DIYs and Crafts

Top 10 Great Ideas for Making your Own Handmade Bag

March 2, 2010 Filed Under: DIYs and Crafts, Inspiration By Ishrath Humairah 61 Comments

As I plan to make a smart little jute bag for myself that can hold my world, I came across these wonderful resources on the web for handmade bags.

Lot of great ideas, oodles of creativity, yet simply simple to make – these Top10 ideas are the best tutorials that I have come across. These creative individuals (and great bloggers) have, in their own special ways made professional quality bags out of simplest of materials. And along with the great products, they have shared their the best, simplest and most helpful step-by-step tutorials for making these bags at home.

Here is my list of favorite handmade bags DIY tutorials.

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How to make a dried flower arrangement – DIY tutorial for making an exotic and frugal table centerpiece

February 16, 2010 Filed Under: DIYs and Crafts By Ishrath Humairah

dried_flowers_twigs_for_table_centerpiece_DIY

Dried Flowers and Twig Accents for Corner piece Arrangement

Good things in life come in small packets. In here, few dried flowers, small twigs and sticks are being used to make a striking centerpiece that does not wilt or sag.

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Frugal Table Centerpiece Ideas for Holiday Decorating

December 18, 2009 Filed Under: DIYs and Crafts, Inspiration By Ishrath Humairah 32 Comments

This holiday season calls for doing your dreams, taking those risks and trying things that have been in the back of your mind. Keep the ‘quirky’ mantra alive and have fun decorating this holiday season with somewhat strange yet beautiful arrangements. Here are some unusual table centerpiece ideas that use the traditional decorating items with a new twist.

Overturned Wine Glasses with Tealights
Turn your glasses upside down for a different toast. Place holly leaves, nosegay or any decorative piece inside the overturned glass and light a tea light or candle on the overturned base. It looks beautiful in daytime and enchanting at night.

Great Conversation Starter with Overturned Wine Glass with Tealights

LED Fairy String Lights with Floral Accents as Table Centerpiece
If fireflies made your forests magical, little fairy lights can bring in the same sparkle, warmth and glow to your holiday decorating. Get creative with Fairy Lights String to kick start some twinkling decoration ideas for this holiday season. Here is a quirky table decoration idea that inturn becomes a conversation starter. Invert your large glass bowls with fairy lights bundled up inside. Light them up. Accentuate these glowing bowls with twigs, branches or flowers for more striking drama.

String of LED lights inside Glass Bowl for Holiday Table Centerpiece

Overturned Glass Bowls with LED String Lights Table Centerpiece

Table Centerpiece with Plain Crystal Glass Votives and Candles
Just grouping pillar candles of different heights can make any dull corner come alive. Similarly, wine glasses, glass motives and tea lights of different heights can be grouped together to create a warm table centerpiece that needs no embellishment. Its warm fuzzy candle light reflected on your crystal cannot be missed.

Club Candles, Votives & Wine Glasses of Different Heights for Festive Warmth and Glow

Table Centerpiece with Limonium Dried Flowers, Glass Votives and Candles
If plain vanilla table arrangement is not your type; accentuate. Add some dried flowers such as limonium, dried baby’s breath, or plain twigs for a simple and elegant table centerpiece. Use Limonium sparingly so that the delicate dried flowers are seen instead of clubbing them too much. Let the tea lights play with the shadows.

Tealights in Gladd Votives for Festive Warmth and Glow

Tealights in Glass Votives for Festive Warmth and Glow

Dried Flowers such as Limonium and Baby’s Breath are Perfect for these Evening Table Centerpieces

Take a no holds barred approach when it comes to decorating. Feel free to depart from traditional centerpieces, yet retain the festivity and charm of holiday decor. Create ideas instead of following them. What was the quirky thing you did last? Did you do anything different at all? Come on…

Make your Dinner Table Magical with Fairy Lights Centerpiece

December 15, 2009 Filed Under: DIYs and Crafts By Ishrath Humairah 18 Comments

Holiday Season No Flower Centerpiece with Leaves & Candles

Dried Flowers such as Limonium and Baby’s Breath are Perfect for these Evening Table Centerpieces

Christmas in recession time does not mean that festivities, decoration and cheer take a backseat. Its in times such as these that creativity takes a front seat, makes magic out of nothing and gives us all a glimpse of wholesome living.

Here is a quick photo guide on making a simple yet elegant dinner table centerpiece that costs nothing. If you have a spare string of fairy lights and few twigs with leaves… you are ready to go. You dont even need fresh cut flowers for this.

