Diwali Bloghop 2014

Yay! It’s time for another diwali Bloghop! Thanks to Chaitali for organizing it! For those who’re here for the firs time, here are diwali bloghops for 2012 and 2013.
Diwali, is popularly known as the festival of lights. To the curious mind, the question arises – what led to it being a festival of lights? Diwali is celebrated on the day when one of our exiled Lord, Lord Ram, came back to his kingdom. After 13 years of exile. In jubilation the people of the kingdom, lighted up the whole kingdom and decorated it up in all its glory! So that is why on Diwali we decorate and light up our houses.
DH and I love adding lights to every part of our house – inside or outside, could be electric lights or tea lights. The preparations for diwali from cooking special food to decorating the house, brings me in a complete festive mood. We typically try to make some Indian sweets and give it to our neighbors and then gather with friends to celebrate the festival.
Without much ado, here are my creations for the bloghop. I started with one card but couldn’t stop there. So bear with me

This card is inspired from this rangoli design

I recreated the design in MTC and then using a white gel pen in my KNK Zing, drew the design on the cardstock. Then colored it with Prismacolor pencils. Oh it’s been so long since I used them! I really enjoy coloring and I had so much fun doing this (that’s why I couldn’t stop at one ). Added some rhinestones. I used the “happy” stamp from one of my birthday greetings. The “Diwali” was cut out in black cardstock using KNK Zing and then added glossy accents to it. Love the glossiness it adds! You can see a close-up here:

Another twist to the same design:

For this one, I used a silver gel pen to draw the design and double embossed “diwali” using silver embossing powder and instead of rhinestones added some pearls.
And the last one:

Very similar to the first card, instead of the rhinestones I used liquid pearls.
So you see, how versatile this design is! You can give it so many different spins! if you would like the MTC file, let me know and I would be happy to share it.
Now off to what the other lovely ladies have in store for you! Here’s the order of the bloghop and you’re at hop #4!

1. Chaitali
2. Gayatri
3. Mayuri
4. Smriti (<—You are here)
5. Deepti
6. Indira
7. Piali
8. Sindhu
9. Isha
10. Tasnim
11. Shilpa

Supplies used:

• KNK Zing, MTC, Prismacolor pencils, White and silver gel pens, adhesive pearls, rhinestones, liquid pearls, glossy accents, Papertrey Ink cardstock.

Love you more than ice cream

I’m very proud of this card. Why? Because I used a tiny stamp from a stamp set as the focal point and created my own sentiment.

• Stamps: Lawn Fawn Admit One, Lawn Fawn Milo’s ABC (love them!)
• Papertrey ink cardstock. spectrum noir markers, stickles, distress inks, tuxedo black memento ink

Nexus 7 tablet case with stand

I saw this tablet case and wanted to make it for my hubby’s nexus 7 tablet. I really like how it turned out and how simple it was to make. I’d to adjust the dimensions from the original tutorial but once I did that, it took me not more than 2 hours from start to finish!

How cool it looks all closed up!

Here’s a side view to show how thick it is.

Apart from the dimensions, I made a few other changes from the original instructions. On the inner fabric (that would be in contact with the tablet) I added fusible fleece to give the tablet some cushion. Also of the 4 chipboard pieces specified I only used 3 of them. I skipped the one on the fold (the fold on the other side of the elastic). You can see in the photo above where I skipped the chipboard. One of the reasons why I skipped it was I was falling short on the fabric – if I was going to put that chipboard in there wouldn’t be much fabric left for closing the other end. I guess it was because I added some fleece. So it might be a good idea to increase the length of the fabric if you’re going to put in some kind of cushioning.

The fabric dimensions can be calculated as follows:

1. The width of the fabric = 1” + the longer side of the tablet
2. For piece 1, the length is approximately 3 X the shorter side of the tablet
3. For piece 2, the length is 2 X (shorter side of the tablet) + 0.5”
4. For piece 3, the length is shorter side of the tablet+ 0.5”

For nexus 7 here are the dimensions of the fabric:

• Piece #1: 9” X 14”
• Piece #2: 9” X 9.5”
• Piece #3: 9” X 5”

The chipboard dimensions can be calculated as follows:

1. Width of the fabric  = longer side of the tablet + 0.5”
2. Piece 1, length = shorter side of the tablet
3. Piece 2, 0.5”
4. Piece 3, length = shorter side of the tablet + 0.25”
5. Piece 5, length = (shorter side of the tablet ) / 2

For nexus 7 here are the chipboard dimensions:

• 1 – 8.5” X 4.5”
• 2 – 8.5” X 0.5”
• 1 – 8.5” X 4.75”
• 1 – 8.5” X 2.25”