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.

Diwali bloghop–Day 2

I hoped you enjoyed the ideas and inspiration shared by the team on day one of the bloghop! Here’s another day full of creativity! Day 2 is devoted to anything-but –a-card!

I’ve had a banner on my to-do list forever! So when deciding what to make for the bloghop I figured that I should make a banner and check off that item from my list after all!

[My apologies for the poor lighting]

Instead of making something very specific like “happy diwali”, I chose to make something more generic based on the theme of diwali and which would also be an inspiration for everyday life. To me Diwali is all about celebration. Celebrate the festival, celebrate the homecoming of Lord Ram, celebrate with friends and so on. “Celebrate” is also an inspiration for me – it tells me to celebrate life. Everyday. As it happens. Celebrate every moment. Celebrate what you have.

Coming down to the mechanics of this banner: I used Cricut and SCAL to cut the triangles and the letters.

1. The triangles are 5” X 5” and cut on PTI cardstock.
2. The doilies are 4” white doilies. They’re sponged with various distress inks and then sprayed with glimmer mist made using Inka gold. Just add some Inka Gold to water in a mister and shake well. Then spray. If you don’t have anything to make glimmer mist, then don’t worry. This banner would look as good even without it.
3. For the letters: I used a double-adhesive sheet. Applied it to one of the cardstock. Then cut the letters. The letters are cut using the Samarkan font. From the cut letters, remove the liner from the other side of the adhesive sheet. Sprinkle glitter on it. Seal the glitter by rubbing glossy accents all over it.
4. I adhered the one doily to each triangle. Then glued the letter on top of it. Made two holes on either side of the triangle for the ribbon.
5. Thread the ribbon through all the triangles. Voila! Your banner is ready!

This banner is quite easy and quick to make; just that the glitter part takes some time and maybe a little messy but it’s worth it!

My second project is something that I plan to make for my friends this Diwali – little mason jars filled with some homemade treats! These jars are so cute and adorable!!

I used a 5” square of fabric cut using pinking shears. Here’s a closer look at the tag.

I cut the tag from white CS using Cricut and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cartridge. Stamped it with a background stamp using versamark and then embossed in gold embossing powder. Sponged it with various distress inks. Printed the sentiment on vellum using Word. Cut out the diya using Cricut and SCAL.

That’s not all! All my other team mates have some wonderful creations to share too:

• Chaitali (Chaitali also has the linky to link your creations!)
• Smriti (You are here!)
• Gayatri
• Pooja
• Piali
• Isha
• Sanketi

Supplies

Banner: PTI cardstock, White 4” doilies, 65# cardstock for letters, Martha Stewart brown glitter, brown grosgrain ribbon, glossy accents, Inka gold platinum, Mini mister, Distress Inks – Mustard seed, dried marigold, broken china and peeled paint.

Tag: PTI white CS, Impression Obsession Damask cover-a-card, Vellum, Distress Ink – Fired brick, peeled paint and Dried marigold.