Saturday, September 25, 2010

Birds in colors!

Hello people! ... I love these traditional Rajasthani bird hangings..just cant get enough of them.. they are so attractive... I bought one from the bombay store at the airport last time... just regret not having brought more... so I just wanted to do my own version of it...and here it is..though the one I bought had more of bead work, I kept it simple to start off.. I want to do more of them in different patterns.... I am sure everyone who has seen them have bought them and that most of you will definitely have it in your home... so thought of putting them on my blog design as well!  though its a known fact that my blog design keeps changing..:-) laughs .. just like my home decor... change is permanent.. that applies to me a lot I guess! I get bored of blogging with the same layout...feels good and fresh with new layouts... at least a part of my engineering study helps me here ...Have a great Sunday!

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It hangs over a panel I  made of bamboo table mats stitched together....

Monday, September 20, 2010

At Home With: Claudia

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Hello and welcome! Today am very excited to feature the home ,that is so close to nature.Claudia, who loves to dress up well and who is very creative be it her dressing or her home. She lives in Germany with her husband and son.. The house is filled with so much warmth and love...her outdoor space seems like a fairy tale to me.... that is where I long  to be...
I am sure you will love it.... there is a bonus that comes along.. Claudia was kind enough to tell us about her beautiful home in her own words...... 
Click on images for better view

Above : This used to be  the living room of our home in Princeton,NJ.
We moved with all this to Germany a year ago, except for the amazing strelizia, tropical plant that I loved so much.

One of my very personal ideas of decoration (not that I have a concept, but it happens to be so), is to include artworks or crafts of my child in the rooms. I think it adds a very cute ,familiar and warm touch , fits best with all the other things we can find here: a patchwork of objects and furnitures that tell us the stories of our life journey.

This paper owl on front right is a cute craft my son made at school.
The old sofa  is from ebay Germany,has a supercute embroidered cover that I bought at a fleamarket in NYC. On the wall is the print on canvas  which shows an artwork of Gustav Klimt. Actually it is either in bedroom or in living room.
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Friends came over to watch a football game in the backyard in summer, it was Worldcup in South Africa and we had a great time. The table was inspired  by African patterns and colors.I brought  the wooden chicken with bread from Brazil, the set for salt and pepper from a trip to Namibia and  the fabric on  the table is something I got from a friend ( from Ikea).

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My husband was traveling and my boy had summerbreak already, the weather was fantastic and we built a gypsy camp to chill out  in  the backyard and we too moved out with it. That was the place where we slept, ate and played games for almost a week. Of course my son loved the gypsy life... and me too!

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The colorful fabrics are sarongs, in my home country, Brazil they are used mostly by the people at the beach.They aer very pretty and colorful batik(tie dye) art fabrics and they usually come from India,Thailand,Indonesia and Brazil.I used to do lamps with them and thats why I still have many in different colors and patterns.
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More enamel pots , decorated the side fence of the  backyard with some field flowers.

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This is the canopy sofa that looks totally different from the original one, we bought. I made a new cover with an antique natural linen fabric, also for the pillows. I have also replaced the fabric on top, now there is this rich embroidered ornament, a very old piece from Kazakistan, where the nomadic  people use to decorate their tents with. Some embroidered cushions are from Ikea.
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Above:It was originally supposed to be an Advent wreath where you light up 4 candles on Christmas time. I placed this little clay animals that I brought from Namibia as candle holder on the wreath. Then (Christmas) I had little apples and herbs and pines twigs on it. I loved the way it turned out so much that I've decided to leave the Christmas wreath all year hanging, just re-decorating it from time to time as per  the seasons. On this picture, it has flowers, herbs, physalis and the clay mules with candles.
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Above: The other side of dining room that still has some winter decorations there because we all love the calendar so much... the dresser is from a flea market in New Hope (USA) a place I used to go with my family.Above is another print on canvas (Gustav Klimt).This colored wood village is a calendar I built long time ago, it has one door or window to open on each december day until Christmas.The sun above the yellow house has a little music box with crank handle, it plays "here comes the sun" the last day is the pink church with a tiny bell,all lighted.
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Above: This is our  dining room , this day I've decorated it with lanterns, flowers and garlands for son's birthday breakfast (I'm a drama queen, when it comes to birthdays), I also set a special table with candles, etagere with fruits, cake and our sweet flowery dishes.
The cupboard on back right corner is gipsy furniture from Romania, it has some colorful flowers painted on it. The old light blue bench is painted and decorated with flowers and insects by me and my son.

