A 'Pitari' Full Of Happiness!

Hello wonderful people. After many weeks of busy crafting and quiet on the blog, I am finally back. And I have loads of news to deliver here. Let''s begin from the beginning..

Somewhere in the middle of August, I became fascinated with beads and my crafty mind could not rest after that. My sister brought me a little bagful of craft goodies from Bangalore and I found a few necessary supplies online. Even before the crafting for old age home ended (which is described in my last blog post), I had gathered quite a lot of jewelry making supplies and I was raring to have a go at them. I have never ever made jewelry except a pair of quilled earrings for a friend a couple of years ago. So, this kind of craft was new to me and hence full of exciting possibilities. 

The pair shown in above picture is my first pair, awkward but cute, and only I know how proud I felt after completing this. Back then, my bead supply was very limited and I could combine those wooden beads and metal spacers after a lot of thoughts, afterthoughts, hesitation and plain old frustration. My sister instantly reserved these for herself, if only out of kindness :)

After a few more near failed attempts at making good looking combinations with my limited beads, I ordered some more and after they arrived, I went into a reclusive living and except for basic household chores and pressing social needs, I spent all my waking hours and minutes to the fullest in making these bead earrings till my supplies exhausted. It was a sweet moment for me when one of my friends actually bought one of these pairs. Then went another pair and a couple more. I was delighted that people actually wanted to wear something I made.

Meanwhile, I heard about the upcoming Diwali mela and that anyone could put up a stall. Till now, I was making stuff with no specific use in mind. This information gave me a sense of direction and I immediately booked half a stall for exhibiting and selling my jewelry.

During this time my phone camera not working well was a major spoiler. I love taking pictures at different stages and later looking at them and sharing here. Using phone camera makes everything so quick and easy. When I thought of charging my long-out-of-use point-and-shoot camera, I found that Coco had poured a glass of water inside the drawer where its charger were kept :(

Anyway, I managed to dry up the camera charger and clicked a few pics to share on my Instagram. After this photoshoot, as I was again waiting for more beads and supplies to arrive, I could not keep my hands off of a gazillion packs of sweet colorful quilling strips which I had bought for no specific purpose.

I started making quilled earrings and became addicted to it. In about a week or so, I had made all sorts of jhumkis and danglers, all set to dazzle the show. By the due date, I had made one hundred and ten pairs of earrings, a showstopper necklace and a couple of handbag charms. My friends suggested me that I should make pom-pom jewelry because they are the most in thing nowadays. So I tried hard to find pom-poms in the local markets and ended up making my own pom-poms. 

I added pom-poms to my quilled jewelry and this was not only a novel idea, it also helped me create some of my most beautiful pieces out of ordinary quilled ones. Though, I was already challenged in photography section this time around and could not click pictures of my most beautiful pairs. Thankfully, a friend offered to do a photoshoot of my best pieces for promotion of the stall and the result was these stunning pictures which are the talk of the town nowadays here.

I have always loved crafting more than anything. During all those busy days, I realized that I could do it all the time and could not live without it. So it only made sense that I should sell my crafts so that I can continue making them. The stall seemed a great opportunity to launch a facebook page with a cool name for selling my crafts. After a lot of brainstorming with my sister and my friends, I finalized the name 'Pink Pitari' for my craft shop. I created a page and printed out little cards to be attached to the 'shagun potlis' in which my earrings were to be packaged. 

The night before the show, I was so excited, I could not sleep, though I had planned to sleep early. So I tiptoed to my craft table in the dead of the night and made a few more charms. The next day was and amazing day which went by as if clouds were floating around me. Ladies thronged my stall and at times I was overwhelmed with the crowd, totally lost at the great response that my quilled earrings were getting. The first piece that I sold was a handbag charm that I had made the night before. The quilled-pompom earrings were the first ones to vanish and all the festive peacock/flower earrings and chandbalis became extinct soon. They sold out so fast that I had practically nothing left in quilled ones post lunch.  

