason really.I just realized that all through my childhood I just could not wait to be an Adult and now that I am there, it's not so much fun.I don't like the fact that people my age or older think that because I have reached a certain age,I would automatically be mature and sensible.

I resent that people my age think that I am really interested in talking about pension plans and saving strategies and discussing my career moves.I don't like the fact that people tell me to 'GROW UP ' when I am throwing a tantrum with my husband and really would like to lie down on the floor and hold my breath till I turn blue.Instead because I am an Adult ,I have to resort to 'Silent Treatment' which is equally effective but no fun.

Believe me I don't mind being an adult, gives me a lot of privileges,being an adult does,but I don't really dig the "Responsible" part of it.;-)

So what about you,do you like playing an adult?


This totally random and disjointed entry was for Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday Party.The letter this time was A so A for Adult is my entry.:-)




Cheers
Sumi

Sigh...

art work by Mary Ann Boysen via

I have wanted to have a house of my own since I was a little girl.My dream had always been to live in a bungalow/cottage with a cute little garden and a shingled roof.My imagination did not go any further on this and I was not really picky, but having lived more than half my life in spacious houses (all courtesy of the Indian Army), I was totally unprepared for Apartment Living.

Not having a 'chatt'(terrace) where my family could sit during summers and have long long chats under the moonlight is heartbreaking.Not having a garden where I could potter around during weekends (not that I really would have) is disappointing.I wanted a tree in my garden with a swing for my non existent kids.I wanted my dogs (again,non existent) to have free rein over my backyard.I want to have the opportunity to sit in my verandah and curse my dogs when they become extra playful and dig up my garden which of course, would be verdant and a little wild.I want picket fences and a wooden gate.

I know that it's not impossible to have it, just not at this time, when I want all this the most.I know that I shouldn't whine and be thankful for what I have got, but indulging in self pity is good once in a while, isn't it?

What about you? Do you like where you live?Are you living my dream? and if you are, then I want you to get up now and go hug the tree in your backyard and roll in the grass.

Sigh....

Melodramatic Sumi

Project # 2 : Decoupaged Coasters

Hey there,

Here I am again.Project # 2 is also Mod-Podge so I am not really following the true spirit of '52 projects', but as long as I am making something, I am happy and satisfied.

This time I decided to do a mini makeover of sorts on some plain boring coasters I had.It was plain wood and cork and I think they sorely needed a makeover.Here's how those looked :

Project #1 - Mod Podged Tray

This does not really qualify as my first project since I made it before I decided to do my "20 projects", but what the heck.I make the rules around here and my rule says, anything counts.;-)

Okay, so I had this ugly looking tray which I am not sure why I ever bought.I mean it's not very ugly but I hate the plywood/laminate thingy on it and wanted to change it.Let's take a look at the 'project victim' first, shall we?

Yes, I didn't clean it up before taking a pic.Why bother! is also my current philosophy in matters which require unnecessary effort.

The first step was to spray paint the heck out of it.I had only white paint handy, so that's what I used.This is after one coat.I think it's already looking better.

While that was drying, I googled "Moroccan tiles" on google images.Saved a copyright free image and used a photo editing software to replicate the image on a single sheet of matte photo paper.I was originally planning to create a tiled, mosaic-ey sort of design but I suck at photo editing and husband was not in a mood to oblige.It was way past midnight folks, so I forgave him and went with whatever I could handle myself.

After that it was just cutting the image and Mod-Podging the paper on to the tray and sealing it with varnish (which I have still not done).I did have trouble arranging the '"tiles" so if you pay attention you will see that some areas do not align with each other and are a bit different, but the image is so busy I reckon it does not really make a difference.

So here it is,the project output.How do you like it?I don't love love it but I think it is better than what it was earlier.(Expert comment from kid brother : Wrong choice of paper.aargh)

So finally here's a before after shot :

Thoughts, comments? Good or bad, both welcome.

Cheers

Sumi

52 Projects

Have you heard of 52 projects?Originally a book by Jeffrey Yamaguchi, it is a brilliant idea to push ordinary people like you and me to explore our creative sides.The idea is to create 52 projects (or more) in a year.This could be any medium,any area.All you need is enthusiasm, imagination and a keen interest in unleashing your creative genius.See more here

So, I have been very inspired and have decided that I will attempt to do something like this here too.Well it is not exactly going to be '52' projects but maybe 20 projects and that too, I must tell you, is overreaching for somebody like me.I have a crazy busy work life right now, but I will try.I am going to merge my recently acquired 'start small' philosophy with this idea and make some stuff and I do not plan to stick to just one thing.The whole purpose is to learn something new, so maybe one day I might just bake a cupcake and call it done.No, I don't know how to make cupcakes.Surprised?

Anyway, I am pretty excited and hope that I do not lose interest in this like I do with other resolutions.Wish me lucky luck and if you do actually read this, tell me what I should call this project.20 projects is just so blah!

Creative Genius in the making ;-)
Sumi

Reminiscing...

I am happy today.Had to open husband's mailbox to access some urgent mails(with his permission of course!) and saw that he has saved all the mails that we had exchanged during out courtship.So sweet.Most of them are quite funny though.Usual cribbing about work and pulling each other's legs but it is so much fun reading old conversations.Not a smidgeon of romance in any of them but we always had such an easy camaraderie.It was nice to remember why I chose him as my beau.:-)

We used to send poems to each other sometimes and I found one which I had sent.It is apparently a celtic wedding vow.Quite like it.Maybe you will too.

"You cannot possess me for I belong to myself



But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give


You cannont command me, for I am a free person


But I shall serve you in those ways you require


and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand"

"I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night and


the eyes into which I smile in the morning


I pledge to you the first bite of my meat and the first drink from my cup


I pledge to you my living and my dying, each equally in your care


I shall be a shield for your back and you for mine


I shall not slander you, nor you me


I shall honor you above all others, and when we quarrel we shall do so in


private and tell no strangers our grievances"



"This is my wedding vow to you


This is the marriage of equals."
 
by Morgan Llywelyn
 
Nice, isn't it?

I hate being a grown up..

The last few weeks have been really crazy for me.My dad was sick and was diagnosed with cancer.It was not as shocking to us as it sounds, because all of us had a niggling doubt that it could be that.It was just a relief that it was diagnosed and is being treated.

The exhausting part was to convince, cajole,threaten my dad to go to the doctor and get diagnosed.He being ex-army, is expected to be brave and all but he totally chickens out when it comes to doctors and hospitals.Much like me.:-).

The biggest adjustment that I had to make was not to get used to the idea of him having cancer, but to adjust to the role reversal.We have been brought up in a typical traditional setup where whatever dad says is to be followed without question and you can't even begin to think about arguing with him.I don't remember a single instance where I have dared to question his opinions or decisions.I may not have followed most of them when away from home, but telling him he is wrong or that I don't agree with him or telling him that he is being unreasonable is out of the question.So obviously the communication channels are not as open as they should be.

Now, things have suddenly changed.He is older and weaker and suddenly I am the grown up.I have to decide what is right for him, I have to look him in the eye and tell him that he needs to get treated (even though I know that it scares the living daylights out of him), that he cannot lose his morale.I had to see him get weak and helpless and it is not a good feeling.I also have to adjust to the fact that I am an adult now and I am expected to make some decisions if I know that my parents are not making the right ones.My parents suddenly look up to me and my brother to take decisions on their behalf.

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that my parents will be getting older and more dependent.I know all this is a natural cycle of life and one day they will not be there, but I am not ready for this.

I want more time!More time to be selfish and ask my mom to make me custard with cake and jelly, more time to be childish and tell dad my problems and expect them to be taken care of with minimal effort from my side, more time to get angry over his lectures on fitness and discipline, more time for me and my brother to laugh about dad treating us as kids.I just want to turn back time and freeze it.Change is so bothersome and I sure don't like it.

Melancholy Sumi

Repurposing Bottles

Old glass bottles and jars are a craze in the craftworld nowadays.These are being tinted, painted, decorated, turned into lanterns and what not and every single one of them looks good.So I thought maybe we can take a look at some ideas to recycle glass and be more eco friendly.What more could one want!The pleasure of crafting something AND contributing towards making our world greener.High five for that!

My mom has some talented bunch of friends who are really into crafting and stuff and one of them is totally obsessed with glass bottles.See what she did with some empty bottles.Aren't these pretty?

