Last Minute Halloween Bats Decor - DIY

Only 4 days to go till Halloween, and I am hurrying to make as much decor as I can. I recollected my old bat decoration, which  I used to make for my home. Those were... the bats! They were much more cheerful than the one below... times changed :)

   These bats is easy and fast to make! Supplies required: 

white paper, thicker than the usual A4 sheets (recycle some, like I did)

black acrylic paint

brush

bat shape

pencil

scissors (oops! I didn't include them in the pic)

 I found the bat shape in the Internet and printed it out in a big size.(You can skip this if you know how to draw a simple bat shape). Copy the shape and vary it from big to small - whatever size you want your bats to be.

Now fill up the shape with black paint and let it dry. 

Alter the bat's shape while cutting, make the edges neat.

Here comes my craft tape: cut a square piece from it and cut this piece diagonally. You will get 2 triangles.

   Paste the triangles as to make bat's angry shining eyes! Enjoy your spooky Halloween decoration, which you can stick to the wall or attach to the curtains.

The ghost hanging in my room...where from?!! Boo!

P.S. idea of the ghost is taken from Do It Yourself Divas... and modified of course!

Burning Demons - Literally

   Yet another title for my witchy blog, however this is a promised post about one of the biggest festivals celebrated in India - Dussehra. You can read about it here. The festival season starts in October and continues till mid November. This is a great time for witnessing India's most beautiful traditions and celebrations which vary from state to state.

  We live in the North India, Dussehra has been the 3rd one for me to celebrate.The story behind this festival tells us about Victory of God Ram over Raavan, who is frequently called "demon". The story is told in one of the most sacred Hindu texts Ramayana. Raavan originates from Shri Lanka, and the reason why Ram wanted to kill him was that he abducted Ram's wife Sita to his Kingdom. Raavan has 10 heads and this is the secret of his invincibility. This reminds me of the Russian fairy tales' character  Zmei Gorynych (Змеи Горыныч), who is supposed to have 3 heads, which grow again as soon as the main hero cut them. I asked my husband, why didn't they make those ten heads this year, he replied that it was understood anyway :) We weren't able to come closer to the performance ground and were watching from quiet a distance while...

Other people were watching the performance from the roof tops.

The main act begins: the Raavan's brothers are being defeated by Ram's arrow.

                            

                            

  Now it is time for Raavan to follow the destiny of his brothers. This is indeed a spectacular view! These huge papier mache dolls are constructed 2-3 weeks in advance and destroyed in just few seconds. In short - this festival's main philosophy is the victory of good upon evil, killing demons inside ourselves.

   Hope you liked this Indian festival, more are coming! I am happy that I can share my experience with all of you, my friends! I still have to work on Saturday, but You all Have a great weekend!

DIY Photo Frame Adventure

  A quick post about my DIY photo frame adventure. A friend of mine and a colleague J had her marriage anniversary four days back, so I decided to hand made something for her and chose the DIY photo frame. J liked it very much, and I hope it will find place in her house.

 Thanks a lot to Dr Sonia's incredible Photo Frame  tutorial and Neha's way of wrapping the paper around the photo frame! It was easy to do and so interesting to see the result. This is not perfect, but the photo looks pretty in it, I tried. Hehe. Want to make something like this for myself now too.

  I decorated the frame with Bindis. If you've ever seen or heard what bindi is (info for my readers who are not from India), it is a dot, placed in between of eyebrows, it can be made of fabrics, decorated with rhinestones, glitters and can be of any size. I purchased these from a fancy Indian shop. The idea to decorate the craft stuff with bindis came from Dr Sonia as well :)

                              

   If you remember, I bought awesome zigzag scissors which I finally  used for cutting the edges of wrap paper for the back of the photo frame. Can you also see those sparkling flowers? I cut them from the covered with glitters foam sheets, which were a pleasant finding in the same stationery shop. Later I also attached a holder but it looks better without it though.

 Have a lovely day ahead! Tomorrow we are having Indian festival called Dussehra. Will try to make a small post about it, don't you want to see a piece of Indian culture?:)

Crochet Drawstring Bag as Weekend Timepass

   It's weekend here, and I am enjoying it! Me and my D didn't do much today, just were roaming here and there in the house, eating, talking, noticing that the days have become colder... Oh yes, one useful thing we actually did today was yarn shopping :) There were many stores opened today as we went there earlier than usually. I needed to refill my baby blanket yarn stock, otherwise the process has been put on hold for a while. Now I am ready to make a second half of the blanket. I also purchased few more colours of another acrylic yarn.  When the shopping was done I did what I wanted to do for long time - take photos of the Indian yarn market! Do you like these colourful stalls? I do!

