Key to my heart

Hi Friends, made this cutie page with little S and her grandma. Its pretty, isnt it!

I made a frame from corrugated sheet. Embellished it with some glittered itsy bitsy flowers and cute lace. Got these latest goodies in my stash from my dear sister Jyoti all the way from India!  So happy, thanks sweety :)

Made a bow over the lovely sticker saying "You hold the key to my heart." Which is actually true! Did some misting with my new heart stencil.

Sending this to
once upon a sketch September challenge 2


itsy bitsy - Big b (bow, bling)

bird is the word challenge - Story

artsy craftsy mom - Glitter

another freaking scrappy sketch

Make a wish :)

I think I can scrap about my daughters 1st birthday, untill  she reaches her second!! he he

I love how this layout has come out. I saw bricks  in one of the fellow scrappers blog, and fell in love with them. Having the wooden bench in these photos I thought the bricks will go well.  I used acrylic colors and an old credit card to get the brick effect (layering the acrylic colour mix with the card). I coloured the ice cream sticks to match. Did some misting on my page for the first time( not that scary as I thought ;)). Stamped this cute birdie on top and colored it. To brighten up the page and to highlight the pictures, I doodled a triangular border in orange.

This picture is taken at a Arrowtown, NZ. It was a nice serene place, become vibrant with the autumn festival going on. For the cake..yup it is the smallest! But with just the three of us, there was no point in getting a full cake! Daughter will have a cake of her choice on her 2nd bday!

P.S I now have 100 follower friends for this little treasure of mine! Wow it feels great. Thanks dear friends for your continues support and encouragement. It means a lot to me.

Sending this to:

beyond grey - Graphic shapes
cest magnifique kits sketch
  
purple pumpkin crafts sketch
scrapfit - Misting + Stickers
get creative sketch

Altered gift box

Hi Peeps,

Sharing with you a gift box I decorated for my FIL on behalf of my daughter. Covered the box with craft paper and twine. Made newspaper rosette with glitter and hand cut and embossed leaves to embellish this. You can check the tutorial for this paper rosette here. Quick and simple gift decor!

Sending this to

lessology - Its a wrap

artsy craftsy mom - Use glitter

Quilled 3D flower pot

Hi Friends

A quick post to share a quilled miniature flower pot. Thanks for stopping by. Do let me know how you liked it.

Gujiya/Karanji with homemade mawa from ricotta cheese!

This one is my mom recipe and my favourit since I was a little kid. I just looove these gujiyas. These are made at our place mostly during diwali and some special occasions. My Mom makes these yummys and I would try to hide the box, so that it lasts long!!
I made the mawa/khoya which is used in this at home, it was so easy and came out really good. I used ricotta cheese for it.

These curls around the gujiya makes them look more beautiful, I learnt them from my aunt. My mom would not have the time and patience to do these, so everytime gujiyas were made, it was by job to do the curls, i didnt mind it, coz I so love these!
I have made a short video to show how these curls are made, it is my first attempt at a video, so plz ignore the follies!

Ingredients:
For the dough:
Maida/ APF - 2cup
Olive oil - 1/4 cup (you can use any cooking oil)
Pinch of Salt

                                                                                                    Homemade mawa/khoya

For The Filling:
Mawa-2 cups
Grated Coconut-2 cups
Sugar-2cups
Nuts of your choice(I used soaked and peeled almond, chopped finely)
Sooji/ Rava-1/4 cup (optional)
Ghee-1/2tbs
Cardamom Powder-1 tsp
cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
pinch of salt
Oil- For Deep Frying

Procedure:

To make the mawa:
For making mawa from ricotta cheese, just add 2 tsp ghee in a non stick pan and 250gm ricotta cheese. Keep stirring on medium flame for about 15 mins. The water from the cheese will evaporate and you will have a semi solid mawa ready

The Outer Dough:
In a bowl add oil, maida and salt, rub until it resembles bread crumbs.. Add water little by little to form a firm dough. Divide it into 15 equal portions. Cover and keep it aside.

