Wednesday 7 September 2016

Crepe paper flower Garland tutorial



Hello everyone!
I know I am not a regular blogger, but hey, you have been seeing all my Facebook posts right?! If you don't know what I am talking about, check out my Facebook page here
So, we all have been busy lately, because FESTIVAL SEASON IS HERE!! That means, lot of preparations, preparing sweets treats, new clothes, lots of cleaning up the house and decorating it. Well, lets start from the decoration part of it, because its my most favorite!
We all want all our decorations to last for a long time, don't we? I mean, real flowers are nice too, but lets be honest, its all a a bit expensive affair, don't you agree? Especially, if you are living in a place where the kind of flowers you are looking for are scarcely available. So, one of the next best thing? Ta-da... our very own lovely crepe paper garland. This is something we have been doing in our home since ages- be it Diwali (festival of lights) decorations, Dussera (Kinda hard to explain this festival) , Krishnashtami (Lord Krishna's birthday) or Ganesha chaturthi (Lord Ganesha's birthday). The entire house i.e., the main entrance, walls, railings, every room entrance and in places wherever we think would look fine, would be decorated with these lovely colorful flower garlands! oh what fun! We have amazing childhood memories attached with it. Since i came so far far away from my parents' home, I decided to do the decorations to the place we call it 'our' home. Also, i thought to put up a teeny tiny tutorial of the flowers, so that everyone can make it! without any further talking, let me start off with the tutorial.

Step 1: Look at the picture below and admire the beauty of it. Imagine doing this to your own home, with your own hands, of your own favorite colors.. Isn't it beautiful? Now let's hit the craft stores!


Step 2: Look for the textured crepe paper that is available in craft stores. It much easier to work with. if not plain paper works fine too. And the tools you need is a pair of scissors, and needle and twine/thread to make the garland.
Step 3: Cut a small portion of the crepe paper so that it makes a bigger rectangle. It doesn't matter if you make it a square too! The fun part of this project it nothing has to be exact because ultimately, it will turn out to be pretty! I cut a rectangle.


Step 4: Fold that piece into half, fold again to another half, and repeat it couple of times until it becomes a tiny (and fat) rectangle piece. If its too much to handle, go ahead, and unwrap couple of times and cut it at the seam. We can work with that piece later.



Step 5: Now find the center seams and start cutting it.The goal is to ultimately get smaller pieces of squares or rectangle. See the picture Below.

Step 6: We will now work with the stack of separate rectangular/square pieces we made earlier. Fold it one more time, and from one end to the other end, start cutting it only at the ends as shown in the picture below. Do not cut all the way through. Once you open the fold it should look like the 3rd picture shown below.


Step 7: Now comes the super fun part. Unravel all the cut stack of paper into seperate pieces.


Step 8: Pick each piece, pinch it at the plain uncut center, and twist it. Ta-da.. You just made flower. Just like that. Repeat this step some 100 times until you run out of paper. In no time you would start doing with both hands, one flower in each hand and you would be a flower making ninja!

 

Step 9: Take your needle and thread, string it at the centre. Just like how you string flowers to make a garland.  The method i used to string the garland is kind of complicated, I do not use a needle, but tie it around. I found this video tutorial on Youtube if you want to learn the way i did it. It is skillful but not mission impossible :p
Follow this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9wopJ1new



Step 10: Decorate and be proud! :)

P.S.: You can do this with plastic grocery bags, thin polythene table covers, colorful trash bags etc etc to make it washable. 

Love,
Kavya.

Friday 26 June 2015

Zipper pouch : Burlap chevron

Hello hello helloo...
Summer is here and so are many visits from my friends and family.. Phew! What a Busy busy month.. Had been to an AMAZING art retreat hosted by my friend, Kearston. Oh man, got to meet couple of great artists from different parts of the country.. I learnt how different art supplies work, different techniques and styles of art, and had super fun.. We worked on artist trading cards, and here are some of the fun and beautiful ones i received from different artists-



What did i give you ask? I made some of these. Pen on acrylic paint sketches. 


Total fun. All the appreciation goes to Kearston, What a great job she did in hosting and arranging! And she gave us all some really cute and great things in her goodie bags.. lots of art supplies.Here is a picture of the art bar-




Talking about the goodie bags, those look so good.. Dont they? ;) pretty little burlap chevron zipper bag, made by, ahem, you know who.. *wink* *wink* 




I made like 12 of them.. and every one loved it so much! :

If you would want to learn how to make it, i will leave you a video tutorial here. Pretty easy to make, and pretty awesome to look..
Until then... tata.. will be back with lot more projects,  very soon! :)

Monday 1 June 2015

Frugal way to decorate a corner of your home : tutorial

Hi..
My latest weekend project, recycled floral arrangement. Wait, is that what its called? Well, i couldnt think of anything else.. so.. Lets have some fun, shall we?


