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 ma...

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

Wool Lampshade  To make this lampshade we need wool, balloon, cornstarch and glue. Inflate the balloon to the required size. Next the wool or thread needs to be dipped in a mixture of cornstarch, glue and water in the correct consistency (not too thick or thin). Start wrapping the balloon with the wool randomly but keeping a space in top corner. This space would be used to insert the bulb/wiring for the lamp. Continue wrapping the balloon but ensure the wool is sticking to each other. Let it dry overnight. Once it is fully dry the balloon is deflated and taken out and the lamp is ready. It can be used on a stand or a hung from the ceiling with the help of wiring. It can be used as a centerpiece of dinner parties and smaller wool balls can be used as christmas ornaments. Wool Lampshade- used as a centerpiece  Acrylic and Egg shell painting  Recycled CD coasters  Old and damages cd were used t...

Recycled wine bottle Multicolored  thread and wool used to cover an old wine bottle with glue. It can be used as planter or simply for decoration. Using ropes gives a awesome rustic look. Great creative with different colour threads. :)                                                                     Pen stand- recycled newspapers Old newspaper rolled into circles and then put together to make a vase. They are rolled to look like small snails. The base is made in the same way, paper rolled into a circle (depending on how big you want your vase to be). You need immense patience to just keep making these rolls and can get frustrating at times. :) Once done, colour them with acrylic colours for more durability and start attaching it to the base with an  ...

Never in my life have I been a fitness freak or someone who even does exercise inside the house. Hitting the gym was always on the ' to do' list that kept changing every year, keeping only the laziness constant. Infact the only fitness related activity I have ever done in my life would include taking my school children for sports classes and maybe doing a bit of stretching there. Even as a student I remember bunking all my sports classes and march past practices. I had invented  a 'rare' disease which I used in my swimming classes and even got a doctor to write a prescription!  I would get an allergy when I would come in contact with water and sunlight. I hope the advancement in science probably would have found a cure for this deadly disease by now.  It wasn't till a recent party where my obvious paunch was a little too obvious and encouraged a particularly drunk lady to point it out. " Well, such things happen at your age, she said." such thin...

" Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky." - Rabindranath Tagore

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain