Bit of fabric, elastic and fabric glue. And magic!

It took me hours to make this, mostly because I kept taking wrong measurements and had to redo the whole thing – twice. But who cares when the end is this beautiful? I love it!  What about you?

I am not too happy with the result. But this was easy to make for a first attempt. Complicated landscapes can wait for later!

To make miniature landscapes out of matchboxes – purely for the joy of it (or for a kid in your life), you will need the following stuff:

• Empty matchboxes
• Scarps of paper
• Glue
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Pinking shears
• Colored pencils

How to:

Draw the outline of mountains on a colored piece of paper. Make sure it is small enough to fit into the matchbox. (Or you can draw it on a sheet and fill it with colors). Cut it out as close to the outline as possible.

Paste the inside of the box with a blue paper – to denote sky.

On the bottom of the box, i.e. the part which will be the ground, paste a green colored paper.

Now,  attach the mountains you had made to the blue sky of the box. A folded a thin strip of paper in to “U” shape can also be used to stick to both the mountains and the sky so as to give it a more 3D look.

Use a paper punch or scissors to cut out 2-3 flowery shapes from green craft paper. These will be our trees.

To make the trunk of the tree, cut very thin strips of brown paper, a bit longer than required. Fold them a bit at one end. Now, on the other end, stick the green flowers previously punched (step 5). Let dry for 15-20 minutes.

Stick the folded end of the trees to the green base of the box.

Take two contrasting sheets of paper. Cut out a little rectangle from it. This will be the hut. Fold it a little bit at one end. Now, using the other paper, cut out the roof of the hut, using pinking shears to give it the border. Stick the roof to the hut. Make sure the overall height is in sync with that of the trees. Cut out a door and chimney and paste them. Leave it to dry for 15-20 minutes.

Attach the folded end of the hut to the green base of the box.

Clouds can be added to the landscape at this point. Grass, huts, flowers, birds, a little girl… the list is endless.

Now, we need to cover the outside of the box. Take a piece of paper bigger than the match box. Take the measurements of the matchbox and place it in the center of the paper.

Paste the back of the box to the paper. Cut out all extra paper. Make diagonal cuts at the corner of the paper. Fold the paper at the edges of the box, and start sticking it, one by one.

Use coordinating paper, ribbons and sequins to decorate the cover of the matchbox.

You have a miniature landscape in your pocket now.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2010. That’s about 9 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 39 posts. There were 18 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 9mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was June 29th with 80 views. The most popular post that day was The Purple Waiting Room Project.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were grafikmag.com, darkrainforever.blogspot.com, wearabout.wordpress.com, facebook.com, and boredandcrafty.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for calender, poster art, warning icon, brooch, and diy brooch.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

The Purple Waiting Room Project June 2010
12 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

Brooches for friends January 2009
15 comments

Calender 09 – finished! October 2008
12 comments

scampering about… December 2008
8 comments

Free desktop wallpaper July 2008
4 comments

I found these really tacky silver frames and bought them just because they were dirt cheap. And well, there’s nothing a spray paint can cannot cure!

Tools & Materials:
Cheap Photo frames
Screwdriver
Paper Cutter
Posters / pictures of your choice
Spray paint

How-to:

1. Hunt cheap photo frames in sale.

2. Agonize for a week over the color to paint them – cheap photo frames usually have cheap colors.

3. Find the perfect color hidden away in your craft stuff – voila! Or buy one. It will come in handy later too, so its not a waste.

4. Create your own lil posters out of your favourite quotes. Keep it simple. Measure the size of the frame and design the poster accordingly. Print out.

5. Using the screwdriver, unscrew the back of the frame (pardon my English). Take out the canvas, the glass and keep aside.

6.Find a ventilated area in your house. Place newspapers on the floor. Then, lay down your photo frame and spray the paint on it.

7. Make sure the nozzle is pointed at the frame, not at you (it happens!). Above all, wear slippers – the paint can be very sticky – and cover your nose and mouth with a handkerchief or mask or duppatta. Let it dry for as long as instructed on the paint can.

8. Cut your printout to size using a sharp paper cutter. I used the glass of the frame as measurement. But be careful while handling it.

9. Insert the glass, the printout and then the cardboard backing into the frame.

10. And there you have it! Two lovely wall arts for a previously blank wall. Bonus? I choose the color with which I painted a table in this room. So it all ties in happily

P.S.: Click on the photos to make it large.

It all started with one of those moments when you see something in a shop and cannot resist buying it – even though something inside tells you you may really not wear it. This happened with my roommate. She got this wildly printed, deep neck, spaghetti strap top and tossed it in her wardrobe were it remained for – years. Till one day, while cleaning her closet, she took it out, made a face, and asked if I would like it for one of my sewing projects. And I thought, hell, it will be a great bag!

So I chopped off the straps and stitched them sideways to make the handles of the bag, and closed the bottom of the top. It even had a nice side-zip (I don’t really know what it is actually called), which I kept intact – just for fun – I can open my bag from the side too ha ha. The brown fringe was actually on the hem, and I ripped it apart and stitched near the top.Oh, and its totally hand stitched, so I cannot put anything really heavy in it.

I won’t say am in love with it, because I don’t like brown color, but it was a good beginner’s project.

And out of this was born this project: The Purple Waiting Room Project.  I had so much fun doing this project… and this is just half of it. Every sketch is a story about people I saw that day, about what I thought about them, the secrets they held, the lives they led, and how the color purple helped them stay sane. I have almost a dozen more ideas for sketches but I couldn’t wait to share it any longer.

So here it is. Please tell me if you love it as much as I do.

And I am back. Why was I away? The usual reasons. Busy life, laziness, procastination, lack of ideas etc. etc. But why crib? Here’s something I did in one night using an old wooden tray, old newspapers and few fashion glossies. Ah! Don’t you just love decoupage?

There was no theme as such, but I wanted it to remind me of tea time /coffee breaks, of stuff I like in a newspaper. So I have a Garfield strip, an untouched Sudoku Puzzle, travel sections and fashion and of course, headlines.

Perfect for carrying tea or coffee to the balcony on rainy evenings… any evening actually.

Illustration friday – Idle

So a tag is the perfect post to return with. I was tagged by the sweet and damn creative Myam to write about six unimportant things that make me happy. It was so, so difficult.. really try it

Rules of the tag:

1. Mention the person who nominated you.
2. List 6 unimportant things that make you happy.
3. Tag 6 blogs, state the rules, and notify them with a teeny comment on their blog.

Here we go:

1. My flat stomach. Hehe.

2. Gorgeously divine footwear that make my feet look beautiful.

3. Exquisite, expensive packaging.

4. Nail paints! I dunno how many colors I actually use but to have those colored bottles lined up, sitting prettily is soo cute!

5. A bathroom shelf full of bright, cutely packaged products.

6. Handmade soaps.

I am tagging Jessica, Corry, Eleanor, Patricia, ChinaMama and Nancy.