I personally like this project because, its recycling, its cost effective ( i could actually say frugal), its fast, its fun and it looks absolutely elegant once finished.
We have these lovely hydrangeas growing in front of our home.. Just beautiful bunches of pink-purple-blue-green-white flowers.. Yeah.. It does turn so many colors from summer to winter. But every beautiful thing sometimes have to come to an end, and thats the early spring time.. No flowers, no leaves, dried stems, some even dead ones.. So.. Thats where our project comes in place.. Carefully trim the dried and dead stems, bring it home and make it look pretty, yet again. 
Since we are into June,tiny little leaves started to sprout, this is how it looks like-


Fortunately i had saved some dried stems, so just picked some and got started.
Spread it, and start peeling of its dry skin to have a smoother finish because we dont want those skin to peel off AFTER we finish painting.

Now for the paint part of it, you can choose any color that u like, paint it with pretty pastel colors and make different flowers on it, i just chose black. Any acrylic paint would do, might need 2 or 3 coats depending on the color you choose. Keep it aside for the paint to dry.
In the mean while, lets make some flowers!
You can go with any choice of paper and the color, i went with, guess what-- Kitchen tissues! I love them.. They have this lovely texture on them, doesnt cost you much, and easily available (at home i mean)
So lay it around, cut it into half, keep one half aside and work with the other half.. Fold, fold, fold and fold AND fold. Yep. Five times, everytime into half.


Factoid: Did u know that any kind of paper, when folded into halves, i can be done only 7 times max? Fun,  right? :)
Ok, so now we just need to pick the corner and cut an arc.. Like a quarter of a circle. And tada.. We have so many circles or circle looking like pieces in our hand. It need not have to make it perfect circles because we are going to crimp it anyway. Do not seperate it yet. And save the rest of the bits and odd pieces for something that i will explain in a bit.

Take a paint brush, preferably an old ones with bristles all over the place, dip it slightly only the tip of it in paint, and dab the ends of the circles we just cut.. It need not have to catch the paint all over, do not hesitate to seperate the stack just a little bit and paint.. Lets get some texture out of the brush.. Dots here and there.. Yes. Lovely! 


Leave it for drying for a bit, and lets go check on the stems. Nice and dry and black. 


Now back to the flowers, seperate the dried circles, and just give it a pinch at the centre. See? We just made a beautiful flower!

And thats it, hot glue-stem-flower and tada.. You have your own one of a kind, hand made, floral accent to your home.


Remember i asked you to save the bits and odd pieces previously? Lets make some buds out of it. Nope. Im not going to waste even a bit of the tissue paper.
So all you have to do is, take a bit, roll it into your hand like a dough, and paint the same color on it all over. Mine looks like a yellow popcorn.. Lol.. But doesnt matter, it looks natural and pretty anyway.. 


Glue those bits also onto the stem, and stack them together and aaah...(violins playing the background)
I just had a mini barrel at home, so i stuck some foam inside, poke these stems the way you want it, trim it at the bottoms if you need to, and cover the foam with some fake moss, and place it in a pretty corner, and get ready for all the compliments.

  
Oh-em-gee.. I love mine! So classy..so elegant! You love it too no?
See ya ;)

Friday 29 May 2015

Lovely Val

Hey Everybody!
Ah what an evenful day it was yesterday at work! A friend of mine visited at work (which i always like), the fire alarm went off because of the bad storm and some nasty lightning (everybody and everything is safe), had the best laugh of my life with my friends, and made two people very very happy! Valerie and me.
Let me tell you about her a bit.. Val is one of the best people i know, perfectionist, always giggling, always in high spirits (as far as i have seen), and oh my! she makes the most beautiful flower arrangements.. and she even taught me how to make a bow. Yes. I admit. I do not know how to make a bow. now get over it. :P.
So, Val.
Dont you think she deserves a nice little gift? So i made her a crochet and bead necklace set. Tadaa...

And i gave it to her at work, and she LOVED it! :)
Doesnt she look gorgeous with those pretty blue eyes?



Val wanted to have a necklace similar to the one my other Friend/coworker who bought the necklace from me. Katelyn.
Here are some pictures of the other one:



 
And thats Katelyn! Adorable little thing.


And thats how my day ended. Happy Val, and more than happy me :)
Hence proved.
(totally reminds me of those math problems lol.)
ok bye.

