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!

I met Yvonne Yam!! :)

Yes you read it right my dear friends...I did meet dear Yvonne in person! I am sure some of you are jealous of me..he he
We met during her Melbourne visit., it happened all so sudden, I can hardly believe that I met my scrap booking inspiration and spent such wonderful time with her. We did lot of crafty chit chat, with she giving so many ideas and tips and We did some craft shopping too!! yey!!She is such a sweet person.

Before the meet, I called at her number :
Me: can i speak to "yoni"?
Yvonne: This is "V-von" (Oh did I call a wrong number, oh ..oh ok it is pronounced as v-von)
Quickly correcting myself
Me: Hey Hi V-von, i am sorry i did'nt know how to pronounce your name..
Yvonne:No worries, have you already reached??
Me: No just abt to leave from home, will be there in 1/2 an hour..
Yvonne: Alright, great see you then..
:)

This was our first talk, then the dilemma of identifying each other..I was just hoping she puts on her glares, as I have seen her picture with glares on only! But to our relief, we understood each other with eye contact (she must be expecting an indian lady with a baby :))

It was a lovely time spent with the such a lovely person, will always remember the day.

This week there have been a few wins for me, would love to share them with you all..

I won at Crafty Creations for this entry on mine

Made it to top 3 at Frosted Designs for..

Made it to top 3 at Lessology for this entry

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.

Oranjee Independence day contest winner

Pleased to announce the Winner of our Independence day contest...

We received 19 entries. It was tough to pick a winner. We judged based on creativity and patriotic feelings best expressed!

And the winner is "Rashika Vazirani" from Mumbai.

Here is her winning entry
"For me, Independence is when I feel, a sense of precious freedom caressing every part of my body and soul and a feeling of self - exhilaration. It is being truly liberated from bondage – bondage from negative thoughts, hatred and envy. Independence day is the day, when we celebrate the heroes of our nation with pomp and splendour , bestow honor on them and pay endless tributes to them . But I ask “ Is that all? And, why only on a single day in an entire year?” It shames me to see, otherwise, when, in multiplexes, Viewers talk loudly, don’t stand in rapt attention and are in a hurry to sit down whilst the National Anthem is being played. The day after 15th August is even more disgusting; the small and big sized national flags carelessly strewn over on the roads or badly mutilated and people merrily trampling on them just like an ordinary piece of paper. My heart pains to see this sight and how I wish, our Indian Tiranga would stand tall in the heart of each and every Indian. I wish, that the seeds of patriotism be strongly resown in every Indian and more so the youth…VANDE MATRAM ...."

She gets this lovely handmade frame from Oranjee Creations made by dear Jyoti. Congrats Rashika!!

Love the Mickey smile :)

"Happy 1st Birthday to me!"

This is a fun layout from my daughters book. This is her 1st bday picture, taken in New Zealand. The smile in this picture is sooo similar to Mickeys!

I have used lot of chipboard embellies here. I love banners/buntings a lot and always wanted to incorporate in my lo. Have used polka dot ribbon for the banner with a upcycled rakhi twine :) The Mickey and "Birthday" is fuzzy cut from an old birthday invite.

Entering in the following challenges:

frosteddesigns - Twine/Ribbon

beyondgrey Bingo (middle row- flower, twine, grey color), 

                                                    creativescrappers Sketch 220

                                                                                                             once upon a sketch blog Sketch

boys rule scrapbook kits Sketch

                                                          skissedilla

Washi Tape Giveaway!

Hi Peeps

Here's a chance to win these awesome washi tapes at Purple pumpkin crafts. Check it out!

Baba's favourite!

At our place, grandfather's are lovingly called "Baba". This is a picture of my daughter and her grandfather, I just love it!!
My FIL is very fond of children and my daughter being the youngest, is his favourite.


Tried to capture the emotions on the layout. I have embellished it with flowers and hexagons. The background paper and the hexagons are up cycled from pamphlets.

Entering in the following challenges

c'est magnifique kits - Word challenge "Grow"
scrapfit Pinwheel
Pretty Paper Studio Hexagons
crafty creations challenges color-challenge-183-yellow-green-blue

lulupu - Pinwheel

crafting for all seasons - Bright colors

creative scrappers sketch-221 frosted designs sketch-47  artful delight - Sketch 

cards galore scrapbook challenge - Bright

Gopalkala - Janmashtmi special

Happy Krishna Janmashtmi to all my dear friends.

Janmashtami , birth of Lord krishna is celebrated all over India. Each place celebrates this occasion in different ways. In Maharashtra, Janmashtami is popularly celebrated with Dahi Handi, people make a human pyramid , the person on top breaks the earthern pot filled with curds. It is  celebrated with enormous zeal and enthusiasm.

Gopalkala is made as an offering /prasad . Lord Krishna was known for his love for milk, curd and butter. Krishna would graze cattle with his fellow cowherd friends. At lunch time He would mix all the food bought by his friends with His own, and made a Kala. So kala is a mixture of food with milk, curd, and butter.Even now this custom is followed and served as Prasad.There is no hard and fast rule or any recipe for this Kala. How I miss those carefree days when we would go to see the dahi handi with friends and enjoy the gopal kala offered there.

My mom also makes a lovely panjeeri with coriander seeds and gond. It tastes yumm..next time I am going to tell her to make it for me, janmashtmi or not! :)

To get a feel of the festival here, I decided to make the gopal kala and share it with you all! Enjoy and have a lovely day..

Ingredients

1 cup poha ( beaten rice) washed and drained
1/2 cup murmura ( puffed rice)
1/2 cup grated Coconut
1 chopped Cucumber
2 Green Chilies
1 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp Jeera/Rai
1/2 tsp grated Ginger
1 cup Curd
1/2 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
2-3 tsp bengal gram daal(powdered)
3-4 curry leaves
pinch of hing
some finely cut coriander leaves
Method
1. Soak beaten rice for 10 minutes.
2. Take a big bowl and add soaked poha, murmura, grated coconut, chopped cucumber, curd, sugar, salt and chopped corriander. Mix well.
3. Melt ghee in a small pan for the tempering and add the rai, jeera, green chilies, curry leaves, hing and grated ginger.
4. Pour over the above mixture. Mix well and serve.

Sending this to Walk down the memory lane event by Gayathri, guest hosted by Archana and 

             Celebrate - Month of Shravan by Jagruti, guest hosted by Sangeetha.