Monday, October 24, 2011

Happy Diwali Everyone!

I have had many a lazy weekends up until I discovered the event Patty runs on her blog every week. Its called Patty's weekly story and it just inspires me to do something creative each weekend. I mean I do most of these things anyway but now I remember to take pictures and post them here so that I can share with you guys and get more inspiration :-)

So here's what I have been upto this past weekend. Surprisingly it was quite a busy weekend in the creativity department. It started out with me finishing up a project I had procrastinated for quite a while...a hand embroidered pillow case for lil N's bed.



After this, I spent most of Saturday morning baking a cake for lil N. I have been wanting to re-start baking which I had almost stopped ever since we moved back to India 3 years ago. Reason being I missed the conventional oven that we had in the US and was never sure how the microwave that doubles up as an oven will really work. So I started with a ready cake mix just to see if the baking gets done evenly and I was pleasantly surprised! It was awesome and now I am ready to try my hands at more healthy recipes - inspiration being my friend G and this site here.

On Sunday, I finally wanted to get started on the festivities preparation for Diwali. I took inspiration from Patty's hand made lanterns and got to task. My baby and I worked on making these paper lanterns on Sunday afternoon while dear hubby was cooking up some yummy lunch for us. I plan to hang up some of these with bulbs in them and some I will probably use to decorate the rangoli I am planning on attempting at the entrance to our home. This project was super easy and lots of fun for the kiddo and me. Thanks Patty!

In the evening we wanted to try our hands at cooking up some sweets and snacks for the Diwali season. Now mind you I have never made Diwali snacks at home...have always just assisted my mom in doing these things and even that has been over a decade ago. So each Diwali, we just got store bought goodies until last year when I decided I'd try my hand at just one item - besan laddoos (recipe from here). They turned out yummy which probably got my hubby enthused about doing more at home...just like his and my mom used to do. So we thought why not try a Diwali with homemade delicacies and hopefully set an example for our lil N. That is how we spent Sunday evening making shakkar paare and namak paare. This was the first ever time I made them and they turned out alright. Thank god! Next I plan to make besan laddoos and a few other items such as chivda/bhel, gulab jamun, etc. Ofcourse I cannot make in huge quantities so store stuff will be bought to supplement too. But atleast now I can say I did make some Diwali goodies at home as well :-) BTW I didn't really take pictures of the food since I am no good at food photography (also coz I got worn out doing all the cooking :-))

Other Diwali things on my list - I have been looking online for some very simple rangoli ideas. Want to do something a little more than usual but still very simple. Let's see what I end up with...will post pics if I can :-)

Until then, do let me know all about the new or creative things you are trying out this Diwali. And here's wishing all of you a Very Happy & Safe Diwali Season!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The stitches look very pretty!! Yes.. the paper lanterns are a huge success with the kids.. they totally feel like they've accomplished something.. We made it for Yva's (my younger ones).. Alice in Wonderland party.. It was good fun.. and the decor looked very colourful..

Thanks for joining in the weekly wrap up.. Hope you are joining the give away too.. :-)

Dr Sonia S V said...

Both your projects look awesome

Cheers from Bangalore ,India
Dr Sonia S V
http://cardsandschoolprojects.blogspot.com

Hetal said...

AWESOME, Divs! Your work is so neat. Great job! This year even I have decided to go the whole nine yards in preparing for Diwali. I have started out with making a lot of delicacies at home. Today I made sukhdi (sweet), fried chivda and mathri with a twist. It is fun.
BTW, Patty's weekly parties do push me too.
Happy Diwali to you and your family. Lots of love to lil N. :))

Dr Charu Malik said...

Gr8 hand work!!Ur paper lanterns look v good, yeah I agree Patty has been a gr8 inspiration n motivatn 4 me too. And we also share the penchant 4 making sweets on festive occasions.Best Wishes...:)

Anonymous said...

Happy Diwali to you too!
You have been pretty arty-crafty!! :) LOVE that pillow case. I have been wanting to make a fabric place mat for Aashna for the longest time, you have inspired me to get to it now.

Rekha said...

Thanks for joining in the Keybunch Party..looks like you had a productive holiday :)

Diary Of A Stardusted Dreamer said...

Wow Divs, all of this stuff looks fabulous! How on earth do you manage to pack in so much into your weekends? You're an inspiration girl!

Divs said...

Thanks all for such encouraging remarks about my projects. You readers keep me going! I have not been able to post much lately and will be travelling for the next month or so. So will catch you all when I am back early next year!

Anonymous said...

SBJ - well done. Proud of you Divya ji...
I might look for my creative side once Y and Y go to proper school

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