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Layered Triangle shawl

Hello hello hello!
Lot of things have happened in my life since my last post. Had a mini craft fair, joined a new fun job, had my first dance performance, made so many friends, gave (and still giving) driving road tests, birthday gifts, send off gifts, just-because-you-visited-us gifts, so on and so forth. I will (may be) try to share all the projects.
So, for today, let me share with you, a project which has challenged me physically, mentally and LINGUALLY!
Physical challenge because apparently i was crocheting too much so developed pain in my wrist (and ouch it hurts!).
So anyway, moving on..
Lingually challenged because..I had seen this shawl so much on Pinterest and so many other places-- pattern should be very easily available.. right? well yeah, i did have a STEP BY STEP video pattern..(but wait!) it was in a language i just could not follow. So i Juuussstttt blindly (tried) to follow the tutorial.
The shawl came ABSOLUTELY stunning and of course, it had to be! Because it was for my gorgeous Mom..

If you want to try this shawl,
Here are the original Video links :
Part-1 : https://youtu.be/Y-qLZOvmQLI
Part-2 : https://youtu.be/mP5brLEVcoI
And some pictures--






Gorgeous! Dont ya think?
Im thinking i should may be translate and re-write the pattern in English. What do you think? Should i do it?
Love,
K.


Monday 17 March 2014

The multi colored Crochet shrug/cardigan.

Hello.. :)
The mighty mighty spring is beginning, and i am getting ready for some sun and fun. oh yes, i truly am, after the really long winter..
Let me not talk much in this post, will come straight for some serious talk. I made a shrug, a crochet ones. A really gorgeous ones. Wanna see it?


Oh, yeah, i know.. :) its below freezing point.. i am crazy like that.. ;)
So, probably you might want to stop reading until here, coz its going to be all technical from here.. so, tata, bye bye..
.
.
.
Still hanging in? wondering what the is technicality i am talking all about?
Ahem, Kavya bhanupriya is going to ATTEMPT writing a crochet pattern for this. For the first time. so, here it goes..

Preface:
I am writing patterns for the first time, I will try my level best to convey you what it is, i am hoping that there wont be any revisions.
I have worked the shrug first and wrote the pattern later, so please let me know, after you have tried it whether i have conveyed the pattern correctly.

The structure of the Shrug:
It took me some time to design the basic structure of this shrug. let me explain to you with a diagram.
The shrug is designed in two concentric circles, i.e., the purple circle and the light blue circle around it. We would be creating two holes for the arms to get in, i.e., the dark blue circles.

We start from the centre, work around circles, and as you can see in the diagram, when we have reached the distance Y, we would stop it, and do the measurements.
Distance Y= measure approximately from the centre of your back, to your back of the neck.
Distance X= your shoulder measurement.
Measurement Z= 1/2 of the arm pit measurement. i.e., take a tape, start from the top of the shoulder from back, go around your arm pit, keep it a bit loose, and go to the front side of the shoulder. this measure as your arm pit. For measurement Z, take HALF of it.
for example, if your arm pit measures 20", Z=10".
so, continuing the shrug after reaching distance Y, take a tape, and measure X on the shrug approximately, since it would be an arc. Mark the points on either side. lets take it as x1 and x2. from x1, measure Z, further down, and mark it as z1. Do the same for x2 and mark it z2. x1-z1 and x2-z2 is the marking we are making for our arm pit on either sides.
We then continue with the light blue part of the circle, and create the arm pit, by not joining the stitches to the purple circles at points x1-z1 and x2-z2.
Hope i was able to explain ok.

