Wishing you all a very happy and safe Diwali 2017!

Happy Diwali 2015!!

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali!! :)

Gold fish :Colored pencil art!

Water lily: Colored pencil art

Eco-friendly Lord Ganesha!

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi !

May Lord Ganesha remove all obstacles in life and

make your way of success smoother! :)

"The Hindu"  announced a contest to make eco-friendly Lord Ganesha and here is my contribution.
(ref: page 7 today)September 16,2015.
Materials used are :

For Ganesha:

• Carrot 
• Beetroot 
• Kohlrabi 
• Radish 
• Moongdhal 
• Sesame 
• Pepper corn

For Umbrella:

• Coconut Shell
• Greengram dhal 
• Roasted gram 
• Puffed rice

For Thoran:

• Mango leaves 
• Jute string

For Diya:

• Earthenware diya

Lord Ganesha is seated on a Banana leaf. And the coconut shell is held with the banana stem. Even the diya lighted is an earthenware which is eco-friendly surrounded with yellow flowers.

Pearl Millet Laddoo / கம்பு உருண்டை

Ingredients: 

1. Pearl millet                                                 - 1 cup
2. Jaggery (karuppattti /vellam)                     - 200gms
3. Cardamom                                                  - 2 pieces
4. Channa dal(roasted gram/porikadalai)       - optional

How to prepare Pearl Millet Laddoo:

1. Fry the pearl millet in a kadai with no oil . When a nice aroma comes out, stop frying.
2. Keep it aside and let it cool down.
3. Prepare jaggery syrup by adding little water in jaggery and boiling it. Once the jaggery melts down and a thick syrup like consistency is obtained, put off the flame.
4.  Grind well the pearl millet which is brought to room temperature along with cardamom.
5. Add the jaggery syrup to it.
6. Make laddoos and a yummy,healthy snack is ready to serve!!!

Note:

      If jaggery syrup is added more and unable to make laddoos, some roasted gram can be powdered and added to it. 

Pookalam 2

On the occasion of Onam festival, 

I had an opportunity to do this lovely pookalam at my son's school :)

I would like to thank my son's teacher for giving  this beautiful opportunity 

and for the memorable moments while doing this pookalam :)

Lord Ganesha in the middle and various colors of flowers 

really made this pookalam look great!!

A cup of joy forever :)

Welcome your guests with this simple indoor gardening idea !! :)

Tea cups are great for table roses.

How colorful and beautiful...

Unable to resist taking eyes off these little buddies..

Enjoy the cup of joy in every sip!! ;)

Painted kolam!!

Citrus Mint Punch!

Hot summer is coming up and get ready with thirst quenching recipes!!

Here I have a citrus mint punch to beat the heat.

Enjoy!! 

Ingredients:

1. Mint     - a handful
2. Lemon  - half
3. Sugar    - 2 tbsp.
4. Water    - 1 glass

How to Prepare:

1. Grind mint in one glass of water in a mixie jar and filter it.
2. Squeeze the lemon into it and add 2 tbsp. of sugar and mix well.
3. Ice cubes are optional.
4. Cool!!! Citrus mint punch is ready in seconds.

Pookalam 1

Dear everyone!! 

Let's begin this year crafts with fresh flowers and diya!!

Yes a pookalam can surely make it.

கேழ்வரகு/Raagi/Finger millet Dosa!!

A healthy diet keeps the doctor away!!

Let us know how to make Raagi dosa here.

Kids love this dosa while taken with coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

Ingredients used:

1. Raagi flour - 4 cups
2. Urad dhal  - 1 cup
3. Boiled rice - 1/2 cup (optional)
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil             - a few drops

How to prepare Raagi dosa:

•  Soak urad dhal for half an hour and grind it smoothly.
• If boiled rice is used, soak it for an hour and grind that too.
• Mix the raagi flour to the ground urad dhal and boiled rice.
• Add salt to taste.
• Ferment it overnight and Raagi dosa flour is ready the next day morning!!
• Heat a pan and spread the dosa flour on it.
• Add a few drops of oil on it.
• Once it is cooked well, turn to the other side.
• When other side too is done, raagi dosa is ready to serve.
• It tastes yummy with coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

கம்பு / Bajra Chappathi

We are a wheat loving family :) !!

