COOL MEMORIES OF SUMMER VACATION

Hi all , i wanted to take you all to a trip down the memory lane to my childhood days. Thanks to those days when there were no gadgets, video games, internet  and when serials and reality shows were not popular. This enabled me to enjoy a perfect vacation. I am not a person interested in sports or playing outside whole day. For me my home is my world and the three girls in the compound are my friends.

        My favourite months of the year are april and may when the schools are closed. Those days our favourite game ( so called ) used to be building temple. Sound's strange isn't it ?? We will look out for a big smooth rounded stone wash it keep kumkum and turmeric. God is ready. This is because we have heard our elders saing God resides in stone if you believe. Then we used to bring cardboard pieces , leaves , twigs, gulmohar tree flowers to make a shelter for our temple. The next day we all will bring little kumkum , milk , water ,camphor, match box etc for doing puja in our temple. We will do abhishekam , tell all the slokas that we know and finally end with aarathi. Sometimes we used to build houses for dolls and decorate with flowers and leaves. The fun we had those days cannot be equated to the readymade barbie doll houses that kids are playing nowadays.

Summer colage

       Another important reason why i like april month is it is the season for jackfruit - my favourite one. My mom used to buy Jackfruit for tamil new year which falls on april 14th. The  feeling i get when i eat the jackfruit dipped in honey is heavenly. The beautiful golden shower tree flower ( Kanikonna poo) is definitely a visual treat to the eyes.I love taking pictures of golden shower tree in its full bloom state as it gives a hope that the coming year too will be blossoming with colours. There is big golden shower tree near shivanandha colony bus stop in coimbatore which will be in its full bloom in the month of may.Recently during the onset of  autumn in US the trees turned yellow which reminded me of this golden shower tree.

  At the time of new year the first rain of the year will come only to increase the heat. Sometimes the rain will be accompanied by hail stones called as alankatti mazhai in tamil. This first rain is very special for us because its believed the water can be used to treat heat bums  and heat rashes and the hail stones when applied over face cures pimples.

Autumn tree in U.S 

  April-May is the season of mangoes. Though i dont have much liking for mangoes , i love eating " vadu manga" ( tender mango). My grandma used to buy these tender mangoes cut them sprinkle some salt and will give me. Curd rice with this freshly cut mangoes tastes awesome. Those days in my home we used to buy tamarind and red chillies in wholesale for an year during summer. During may first week when my mom used to put  " vadam" ( rice crackers) i wil get up early to help so that I could eat vadam maavu. I relish the half-dried vadams too. In the evenings I go out with my dad to drink tender coconut juice and icereams. During weekends we used to eat " nungu" ( palmyra fruit).Coffee and tea would be replaced by cool watermelon juice.

    In the second week of may the exhibition and circus shows would start in coimbatore. Enjoying different rides, eating chilly bajji , rice appalam and buying things for the next academic year ( like rubber , pencil , box, water bottle etc ) will be the highlights of exhibition. The next few days goes off in covering notebooks, binding books, stitching uniforms etc. Thus i will be recharged and ready to go to school as the vacation ends.

   I wonder whether the summer classes , video games , internet , tv and world tour will deprive children from enjoying and experiencing the season and vacation as i ( we ) did!!

    

DIY diyas for karthigai deepam

Hi all, its been a practice in Tamilnadu to buy new baked clay diyas every year on the occasion of karthigai deepam. So why not make new clay diyas on your own and decorate it ? 

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Air dry clay
2. paint

PROCEDURE:

Step 1 : Roll the clay into a round shape like a ball . The size of round ball depends on the size of the diya you want. 

Step 2 :

Step 3: Using a rounded object press deep in the center  so as to make it hollow in the centre . I used a gum bottle to do it. 

Step 4 : Press and open up the edges like this. 

Step 5 :  Shape it in the form of a diya.

Step 6 : Allow it to dry in sun till the diyas become hard and then paint them.

Happy karthigai to all of you !!

Happy crafting!!

PENCIL SKETCHING

Below are some of the pencil sketches done by me ....

Lord Krishna 

Lake Cunningham 

basket

Flowers

Rose plant

THAMBOOLAM PLATE

Last month i saw the aarathi plate or puja thali in shops for some north indian festival. It was beautiful and neatly decorated. As i dont get thamboolam items ( betel leaf, coconut etc ) i decided to combine both the ideas and made this thamboolam plate for navarathri kolu.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Plastic plate  ( circular shape)
2. clay
3. paint

PROCEDURE:

Step 1 :

The plate can be the top lid of any box. I used the top lid of yoghurt box. 

Cover the top surface with clay.

