Hurricane Vase lamps

                  This is something I came across on Martha's blog and thought would be nice for some special occasions :) Uhmm.. It was for Valentines Day special Dinner at home this time! I made them with just a slight variation.

                   The process is quite simple. All you need are some hurricane vases and color gift tissues. Measure and cut the papers so that they fit the vase. Stack them up and stick them to the vase. Light some nice candles and there they are!! Make sure the candles don't burn the paper up :)

For more detailed 'How to' on this, here are Martha's Hurricane Lamps.

Glass Paintings

          Here are some of the glass paintings I made. Some are candle holders and other are vases. Just thought of sharing the pics.

           

                This was a very beautiful candle holder. This is the first one I made after coming to the USA. Unfortunately, it broke (wail).

             

                 This is a plain vase I found unused at my sister-in-law's place. And, I turned it this way. I simply love the way this vase helped in making a beautiful design.

                Mmmm.. this is the one that I did on a beautiful bottle. Right from the time I started drawing, as a child, I loved to draw this kind of  'girl with a pot' pictures. I went with the same using glass paints on this bottle. It's looking quite good. But, there is still a lot left to finish this one. I hope to finish it some day.
 

                These are the candle holders I 'wanted to' paint for Diwali this year. But I could do them only a few months later. Here are some more pictures of the same ones.

 

             The next picture is of a vase-brush-comb holder trio. I had hard luck finding this trio that matches my shower curtain. So I moved on with glass painting. 

               With a little effort and time, I feel that I got some unique pieces in my home :)

Experiments with Canvas

        Painting or drawing is something other than singing that makes me happy. May be, I started drawing when I was 8. After all these years, a few months ago, I tried painting on canvas for the first time. Since acrylics are easier to deal with, compared to oil paintings, I decided to go with acrylics on canvas. Here are some of my paintings.

 

           'Gam Ganapathi' - This is the first of all. Lord Ganesh. As it was the first time I was trying on canvas, I wanted to keep it very simple. So, I chose this comparatively easier picture of Lord Ganesh. This, however, found its way to a friend's place!

          'RadhaKrishnulu' - with Bapu's inspiration. I was always a fan of Bapu's paintings. This was one of the paintings in a Bapu's collection that was printed as a book called 'Harivillu'. My mom bought this for me during my Undergrad. I definitely struggled with this painting. I think it's kind of okay though!

         'Gorgeous Gals' - This is a painting that I took inspiration from a picture I found on the internet. I really worked very hard on this one, to generate the colors. Since this is a grouped canvas art, and it also had connectivity between one board and the other, it was quite a big project to hang it on the wall. It was a project for Shiva though, wink! He somehow struggled to fix them in place. And these 4 Gorgeous Gals, now hang gracefully on a wall in my home.

           
         'Swastika' - This one, I painted as a gift for my sister-in-law. I wanted to show a little of Indian culture, mainly Hinduism though. I chose Swastik since it is used mainly to denote good luck. So, I went with using Swastik. This is also a grouped art, that has connectivity among the boards.

          

         'Life' - This one, I really consider as one of the best paintings till now. And, this was done by Shiva and me, together! I was attracted to frame art recently. So, I decided to go with some frame art for our dining room wall. I went to the craft store looking for some beautiful frames. But, could never get one, since they were obviously out of my budget. Fortunately, I found a plain white frame for just 5 bucks, and I instantly took it. And I wanted to go with two 11x14 canvases for this one. We spray painted the frame black, and decorated with Ruby Gems and Gold paint. We chose a random art for the canvases, and painted it with acrylics. Initially I planned to stick the two canvases with just the frame around. But it was Shiva's idea to use the red board and stick the canvases on it. I think it's an awesome idea. This is our favorite painting till now.

           

            Shiva was the one who helped me a lot by encouraging and giving opinions on the colors and the paintings. He never let me compromise on colors. So, I must say, he contributed a lot to these. I dedicate all these paintings to him -- Shiva!!!

To Shiva... With Love.. Tyu!         

DIY Spree

              None other than me will know how important bookmarks are. It always was the tragedy, that happened to me during the peak hours of preparation for exams. I was not the kind of a person getting prepared for exams well in advance. So, every second was more important for me, during the so called "11th hour preparation". I often forgot the page I was reading, before I took a break. This, I would realize only after reading at least one/two previous papers. How rude of my memory to treat me like this! I still wonder why I never used something called a bookmark. It was yesterday, when I saw Shiva using a piece of cardboard as a book mark, that I realized what I should have done years ago :) . So, I thought I will make him a bookmark, myself. And then, I was on a DIY bookmark spree. Here are the pictures of the bookmarks I made for him!

Some of my Doodle kinda drawings..

Here are some of the drawings I made in the drawing panel of my favorite mobile.

I have drawn the same many times on paper. I love it a lot!! This one got me some fans too!!

I really love to start my day watching the sun rise amidst beautiful mountains, my self beside my man!! Lovely Day!!

Love!!

This one took less than 20 seconds!!

And finally.... The Star... Tyu!!!