Bloomin' Design Studio

This ‘Many Thanks!’ card has eight different layers. The flower on the top layer is hand drawn to match the print and water colors were used to paint it. I used gel pens to go over the borders of the flowers on the print to give it some dimension. I love the feel of handmade paper and used it as the base for the card.

I made this card for Katharina’s 10,000 hits blog candy challenge.

Supplies: Plain and printed cardstock, handmade paper, vellum, ribbons, water color paint, gel pens

Layered Flower Card

I created these card for my nieces whose birthday’s are in February using the sketch from the verve visual contest. Here are two cards for the challenge.

Honored Guest Sketch Challenge Contest - Verve Visual

For the first card, I drew on the solid cardstock by matching the design on the fabric and colored it in.
Supplies: Plain and textured cardstock, vellum, printed fabric, Happy Birthday Stamp, color pencils

First Card

For the second card, I incorporated my jewelry making skills to the layout.
Supplies: Plain and patterned cardstock, vellum, Happy Birthday Stamp, jewelry wire and beads

Second Card

In South India, it is a common tradition for woman to sprinkle water in front of their house and draw kolam using coarsely ground rice flour on the wet floor every morning just before sunrise. They are also drawn in front of altars. Some folks apply cowdung for its natural antiseptic properties to the wet floor before drawing the kolam. The white kolam also stands out when drawn on a floor with cowdung applied to it. Kaavi, a red brick paste is also applied to the borders of the kolam on festivals giving it that extra special touch. There are a multiple reasons why drawing of kolam is being practised. One of the obvious reasons is for decoration and to welcome anyone coming into the house. Hindu’s believe that it is an invitation to goddess Lakshmi who represents prosperity and also to drive away evil spirits. Another reason is to invite ants for an easy meal and not having to work that hard for a meal. The women also get a good exercise including stretching every morning as they bend down to draw the kolam. This also helps the women start the day off with focus and concentration. One never leaves a kolam incomplete as it symbolizes an open door for evil to enter one’s home. It is okay to walk on the kolam as new ones are drawn every morning. A walk early in the morning is never boring as you see numerous interesting kolams of all sizes and shapes.

So, what is a kolam? Kolam is a free form geometrical design created with your hands using rice flour. The drawing for a kolam starts off with dots from the center of the pattern. Some kolams have lines that join the dots and others have lines that go around the dots. These shapes are usually symmetrical and may represent flowers, animals, people and lamps. It is also known as Muggu in some regions. Another variation is called Rangoli and is practised in many parts of North India, where color sand and flowers are added to these drawings. It is not necessary for Rangoli designs to start off with dots as required for a kolam.

We went on a two day trip to Mysore from Bangalore. We rented a Toyato Innova(comparable to a Toyato Highlander) with a driver and drove from Bangalore to Mysore in 3 hours.

Our first stop was Chamundi Hills. At the top of the hill, you will find the temple of Chamundeshwari, a patron goddess of the Wodeyars who ruled the kingdom of Mysore. Nandi, Lord Shiva’s vehicle, a bull, a majestic 4.8 meter monolith sits half way up the Chamundi Hills.

Chamundi Hills Nandi

Our second stop was the St. Philomena’s church. A Gothic style church, simple in its architectural design but intense in its appeal.

St. Philomena Church

In the evening we visited the Brindavan Gardens and KSR Dam. The gardens spread over 150 acress and includes numerous fountains with lights and has a dancing fountain. These gardens are a backdrop for most of the Bollywood movies.

Brindavan Gardens at night

The next day we visited the Mysore Palace. The palace was built for the Wodeyar family who ruled the kingdom of Mysore. The architectural style of the palace blends Hindu, Muslim, Rajput and Gothic styles of architecture. We had to leave behind our camera and remove our shoes before entering the palace.The inside of the palace is beautiful with exquisite carvings and art work. Most of the ceilings were very ornate. For a small fee, we went on a camel and elephant ride. My daughter was thrilled with these rides.

Mysore Palace

We then visited the Mysore Zoo. The zoo is relatively small compared to the Hyderabad zoo. I was amazed to find a large variety of animals in such a small zoo. We can very comfortably walk around the whole zoo without missing any of the animals.

Mysore Zoo

We then drove back to Bangalore and on the way stopped at Channapatna to purchase some wooden toys. We had a very long drive back to Bangalore, around 5 hours due to heavy traffic.

It is that time of the year where you will find people wrapping gifts. Here is a gift wrapping solution that protect natural resources. I used an old space calendar to make 20 favor bags and used ribbons to attach cards made out of the artwork that my daughter brings home from preschool. The end product is not that bad.