Clay Tags: Create stamped effects without stamps

You can create stamped effects on a clay tag without stamps. Necessity is the mother of all invention.

After a couple of raw tries, it was time to be a pro. With a 5 day paid holiday (grins) I thought it was the perfect time to hone this newly acquired skill. But hello! We have a roadblock here it seems. None of the hobby stores had stamps. None. And what they had, I’d rather not take it. But like I said, necessity is the mother of all invention. Who knew you can create a stamped effect without a stamp, with the help of tracing and carbon paper! And dude, this is not an inspired idea but an invented one.

This is what you can do:

Pick out your designs on a tracing paper

Place it on top of a carbon and paper

Position the carbon paper and tracing paper duo on your clay tag

Run the pencil on the tracing paper which will transfer the image on to your clay tag directly

There you go! Done. Give it a coat of clear varnish or linseed oil. Preferably linseed oil as its thinner and will not give it a glossy look.

Create and Enjoy- make more for less. Or lets just say: 3$ for all. Sounds good?

~ROY~

Linking up to

Talent Tuesday

Primp – Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

Beyond the Picket Fence

Frugalicious Me 

From My Front Porch To Yours – Treasure Hunt Thursday

Post Road Vintage – Linking up for LIVING. LIFE. LARGE. Party

The Vintage Farmhouse – Creative Things Thursday 

Fresh Friday

Funky Junk Interiors

Nifty Thrifty: Fall Decor in a Dime

 I made this chandelier a couple of months back and this has been a hot favorite since then. You can read about the making here. So, today I added a little fall touch to it: remember when life hands you lemons, bombard it with oranges. Specially when you have great friends (Michele, I owe you this) and the best man ever in your life who not only cares and shares but also happens to be your best friend  (yes, R, I am definitely talking about you, you mean the universe to me) who can help you through any thing.

*Coughs* Back to topic. I found this 2 feet long leaf garland at Dollar store for only 3$. I detached the leaves and simply studded the frame with it. Voila!

This piece is a part of my dining table decor: R gifted me these plates when I absolutely fell in love with them in Hypercity. So I stacked them with glass neutrals, scattered some leaves on top and added a couple of cinnamon sticks. It not only looks good with the entire brown tone but also smells amazing!

We all need some orange love, don’t we?

Linkin up: (Widgets on my side bar…head over ladies and party hard)

Tuesday Treasures

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

DIY: Beautify your inner self before you beautify your house

Like every home or space that needs revamping or a healing or beautifying touch, our inner self too I guess needs beautification from time to time; needs cleansing from time to time. And yet how many of us really get out from the entry table decor to rectify and beautify something that is the very essence of our living. My room looks beautiful. But I need cleansing. And I have realized that. My inner self needs putty, sanding and a fresh coat of summer sorbet maybe. ‘coz i have long since ceased to be the girl I used to be, chasing behind the perfection of my table cloth. I will not be afraid to rectify. I will not be afraid to confess.

Replete with materialistic growth and arrogance of all the goods that are happening to me, somewhere, somehow I didn’t realize that every day I was ceasing to be the person I was and the person who people love. Every little good thing was taking me away from the grounded girl I had always been. And today, when someone I really care about told me, “i love you for who you were. I’m hating you for who you are becoming”, my whole world crashed. I was angry, I was sad, I came home with a headache, but I realized that it was not that person who was lying. I was lying to myself all these days thinking that I’m becoming a better person. And when I looked down, I got glimpses, snap shots of the girl I used to be and she seemed nothing like who I am today.

Today I set on a new journey within to conquer all the holes that has been forming in this wood. I will recognize them, fill them with putty so that they don’t let the rest of it rot, sand it down to a surface that is clean, sparkling and homogeneous, and then give it a coat of goodness, that can radiate and bring joy to others.

I remember asking my sister as to why i was born. Her reply was, so that you bring joy to all of us. And that is what I’m going to do. that is who I was. I always was.