The pattern:
Ch=Chain
Sc= single crochet
Dc= double crochet
Tr= Triple crochet
Sl. st= Slip stitch
Ch Sp=  chain space
Tr.Cl= Triple crochet cluster
I used a 6mm hook, red heart acrylic yarn.
colors used: Golden yellow (lets call it Y) - actual color name
                      Coral (calling it C)- actual color name
                      Blue (B)- my name
                      Peacock blue (PB)-my name
                      Green (G)-my name
Few of the color names i used are the actual colors of red heart yarn, others, since i dont recall it, i gave my own names.. ;)
So.. it comes down to this. Ready..., wish me luck, steady...., go..
Row 1:
with C, magic circle, and 24 Sc in the magic circle, Join
Row 2:
with C, ch 3 (counted as Tr), *5 ch, skip 2 sc, 1 tr* repeat from * to * another 6 times, ch 5, join and change color to Y while joining. {8 tr and 8 ch sp made}
Row 3:
with color Y ch1, *1 sc in tr, 5 sc in 5ch sp* repeat from * to *another 7 times, Join.
Row 4:
with same color Y, sl.st in next 3 sc, *7 ch, skip 5 sc, 1 sc in the next sc* repeat ** 7 more times, ch 5, Join. {8 ch sp made}
Row 5:
continuing with Y, sl.st until you reach the center for ch 7 sp, 1 sc, *ch 9, 1sc in the next ch 7 sp* repeat from * to * 7 more times, ch 9,  join and continue to sl st in the next 3 ch, change color to C. {8 ch sp made}
Row 6:
Ch3, (^yarn over twice, insert hook in ch 9 sp, pull yarn, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over again, pull through two loops^, will be left with 2 loops on the hook, repeat from ^to^, pull through all three loops. [ Triple crochet cluster made, i.e, Tr Cl ]), ch 5, another Tr cl in the same 9 ch sp, ch 5. *tr cl in the next ch 9 sp, ch 5, tr cl in the same ch 9 sp, ch 5* repeat from * to * another 6 more times. Join. sl st into next 2 ch, join color B. {16 tr cl, and 16 ch sp made}
Row 7:
with B, Ch 3, (^yarn over twice, insert hook in ch 5 sp, pull yarn, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over again, pull through two loops^, will be left with 2 loops on the hook, repeat from ^to^, pull through all three loops. [ Triple crochet cluster made, i.e, Tr Cl ]), ch 3, make another Tr cl in the same chain 5 sp, make  *Tr Cl, in the next ch 5 sp, ch 5 tr cl in the same ch 5 sp,* repeat from * to * another 14 times. Join, sl st until the centre of ch 5 sp, change color to G.  {32 tr cl and 16 ch sp made}
Row 8:
with G, Tr cl in the ch 5 sp, ch 5, *Tr cl in the next ch 5 sp, ch 5* repeat from * to * another 14 times. Join, Sl st in next 2 ch, change color to PB. {16 tr cl, 16 ch sp made}
Row 9:
with PB, repeat row 7 until join, sl into tr cl,change color to C. {32 tr cl and 16 ch sp made}
Row 10:
with C, ch 2 (counts as dc), *(1dc ch 1) 5 times in the next ch 5 sp, 1 dc on tr cl, ch 1* repeat from * to *, join, change color to Y.{112 dc made}
Row 11:
with Y, repeat row 10, until join, sl st into next chain, change color to C. {112 dc made}
Row 12:
with C, ch2, *1 sc,  ch 1 in the next st* repeat around, join, change color to B. {112 sc made}
Row 13:
with B, *1 sc in the next ch1 sp, ch 1, (2dc, ch 1, 2 dc (shell stitch) in the next ch sp), ch 1, (1 sc in the next ch sp, ch 1) 2 times, 1 sc in the next ch sp, ch 10, sc in the next ch sp, ch 1, 1 sc in the next ch sp, ch 1 * repeat from * to * another 15 times, join.
 {16 ch sp,16 shell st made}
Row 14:
continuing with B, sl st into next 2 dc, sc in the ch 1 sp, *(6 tr, ch 1, 6 tr) in the ch 10 sp(petal made), sc in the next ch 1 sp* repeat from * to * for another 15 times, join, change color to G. {16 petals made}
Row 15:
With G, sl st  into the gap between shell and petal ,ch 3 , *ch 5, sc in ch 1 sp of the petal, ch 5,1 tr cl to be made in the gap between petal and shell+ in ch sp of shell+in the gap between shell and petal*,  repeat from * to * another 14 times, ch 5 1 tr cl in the gap between petal and shell+in ch sp of shell and join into the 3 chain made in the beginning. {16 tr cl, 32 ch sp made}
Row 16:
continuing with G, *(1 sc, ch 1) 3 times in the ch 5 sp,1 sc on tr cl, ch1*, repeat from * to * another 31 times. {112 sc and 112 ch sp made}, join, change color to PB.
Row 17:
with PB, ch 2 (dc made) ch1, *1 dc, ch 1*, repeat all around, join, change color to C. {112 dc and 112 ch sp made}
Row 18:
with C, 1 sc into the ch1 sp, *ch 5, skp next ch sp, 1 sc into next ch1 sp*, repeat from * to * another 55 times, join, sl st into next 2 ch, change color to Y. {56 sc and 56 ch sp made}
Row 19:
with Y, *1 sc into the ch5 sp, ch 5* repeat around, join, sl st into next 2 ch, change color to B. {56 sc and 56 ch sp made}
Row 20:
with B, ch 3, (counts as 1 dc, ch 1), 1 dc into the same ch 5 sp, *ch 3, (1dc,ch 1,1 dc) into the next ch 5 sp* repeat from * to * another 55 times, ch 3, join, sl into the next dc, next 2 chain, change color to PB. {112 dc and 56 ch sp made}
Row 21:
with PB, ch 3, (counts as 1 dc, ch 1), 1 dc into the same ch 3 sp, *ch 3, (1dc,ch 1,1 dc) into the next ch 5 sp* repeat from * to * another 55 times, ch 3, join, sl into the next dc, next 2 chain, change color to G. {112 dc and 56 ch sp made}
Row 22:
with G, repeat row 21. until join, and change color to C.