  Well, besides a very pleasant shopping, I managed to complete a small crochet project, which I started yesterday evening and it was ready by today's afternoon - all in between of eating, watching TV and doing some other deals:) Please, meet a drawstring bag. To tell the truth, I was not planning for the drawstring bag particularly  but wanted to make a purse, using amigurumi technique.Then I left this idea and thought of making a bag for a wine bottle, when finally got a bag. Don't ask me how :)

   I used lace for the purpose of pulling the edges together, any crocheted chain can be applied for the same. It could be a nice package for gifts or can be given as a gift itself. Mmmm... I am already thinking to make the drawstring bag in different colours and sizes!

 The bag, I suppose, is just perfect for storing any small things! I already used it for keeping numerous accessories like bracelets and hair clips.

 Hope you all having a lovely weekend! Thanks for all your sweet, encouraging comments on the last and previous posts:)

Jar Lantern to Create Cozy Winter

  May be it's a little early, especially during still sunny Indian days, to think about the winter. Though I do. My native country has real winter, you know what I mean, snow, frost, necessity to wear warm fur clothes and a good central heating system, which allows you to feel so comfortable at home... :) Indian winter is something opposite. The temperature in December, January can be  +23 and more, but the nights... oh it is so cold at home! Our heaters warm the room up only till they are on. So I was thinking that I'd like to have some tiny source of light and warmth in our room to make it a snug place during the winter. Inspired by the numerous ideas of DIY jar lanterns, I came up with this one. It was quick and spontaneous crafting.

                                                    

                                          

The area wasn't covered evenly though, but still the light effect is quiet what I was hoping for. I should think of another way of the background coating for other lanterns, and perhaps try to decoupage tissue or thin paper. Let's see where my craving for cozy winter leads me. How do you create coziness in your house?

***Have a nice weekend!***

Ripples Mission is Possible

     A post exclusively for myself ... and, of course, for you, my friends! Hope you are doing well and thanks a lot for leaving such nice comments! Today I need to keep a record of the first big crochet project I started few days back. I say to myself that I can finish it before the first dates of November...when the baby is going to be born. Not mine though :)

   I chose three colors 100% acrylic Baby Soft yarn of the Indian brand Vardhman. The thread feels very soft and cosy if it can be such. The crochet hook is 3.5 mm. I purchased it from my native city's shop during this Summer visit to my parents.  It's a very good hook of the Russian company Gamma. I really loved this ripple pattern from the knitting and crocheting Russian site. I was struggling with it for a while and when finally understood, it went on smoothly. 

   So here are today's morning's snaps of the ripple baby blanket progress. Nearly half has been done, way to go! I am planning to do at least twenty rows this Saturday/Sunday. Do you have any mission for coming up weekend?;)

                                  

                                  

       

*** Have a nice Friday!***

Cheerful Halloween Decoration

   I was planning to make this Halloween post initially, when found out that I got an award. I made a post about it instead. So sorry for two posts today, but I really want to share with you some Halloween decorations I made last Sunday while waiting for my husband's return. We used to celebrate Halloween with my parents before. Though it was never among Orthodox christian holidays, we were enjoying its' spirit and involved our friends in celebration too. Now I am reviving this tradition in India.  

  These little pumpkins is a great idea of Petals to Picots. However the pattern for the pumpkin's "body", offered on the blog, didn't really come to me, and I chose a classic amigurumi pattern, which I had previously used to make my white cat. I added a face to an orange pumpkin and then made a smaller yellow one. It was so much fun to crochet these cuties!

 The Halloween kind of  bunting came up with the pumpkins and the stars cut from the orange craft paper. Further I found the shapes  looking too flatly and added glitters.

  Here is the witch on the broom. I attached it to my cupboard door. She slightly moves under the fan's blow, so seems she is flying :) Just curious, whether you are making any decorations for coming up Halloween or this holiday is not in your calendar.

Liebster Blog Award

 This morning started with a pleasant message that my blog was awarded Liebster award! It is a first one and the last I guess:) Thanks a lot to my friend-blogger from WeaverBirdie! I appreciate it. So these are few things an awarded blog writer has to do.

Visit at least 3 blogs which were also awarded.

Follower a blog of the award giver.

Tell 11 things about yourself:

My husband is Indian.

I moved to India 2 years and 10 months ago.

I like Indian food, especially, dosa and sambar.

I am a graduate of the Moscow State University.

I try to cook Russian dishes from Indian products.

I started this blog and renewed my hobbies in India in order to avoid boredom.

I miss my cat who died at the age of 17.

I like things related to fairy tales, fantasy, horror.

I LOVE reading.

My favourite hot drink  is coffee.

I dream of a big cozy house to live in with my family.

Answer 11 questions:

How do you define yourself? Outgoing, a little anxious, caring, curious.

What is your favorite dish? Something fried or grilled.