Mirror Revamp

Hi

I am back again.Shocking,isn't it? Two days in a row!Well,there is a reason behind it.Yes,everything has an explanation and the expalanation is that I had taken off from work so I had spare time to work on some things.Going back to work tomorrow :-( so back to my normal,infrequent posting.

Anyway,today we are going to revamp a mirror.I am living in a rented flat right now and there are some awful plastic framed mirrors in each of the bathrooms.I am going to  move into my own apartment really really soon,so I did not want to bother with buying new ones.But why live with ugliness when you can beautify for cheap.Long story ahead,prepare yourself.

I'm a little teapot,short and stout.Here is my handle and here is my spout.

I have a project.New! New! New! :-)

I cannot claim it to be my idea.I saw it in a home decor magazine and have been itching to try it out but I had run out of spray paint.Weekend was utilized in repleneshing my stock and hence the project.

Remember this ?

Okay ,so I did mention that I was a little iffy about this teapot and wanted to experiment a little bit.I wanted a white porcelain-ey look for it.So I spray painted the heck out of it.I used a fast drying glossy white enamel spray paint.

Then,I did this

Another Mod Podge Makeover

I am back after a pretty long time but I am back with a small project to make up for it.Nothing special, but since I have done pretty much nothing crafts-wise this would have to be it.

My colleague at office has been using a cheap wooden paper /magazine rack thingy to store her office papers and I have been dying to make it pretty.Ever since I have discovered Mod-Podge,all I do is look at different surfaces and want to "cover 'em up".Does that happen with you?Anyway I asked her and she happily gave it to me to "beautify" it and that's what I did.

Quilled Artwork

Hi there,

I picked up some small canvases on my regular trip to my favourite stationery shop and was trying to figure out what to do with those.I was too scared to attempt to try my hand at drawing or painting ,so I figured that I will go with paper quilling.To tell you the truth,I am a novice at this quilling thingy too but I so love the different things people make and wanted to try my hand at something similar and came up with this.

I started out with the grand idea of making a wrought iron sort of window box but it ended up looking like a planter.Never mind,it's not too bad I think.Since I am pretty new at this, I know a very few basic types of flowers . I just made some rolled and fringed flowers and some quilled and rolled roses and called it a day.For the background,I painted the canvas a pearly yellow using acrylic paint and lifted off some paint using a paper napkin.You can see that there are places where I lifted off too much but I don't intend to fix it.Making these flowers and scrolls was pretty easy but assembling them was a pain.I still think it's worth it though.The beauty of quilling is that whatever you make, it ends up looking pretty.At least that's what I think.I am going to make one more flower themed artwork using paper quilling anf gift it to my mom.She is sorely in need of something on her walls.

Here's a closeup

I also attempted to try staging a photograph.See..

What do you think? I dunno if this looks good or bad.All I know is that I suck at photography.:-(

By the way ,the kettle that you see was bought on an impulse and I just can't make up my mind whether I like it or not.I intended to use it as a flowrerpot but now I want to try my hand at painting it some other colour and using it as a decoration.Can't make up my mind though!

To learn more about quilling,see these videos on youtube:

Quilling Spiral Roses

Inroduction to Quilling

Submitted for

Also participating in the

See you later

Cheers

Sumi

Polkadots and Paint

Hiya,

I finally woke up after a long long time and indulged myself with a very very quick project.I have noticed a lot of bloggers who have been attempting to paint glassware and it completely fascinated me.I was a bit scared too, to be honest.I suck at using a spray paint.I envy people who just pick up a can and spray away to glory.Mine always turns out streaky and uneven.Anyhow,today I decided to overcome my apprehensions and got down to try it out.I had a few nice and shapely empty whiskey bottles and I conducted my experiment on those.

And.. I am happeeeee!It was easy ,quick and the results were good.Atleast I loved it and so did my mom.We may be prejudiced of course! :-)

So here's what they look like.Do not have a before picture.I was so convinced that it will be a disaster that I didn't bother taking a before picture.

It was pretty simple.I removed the labels from both the bottles.Painted one all white but used a very thin layer of paint.The other one I first painted a bronzy gold.Let it dry.Then I stuck some small circular lables which I got from a stationery store and stuck it on to the bottle randomly.Painted the bottle again with white paint,let it dry and removed the lables.