Lets take a break here, and look at the following photograph whether we are doing alright!


Starting of the arm hole part.
Now, from the joining stitch, measure  half of your shoulder measuerment x,  on the right side, and the other half on the left side. mark the points x1 and x2.
and as i said,  mark the arm holes x1-z1, and x2-z2 on the piece you just made, count the number of stitches from x1 to z1, make so many chains, and skip so many stitches below. For example, if the x1 to z1 measures 20 sts, while continuing the next row, make 20 chains, skp 20 stitches below.
Row 23:
with C, for my measurements, 35 ch, skp 35 stitches, *1sc on the dc (which is the point z1), ch1 , 1sc on the next dc, ch, (1sc,ch1) 2 times in ch 3 sp* repeat from * to * until the point  z2, ch 35, skip 35, at point x2, repeat from * to * around until joining, which is point x1, join, change color to Y. { 154 sc and two 35 ch sp made}
Row 24:
with Y, (1 dc , ch 1) 35 times in the 35 ch gap, *1 dc in the next ch1 sp, ch 1* repeat from * to * around until the next 35 ch sp, (1 dc, ch 1) 35 times, repeat from * to * until the end. Join, change color to C. {294 dc and 294 ch sp made}
Row 25:
with C, *1 sc in the ch1 sp, ch 2, [(sl st, ch 3, 2 dc, sl st) in the first ch of the ch 2 previously made(a leaf of the clover made)] repeat 3 times in the same first ch of the ch 2 (clover made), (1 sc in the next ch sp, ch 1) 5 times*, repeat from * to * another 43 times. Join, change color to B. {44 clovers made}
Row 26:
with B, 1 sc in ch1 sp, *ch 2, sc in the 2nd dc of the first leaf of the clover, ch 2, long sc into the middle of the clover (which was the first ch of ch 2 sp in the previous row), ch 2, sc in the 2nd dc of the second leaf of the clover, ch 2, long sc in the middle of the clover, ch 2, sc in the next 2nd dc of the third leaf of the clover, sc in the next ch sp, (ch 1, sc in next ch sp) 5 times *, repeat from * to * another 43 times, Join, sl st into next sc, next 2 ch and into next sc of the first leaf of the clover, change color to PB. {44 clover shells made}
Row 27:
with PB, ch 7 (counts as 1 tr and 4 ch), *sc into sc of the second leaf of clover, ch 4, tr into 3rd leaf of clover, tr into first leaf of the adjacent clover, ch 4* and repeat from * to * another 43 times, join at the 3rc ch of ch 7, change color to G.
Row 28:
with G, ch 8 (counts as tr and ch 5), tr into the same st,  *ch 5, sk 4 ch below, 1 sc in sc, ch 5, skip 4 ch, (1 tr, ch 5, 1 tr) in the next sc*, repeat from * to * another, 43 times, ch5, join in the 3rd ch of ch 8. Sl st into 1ch, change color to Y. {88 tr, and 44 sc made}


Row 29:
with Y, ch 2 (counts as dc), 1 dc into the ch 5 sp between tr, ch 3, 2 dc in the same ch 5 sp between trs, *2 dc in next ch 5 sp, ch 3, 2 dc in the next ch5 sp, (2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc) in the next ch5 sp between the tr* repeat from * to * until end, join, sl st into next 2 dc, change color to C.
Row 30:
with C, *(2 dc, ch5, 2 dc) in the same ch 3 sp, (2 dc, ch1, 2dc) in the next ch 3 sp*, repeat from * to * another 43 times, join, sl into 2 dc, change color to PB.
Row 31:
with PB, *10 tr in the ch 5 sp, 1 sc in the ch 1 sp(scallop made)* repeat from * to * for another 43 times. Join, finish off. {44 scallops made}
Weave in all ends, and enjoy your new masterpiece!

Let me know, if you have any doubts, and share the photos when you make it..! :)

This is my own, original, pattern, kindly respect that, use it, sell the finished products (i dont mind at all) but, if anybody needs the pattern, please link it to this post. will be much appreciated! :D atleast i feel that my 9 hrs of pattern writing time is worth it..

Thanks, Bye!