Quilled Greeting Cards

I have been hoarding some Quilling papers and tools for a long while. Since my exams are over, I decided to make some quilled greeting cards since Christmas is round the corner. Nobody sends letters or greeting cards these days since the advent of e-mails and everything that followed. Wouldn’t it be really great when someone finds that they have a real paper greeting card this Christmas?

So, I started out with my quilling and suddenly I couldn’t stop myself. Apart from the Greeting cards, I made a picture which I call, ‘The Blue Haired Girl’.

The Christmas Tree & the Presents

An Angel

All the angels & the decoration

The Blue Haired Girl

I ran out of glue and so had to stop. Else, as I had threatened my Amma, the room would have been filled with quilled Greetings. 😀

So, do you like them?

 

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 Linking this to  100 Happy Days – Day 92

 

Converting My Weaknesses Into Strength

100 Happy Days – Day 48

Happiness is when you use your weaknesses fruitfully

This knowledge came as a surprise to me. The day before we left for Kollam, an unfortunate incident happened at home. It was a sort of argument and I was all upset and angry. I had to study but studying was impossible in such a grumpy mood. Instead of brooding over what happened (which is what I normally do), I just grabbed some of my crafting items and began working on them.

Slowly and steadily, the pace of my breathing reduced. Before I knew I was much calm. Normally, I take a couple of days to get over a fight. I keep brooding over it and make myself all the more miserable. But doing something creative, took my mind off the things around me and the sight of something I made was enough to make me feel better.

The dark clouds and the colorful rain

It is nothing much. Just a cloud and a colorful rain. When my sister saw this, she said, “You know? This sends a message. Colorful rain falls from within the dark cloud. Appearances do not matter. It is about what is on the inside that matters.”

A better look at the clouds

I liked her interpretation of my work and yes, I would like to end the day on that beautiful note. Hope you liked my simple quilling. 🙂

Also, I would like to work on this new revelation. I’ll try creating something whenever I feel low. If we could control our emotions, specially the bad ones, what more do we need in life?

Day 31 – Back To Quilling

100 Happy Days – Day 31

Happiness is creating.

Do you know what gives me happiness? Among other things, painting, drawing or creating something beautiful. Each and every time I look at it, I feel elated. I feel proud. I feel like that is my child sitting on my table. Oh! The satisfaction I get, I cannot put it into words. It is the same feeling we get after we write a really good post.

Ever since my exams got over, I had been planning to do my quilling. But, either due to lack of time or due to the fear of how it would turn out to be, I did not take it up. Finally yesterday, I just went for it. I had come across the image of a girl in a gown and I badly wanted to try that out. And here is the outcome.

I was really really scared when I picked up a bubble gum pink background. Firstly, because this is my 2nd quilling attempt. I’m just a beginner and there could be a hundred ways it could go wrong. I really don’t like my artwork going wrong. 😛 Secondly because, I had very less number of resources. If one of the colors became insufficient, I’ll have to go buy it. I am lazy to go out because of the heavy traffic caused by the metro work, flyover constructions etc. But, it turned out to be quite okay for a beginner. 🙂

So, I’m happy and the girl in the quilling is happy too. She has a pretty gown! 😀

Day 15 – Choosing Colours

100 Happy Days – Day 15

Happiness is buying craft supplies

I love colors. I love choosing colors, imagining different combination of colors. So I am always ready for doing anything related to clothes, paints, artwork etc.

Today, when I was feeling a bit low, I decided to do something I had been putting off for a while. Buy some craft supplies.

I went over to the shop and grabbed some color charts & quilling papers.

Some time soon, I’ll work on my quilling and before you know, I’ll be posting away my creations. 😀 Until then, delving in happiness and signing off is…

Rangelz

Tips and Ideas For Inexpensive Gifting.

Here is another year and there are many events coming up. How about getting prepared for them from now on?