Keep me in your prayers. I really need God’s help to take me back.

  roy

Thrifty Things: A chalkboard paint makeover

First of all, I’m not a traditional Halloween girl. I somehow do not like creepy crawlers on my cupcakes or my hutch or for that matter of fact, anywhere. I’m more of a subtle Halloween girl with little touches and intrigue. I’m more of a haunted house that don’t look haunted but scarily is. I’m more of spooky than gore. Am I making sense? Lol. Anyway, all aside, when I found this solid wood tray in a Thrift store for 1$, I instantly knew I had to pick it up. It looked ugly and I got eyes from my sister but I did. And for a long time, I didn’t know what to do with it until yesterday when I bought home an Asian Paint Chalkboard paint. The rest is etched in brush.

A thorough sanding + 2 coats of chalkboard paint + a black and white paper cut out (changeable) on top to give it more character: tell me its not bursting with life! I absolutely love its carvings and its handles. 1$? Really? For a tray made out of solid wood? Long live Thrift stores! This is going on top of an end table as my Halloween/Fall decor. See that orange out there? But more interesting is, do you want to see, how this cam home? Here it is.

You know what? I tried to see this from an angle of “Perfectly Imperfect”, but this was not a careless beauty. This was ugly and it needed love and a makeover to fit in my home theme. Hence, rises the black beauty!

Linking up at:

Table Top Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Tuesday Treasures

Talent Tuesday

Trash to Treasures

The DIY Showoff

Wow Us Wednesdays

Primp your Stuff Wednesdays

Have Fun!

How to make a Japanese Doll Tutorial: Meet megumi!

First of all, heartfelt gratitude to all those who have stopped by and given me the chance to make Mika’s cousin, Megumi. Megumi is very, very happy and tells you hi. She has also expressed her ardent wish to chitchat with you ladies over a steaming cup of oolong. Would you all like that?  Oh, here she is in person.

 She is a bit more attention seeking than Mika, you know the thing with pretty ladies, but she is a good girl. And after having some tiff about the suitcases, here they are off to travel the world. We wish you all the best Mika and Megumi!

Bon Voyage! And meanwhile, here is the tutorial in two big collage. But lemme just write the materials down for you.

You’ll need:

Colored papers

Sharpie – black and red (for eyes and lips)

Craft glue (Elmer’s glue or any white glue that dries clear)

A pair of scissors

Ice cream sticks

Here is the procedure.

NOTE:

1. if you have a thin ice cream stick, you need not to cut it. If you dont, make a spear like shape, just cut it with your scissors.

2. All papers have been given two, 1/2″ fold outwards and glued to give it a collared look (The orange and the pink paper. Oh and excuse my shorts!)

3. The robe to fall straight would require a fold on the right as you can see in image (last row, extreme left) and also a little snipping on the overlapping fold.

This is how you’ll do it: Drape the left half of the robe over the right to form a straight line on the left. Keep the collar and snip the extra (dress) paper that goes out of the line on the right. Basically we are trying to give her a straight silhouette. Wrap the collar around her neck and glue it at the back. (See image on last row, center). Easy?

And now for the meat! Look what I formed her belt from! Use up all the old mags, its alright.

That’s it. The chicks are ready to rock the world. I hope you all enjoyed it!

P.S: If anyone’s making these, i would love to know, so please come and tell me.

Have a colorful week ahead.

Love

~Roy~

Feeling Crafty: Old school Japanese paper dolls!

It’s good to be back with DIY’s! The last two weeks had me so pressed for time that I literally forgot where my supplies were. And although I made this piece sometime back, her Obi wasn’t finished. I clad in her in her favorite obi last night and put her off to bed, to dream about her favorite cherry tree and her beautiful prince who later at the break of the dawn swept her off her feet in a white horse to a place I’d love to call Atlantis! She is ready to go to a foreign land, to a place where she can live happily ever after. Read: packed to be shipped to a friend I dearly love.

On another note: I will be creating a couple of angels in a similar way for my Christmas tree! Aren’t they fun?