Below: The wall on left has lots of paintings bymy son.

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Above: In the kitchen you will find fresh herbs, lots of old enamel pots of my beloved collection. also there are olive twigs i brought from my last trip to spain. I made the curtain is  with potato stamps.
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 A corner in the kitchen : little doll stove, olive twigs from Spain and enamel pots.


What do you think? so much of hand made love ..... I am so happy to see her son being so creative.. hope you enjoyed the lovely home..... you can see more of stylish claudia  here Thanks Claudia!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Hello Sunday!



Happy sunday to everyone ..... with some apple cinnamon muffin I baked..... They came out very well......... Hope you lovely people have a great day ... and are all set for a new exciting blogging week!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

My first listing on etsy!

Glad to announce my first listing on etsy... I have listed the crewel embroidered purse on etsy.... finally I did it after a long time of "should I or should I not's"...... lets see who pays for my hardwork...:-) Here is my etsy shop


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Crewel Hello!

Here to say hello with my crewel purse.. just finished this.... 


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Its crewel embroidered through out... even on the back side... done on chenille upholstery fabric.. you can see the back and inside views here!  and buy it here

Hope you have a great week!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Carry Walker

Its really been long, since I featured a home.. but today I come back with a bang! with the lovely home of Carry Walker, who loves to make handmade stuff.. and is setting up her new home..she was kind enough to let us into her lovely place!



I love the collection of succulents around the house... and lovely white ceramic owl... keeps me drooling! I have an attraction towards owly stuff...

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Calm bedroom with a lovely quilt... and a canopy bed..

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A corner in the living room.

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I am an embroidery freak... and these vintage birds are a feast to my eyes..

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This is her craft room... birds again... Birds have a lot to do with the beautiful stuffed  art she makes .... you have to have a look at here etsy shop here... for lovely snugly and adorable stuff..


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I hope you loved this home feature.... She has a great blog here where she tells about the lovely stuff she makes... Also can see more detailed images of her home here

Thanks Carry !



Monday, September 06, 2010

No fix lamp shade!

This is a simple lamp shade ... the idea just occurred to me when  I looked at this basket from Ikea. Unfortunately I am not able to get its name.. but these used to come as a set of three nestled baskets.. I guess any light weight and little open weave basket would do for this..




I took a lamp base .. spray painted it in turquoise color.. I ripped of the old lamp shape and hence I got its support base.. fixed it back to the lamp base..

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Just kept the basket on top of the lamp shade support.


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and ta- da ...... here is the lamp shade...... I like the shades of light that the basket gives when lit in the dark!


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Flowers again!

Some glimpses of flowers in my balocny.. and flowers to join the blog party at The Key Bunch!

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Some bougainvillea in the balcony 




Little plants on my painted plate


Now for some roses! Wishing a happy anniversary month to the Key bunch team! Hope to have more lovely years of blogging from them!


Friday, September 03, 2010

simple pleasures: with floral centerpieces!

While most of the world is heading off to a weekend.. we here in the middle-east start of a new week...so I begin my week with few colorful pictures of simple yet stylish floral centerpieces ! here we go...



A simple arrangement in a jar !


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now some thing in a bowl...!


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What an idea! where you can have so many centerpieces and still have your space on the table..!
Diy tin can centerpieces! 
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Finally pleasure in a bottle!

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