Would you rather cook or you cook? I don't like cooking much.

What's your favourite dessert? Chocolate cake with chocolate icing!

If you had to stay with an ingredient, what would it be? Coffee I guess.

What is the best trip you've done? Trip to India.

What is the best restaurant you've eaten in? The one in McLeod Ganj, it was an open terrace with a view on the mountains!

Do you prefer meat of fish? Both.

Black or milk chocolate? Black.

What is the worst dish you tried? Honestly, can't remember.

11 blogs I choose to give the Liebster award are:

http://bigpufanascreations.blogspot.in/

http://bonitabonbons.blogspot.in/

http://crochetattic.blogspot.in/

http://mygurumi.blogspot.in/

http://thelazyhobbyhopper.blogspot.in/

http://singindi.blogspot.in/

http://hippywitchcrafts.blogspot.in/

http://tsdailytreasures.blogspot.in

http://garden-of-decoupage.blogspot.in/

http://inspirenordic.blogspot.in/

http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.in

I love all the blogs I follow anyway :) Will notify those who got awards.

Gold Autumn findings

     We call Autumn "gold" (Zolotaya osen') in Russian, what already speaks for itself. Yellow, orange, brown and all the tints of these colors are around. May be I can't call Indian autumn golden, but I  can dream of it at least. I try to cheer up myself with all the bright colors as my D is leaving  for official trip today, I am going to miss him a lot! So why not to spend time crafting while he is away? Like Penelope did waiting for Odyssey... Remember? 

     I have collected few ideas and tutorials for autumn time which I hope to use in coming up days. This is easy to make and nevertheless gorgeous looking stuff by GingerBreadSnowFlakes, OdeToInspiration, MyMadeupStory and PetalstoPicots.

    First I'd like to show this awesome A Little Fall  Leaf Re-use Project by Pam. All you need is Mod Podge or Fevicol, autumn leaves and a jar. Thanks to Pam for such awesome idea to make autumn days cozy with this autumn leaf candle holder! :) 

    Another project I'd like you to have a look at is a Recycled Jar Lantern DIY from Julie P. I guess I could use those nice wrapping papers I showed you earlier.  I am amazed how simple it is to create something beautiful and useful (by the way)! You can keep this jars as vases.

   Now, from jars to pumpkins! The next two projects make me cheerful, I can't even say how much! Isn't it a nice idea by Ode To Inspiration to make a No Sew No Glue Pumpkin home decoration for Halloween or for creating gold Autumn mood? Looks stylish and cute :) You can check another idea using sweaters for the same pumpkin at Charlotte'sWeb.

    Just look at this crochet Little Pumpkin by PetalstoPicots! Such a temptation to start crocheting it right now... Hmmm... I had orange yarn stash somewhere... Hurrying home today! Let's see if I can find free time for this pattern. (By the way I have started a baby blanket, will post some pictures next week) :)

 Hope you liked my gold Autumn findings and I'd love to know what inspires you in the Autumn season.


                        ***Have a great day!***

Street Art Festival

   India is still an enigma for me. It's been nearly three years I am experiencing its sunny days, but everything is new to me. I haven't seen much of India yet, only few cities in the North. The city I live in is quiet diverse and actively promotes any kind of interaction between its citizens. Last weekend we went to The Street Art Festival which took place near the lake. The Street Arts festival is held every year and gathers all those who is willing to show the art forms they work in. The whole street was banned for cars to come and you could just walk on the road and view what was going on. And there was something to see. Any fair, any concert, any festival organized in the city, attracts loads of people thus such events are usually crowded and very loud. I don't like them much, but the curiosity and wish to explore new things take me and my husband there. 

  The festival presents many types of arts. You can see that India is not only about dancing and singing. I was pleased to find many artists, sculptors and musicians there.  

    Music is of course, one of the parts of nations' culture. There were performing Punjabi with a bagpipe and drums. There were other traditional instruments and dancing. My husband couldn't say where those guys in orange clothing belonged to, but they looked like Rajasthani to me.

   The traditional Indian Doll theater was one of the shows I liked very much. The doll  was "playing" very realistically.

  By the way, about the dolls... There were huge dolls hanging from the lampposts along the lake. Neither me nor my D had seen so big dolls before, they however looked a little weird hanging up there.

The next picture represents the diversity of modern Indian culture: graffiti on the walls with traditional rangoli decorations, clay work by one of the artists... all is blended up!

  When the street of the street art finished, we proceeded towards the lake and found (to my husband's pleasure) some stalls with variety of food. There were such specialties of Indian kitchen like Amritsari kulcha, Rajastani kachori and others.

  By the time we tried some food the full moon rose and lit the lake. Isn't nature magical?

Hope you had a lovely colorful weekend too :)