If anyone would like a tutorial, write me back or leave me a comment and I’ll be more than happy to write a post for you 🙂

See you my angels with my angels. Till then happy a happy weekend!

Linking Up to:

Feathered nest Friday

Thrifty Things Friday

Show And Tell Friday

Roy

Glimpses of a festive India from Bollywood!

Warning: loads of photographs and no real display of talent. Miss Roy is having a blast with her parents and she has kept everything on hold right now.

Warning: This is not a DIY post of a girl trying to live on a budget. This is a post from the carefree girl who is enjoying the usual pure opulence and is having a great time being the youngest in the family. I beg your pardon but this will be a bit more than clay tag tutorials and white washed photographs. I sound so different, don’t I? I know I do. I have temper. And i cannot tolerate arrogance. I’m angry on a particular behavioral pattern of which I must talk about, but some other time. Nevertheless, enjoy!

Imagine an entire city wrapped in little fairy lights. Mumbai never looked so pretty! And now time for the pretty bengali girls 🙂

Mom always looks ravishing in a saree. None of her daughters looks as pretty as hers. Including me! I love mom.

The one in black there on the left is my sis. Isn’t she pretty? (Ya, if you’re reading this, I do think you are, unlike what  I tell you all the time)

The notorious niece and a friend.

a sister and another niece! she is all grown up though. And just if you’d want to know, this niece of mine is an actress and has bagged many an award for roles in Makdi and Iqbal. I’m so proud of you Shweta.

Chandy’s in the hall, I’d love to replicate

And loads of pilaf as bhog!

Don’t sue me Rani Mukherjee for putting this picture up but my mom and yours apparently are class mates and they happen to share a very good repo and memories. This is up hence.

Oh, and don’t sue me dear Bappi Lahiri (You might want to know a bit about him as he is one of the who’s who of bollywood) ‘coz you were pretty much chilling beside us in the durga puja pandal. Couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of your neck with a midas touch. You have a brilliant little grandson and I absolutely adore him. Rego, when you grow up, please read this 🙂

And that’s all from the B-town from a busy bee. Hope you all enjoyed this bit.

Have a happy weekend \m/

By the way, how long do you expect to survive with a bad, ignorant attitude? Food for thought.

A quick giveaway update!

A friend of mine and the gorgeous writer behind Hello Lovely inc., Michele, is hosting a wonderful Stencil Giveaway by Royal Design Studio, the last date for entering which is 12th October!

I want this x 1 million times

image source: Royal Design Studio

Head over to hers for the full dope, here and snatch a chance! I dare you to like just one.

Fingers crossed!

Roy

Thrift store vintage cotton bags changed into cushions!

Look at these Thrift store beauties! .50 for each. These thread pouches comes from Amsterdam and are signature of Adam Couture: note the numbers, how pretty they are. Are they thread numbers or delivery numbers. Whatever it is, it is so beautiful, I couldn’t resist picking up all. Three became cushions (lol) and one went to my nephew as his headphone, iphone, ipod, i, me you carrying pouch. Good he took it, most of the time we are scared that he will trip on those wires hanging loose from every pocket of his.

So, anyway, the other three were stuffed with recron wool and made into cushions. Best part is, I just had to pull the strings and voila. No stitching at all. When I would tire of these, I’ll probably use them as spice bags for my kitchen. I’m lovin them. But for now, they grace my living room couch. I know mom will love it when she sees. I’m also contemplating losing one of them. Know what I mean?

Here they are!

What do you think?

Linking up to

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Autumn Crafts: Coasters in Hessian with Cross Stitch

Nothing much to write, just a quick half foggy, half sunny, crisp, autumn morning update with cup of tea. One down, three more to go!

I’m naming the coasters. This one’s called: “Never too late to change”. Get the joke, honey?

Off to the cubicle with lots of sample e-commerce advertisements and to do proof reading and marketing copy to be written!

Have a fabulous Friday.

Linking up to:

Feathered Nest Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Friday’s Unfolded

Thrifty Things Friday