Life's Challenges and Gifts

I am not in a position to critisize and judge, but you would agree that events which happen all around the world sooner or later echo in other parts. I am not feeling any change since the US election result came up, but I know that it would reflect in some of the areas of our lives at some point of time.
Indian government has also surprised us with a sudden scrapping of 500 and 1000 banknotes in order to extract black money from turnover. It created a real panic and hurdle among people as not everyone had proper information what it was all about and why. Right now things are better and getting calm and in order slowly.
Politics, economics and world problems aside we continue our lives because this is what we have to do for our families, we have to move on and continue dreaming, hoping and believing.
And honestly speaking, I don't care as of now about these big things, because our family has got a real challenge to deal with. On Tuesday I received a bad news from my dad that my mom broke her shoulder joint bone. She is going to be operated today, and the surgery is not the easy one. I cannot tell how much scared and worried for her I am because she is not young of course (not old either) and the fraction itself is dangerous but surgery I dread more actually... I pray she stands the operation well and gets fine very soon! She promised she would be fine my summer for sure. My little mom... I miss you so much, and I am sorry I can't be with you right now when you and dad need me so much... I rely on our good friends and family whoever are left in the city to take care of this situation. My papa is a great help to her these days! And I know he always tries to cheer her and me up. He made smile many times yesterday when I was talking to him on the phone.
November is my and my dad's birthday month, and our dates are just back to back. :) How cool is this? :) Next month, December, is also wonderful and magical, and I have started preparing some handmade New year decorations which I will showcase a little later.
Recently I have started following some of the wonderful upcycle ideas by Jill of Creating my Way to Success, and here is what I came up with: my first sock puppy. Hmm, looks slightly creepy but kind of naive too, maybe because of the colour. I have some more bright and cheerful socks to upcycle, so more sock animals to come.

In addition, I am in the process of making an up-cycled clothes purse/clutch/wallet. I absolutely had no plan of HOW to stitch this purse, how to cut pieces properly, so it is rather tacky and totally handmade looking. I am also not sure how to close it and what kind of handles to attach, but I am in love with the idea of re-purposing old clothes. I have also started making T-shirt yarn and probably will make a storage bag - they are really useful around the house.

 To sum up my today's blog post on a positive note, here is a little gift my D got from his colleagues from Russia yesterday. Can you say how happy I am? I have two Russian dolls now! One is a nesting doll with two more inside her, and this one contained a VERY Russian surprise - a small bottle of vodka :P

 So, cheers to life, to our families, to their and our health!

Holidays' Spirit Created by Yourself :)

Hello my lovely friends! West Christian Christmas is just round the corner so is the New year! I am full of holidays' spirit these days, creating the mood myself for myself and wanting to share with all of you. I will also visit your lovely blogs soon, since I absolutely LOVE all the holiday posts made by you, and I want to finally keep a pace too :)
(Maybe not related to this post, but I started reading the Thirteenth Tale by Diana Setterfield and I love it! Anyone read it too? Perfect read to divert your thoughts).
My holiday spirit started with ... baking! I tried for the first time to bake cookies in our IFB convection oven. First attempt... hmmm, too sugary and buttery and crunchy, but we ate it all :P

Second attempt - much much better! I am going to use the same recipe with different flavours for Christmas treats. In plans, let's see how it realizes itself, to make a traditional winter wine gluhwein! :) Yumm! I will find this eggless recipe among my notes and provide a link here.

Yahoo, I managed to make some tree ornaments! Which cost zero I believe. Here is a Pinterest inspiration  - a Christmas star ornament made of sticks :) I later painted it golden, and also painted pine cones my D got from Manali last year, more photos are yet to come.

 We went to buy a New year tree few days ago, and it was proudly placed in the drawing room :))) Of course I wanted to have it primary for my little A to enjoy all the celebrations related to Christmas and New Year, since we cannot go to Kazakhstan this winter. But.. I am a big child too, therefor it brings loads of joy to me as well. It is not yet fully decorated in this picture.

And at last... My little boy is now a Christmas elf! :) I don't usually post his pictures in my blog, but it's a special occasion now. How do you like his look? D's childhood sweater (more than 30 years old!), and a red hooded shirt along with a hat created an unexpectedly elf-looking costume. Little A loves wearing this Santa hat, especially that it has become really cold at home. Here are his photos to compare how much he grew since last year. I cannot believe this! :)

To conclude my post ;

Happy holidays and happy coming up Christmas, dear friends, from our family! 

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!

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!***