New year, New hope!

Colour pencil on paper (11"x8")

As 2012 is coming to an end, this post is dedicated to my dear grandmother late Mrs.Saraswathi whom our family lost this year. May her soul rest in peace. She will continue to live in our hearts forever. 

This painting reminds me of the lamp that she lit day after day during her prayers, the songs she sung asking nothing for herself, but peace, harmony and happiness to prevail everywhere.

May peace prevail everywhere in the world,

May there be a new ray of hope, 

May there be oneness, equality and justice,

May this world be a safer and better place to live!

Two-sided Textured Vase (Glass bottle upcycle)

Two sided vase (from glass bottle)

  

Some of my friends often pull my leg saying "you don't need a bin at home". Well, I wish that was true!

I am overwhelmed by the amount of trash we produce. Hence a conscious effort to make a difference  in little ways that I can. If anything could be reused, upcycled, or recycled, then they simply don't deserve to go into the bin.  Now, this requires a lot of discipline, but isn't the effort worth it. I don't know how far this figure is correct, but something I read - 'recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours'. .

For the process I used in this vase - I cut the neck of  the glass bottle, I then used air brush technique on one side. For the other side I painted the surface with multiple layers of paint. Using a few used paper pieces I then removed upper layers of paint while the paint is still fresh to create a  textured surface. Not only the  cross-over from one side to the other is seamless but also makes a very appealing vase that can very well be a piece of decor at home.

......... And here is the end product.....

 Handmade paper woven vase

Recycled newspaper Vase

Handmade paper woven vase

I had my first go at weaving this vase in an effort to recycle newspaper. I am happy the way it has come out, as this is my first attempt in weaving newspaper. Although it may look a bit flimsy, but it's quite strong as  it's woven tightly. Another couple of layers of paint and then I can call it done. 

Festive Decorations

Handmade garland (from plastic), Painted glass

Deepavali (Diwali) brings a sense of joy, excitement and bright colours to every Indian home be it in India or away. And to most of us it also brings a lot of childhood memories.

I am sure every one of us have made these garlands from coloured paper in various different ways at one time or the other. These few pieces of garlands for this festive decorations are made from plastic covers lying around the house. Though it took some time to make a few meters of these, I am pleased with recycling plastic in any form. Diwali couldn't be complete without light. So I hurried this morning to quickly complete this painted glass for placing candles/diyas. 

I would love to try my hands on bottle cutting and re-using them to make these candle holders. While I figure out how and what is the best way to do that, if any of you have already found the best household method to do that please let me know.

Before I end, here's wishing all my Indian friends, family and readers a very happy and cheerful Diwali. May God bless you all.

New Addition - Crochet jewellary

Crochet Jewellary with beads and pearl.

Healthy treat

Coloured pencils on paper - (8"x11")

Third Anniversary doodley...

Coloured pencils on paper 

Time just flies, 
Amidst laughs and cries.
Three feathered friends flocked by,
To wish 'Little Arena' three years of joy!

- K&R

Country-side Cottages




Coloured pencils on paper

I am enjoying every bit of working with my coloured pencils and here is another one from the series, capturing the beauty of thatched country-side cottages.

New month - new medium

 Waterlily - Coloured pencils on paper (9"x12")

Few sets of color pencils has been cocooning on my painting shelf, barely used for years. I made a few miniature doodles but wasn't quite pleased.

While I was on my way back home last week, I noticed that the bulbs of daffodils and lilies have bloomed already!. Although it feels like winter, (well, atleast to me!), yet felt happy that the wait for summer isn't very long now. This kindled the inspiration to try out a new medium and finally the long awaited coloured pencils have sprang out to take the shape of a waterlily. Unlike other attempts I enjoyed working with these pencils and hope to continue to try my hands on different mediums before I settle-down with one (if at all!).

All from plastic bottles

While I am on this theme of  'Re-Use' this month, here are a few quick to do, easy to use products made from water bottles. 

• In-door pot holder -  The bottom part of the bottle makes it perfect for holding indoor plant pots. There are a lot of plastic stuffs lying around already and hence I generally like to avoid buying plastic and reuse plastic as much as I can. One small step to help save my environment.

