Pen holder

This past week things have been very slow at work - thanks to thanksgiving... That means things are picking up speed in my DIY area. :)

Dear Mr. D decided to explore our pen stand and when he was done, it broke into 2 halves. It was a nice terracotta pen holder with warli art on it. Alas!. On the bright side, it gives me another reason bring out my craft / art supplies :) DIY!

I found this tin pail at Michael's - could have used this as is... But, Im sure my warli painted terracotta pen holder would have felt bad :P

Out comes the spray paint - this time color block!

Ivory on top and Blue at the bottom.

tadah!

I could have stopped right here! But, I have been seeing the use of dimensional paint / puffy paint all over pinterest and I had to try it out. This was my chance.

Tried out this henna design - trying to keep up with the (sort of) damask pattern on the top half.

Now we have a new pen holder, one that will not break when D explores :)

Key holder

I found this very lovely handmade paper at Paper Source. I am gravitating towards the peacock feather kind of print of late.



There was another option in the same print in orange - but I ended up picking this blue.



I have been wanting to make a key holder / hanger. A small way to decorate the entryway.
Of course with pinterest filled with inspirations, it was not too long before I started my own key holder.
I liked this one the best of all tutorials out there.

Quick summary of what I did: Take wooden plaques, spray paint them with your favorite color and mod podge your favorite paper on to the plaque and screw in some hooks and hang you key holder on the wall.

Like you can see here - I am not a great spray painter! the paint is not even and the surface is definitely not smooth. (But it is one good use of those many diaper boxes that we end up with, dont you think?)
I am yet to figure out how to paint and finish it better. But once I spayed another coat of paint on top, it was not as bad.

Big big fan of the design master brilliant gold spray paint! you have seen it already in my lantern project.

Once the paint it dry cut out the paper to the fit the plaque and modpodge it.

I chose these regular hooks to screw into the plaque. But, of course, they had to spray painted Gold - see the obsession?! :P

Once the hooks are gold and dry apply a layer or 2 of sealant for good measure and then hang the key holder. I used velcro to hang mine.

Here is a close up.

Simple DIY - may be this can be done as a weekend project. But with baby standard time, it takes you anywhere between a week to a fortnight. Nevertheless loved doing this! :)

Linking it to:

Sunday showcase

craft-o-maniac

Wooden Coasters

Days are very short now-a-days. I don't just mean the sun setting by 5 or 4:45 pm. We are still learning how to do it all by ourselves - work, work-out, cook, D's day-care-n-everything-else and manage enough sleep. Time always runs out!

It was way easy when Amma was around. I used to be able to spend at least half an hour each night with my crafts - be it terracotta jewelry or simple DIYs like updating the labels in my pantry (That project has been pending for the longest time - I wonder when I can get around to pasting the labels!). Now-a-days all I seem to do is accumulate all raw materials for a DIY. I simply cant find time for doing the DIY itself! 

But, this weekend, I managed to get the drop cloth and spray paint out and get some projects going... 

One among them - updating the wooden ikea coasters. 

I found this lovely printable bandani pattern printable on Etsy and I decided to mod podge these on to the coasters.

Here are step by step pictures:

This is a fairly simple project. First of all, I sanded the wooden coasters. 

I read somewhere that it is best to sand along the grain of the wood.

Sprayed a primer, let it dry. Sprayed 2 coats of high gloss white paint, let them dry in between coats.. I had to choose white (of course!)

Go to the next step only after the paint is fully dry. I let it sit for an entire day.

Apply a thin layer of modpodge on the coasters. Allow it to dry slightly and place the paper.
The thin layer and allowing the modpodge to dry before placing the paper is supposed to prevent bubbles and wrinkles.

Once the paper is stuck nicely onto the coaster, wait for about 15 minutes and apply 2 layers of modpodge on top. Mod podge dries clear.

I did notice some bubbles on the paper after applying the top coats. But once the modpodge was fully dry, it definitely was better. I still see one or two small bubbles here and there - I guess its still the learning curve for me - after all this is my first mod podge project...

Apply a coat of clear spray - finish on top - This will make them better resistant to water / liquids.

I like how colorful they turned out -I don't know much about how long they are supposed to last - will update this post as we go - But for now I am a bit more excited about my cup of tea :)

Linking this to

made by you mondays

sunday showcase

craft-o-maniac

Lantern

I found this nice looking lantern at world market last week- At $15, I thought this was a good deal.

Originally it was antique silver sort or a finish - (Oh! how I regret not having the picture of the original lantern!) It was nice, but not quite there. So I decided to spray paint it gold. I used design master gold spary paint. I think it turned out good :)

Now I have to find a nice place to hang it. In S's words, I have to find something that needs to go out to make space for this lantern. (I play along sometimes, in the spirit of not accumulating too much clutter :P Sometimes!)
I also need a nice chain to hang it by. While I find the spot and the hardware to hang, it waits for me in this beautiful golden glow :)

Update: Found this lantern chain at potterybarn.com. It was long enough for my need. Best part, it was available for free shipping and it was just $3. :D Score! Won't you say?



I wasted no time to spray paint it gold. I think I am obsessed with Gold colored spray paint. I wait to use it on something, anything!

Now my gold lantern hangs by a gold colored chain in our living room :)

Oh and BTW, this entire project cost me under $20. $15 for the lantern itself, $3 for the chain and gold paint $5 for the entire can... which I have used on multiple projects. Fun Frugal and Fast. :)

Diwali 2013

This year we celebrated D's first Diwali. Im sure for him, it was just about meeting a lot of people that he likes, all in one day and eating new tasty food for the first time. As for us, we had a lot of fun introducing him to fireworks, lights and our tradition :)

I knew it would be a good Diwali with D around, but it surprised me how much, the addition of one tiny person to the family, can recharge the festival spirit and make it a bit more meaningful. Even S said, introducing D to Diwali made him relive so many fond diwali memories from his childhood :) There are so many dimensions added to one's life after one becomes a parent!

Here is an assimilation of all the decorations that we had at our home for this diwali.

More pictures coming as and when I get some more time to collect pictures and upload.

Rangoli for Diwali

We had this colorful Rangoli at the entrance of our home for Diwali. In fact it is still there at our door step, I dont have the heart to clean it up :(
Enjoyed drawing this and filling it up with colors.

I have designed and colored rangolis before. But, it has always been with others - like ma, sis or aunt. Those good old days! On the other hand D has never seen a colorful rangoli before and he sure was excited when he saw this :D

Not more to say other than enjoy the colors :)

Dressed up tea lights.

Inching towards diwali - the last leg!
The mood is set :) Potluck at work today, potluck with friends tomorrow... Lovely times.
Most blogs I visit are all so bright and beaming with ideas for diwali decorations - Oh! such a pleasure to see all beautiful creations :)

I have had dressing up the tea lights in mind for a while now. Again, thanks Pinterest!
All you need for this is - washi tape, gift wrapping ribbon, regular glue, glitter glue, rhinestones. Wrap the tea lights on wahi tape or ribbon, stick your rhinestones and design away with glitter glue :) Done! 30 minutes and you can easily dress up a dozen tea lights.
One of those quick, simple, satisfying crafts.

Washi tape - Great potential for this product. I discovered it only recently and I love it so far. I can think of so many many projects with washi tape! Oh! just thinking about them makes me so excited..

Back to the tea lights, this is how they look when finished.

The line up... Haven't decided a place for their display yet... But they are stationed in the living room for now, next to the DIY pot.

This entertainment center is the tallest place in the living room now. That makes it the safest place for things, away from His Naughtiness Mr. D. It has been overworking for the past few months! :)

A close up...

I like the gingham washi tape...