By closing time, I had covered all my costs, with only 5-6 pairs of quilled earrings and almost half of my beaded pairs unsold. I am nowadays getting many queries and orders too, through friends, neighbors and social media, because a lot of people actually missed the awesome designs that they saw in my promotional poster.
..and just like that begins my new venture, 'Pink Pitari'. Three cheers! 

I plan to start selling through my facebook page soon. Please do visit and let me know your valuable thoughts.

August Craftathon: Wrapping Up!

I still have stuff remaining from August that I intended to show here, and that could have taken another two or three posts, but as I realized it is already October, and I am kind of getting tired looking at the same old stuff again and again, I thought of making this as a final post, and posting all the remaining stuff here. Additionally, I want to write about other things also, and that would happen only after I wrap this up. Fancy making stuff in one month and spending the next two months talking about it!

The pic above has the inside of the card, it's envelope and the paper bag, which was described in the last post. The envelope for the card was fashioned out of a card sheet, using the simplest pattern from the internet, as shown below, and was decorated with a few quilled leaves and paper roses like the paper bag. 

The last thing that was reamaining to do was to make a folder to be placed for the chief guest at the ladies meet. Now this was something that I had not done last time (Read about the last time here ). I was given a ready folder to see and find what type of folder was expected. It was made using a simple office folder. I did the same and cut an office folder to size, covered it in handmade papers of my choice front and back and decorated it in my signature style, using hand cut paper flowers, even used the paper lace from last year's card in this one. 

After delivering everything on time, as I was catching my breath, I came to know that two more folders were required. With only a few hours in the main event, I was not left with much choice, and I reached the venue, carrying a bag full of my craft supplies. On the senior most lady's advice, I used the two hand drawn circular backgrounds (from this post) and scribbled some more on the empty spaces of the two sheets, while all the other ladies were decorating the place. Then these two doodled A4 sheets were hurriedly pasted on two plain office folders and voila! We had everything ready.  

 While the main circular sheet became a green grassy field with giant leafy plants in the centre, the doodle for special personalized invitation got a colony of pretty little houses on a elevated ground, with a red fence. I would personally love to live in a cottage on a hill, and I guess that reflected in this hurriedly drawn doodle, because tiny cozy huts and red fencing were all that I could think of on that chaotic day.

August Craftathon III

After the invitation card fiasco described in the previous post, I was crestfallen, uninspired and cuddled up in my bed while Coco was in school, when the senior most lady of the battalion called to inform me that we would have to deliver the card personally, and therefore in style. It is not a great idea for three people to visit the chief guest and hand over a mere feeble card. So she was planning to buy a paper bag to keep the card in. I volunteered to make a paper bag, and immediately my mood lifted up. After all, all the handmade paper that I had bought in anticipation was finally going to get a chance at being used for the intended purpose. Plus, there was the opportunity of exercising my paper craft muscles in a guided way.

My next stop was internet, to find out how to fold a paper bag. It is wonderful, this internet thing. It really is interesting to observe how we have almost all the knowledge available to us, just in a few clicks. Anyways, I found a suitable pattern and made my bag. I am not sharing any links that I used because paper bag patterns are easily and freely available all over the crafting sites. And, I also forgot the link that I used :)

Then came the most interesting part of making cute paper flowers and leaves and decorating the bag. In order to enjoy this process, I completely disregarded the theme 'rain and smiles,' because that ugly smiling sun was a prime reason in ruining the whole idea of the card. (Read in previous post.) 

I used the same card sheet that I had used for the card, and made strips of pink colored sheet, which I used as ribbons to twist and make these cute roses. After trying various leaf varieties, I finalized decent looking quilled leaves. It reminded me of my lovely rosebushes, probably because of the same size and color of flowers and leaves.

I laid out all the flowers and leaves on one side of the finished paper bag and found a satisfactory layout. Then the layout was roughly outlined with fevicol and the flowers and leaves took their respective places on the rust background of the bag. It was a little difficult to make the stiff paper flowers stick to a soggy background, even more difficult due to their diamond like shape, and they kept rolling away. So I placed a heavy object on top and waited for a few hours.