For The Filling:
In a pan, heat ghee and roast sooji until golden. Take this sooji out in a bowl. Mix in the mawa, sugar,  Sliced nuts, cardamom powder and coconut powder. Divide it into 15 equal portions.

Preparing the Gujiyas:
Roll a ball of dough into a thin circle. Place the one portion of the filling on one side of the circle. Bring the other side over the filling, apply water on the margin and press the edges. You can curl the edges as I have, please refer to the video or you can cut it with a knife and press firmly.

Heat oil. Add the prepared gujiyas and fry on medium low flame until both the sides are golden. Drain oil and transfer to a plate. When cool store in airtight jar.



Sending this to:
Walk through the memory lane event by Gayathri,  guest hosted by Smitha


and
I am well stuffed event by Jagruti


Nivedhanams event Healthy food for healthy kids by Nithu



Gayathri's event tell your kitchen secret september

Quilled Animal Train

Hi Peeps,

I am back to quilling after a long time, ya I was bit bored with it, but now enjoying it again..

Here is a lovely frame I made for little S with a quilled train carrying the animals. It has a quilled panda bear, elephant, lion, monkey, owl, giraffe and a lovely rainbow and cloud. And not to forget a beautiful bright Sun which is a digi.  The frame as usual is completely handmade (yes you remember the diaper box, dont you?? ;)) I used a  lovely magenta handmade paper for the frame. 

I am not veeery happy with the pictures. Actually took these from iphone. My daughter decided to chew on the battery of the digi cam and not it is not working :(
Maybe will post some shots again when I get my SLR..sigh..hehe

Detailed shots

 This is how it adorns our drawing room wall. I have surrounded it with lovely wall décor.

Sending it to
Indian Craft Room challenge 21 - Sketch + use a metal (I used the 2nd sketch and a metal as the train headlight) - I have kept the centre blank for a photo with sentiment.

crafty creations challenges - Back to school in the animal train!

hands 2 hearts - Happy Holidays!
cas-ualfridays - Top of the class

ppp-make it monday

Book Review - Who's that girl?

Have you ever looked at you old pictures..the ones in high school, college..and wondered..wow that was me!! or OMG did I wear that kind of dress, or oh I had good choice then too, or how skinniy I was..

What would you do if you could meet yourself aged twenty-one again? What advice would you give and what events from your life would you want to change? Who's That Girl? explores exactly that, Charlotte Merryweather bumps into her younger self and sets out to make some changes, however she begins to wonder if her present, thirty-one year old self is as happy with life as she should be. 

Charlotte runs her own successful PR agency, she is house hunting with Miles, her sensible and dependable boyfriend and life seems good. Yet when she is face to face with her 21 year old past she has to question as to what happened to the care-free, fun loving woman she used to be?

Who's that Girl is funny, warm and I like the premise. It is entertaining story that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but will still have the reader wondering what they would tell their younger self, if they had the chance.. The other characters such as Beatrice and Miles are very well rounded too and I couldn't put it down. Loved Oliver too!!

Alexandra Potter is a new author for me but she is a very welcome discovery. The book revolves around such a clever idea and it does leave you wondering what you would say to your twenty-one year old self if given the chance. I loved the parts of the book between the present Charlotte and the old one, you get to see how much she has changed and how her present day situation is so different from the one she thought she wanted.

The Thirty something Charlotte is adamant on stopping Lottie(her 21 year old self) from making the same mistakes all over again. Which includes plucking eyebrows and NOT sleeping with cheating love-rat band member Billy Romani, however sexy he might look.However, as Charlotte sets out on her quest to make her previous self see sense, she realises that maybe she doesn't have all of the answers, either. That sometimes, mistakes just have to be made...

This book is funny, sweet and not to mention addictive. 

Alexandra Potter brings a lot of humour to this book. I found it to be fast paced and entertaining, I shall be looking out for her other books in the future.

 A great book to curl up in bed with and take a trip through time.

Recommended - Yes!