And I used to try out recipes by mixing and matching wheat with other ingredients.

Thus came the கம்பு / Bajra Chappathi!!
Kids love it very much rather than bajra taken in porridge form...

Ingredients used :

•   Wheat flour -1 cup
•    Bajra flour - 1 cup
•    Salt to taste
•    Butter/Ghee/Oil - 1 tsp.

How to prepare Bajra chappathi:

1.    Mix wheat flour, bajra flour and salt with required amount of water and make dough as you prepare for regular wheat dough.
2. Knead the dough and leave it aside for 10 - 15 minutes.
3. Make small balls of it, dip them in dry wheat flour and roll the dough with a rolling pin.
4. Heat a pan and cook the chappathis by applying butter/ghee/oil on both sides.
5. Now the nutritious bajra chappathis are ready to serve.
6. It tastes better with coconut chutney!

Happy cooking!! :)

Boy kissing a girl wall hanger!!

Wall hangers with a beautiful romancing couple will always 

find a place in everyone's home. Last year,

with shilpakar clay I worked on a picture of a boy holding a rose and kissing a girl

 on a bright sunny day!!

It came out well with the match sticks around the art and wanted to gift it to someone special...

And yes I gifted it to my dearest sister as her birthday present :)!!

She was surprised to see the gift and happily hung on the wall of her home :) !!

Thank you Vandhana!!

Quilled Fruity Clock !!

How interesting would it be to recycle the CD and match sticks?

Yeah I enjoyed recycling them into a wonderful craft!!

More fun was to quill the fruits and putting them altogether and making a clock!!

Yes, the quilled fruity clock!! How beautiful isn't it?

For our kitchen, on the refrigerator!!

The quilled grapes...

The quilled orange slice....

The quilled cherries...

The quilled bananas...

The quilled strawberry..

The quilled raspberry...

The closeup view of the dial embellished with stones...

I love the seconds hand with those white stones :)

Miniature craft!!

A great gifting idea to the kids/pet lovers !!

Match sticks are used to create the base.

Artificial leaves and the lovebird make the craft lively!!

I gifted this to a kid long back for her birthday.

Peacock mehandi - Design 5

Happy Diwali everyone! :)



Kids Summer Projects :: Pista Shell Photoframe!

Hey kids! Are you ready to do another photoframe?

Here it is.. Collect a few pista shells, funny pictures, varnish sheets, a cardboard,

a passport size photograph, paint (color choice is yours) and glue.

Fix the pista shells as a border of the frame and in the middle paste the funny pictures.

Leave a little space for the photograph.

 Just enjoy doing this kids! :)



Kids summer projects:: Underworld Joy Photoframe!

Photographs give us lasting memories..

It would be fun to create a handamade photoframe for an everlasting photograph!

I helped my niece doing this Underworld Joy Photoframe and she enjoyed a lot doing this !!

All you need are cardboard, white sheet, sea shells (cleaned and dried), glue, satin ribbon

( to hang on the wall), color pens, some pictures of underworld creatures and a passport size of your photograph.

Also you can collect pictures of other themes like jungle animals, sanctuary birds, fruits, etc., and

change the shape of the frame like rectangle, hexagon, etc.

Enjoy doing this handmade photoframe kids! :)

Kids summer projects :: Fun in the sun wall hanger!

Hello friends, my awaiting time has turned fruitful and we have won first prize for the poster http://creationsathome.blogspot.in/2012/03/safety-first-is-safety-always.html !!!

Thanks for all your wishes :)

With this joyful moment, I come up with some kids summer projects!!!

Here goes the fun in the sun wall hanger :)

Such a cool wall hanger... isn't it? :)

All you need are a cardboard, varnish sheets, sketches, color pencils and some paper cuttings..

Just enjoy this summer kids!!!