Note – Here I am talking about inexpensive gifts which are available for INR 300 or LESS. So if you are looking for higher budgets, I am sure you will have many more options.

I love Birthdays, Mother’s Day, Friendship Day and any event that I could use to show someone how special they are to me. There is nothing like springing a “Surprise!!!” on their face and see it go pale to white to pink to a deep shade of red with happiness! 😀 Please don’t be misled by the post title. I am not going to point out items to gift. I’m giving you ideas about how to find the gifts you want and how to present it to your loved ones. Some times, the gifts do not matter, but the way you gift makes all the difference. The sad part is, surprises are costly. Specially if you’re a student or are doing internship with low salary. Well, not anymore! I am always in short of cash (I’m still a student, you know!) and try to find new methods to throw surprises. So, here is how I gave some lovely surprises last year.

1. Flowers – I don’t know about all men. But some men and almost all women like flowers. When it happens to be your mother, she would definitely be overwhelmed. The amazing thing about mothers is that, they do so much for us. Yet, they need so less to be happy. This is how you make her day special with flowers.Buy a few flowers or pluck some from your garden. Gather little children from your neighborhood and ask them to give her those flowers one at a time. If she is about to go out, the kids could line up outside your house and give her those flowers as she passes by, or let them ring the bell one at a time and give her the flowers. We tried it and my mom loved them. She preserved the flowers for as long as they stayed. 🙂

   

   Jarbara we bought Mom on her Birthday 🙂

   Note – Flowers can be gifted to anyone if you’re sure they will appreciate it. I mentioned Mom because, we gave it to her.

2. A Note For Every Hour – This works with anyone. Prepare notes with quotes or memories or anything you want to tell him/her. Ensure that the notes reach them every hour. It would be a reminder of how special they are and that they deserve a full day celebration.

   

   Image courtesy: pinterest

   

   Image courtesy: pinterest

   I did this for a friend’s birthday. I asked one of her colleagues to give her the notes every hour. I kept alarms on my phone for every hour, to remind her. Once the Birthday girl received each note, I got her message. 🙂

3. Common Inexpensive Gifts – Photo frames, Books, Deos, Diaries and Coffee mugs! I know. They are the most typical inexpensive gifts you can give anyone. If he/she happens to be a book lover, you can buy them a book that they would enjoy. If he/she has the habit of updating diaries, there are plenty of undated diaries available at reasonable prices. If he/she has a favorite brand of deo, they will be happy that you cared to remember. As for photo frames, find a lovely picture of the two of you and gift it.
4. Undated Diaries – Earlier this year, I had reviewed Matrikas Paper Products’ diaries. They have some elegant and creative undated diaries. The cover designs were so tempting that anyone would fall in love with them. They have diaries designed for all age group. If your giftee loves writing and maintains diaries, you can find good ones starting at INR 110. MATRIKAS PAPER PRODUCTS is their website and their products are available in Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zoffio etc.
5. Gifts Need Not be Branded – If you’re so desperate to gift someone something, that someone must be very special for you. Regardless of the fact that he/she uses only branded items, you can gift them something inexpensive for a change. After all, if they love you as much as you love them, they would get the emotions behind your gifts. Just ensure that you pick something beautiful even if it is unbranded. Be it wallets, belts, shoes, clothes or anything. You have a wide range of inexpensive things out there if you just let go of brands for once. Which brings us to the next point.
6. Lookout For Fancies – 2015 has just begun. You can keep your eyes open for all the beautiful and fancy stuff available. Last year, I did a lot of window shopping (Microsoft Windows :P) and found really pretty watches for just Rs. 300. There is no quality assurance or warranty. But once in a while, owning some random pretty stuff doesn’t harm. This friend of mine always buys quality and classy things. I thought she could do with some girlish, dangling, funky stuff. I gifted it to her and she loved it. Want to see it?

   

   This is the watch I gifted her.

   So lookout for the low priced pretty things. Even if the Birthday is a couple of months away, there is no harm keeping your eyes open.

