BIRTHDAY THEME EXPLOSION BOX

Hello friends, Today am sharing with you all an explosion box made for my husband's birthday.

This is how the box looks when it is closed

When it is openend it explodes with a cake in the center. I followed the tutorial of Rina Meyer's from you tube to make this box.

I have used black cardstock for the base and recollections pattern papers.

My most favourite part is the center cake. I made that using chart paper and covered it using gift papers. I decorated the cake using spiral roses.

The explosion box has pockets on all the 4 sides. On one side of the explosion box I made an accordion fold pocket tags.

Another pocket contains a small book of precious moments. 

The other two pockets contain greetings and a letter. 

I decorated the lid of the box using flowers , pearls and crochet borders. 

My husband was happy and surprised after opening the box.  I too thoroughly enjoyed making the box and took care of every small details so that he likes my gift .

Submitting to
Lulupu challenge - " go 3D"
Imaaginations craft challenge blog - " Anything goes"
Dream valley challenge - " Favourite colour combo" - Whenever I wanted to make a project I would always think that black and pink will only look rich and good compared to others. So that is my favourite colour combo. In this full project I have used various shades of pink with black.
4 crafty chicks - " Photo inspiration " - I was inspired by the cake and created an birthday theme explosion box with a cake at the center
Imaginations - " Bingo challenge" - I have used pattern papers, punches and pearls in my project . Pattern papers for covering the explosion box and for the pockets , punches I have used in the lid and for making cake, pearls I have used for decorating the lid of the box.

GETTING TO KNOW ME BLOG HOP

Hello Friends, Am very happy to take part in this interesting blog hop " GETTING TO KNOW ME". Radhika of hobby crafts is my inspiration to start a blog. I love her creations and like to try her craft ideas. She uses simple objects to create beautiful projects without much supplies. Most of her crafts are handmade which impresses me the most about her crafts. Some of her projects which I like are coconut shell box, belt earrings, pistachio shell jewlery , blush card etc. I am very happy that such a talented crafter has tagged me for this blog hop. Thank you very much Radhika. 

GETTING TO KNOW ME

1) WHY DO I CRAFT/ BLOG?

        "I have been an creative person right from my childhood. I used to make cards for every diwali and new year and send it to all my relatives. Then as I grew up my studies took precedence over crafts. While I was in college I used to craft in my freetime and will gift my friends on birthdays. After marriage I came to US. To overcome my boredom, I started crafting again. I loved it. I thought some of ideas I have used to create my crafts would help budding crafters. Hence I started a blog."

My Paintings

2)WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF CRAFTING/BLOGGING?
    "When I craft I enjoy myself and feel satisfied when the creation turns out as I wished.  Crafting absorbs all the stress of everyday life and keeps my mind relaxed. So it always makes me think positive. When I post my creation in my blog , it increases my self confidence and gives me satisfaction that I am  spending my time usefully and also learning something new everyday. 

My trials of Digital paintings

After I started to blog and participating in different challenges I have learnt many things right from new techniques, new materials that can be used, different varieties of crafts, photography tips , blogging tips etc. In specific I have learnt about card making, mixed media layouts , art journals , flower making , digital painting , altered art, jewelry making and i would go on and on."

3)WHERE DO I GET MY INSPIRATION FROM?

    "Inspiration is everywhere. When I see a craft work I say wow and immediately want to try it out. So the inspiration basically comes from the craft itself. For mixed media layouts I will refer to gabrielle polloco's tutorials. For the placement of flowers and for the colour combination for the cards I used to refer to my fellow bloggers like hussena , nupur priya , Jaya raghuvansi , pooja etc. 

Floral card inspired from Hussena's cards

For jewelry making, I take inspiration from the different designs displayed in fancy stores, or the jewelry worn by somebody or sometimes google images. "

Terracota jewelry inspired from net

4)WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CRAFT GENRE?
    "I like earring making and I  love to wear my handmade earrings . I love to make clay crafts and altered items. I always enjoy upcycling an old item and creating something new out of it. "

Peruvian thread earring

Thulasi Maadam pen stand

5)WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED?
    "The passion in crafting makes me to look everything through creative eyes. When I craft, the enjoyment I get in the creative process cannot be equated to anything else. To taste that enjoyment again again I craft. This makes me to go on and on. The happiness that I get when I wear my own creation is also one of the reasons that keeps me going. Also when somebody comes to my home and see my creations and appreciate it, it encourages me to create more and more. "  

Recycling magazines into a key holder

6)WHAT NEXT?
   "I wanted to improve my skills in jewelry making and be able to make all kinds of jewelry. Recently mural relief work grabbed my attention and you can see a post soon on it." 

Thank you for reading patiently and now its my turn to tag one of my blogger friend .

I would like to tag one of my fellow bloggers who is new to this blogging field but creates amazing projects. She makes beautiful layouts, cards altered items etc. 

Neha Upreti of creative crafting blog : She is  from Delhi and a doctorate by profession. I wonder how she manages her time between her profession and passion.  She loves to do all kinds of paper crafting and some of my favourite projects of hers are listed below. Do drop in by her blog to see her beautiful creations.

Altered jar

Shabby chic gift box

URAD DAL BEADS EARRINGS

Hi all , Welcome back!! After seeing many beaded earrings on pinterest I too wanted to make one. Since i dont have much beads with me I thought of using something alternative that will give the same look as coloured beads. While i was cooking,  the idea of using Urad dal instead of beads striked me . So made these earrings using cardboard as the base , urad dal beads and acrylic paints. 

Initially I started off by taking a think Cardboard sheet and cut it to the desired shape of the earring. Then I applied glue all over the cardboard and placed the ural dal layer by layer ( outer layer first then inner layer). Finally I painted using acrylics and applied a coat of varnish.

The colours of the above earring are inspired from earrings everyday inspiration picture.

This is the inspiration Picture and i was inspired by the colours of this picture.

Submitting to
Earrings everyday

BEYOND THE SEA POP UP CARD

Hello friends, Today am posting a pop up card of the theme beyond the sea. This is my first attempt in making a pop up card. I made this card based on my favourite movie "Finding nemo" . The song "beyond the sea" from this movie is very close to my heart so created a card with all the beyond the sea creatures.

I started off by taking a white cardstock and painted it blue using gelatos .Then I printed some pics of nemo and under water creatures.  Using small pices of folded papers I created that pop up effect. I followed the tutorial of jojo to create this card. Click here for the tutorial. This card is very very easy to make as it involves no measurements.

I kept the front of the card very simple.

Submitting to

Beyond grey challenges - "Lets get Kiddish"
create something catchy challenge - "Pop up Cards"
4 crafty chicks - " Inspired by a song" - I created a card inspired by the song " beyond the sea"