It was comparatively a lot easier to paste the flat surfaced leaves and after finishing the floral arrangement, I punched holes on the two edges of the bag and inserted wide green satin ribbon handles. They looked okay because they matched with the leaves if nothing else. After finishing the bag, I really loved the look of the bag and proceeded to do my next favorite thing, i.e. click loads of pictures from every possible angle. 

Crafting this felt really good because it looked so pretty and neat at the end. It also kind of resolved my issues with the main invitation card. I think, it will be a great idea to prepare a few bags like this, maybe with less flowers, and using them to deliver gifts. In the army, it is customary to get invited to dinners etc. and we usually carry little gifts for the hosts. I think receiving a gift in this bag will make the host happier. I know, I would love to get a gift like this. Some of my friends ooh-ed and aah-ed and rolled their eyes in mock anger because they want these bags. Soon!

Quilled Gifts

                                     

Some of my friends have become quite the fans of my quilling since they saw my quilled explosion box card. A couple of them also wanted to learn it. But some or the other engagements kept us all busy and before we could all get together for a quilling session and a cup of coffee, one of them had to leave station due to her husband's posting. Yes, this happens very regularly with army wives, friends going away... but it is also fairly regular to make a lot of friends and to meet those friends over and over, in different locations. 

Anyways, senti stuff apart, the one who was going away kept mentioning quilling whenever we met, and I wanted to make it up to her by gifting her something quilled. I thought over many ideas and the best thing that I could think of were quilled earrings, along with a quilled card or something if I had time.

I searched the great ol' Internet and many interesting patterns came up. Now, I like to refer to patterns or designs and give them my own little twists, instead of copying them. It's not something moral, but it has got something to do with my critical eye which makes my brain itch to add something here, cut something there etc. Many times, I take so much time mulling over the colour scheme or pattern that my projects refuse to get started and take forever to get finished, if they start at all.

But, in this case, I did not have the luxury of unlimited time on my hands. Plus, if it is openly available on internet and I can figure out how to make it, it is not copying, it is called getting inspired! And I did not have quilling strips of the colour scheme of my chosen pattern, so I used different colours. See, I did add my twist after all. 

So, here we are. After the earrings were all ready, I also 'figured out' how to make your own paper bag, made one with some fancy paper available with me and in went the earrings, lovingly kept in a 'shagun potli', not made by me. :D Do I need to mention, my friend was incredibly pleased to receive this gift.

When I shared some of its pictures with my sister, she liked them and mailed me some patterns asking if I could make those for her. So, here we are again, making quilled earrings, on one of my kitchen counters. If you are wondering, I have three counters in my kitchen (wide smile here!), of which, one is my dedicated crafting counter, away from Coco's reach.

This pair is almost finished and I have to figure out how to insert those tiny hooks in these thick paper beads. Meanwhile, I have moved on to other projects which can be done sitting in the sun, like knitting ;). The lovely warmth of sun is too precious to miss. Winter is here in Cocoland!

Mommy Goes Quilling!

Where does my day go? Where do my weeks go? Or my months for that matter? Well, apart from the usual house-and-baby-keeping, I tend to have a gazillion ideas floating in my head, which soak up my time, so much so that I am no good to write about them at the end of it all. There are numerous projects lying around me, in various stages of unfinished and finished craft. So what is the latest? See for yourself!

Paper is my new love. And creating cutesy little stuff from it, including quilling which seems to be ruling the internet space nowadays, slowly crept into my craftspace as well, though I kept trying to not involve my lazy crafter self into it. I was literally shoved into it by my Ladies Club here, for which I was asked to create a couple of invitation cards and a circular for the monthly Ladies Meet. For those who do not have a clue what on earth is Ladies Meet, stay assured that it is your regular Kitty Party on a Fauji scale, a monthly get together for all the army wives in a location, hosted by ladies of different battalions when their turn arrives.