DIY Festive Centerpiece – Step by Step Tutorial on Table Arrangement with Branches and Fairy Lights String

Spread some twigs or branches which have fresh leaves, on your dinner table. If you want the arrangement to last for a few days, use soaked florists foam and arrange the branches according to the shape and size of the dinner table or as you like it. Wind the fairy lights in a random fashion in and around your branches. There need not be any precision or pattern for nature is perfect with its imperfect design. Light up your fairy lights.

This by itself looks very beautiful giving out subtle warmth and glow from in-between and beneath the leaves. To add more festive spirit or fragrance, light fragrant candles and let the aroma waft around.

Simple Festival Table Arrangement with Leaf Branches, Glass Votives, Wine Glasses and Tealights

Have a happy and heart warming dinner time, everytime. Light candles together, cook together, bake together, and more. But dont forget to put your legs up to relax every evening to enjoy the little things you have made.

How are your evenings these days? What magic have you created in your home?

The Charm of Poinsettias in Christmas and Holiday Season

December 12, 2009 Filed Under: DIYs and Crafts, Gardening By Ishrath Humairah 12 Comments

Bright and Gorgeous Poinsettia Plant Foliage Perfect for Christmas

Poinsettia (botanically known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima) is one of the most beautiful gift of nature to man for the festive season. No other plant has these lovely Christmasy colors making it best suited for gifting, decoration and more. In effort to go green this Christmas, you can give the present of a a live poinsettia plant to your loved ones.

There are plenty of opinions on Poinsettia plant’s association with Christmas. While one school of thought believes it to resemble the Star of Bethlehem, the other bases itself in Mexican legend of a poor girl who offered a weed to Jesus as a Christmas present, and it blossomed into bright red colored poinsettias. Since they bloom in December, their timing makes it a holiday season favorite. Perhaps, most of the holiday season colors such as green, bright red, yellow, etc have been borrowed from poinsettias.

Poinsettia Table Centerpieces and Floral Arrangements

Poinsettia Foliage in Glass Bowls (Pix Credit: Gene Bussell @ Southern Living)

Burst of crimson red midst green leaves and the bright yellow flowers in the middle offers great creative options to the decorators making it the best choice for you Xmas holiday decorations, table centerpieces and more. These colors are happy, earthy, gorgeous and very festive.

Design Choices with Poinsettia (Pix Credit: Domino)

But the best poinsettia arranmgent is done by grouping this plant with other plants in a large container as it is done here

Arrange Poinsettia grouped with other plants (Pix Credit: Southern Living)

Its best to club bright blooming poinsettia with delicate green leaves as its done here

Poinsettia with Poison Ivy Strikes the Striking Balance (Pix Credit: Avante Gardens)

Poinsettias are so striking by themselves that they stand out even in simplest of arrangement such as this one from IdeasInBlume

Squared or Cubed – Poinsettia Rocks (Pix Credit: IdeasInBlume)

Poinsettia potted with other plants (Pix Credit: Bill McClung)

White pillar candles or honey colored candles go best against these gorgeous bright colors. For a simple table arrangement, arranger the bed of poinsettia with green colored leaves on the periphery, followed by the red colored leaves, and group the yellow buds in the center. The arrangement can be circular, horizontal or squarish. Use white colored table cloth which is neatly ironed. Place the pillar candles in the center or in accordance with the flower arrangement shape.

Dinner Table Centerpiece with Poinsettia Floral Arrangement and Pillar Candles (Pix Credit: Jeff Lewis)

It is best to use poinsettias in table or other design arrangements only after searing their stems.

How to sear and seal the stems of poinsettia:

Light a candle.
Slice the bottom part of the stem with a sharp knife or blade and plug the oozing sap with paper towel or cloth.
Hold the cut end over the candle flame.
The sap, as it gets heated boils or bubbles over the flame.
Remove it on few seconds or when the sap does not ooze anymore.
Place the stems in your arrangements with adequate water as Poinsettias seared stems suck up more water.
If the red leaves of poinsettia and its floral area is upright and taut even after an hour, it means you have seared the stems right.If not, slice out some more part of the stem and sear it.

Some myth busting here:
No, poinsettias are not poisonous.
No, the red coloured part of the plant is not a flower but the bract like structures are its leaves.

There are so many ways in which Poinsettias can be arranged, displayed and enjoyed that a single post would not be enough. Its best left to ones creativity and aesthetics sense to make the most of the plant available to you. While it is mostly a lanky thin plant, bunching it up with other options such as plants, twigs, candles, paper, lanterns, etc, brings out its striking beauty.

BTW, December 12th is National Poinsettia Day in United States (what timing to write this post). Let me know if you have something exciting with these lovely plants and blooms. I would love to add more pictures of this festive and lovely plant.