•  Ear ring holder  - This one is for girlies who love ear rings. Cut a strip from the middle portion of the water bottle and punch some holes all around. Nothing can be simpler than this one. It's very handy, and doesn't take lot of space on the dressing table. This could also be decorated elaborately or left as simple as this one depending on the luxury of time and creativity at your disposal.

• Funnel -  Now the remaining top portion of this bottle after making the above serves the needy kitchen as a funnel. Without a penny there you go, funnel for free!

While these are just a few, there are other things like decorative floating flowers that could also be made from base as well as the cap of the plastic bottles.

Please recycle, reuse plastic and help save our environment! 

Autumn/Winter decorations

 Acrylic painted clay vase with painted fallen autumn twigs and dry flowers.

One of my creative nieces(SN) gifted this hande-made clay vase. The curves and the bends this vase has clearly makes it very appealing and made it very hard to believe that it was those little hands that made this. I have cherished it ever since. 

Originally it was cobalt blue in colour with orange designs.  I then took the liberty to give it a metallic finish to go with golden painted dry flowers and twigs I collected during one of my tours.

The best way to decorate your home in Autumn/fall is to use fallen leaves, twigs, nuts, dried flowers, hay, Autumn fruits, spikes of wheat and other gifts of nature. 

 Flower Bunch made from Cucumber seeds. .

Couple of years ago I posted these cucumber seed flowers, and these are the same flowers but only arranged in a different fashion

Here's a recap of earlier entries for simple day-to-day things that can be used to brighten up   interiors. 

Wild Flowers -

Made from cucumber seeds, but any other seeds or even Pistachio seeds would do just fine too.

Bunch of Tulips -
Tulip bouquet made from red onion skin.

Bark Ensemble -
Wall placement of acrylic painted barks and dried petals

For those pennies lying around the house.

More ideas - Decorate with leaves.

Wall Hanging - Autumn leaves & Ferns

 It was towards the Autumn when we moved and these Maple leaves had fallen all around our place. I love maple trees for their changing vibrant hues. I collected some of these as I walked in and  the very next day I made this simple and memorable piece to frame that moment.  Now it hangs on one of the walls and it's a nice thing to stare at while I sip a coffee and all around are only trees baring no leaves.

 Scrap book cover

This is a scrap book cover I decorated using dried leaves. During my walks I sometimes collect nice looking leaves and keep them dried. I find these very handy whenever I have to decorate something with no much time left on my plate.

The good thing is you can get as creative as you want and as intricate as you want with whatever leaves you have and wherever you are.

Enjoy being eco-friendly!

Recycle, Re-use, Create!

I have always liked the concept of reuse, recycling seemingly useless stuff with a touch of creativity and followed it ever since I can remember. Starting this year I thought the readers should get a chance to peep into that side of me. Hopefully I will put up enough things to keep you interested, and for those of you who are inspired and want to give it a try, I would be delighted to know - please do share it with me here.

Today's post is a very simple one, but useful. K & I moved home a few months ago and were left with a huge pile of boxes and cartons from the move. I said to K, we better make some pieces of decor that matched our walls and also a place to hold stuffs lying around, K liked the idea as much as I did and hence on a cold winter weekend we decorated these boxes and also wrapped a cereal box. While we not only enjoyed the process of having a chit-chat and making them, these boxes also perfectly sit on top of our shoe rack to hold pairs of socks and wrapped cereal box holds newly arrived posts. Thankfully boxes have finally been put to use - A place of everything, and everything in it's place!

If you have some mundane boxes lying around, dont bin them; give it a facelift and help reduce waste and be proud of helping our environment!

Winter gift

Crochet cardigan

Mid 2009 - The yarn landed at my doorstep. The idea was to make a table placement or some such sort, as I thought this might go well with our interiors. Late in the year, as the winter set in, table placement started taking the shape more of a cardigan. After all that drama, midway through I had to abandon this work .. and gosh! it was 2 years since this was lying on my to-do-list before it got some attention!

At each step of making this I had no idea what the finished product would look like, but I kept telling myself it will be fine when I finish it!. And to my surprise, it really has! Finally I can call it done today!, A self designed, crocheted new year gift to myself.. I guess I see it more as a piece of art and may prefer to look at it than to put it on...whatever it is I am very excited that this came out quite well for having no training whatsoever in crocheting or making clothlines.. I am so happy and thrilled!..