Rakshabandhan: The Bond Of Love

Rakshabandhan is a festival when sister ties a sacred thread on brother's wrist. Brother vows to protect her and sister showers her love and care on him. Tomorrow is Rakshabandhan (Rakhi) and this post is dedicated to all the sisters and brothers around the world.

"Good relationships are like needles of a clock, they only meet for sometime

but always stay connected"

I am happy that my siblings and I are like those clock needles. As kids, together we fought a lot, played a lot, enjoyed a lot, learnt a lot. Now we have grown up, live far away from each other and have our own family, but still we are connected, cherish those memories, always there for each other and that's a bliss.

Here are my quilled rakhis for my brother. You know how I love everything handmade.

I used different quilling techniques to make these rakhis.

Here is my platter full of love for my brother. Did you notice that golden lotus.....its made of pistachio shell during Diwali. I took it out just for Rakshabandhan.

Look how happy and calm my Buddha looks with this Lotus.

Wish all brothers and sisters a very happy, peaceful and memorable Rakshabandhan :)

Linking it to Tuesdays at Our Home

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Gorgeous Shelving Unit

I am very drawn to these types of shelving units.



  I realize that these are Victorian and my style of decorating is certainly not Victorian.



    But it's the romance of the curves...


                 And the spindles that gets me every time!






This was ripe for the picking at a garage sale last weekend. Pay close attention to the feet...Wrong!



Someone had tried to fix them with

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Uncommon Vase Ideas

There are several things around you that you can easily turn into vase. When I said several things I actually meant almost everything ;)

Don't you believe.......lets have a look....

Tea pots turned into vase look super gorgeous and certainly add style quotient to your decor.

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Pitcher used as a flower vase in below image looks beyond perfect.

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Tea cups serve as a beautiful vase.

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Wooden pen stand below is working just wonderful as a vase.

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Now comes watering can, can be found in almost every house and looks charismatic as vase.

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Image below is a watering can made out of wood and doing wonder as a vase.

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Look at this beauty. Its green moss teapot perfect for some beautiful flower arrangement.

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Clever idea to use stained glass jars and bottles as flower vase.

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Now who can think of boot as a flower vase.

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Wine glasses look more beautiful as vase.

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Basket can also serve as a vase and looks cool.

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And this is something very uncommon....vase made out of corrugated cardboard.

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Try out these ideas........make your own uncommon vase and don't forget to share the picture with us :)

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Uptown Art Fair. Calhoun Square, Minneapolis.

Having sorely missed my favourite fairs like Chitra Santhe, Dastkar & Kala Madhyam back in Bangalore, India, I placed all  hopes of quenching my creative thirst on the Uptown Art Fair, an annual art event held in the Calhoun Square in the Uptown area in Minneapolis.

Apart from showcasing amazing art the fair is a celebration of hip and unconventional Uptown community. A blend of urban energy with the serenity of the city of lakes.

First we decided to see the Youth Art Fair, they definitely are tomorrow's stars!

Some lovely work by the youth was on display.

Creativity galore.

Look at these earthy pottery made by a young high school student Nate Saunders. He has a FB page where you can check out his latest creations!
Saunders Pottery

The art fair started way back in 1964 as a way to increase awareness of the arts at the same time raise money for Uptown projects.

I was just happy to see so much colour, creativity and art and take in the beauty of a bright sunny day.

Art by Chris Vance, an Iowa-based artist.

I love handcrafted books and I just had to stop by the booth of artist from Texas, Mychal S. Mitchell of Iona Handcrafted Books.

Keep your journals super safe with a lock!

As I flipped through the Uptown Visitors brochure I read that "An average of 375,000 people attend the Uptown Art Fair making it second only to the famous Minnesota State Fair."!

Paintings by Stephen Baldauf
Loved the colour palette in these acrylic paintings

Dolan Geiman's work was simply stunning. Later while researching I learnt that he's a nationally recognised mixed media artist, he works with salvaged wood, found object and recycled materials.

His work is an amalgamation of traditional folk art and contemporary, urban style.

Map of Minnesota:-)

It was pure bliss walking past some lovely work...

...and stopping to stare at the blue blue mid-western sky.

Black and White work by Erik Saulitis, a photographer specialising in Dance Prints.

Amazing work by artist William Kwamena-Poh

Quirky Silverware Art by The New Homestead . They repurpose antique silverware and create something interesting!

There was an abundance of beautiful ceramic booths and needless to say they had my full attention:-)

Michigan-based potter Brian Beam's lovely work.

Loads of delightful creations in various booths...

I had a tête-à-tête about various clays with Jackie Matelski of Jackie Matelski Ceramics

DeVries Pottery display.

Salt Shakers on display by Duluth potters Cheryl and Bob Husby...

What a day it was!
I came out feeling like Santiago from The Alchemist  "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true"

My wish was granted.

{ Do click on the names of the artists, they are all linked to their websites}

(Images are copyrighted)

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Jewelry Stand for Lisa

My daughter Lisa, came back home for a week from Wisconsin, where she is currently living.



Her best friend (since 1st grade) Mandi, got married and Lisa was a bridesmaid.





While Lisa was in town, we did some Mommy/Daughter time and on a shopping trip to a store going out of business, Lisa found this...








The store was selling displays and Lisa thought she could use this for

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