So, at the first opportunity of making cards, off went my mind to quilling. Then I also remembered the paper craft crash course that I had attended last year when I was writing these posts ( Link) last June. And then my gazillion ideas started colliding violently with each other, causing a chemical release of some kind which would not let me sleep till I completed the cards.

After seeing the samples, the ladies agreed upon an explosion box card  and a simple card in a box. The theme that we all had agreed upon was 'Retro Bollywood' and the cards also needed to show some of the spirit. And then I was left to my own devices, with my coloured printouts, handmade paper sheets and quilling kits. The explosion box was going to have three layers, each of which will show some 'Retro Bollywood'.

For the bottom layer, I took color prints of old movie poster images from our own Google Baba and pasted them along with some fun-funky words which would coincide with the theme and some cut-paper itsy-bitsies.

The middle layer would have vintage style machines like a car, a gramophone and such, along with sticker bindis which were a last minute idea to give it a polka dot background.

The topmost layer was going to have the actual invitation in the centre, with more 'Retro Bollywood' on the four panels surrounding it. Notice those dance poses of Helen? I am in love with them. I even used one of them as the backdrop of circular. Aaand done!...wait! Did I not mention quilling above?

Yes ma'am I did, and I would decorate all the four outer walls and the lid of the explosion box with quilling, which I have never done before but claim to myself that it was a no-brainer, simple thing. After all, how difficult could rolling paper be?

Not Much! Except that I have a limited knowledge of making colour combinations and I had a hard time choosing the right colours of quilling strips for each arrangement. And it took a lot of time too. The fact that I could only get assorted strips in the local craft stores added to my woes as I had to use different colour combinations on all five surfaces, even after buying four different packs of quilling strips. Each colour has only five strips in an assorted pack which hardly complete a single flower, let alone a whole arrangement. And so, I did not get the more professional colour-coordinated look in the finished box that I wanted. But people who saw it liked it for being the kaleidoscope that it was.

                                        

Getting the other card ready was comparatively easier. I had saved a sweets-box made of cardboard a few months ago for crafting. After searching the local bakery and a couple of other options, I remembered I had this box stashed away waiting for its stars to shine. I pulled it out of its hibernation, covered it with a lovely gold-printed handmade paper sheet, cut out some lace out of tracing paper, pasted around the box and the lid and sat a neat little flower on top of the lid. Voila! But the card that was to go inside the box could only be ready in the last hour before delivery.

                                         

This card was a simple affair with two sheets of handmade paper pasted together for stiffness, folded into a card. On the front went a beautiful portrait of Madhubala, to show some old Bollywood charm, inside a handcut 'Photoframe', decorated with a hint of quilling. It carried a similar invitation as the explosion box on the inside.

And off she went into the box, which would later include the circular too, scrolled and tied with a ribbon. 

As my five day marathon crafting session came to an end abruptly, I suddenly felt very sad that all this colourful, crafty goodness was about to leave me. Those five days had been nothing short of a fever for me, with the frenzied crafting, messy home and kitchen, everything going haywire, and nothing on my mind but colours, patterns and handmade paper. As much as I had wanted it all to get done soon, I did not like the emptiness that was ahead.

As I was already an hour past my promised delivery time, I quickly took as many pictures as I could and hurried off to give the boxes to the senior most lady of the battalion who would be inviting the guests next day. It was great to see that she liked it. Even better, she asked me to accompany her to deliver the explosion box card and I quickly said yes. After all, I always wanted to know how did the person who actually received it react. And it was great to see her (our guest) looking at it again and again, sitting on her beautiful coffee table among expensive objects, looking so rustic and homemade.

She is known to be an artist herself, and made me really happy by saying that she would convert it into a jewellery box later. But happier than me was my husband, who got rid of taking care of the little tempest known as Coco round the clock while I was locked away in his study room, crafting away to glory!