DIY:Plant pot holder

Hello there! I just came up with this idea to make a plant pot holder.. they are made with unused or broken photo frames.. mine were small frames from ikea.

Here I used:

• some frames
• glue or double sided tape
• a plant pot to fit in

That's it

If you have frames of different sizes .. just make sure the smallest frame you are using is big enough for the pot to fit in.

you could also use broken frames.. since you are gluing or taping each frame to one another it does not matter.

Just stuck the frames to each other randomly.. and painted is .... thats as easy as it gets!!

PRINT-A-PORTER:Unique place for vintage posters

I came across this amazing Australian based online store PRINT-A-PORTER for vintage posters. They have a unique colourful collection of vintage posters from 50's to 80's .They just made me crazy.

They also get it framed for you....I am sure it will make anyone fall in love with them!You could shop for them here

DIY: decoupage tin box!

Hello! it feels great to be back writing agian on a Sunday. I just thought why not begin the re-writing phase with a tutorial. It is a simple decoupage project which gives a trendy mappy look to a tin can box... to store knick knacks... so here we go..

You will need:

1. tin can box
2. modge podge(I used white glue,but modge podge is better )
3. old map sheets
4. scissors or paper cutter
5. tissues
6. pair of hands ready to get messy and gluey:-)

We start with the lid of the box. I have used detailed pictures because the corners of the lid is the only tricky part here.If you simply start glueing them they give crooked folds at the corners I found this method easy to get a neat rounded corners... may be there are better ways to do it ... Firstly measure up the sides of the lid(above).

Cut 4 strips for four corners of any length and the width being the measurement taken above.

Glue the sides of the lid and start pasting the 4 strips to all four corners.

Now simple take another piece of the paper and paste and place one corner of the box on it and trace the curved corner,shown above. Cut it along the drawn curve

You can see above..I have randomly taken a strip of paper and cut it along the curve.Like in the picture above match the curved corners of the paper and box and stick it.

Once stuck.,add whole lot of glue on the paper and spread evenly(you have to do the same to the side strips as well)when you coat the paper with glue the corners blend them together with your hands so that no gap is seen.. but make sure its done before its dry .

continue pasting strips of paper till all of the lid is covered.

Once the lid is done.Put the lid back on the box and draw a line to mark the area that is used up by the lid. This area is to be left empty ,otherwise the lid will not close.

Tape up the area above the line as you don't want it to have glue all round. Now measure the area from the line to the lower edge of the box and cut a long strip or different strips and paste it on to the box and coat it all over with glue... there it is all done!

At home with:Maria

Hello everyone..... great start to the week with a home tour... so I start my week with the well set home of Maria of Maloblogg ,in Stockholm, Sweden... I am glad that Maria shared her beautiful place with us.. and agreed to write in some lines for us about her place.. She also blogs at malointhegarden... journal of her garden.. which is so wonderful that it would take me another post to cover it .....Thanks a lot Maria!

Our house was built in the 30's and this is its beautiful stair case. The wallpaper is handprinted and in a pattern from when the house was built. From Lim och Handtryck.

Dining table by window facing the street. Table cloth made by Ikea fabric and curtain from tiogruppen

This is the dining area in living room. Carpet from Pappelina and sideboard made by husband of Ikea kitchen cupboards and oak shelves.

This picture shows the opposite side of sofa, and also you can see another string shelf.

Bedroom with another, string shelf. The wallpaper is from Ferm Living and I love the soft grey light in there.

Corner of living room with string shelf.

This is used to be the former play room ,now we use it as an work/craft room. In the spring we keep our seedlings in the window. It's a very bright room facing the back side garden.

Opposite side of work/craft room. My husband built the desk. Storage space for lap tops and drawing paper.(I must add I love those chairs)

I am glad to have this house featured.... hope you liked them ..You could see more of her pictures here.. Thanks again Maria. Hope you have a great week ahead!

On Etsy!

New Work!

Hello People! Its been a week away from blogging..... Hope its been a nice new week for all of you.. My last week was full of activities .. doing new things learning new things... and was lost in my own sweet world..... so here am.... with some snippets of what I have been doing...

Some new block prints..

A hand at batik... though I have done one batik art before... I always failed at dyeing the fabric right... so am now am so glad that am starting to get better with dyeing... so I was just hunting and hunting all about dyeing on the internet... I am so thankful to this invention of mankind called "internet"... Because anything I have learnt and know to this day is mostly from the net... so here are someof my batik work...

Just have a closer look you can see birds in them...

And finally, I got this book from the local book store PROVENCE quilts and cuisine... quilts and cuisine .. great combo to eat and sleep..:-)

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!

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

At Home With: Claudia

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.

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).

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!

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.

More enamel pots , decorated the side fence of the  backyard with some field flowers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 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!

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!

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