Musings of a bored girl

Christmas is here and the festivities have begun. Don't want to waste too much money on expensive Christmas decorations from the market? Don't have the time to make them yourself? Here are some easy to make Christmas decorations which doesn't require too much time, effort or money. All you need to do is raid your cupboard and take out anything you can lay your hands on. Paper, glue, ribbons, glitter, wool, paper cups, buttons and a little bit of imagination! These are simple tree ornaments made out of paper, ribbons and quilling. Quilling or paper filigree is a art form in which paper strips are rolled, shaped and glued together to make decorative designs. Paper is wound around a quill to create a basic coil shape.There are many quilling kits available in the market to make the perfect shape with exact precision but I have made these by hand and it hardly took 20 minutes. I have used simple round shapes and diamond shaped and glued them together to make flowers a

Banana Loaf Ingredients 65 gm wheat flour 75 gm flour 1/2 cup (60gm) oil 3/4 (100 gm ) powdered sugar 3 eggs 2 bananas mashed well 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp soda bicarb 1 tsp vanilla essence Optional ingredients for added flavour 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg 1 tsp finely chopped cashews Procedure Grease a 9" into 4" loaf tin or a 7" round cake tin Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius Sieve together both flours, baking powder, sod, cinnamon and nutmeg. Keep aside Chop bananas ito small pieces in a pan. Mash well. Add oil and powdered sugar. Beat until very smooth. Beat eggs in a clean dry bowl till fluffy. Add half of the flour and half of the beaten eggs to the banana mixture. Mix well. Repeat with the left over flour and eggs. If using walnuts, add them and mix well. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake at the 180* C for 40 minutes.

 Pin Wheel Biscuits (Makes 16) Ingredients  240 gms Flour 1 tsp Baking powder 1/8 tsp Salt 120gm Butter 120 gm powdered sugar 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence 3 tbsp Milk 3 tbsp Cocoa powder Procedure Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together. Cream butter and powdered sugar till light and fluffy. Add the flour, vanilla essence and milk. Mix gently to make a stiff dough. Divide the mixture into two parts and blend cocoa powder into one. Thinly roll out both the halves 1/8" thick into equal sized pieces. Place the chocolate piece on top of the white one. Roll the two tightly as for swiss rolls and allow to stand in a cool place for 20-30 minutes. Cut into 1/4" thick slices and place on a well greased baking tray. Bake in a moderate oven at 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes.

Paper Coasters  Old newspaper rolled to make coasters. They are rolled to look like small snails.It's a very quick and easy to make DIY.  Once rolled into an appropriate size, tightly close the end with an adhesive. Colour them with acrylic colours for more durability and apply a coat of varnish. Madhubani Bottle          Warli Pen stand