Yes I could have painted on the polka dots with a brush but I don't trust myself to paint equal sized dots ,clumsy as I am.This solutions worked for me.

Here's how it looks, up close .

Me likey ,me likey very much.:-).Hope you do too.

Showing off at 
And Madebyme Monday at Creative2xmom

Cheers
Sumi

Tshirt Refashion

Hiya,

I have been doing absolutely NOTHING for the past two weeks.Just going for work,waiting for the day to get over ,counting days till the much needed weekend..taking one day at a time..Sigh..Consequently no new craft attempts lately.Shame! But ! I do have something to show.I did it a couple of weeks back as a random urge to do something hit me.

I have been seeing so many people doing so many awesome things to refashion their clothes,so I decided to join the bandwagon.I am in love with the different fabric flowers that such a huge part of the craftworld is interested in and decided to make some of my own.I had to think of some gifts for my friend who was leaving town forever, so I thought I will do some t-shirt refashion for her.Here is what I came up with.

That's my mom holding the tshirt for me .Sweet.:-)

This is nothing but simple rolled fabric flowers made out of some scrap fabric that I had lying around.There are thousands of tutorials on this so I don't think I need to explain how it is done.Ignore the threads hanging about on the shirt.I promise I did clean it up and ironed it before gifting it.

Here's a closeup

I also made another one.I fell in love with the bright vibrant fresh green of the shirt and had to buy it.Nobody else in my family understood my excitement over the colour, mind you.Well not that I care !!

To add some extra pizzazz to this shirt I used wooden beads that were attached to an old shirt of my niece and look how nice it looks!!! At least I thought it was pretty.

Note that I did not hide the logo on the tshirt.Small oversight but I hope my friend didn't mind too much.Heh heh.I stiched or rather my mon stitched the beads on to the shirt but people who can't sew can use a fabric glue too I think.

I love it.Simple and easy.Hope some of you do too.

Cheers

Sumi

First attempt at Jewellery : Cheap and Easy

Hiya there,

Yes, I have been incommunicado again as usual but as I said ,with a full time job I don't really get a lot of time to spend here.Anyhow,though I have been not very active here ,I have not been idle.No sir .. or madam.

One of my good friends and colleague relocated to another city and I was busy making things for her as farewell gifts.Yes,I MADE gifts for her.Did not pick up something off the rack from a store and I am mighty proud of that.Pat on the back.:-)

First off was this necklace that I made out of saftey pins.Yes,you heard right!It was made of safety pins and tiny beads.Of course ,the idea is not original at all.It was stolen borrowed from here.Kelsi is a genius in my books.Such a brilliant idea and so easy to make.Totally loved it.Go visit the link and see the tutorial.

I will attempt to explain how it is made here for my friends who are too lazy to go blog hopping.

Basically,you need to have a chain,preferably a thin one.You will know why in a minute .
Safety Pins : Preferably all of the same size but you can experiment and used different sizes
Beads: Should be small enough to fit into the safety pin
Clasps and Jump rings: My chain already had those.I just used a plier to open the ring from one side and slid the safety pins

Step 1 : Open the safety pin and slide the beads onto the pin.The number of beads would depend on the length of the pin.Just make sure that you can close the pin after sliding all the beads.

This is what it looks like.

Slide the rounded end of the saftey pins into the chain and you are done.Easy!My friend loved it and wore it almost immediately and it does look great.Not tacky at all.See for yourself

If you visit the tutotial link,you will see that I followed the instructions to the T.I was in a hurry and did not have much time to experiment but I think adding different beads and some more interesting elements would add some more pizzaz for sure.

Cheers,

Sumi

Cute as a button!

Did I tell you that I love visiting the kids' section in bookstores.Yes I do and I love looking at the cute craft products there.While browsing through stuff yesterday,I came across something that I loved too much.I don't care if it's meant for kids.It was too cute to be ADULT about it.Notice how bad my vocab is !!Cannot think of any synonyms for cute!

Note to self : Buy a Thesaurus.;-)

Anyhow,So this is what it is

The box had some plastic frames ,preprinted mini canvases,cardboard backing for the frame and of course paint and a tiny paintbrush.They also provide small magnetic strips  for you to be able to convert these into fridge magnets.You can also hang it ,or use it just as a mini photo frame.