7. A tiny party – You heard me right. If it is your friend’s, love’s or family member’s birthday, and you love them so much, you can actually give a party at a very low cost! Cake – If you need really good cakes, they cost a lot. And that was why, in my previous post, I had given a very easy recipe to make a cake. It’s out of biscuit and chocolate alone. Click HERE to read it.Lightings – You can prepare beautiful lamps out of orange peels. 4-5 orange lamps would suffice for the right glow. Here is what we made.

   

   One half of the orange peel

   

   Entire peel with designed cuttings

   You can use the oranges for preparing any delicacy of your choice. 🙂 Decorations – Colorful streamers are always in fashion and cost very less. Just find innovative ways of decorating with streamers.

8. Maintain a Wishlist & Lookout For Discounts – I get newsletters from many shopping sites and I visit them whenever there is a discount. I buy things only when I am convinced that the discounts are acceptable. That is how I found some lovely sarees worth Rs. 300 in May 2014. I bought them immediately when I had the money and gifted it to Mom for her Birthday in Dec. Needless to say, I was in short of money in Dec. All who saw the saree, loved it & thought that it was some expensive material (giggles :P). Another time, I bought a couple of handbags for just Rs. 150 and they came in handy when I had to gift a friend. 🙂 So, add something to your wishlist and you never know, during the next clearance sale, it might just shoot down to a very low price.
9. The Age Old Custom of Group Gifting – You all must be aware of this. But now that we are talking of gifts, I’d mention this. If you want to gift Mr. A something, contact his close friends, and if they are willing, pool some cash and buy something really good. When you all gift it together, you not only give him the gift, but also an overwhelming experience with his close friends around.
10. Gift Some Time – Imagine, on an anniversary, the couples decide to take some time off and spend the day together. As a child, your parents decide to stay home, cooks you some lovely dishes and takes you out. When your parents are old, you decide to take them somewhere and spend some time with them on their special day. Time is very very expensive. But we can easily lend some to our loved ones. It is simple and means a lot. Do try gifting some time.
11. Time With Creativity – You have many DIYs available on the internet. If you have a flair for creativity (which I believe most of us do have), take some time off and prepare something beautiful for your loved ones. Your loved ones would value your creativity more than the masterpiece they bought at an exhibition.This is one such gift I made for my Best Friend. My first attempt in Paper Quilling. 🙂

    

    Paper Quilled girl. It is full of adjustments 😛

    There are many creative things you can make and you wouldn’t believe how easy they are. Bookmarks, photo collage, simple paper quillings ets are few among them.

12. A Letter – With the advent of emails, internet and social networking sites, the art of letter writing has almost vanished. Buying cards and sending ecards are cool. But writing what you feel about them with a pen on a paper in your handwriting, THAT is priceless! Take a letter pad or an inland letter and write about how special they are and what you feel about them. Get hold of their address and post it. I wish you could see the smile on their face when they get hold of your letter. It would be a perfect gift & a perfect wish. 🙂
13. A Book of Wishes – You can gift a book of wishes to someone close. It would be the compilation of wishes from all their loved ones. Let me assure you, it is not an easy task. Many people would hesitate to write. But five wishes could make a book too. Trust me! If a letter in point 11 could give them so much of joy, imagine the joy on receiving a book of letters! 🙂

If I were you, I’d plan in advance for upcoming birthdays. But since I am myself, that is what I do. 😛 I get super-excited a month before birthdays and make all the arrangements. Things don’t go exactly as planned. For instance, we bought sky lanterns for Mom’s birthday and it became the King of flops. 😛 All the same, mom looked flabbergasted after every surprise. The purpose was served and so, I really don’t mind. Hope this list helps you. Please let me know if there are more inexpensive gifting ideas. I exhausted this list last year. I desperately need something new. 😉 And while you’re at it, ensure that only I know the plans & not my family ok? Shhhh… 😀