Add a touch of fun to your cupboard knobs

I have put up masks and still have a few on the walls of my home. Could,t resist picking up a couple on my recent trip to Bali but I was determined to find another way of displaying it. After more than a month, I found an interesting way to do this

Before I hung the mask on the cupboard knob, I hung a golden tassel which looks like a sort of Golden neck ornament or beard even... 

I like decor which puts a smile on my face every time...

And I tug gently at the tassel to open that shelf which is not opened every day.. so how do you like my take on decor? Write in and tell me

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Art + bamboo tablemats = cupboard decor

Hello there! Long time no see. Work got the better of me I guess but here I am with another post.. I finally managed to start clearing my books and craft cupboard and dug out some stuff... here is a look at what I assembled with a vague idea of wanting to cover up parts of the cupboard which looks like a storm hit it ever so frequently.

So here is the stuff, some beautiful Vietnamese embroidery which they sell roughly pinned on hard card, some handmade paper sourced long ago from the local speciality stationer and bright colourful bamboo mats from Vietnam. So I set out to put them together as only I can - in a complete freewheeling style where imperfection rules because I am not patient and find it difficult to hold the ruler exactly straight. Happily the embroidered patterns were all of different sizes and the use which I had in mind is quite forgiving! You will see what I mean at the end of the post.

I used some bonding paper (therma web from Micheal's is great for this) to stick the picture on the mat and 

finished with the handmade paper of similar or contrasting colour depending on what I had... I have five of these and left a couple with edges unfinished for certain uses while  finished three of them which I put up in the said cupboard. As you can see it hides quite a bit of the mess and leaves quite a bit in plain sight. Well I must get on with the clean up and make everything visible easy on the eye.. quite a task if you ask me

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Integrating tribal artforms in everyday life

I picked up a few pictures done in Indian tribal style at the local exhibitions.Gond is a type of tribal art with origins in one of the largest indigenous communities in Central India.  Well to cut a long story short, I picked up a drawing I liked from the Gond artists at the Dastkar Mela. I was not keen on framing it since there isn't much wall space left in our house anyway. So I waited till I had an idea of where to put it so that we would all see it often and I must say that we all look at our family scrap book often. It had a rather ugle cover so I wrapped it in pretty grey paper

Such a pretty work of art...  I just worked the tiniest pair of scissors I could find on this picture and cut it out so that I could forever preserve it on my scrapbook cover and here it is

Well this is my ode to some of the best works of art that our country has and there are quite a few art forms that need to be preserved.

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Bangle pouch

Been busy, busy with work. So I have here an extension of the previous post - a bangle bag I made real fast for a gift of some lovely bangles from Damini that lovely store. I used cloth backed felt and for the first time used magnetic clip clasps or whatever you call those. There are some lessons to be learnt here and some changes to be made which I will incorporate these changes in the next one.

This is so very easy to do, just cut a length of felt and fold and trim for the flap. That is not the best trim ever so that needs fixing. Below right you can see the magnetic clasp and here are those pretty tanjore bead patches which I have attached since this is a gift. 

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Fun money pouch

I have been looking for a soft pouch to put my cheques and sometimes notes in while carrying them in my purse. It doesn't help that cheques cannot be bent of folded etc so I decided to make a funky envelope to carry these.

Here  is the finished envelope

I made this from a foam sheet which is folded and held together by what are called "brads" which I bought for no particular reason a while ago.

Here is how I made this simple pouch

I cut out a rectangular shape the eyewhich is a bit more than double the size of the envelope, trimmed an edge for a foldover and simply poked in the brad. If you are not able to get it in, hammer gently with the hole maker in an eyelet kit.

The pouch comfortably holds cheques and notes, but the reverse side shows up the other end of the brad, so I cut out strips from the foam sheet and stuck them to cover the edges and the brads. To hold the envelope, I stuck velcro dots on both sides and voila a soft pouch is ready in just 40 minutes. 

I would have lied to stick a washi tape with a nice pattern instead of strips of foam sheets on the reverse but I didn't have a nice one so...what do you think?

Here is another version made of  a stronger version of butter paper which came with some wrapping.

This is amazingly easy as the paper was tough and pretty and it is easy to use scotch tape to make the envelope. As a finishing touch I added a little bling in the form of a tanjore foil piece.

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Decoupage tray

This project combines my love for local art and the celebration of having received a jar of Mod Podge from my sister. It is simply not the same as the mixture of PVA glue and water. Ok, so here is a tray which I had painted a long time ago in a very simply embroidery design. I prepped this one for a more local flavour transformation.

As you can see it is old and worn and stained. So, I decided to take out that trusty can of matt black paint and give it two coats. Here it is at the end of 1 coat.

Then I stuck the print of a painting of  a local artist - traditional art at its simple best using Mod Podge. I gave this five coats allowing for drying time in between.

Then I just cleaned up and touched up the sides of the tray and gave it a coat of spray varnish. Nothing more is required for this rustic tray. I let the sides be as they are. Wish I had access to matt gold washi tape but couldn't find that so I let it be...

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Integrating Bastar craft in home decor - DIY

Bastar art is justifiably famous. Rustic and gorgeous it embodies the simplicity of  everyday village life in India. So when I saw these panels I just grabbed them by the handful with no idea whatsoever of what I was going to do with it. 

Here I present my own versions of Bastar in everyday home decor. 

Strings of matt gold beads are very versatile and here I restrung them on a gold jewellery wire and attached them by just tying them in an ordinary rustic knot to the little Bastar panel.

I purposely used a long string because it looks so ornamental when you wrap it round. Use them as napkin rings 

or curtain ties or just hand it ornamentally on lampshades, the choice is yours.. Since I am binging big time on Tanjore beads I decided to fuse Bastar and Tanjore and see how that came out. Here is a picture. You tell me what you think of it...

I stuck on some Tanjore beads and patches and put the two together using a keyring.

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Tanjore style decor for a knocker

 Hello there! I hope you have all had a great start to the New Year.. I have been smitten by tanjore bead decor for some reason and I thought I would post this idea. This aluminium knocker was lying in my trunk where things like this lie from the time they are bought or gifted; till I figure out what to do with them. In my excitement I forgot to take a picture of the original knocker until after I applied a coat of matt black to it. Sorry about that but here is the picture at the end of the first coat

Tanjore is normally done on  gold or brass but I chose black to showcase a rather minimalistic tanjore bead decoration. So I gave the knocker two coats of black enamel paint in matt and started but gluing on a mango motif ( I got this from someone who sells a lot of tanjore work since I don't know how to do tanjore work)

And then started to stick tanjore beads -  which are rather easily available - in motifs I thought would complement the mango. So here is how that went... I like how it came out eventually.

Well, do write in and let me know how you like it. You could also use this to hang towels or napkins.

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