So here's what I did.Isn't it adorable???

Does this qualify as DIY if one has cheated????? I am too lazy to figure out how I could have done it without buying the product,but I think if you are clever enough ,you can figure out how to do this all on your own .I am thinking of making somtehing with quilling paper and attaching it to the frame.Let's see how that works out.For now this is going to my Fridge magnet collection.

P.S: Synonyms for "Cute",courtesy dictionary.com

Beautiful,Charming,Adorable,Delightful,Pleasant,Pretty,Dainty.Ambrosial,Captivating,Fetching,Delectable.I hereby proclaim that the above pic is all of these things.Hee Hee

Cheers !

Blingin' it up!

Hiya There ,

Phew! I have been missing for a long time ,haven't I!! Not that the two people who actually read my blog are going to miss me much.:-).I really don't have a legit excuse.It's just plain ol boring day job and the stress associated therewith.By the time I get home,I am plain exhausted.BUT,to give myself credit ,I do make it a point of visiting other people's blogs to lap up all the crafty goodness... so much so that I spend more time looking at other people's projects than doing something of my own.

Anyhow,this weekend I finally motivated myself to do SOMETHING.Some days back Amy at Mod Podge Rocks featured a project by Selliz.She makes altered compact mirrors and all of them are mighty cute.Go check out Selliz's site here and you will find true inspiration.


I wanted to try making one immediately.Mine is nowhere close to hers in the detailing and gorgeousness but I still like mine too..:-)

I started out with an old battered compact mirror for the experiment.

A little bit of Mod Podge and a collection of my blingy stash and here it what looks like now..Pretty isn't it?

Sorry for the bad picture quality.This was late at night so no proper light.
I am still in two minds about  covering the whole lid up because of the visible scratches on the surface but for now this will do.

Cheers!

Submitted for :

Random Update (AKA can't think of a catchy title)

I am back and how I missed being connected.We shifted to a new temporary house and our internet connection is still not up.I can go ahead and surf during my office time but simply don't find the time to.I so miss using my home laptop and looking at a hundred different things.Right now I am really "understimulated" :-(

But thou shall not lose heart.There will be a day when the Gods of Internet connectivity will see reason and help get us our beloved broadband connection back.Amen..

Having said all this,I am still very happy.Why? Well we are 90% done with getting possession of our brand new house .Hurray and congratulations to Mr and Mrs. I for finally owning a property.I suddenly feel all grown up.
We will soon have to get down to the most difficult part of deciding what we want our house to be like and THAT part is exciting but SCARING the hell out of me.More on that later.


Cheers!

Adieu

It's 02:00 a.m..The house is empty of everything that made it a home ,OUR home.Our voices echo through the empty spaces.Didn't know I will be so maudlin.It's not that I am leaving the city altogether.I am just moving to another building in the same complex, yet this terrible sadness has come over me.This house was the first proper home we had after our wedding and we spent five happy years here and to leave is like abandoning a loved one.. ......Am I being overly foolish??? I know I will get over it in a few days and get excited about our new house, but today all I am gonna do is to listen to sad songs,touch the walls of MY HOME and bid adieu.
P.s.- Even though the other house is EXACTLY like the one that we have been staying in all these years,I still can't bring myself to appreciate it.I have been finding non existing faults in the house since morning.HOW DUMB AND MELODRAMATIC is that!

This poem is so apt.If I had any skill I would have written exactly this as an Ode to my home


We are leaving home tomorrow.

Leaving it behind for some place better,
Leaving it so that we can have more space.
Leaving this place we made home bit by bit.
The same things that we bought, collected and proudly made a part of our home,
Now being, dismantled, given away or discarded, they are after all, old.


A new home needs new things.


Moving it ain't as easy as it seems,
What do I take and what do I leave.


Those moments of fun and those new friends made,
Wish I could carry them wherever I go,
The darker ones, the dreary days,
Make me close my eyes and not look back.


Moving always makes me emotional.
As long as I stay, my whole being is present in the house,
The day I leave, something gets left behind.
As hard as I try, a part of me wants to stay back
And refuses to say goodbye.

By Jennifer Cavilleri 

Lil' Sumthin' A.K.A my failed attempt at creating a work of art.