Step 2 : For making kumkum and turmeric cones. 

Step 3: For making betel leaf

Step 4: For banana

Step 5 : For coconut make small oval shaped pieces in clay . Then using the backside of a pencil or brush make hole in one corner of oval. 

 Step 6: Arrange all these items in the plastic plate and glue them. Once it gets dried paint using acrylics or oil paint.

I decorated the plate by attaching small pieces of sattin ribbon . You can decorate it using kundan stones , rhinestones , golden ribbon etc. I will post a separate tutorial on making clay diyas. 

APPEARANCES ARE DECEPTIVE

Below are two incidents that illustrates the importance of this quote " Appearences are deceptive " 

       In 1911 Vietnam was colonized by the French Army. Vietnamese resented the french, sometimes through riots. A teacher's family was suspected for orchestrating one of those riots against the French  . So all the members of the family were captured by the army to be killed . Since there was not enough space in the vehicle, they left behind a small child. Since that small child was lean and puny, the french thought he will die by himself in the coming days. They ridiculed his appearance and took his other family members with them. Never would the french have imagined that the little boy they left behind would be their tormentor in future. The boy grew up and defeated the French army in vietnam war. He rose as a hero by making Americans run away from Vietnamese soil. He was a key figure in the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. He also served as prime minister and president of Vietnam. His name is Ho Chi Minh. To honour him the capital of south Vietnam called Saigon is renamed as Ho Chi Minh city. 

Ho Chi Minh 

Another incident that happened recently also emphasizes the above quote. Nina Davuluri won the miss America 2013 title last month. Today she is America's most beautiful woman but before five years she used to be very fat that she disliked herself for her appearance. Right from her childhood she had the habit of overeating which led to the bulimia disease. In addition she suffered from asthma trouble. Even at this stage she dreamt of becoming Miss America one day. When there are positive thoughts in the mind the way to success will be clear. She met a fitness trainer called Tiya felcon who herself has suffered from obesity but due to strict diet and exercise became slim. So Tiya wanted to help people with similar problems and give them confidence. She guided Nina and helped her to reduce weight. Due to her hard work and consistent effort Nina Davuluri was crownedMiss America. The inspiring  message she said to everyone " everybody in this world  is beautiful but you have to believe that you are.''

From these two incidents we understand that " Never judge any person by their appearance." If we have confidence and belief success is ours." 

STONE PAINTING

hello everyone Three months back when i had been to goldbluffs beach in redwood i found these smooth oval shaped stones. I collected a few of them and painted  upon it. So now whenever i go to a beach or river i do this interesting work of collecting the perfect rounded stone for  doing stone painting .

MATERIALS NEEDED :

1. Smooth stones 
2. acrylic or oil paints ( bright colours)
3. varnish or gloss 

PROCEDURE :

Wash the stones so that the paint will adhere better. Then apply a base coat ( any colour of your choice) . Once it gets dried apply the second coat. Now start drawing the actual picture using thin brush.  After the painting dries apply a coat of gloss to the stone. 

painted stones used as paperweight 

These decorated stones can be used as paperweights , fridge magnets by attaching magnets to the stones, to decorate your garden etc. We can paint inspirational quotes on the stones and gift it to someone. So start making your own personal collection of stone creations !! 

Have a nice day!!

Happy crafting !!

3D FLOWER GREETING CARD

Welcome back friends !! I wanted to make a different greeting card for my husband's birthday. I have already done quilled greeting cards so wanted to try something new so that  it will be a complete surprise.When i searched for ideas i came across this 3D quilled flower bouquet. The card came out very well and i felt very happy after doing it. 

MATERIALS NEEDED :

1. A4 sheet ( coloured  paper can be used )
2. Quilling tool
3. Quilling paper
4. paints 
5. glue 

PROCEDURE :

Step 1 : Cut 1/2 inch strips of paper. 

Step 2 : Colour each strip with different colour. 

Step 3 : Cut small slits in all the strips of paper except green colour.

Step 4 : Take the quilling paper of contrast colour and quill a tight coil to make the center  of the flower.

Step 5 : Attach the end of the strip to the quilled coil and start rolling the strip around the coil.

Step 6 : Open up the petals to get a flower.

Step 7 : Repeat the same steps for all coloured strips. Now for the leaves take the green strip and quill it as a loose coil. 

Step 8 : Arrange the flowers and leaves as a bouquet and decorate it of your choice. I folded regtangular piece of paper as a vase and added sattin ribbon to it.  

You can give this as a greeting card or frame and hang in the wall . You can learn the basics of quilling  from this video 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5ICwEBsvZM

Have a nice day !!!

Happy crafting !!!