While setting up the craft room in the new house I got distracted as usual and started dreaming of projects that I will do in my "New and Improved" craft area.Then I looked at my storage shelf and saw a brand new bottle of Mod-Podge and then.. I wanted to use it immediately so I made this.

This is nothing but a not so successful attempt at decoupaging.I had some pretty paper napkins lying around and a small framed canvas.Pink acrylic paint ,mod-podge and this is what I made.

I don't like the fact that there are so many wrinkles and the edges of the napkin are so ugly.I didn't have scissors around and did not want to get it from the "old house " :-) so I just tore if off.Am hoping that with a few more coats of mod-podge it will become a bit neater.If not ,then I will pretend that the crinkled wrinkled edges of the paper are clouds.:-)But I do love the vivid colours.

Had it been done with patience ( which is required for anything that you do in life,or so my husband says) it could have been better.Well,there will be other times for doing that.For now,this sure is cheering me up.

Table Makeover (also my first experiment with Mod-Podge)

A few months back,we decided to change our bed.The old one was getting to be a little too boring for our taste,so we bought a new one.Why am I telling you this you ask! I will come to the point in a minute but I love to ramble so let me be.;-)

Well ,we don't have things like Goodwill here where you can just donate stuff, so most times one ends up with all the old junk lying around.Anyhow,we decided to recycle and used all that junk wood and fiberboard and converted it into some small storage items and stuff.One of the things that came out of that was this :

It is supposed to serve as a coffe table and is quite useful ,but let's just say it was too boring for me.After much thinking ,I thought of something and turned it into this :

I may be biased, but I love it.It matches the colour scheme of my living room perfectly.I hope others like it as much as I do.

The process was simple.Here are the steps I followed, if anybody is interested.Sorry, I did not take pics of each step.Did not know I will be putting it in a blog, but it is pretty simple, so read on.

Supplies :

Mod Podge - I used Matte

Spare cheap paintbrush or a sponge brush for applying the glue

Decorative paper

Clear Varnish

Sander/Sandpaper and......

a Table !!

1. 
   
   Sand the table surface lightly.This helps in making sure that the surface is ready for the glue and the paper sticks properly.
2. 
   
   Clean the surface with a cloth or painter's rag.
3. 
   
   Oops ,before all that you can go ahead and measure the table length and width wise and decide on your design.I chose three different kinds of paper.One was a not so expensive rose patterned gift wrapping paper ,another with a nice paisley pattern and the last one was a beautiful cream handmade paper with gitter crystals.Loved that one.Since I was trying Decoupage for the first time, I wanted to keep it simple,so I cut just 1" X 1" inch squares of each paper.Do this step before you move on to step 4.Obviously ..duh.The control freak in me had woken up.Sorry!
4. 
   
   Apply thin coats of modpodge and lay the paper carefully as per your design.Use a small brayer to smooth the paper on to the surface and get rid of bubbles, if any.Be quick since Mod-Podge dries up pretty fast.Best to do it in small sections.
5. 
   
   Once the design has dried, apply another layer of Mod-podge over the entire surface .Don't worry, the glue dries clear.I applied 3-4 coats since Mod-Podge acts as a sealant.Use thin coats since you do not want visible brushcoats.
6. 
   
   Let the whole thing dry .Seal with a varnish.I don't know if I really needed to do this ,but I had read somewhere that it gives extra durability and since the table is expected to hold all sorts of things ,I thought why not!
7. 
   
   That's it .This is the result

All you experienced decoupagiers (Is that a word?? ),hope this process does not make you cringe.I do not have extensive knowledge about it and I will appreciate any comments your may have .

Cheers and have a happy weekend!

and

Debbiedoos' Before and After Party

New Beginnings

This is my very first post and though I know that I may end up with zero readers,I am still a bit apprehensive about writing here.

The thing is that I get these sudden urges to do things but history will show that there's not one single thing that I have really stuck to for long.Zero,  Zilch..I am like a child who keeps getting dazzled with every shiny thing ,only to lose interest when I have seen it up close.

I follow a lot of blogs and keep getting inspired to start something on my own, only to get caught up in the various mundane things of life and forgetting all about it.This blog is a sort of a challenge to myself.I seriously hope that I stay committed to this.Amen..