Neck design with Kundans

After long break, back to dress design, I can't call it as dress design only neck design :-).
This one is with Black and White combination. I have designed , front and back of the neck, with Black Kundans and some crystals.
Front Neck:

 

Back neck

I am crazy about laces. Whenever I find good and unique lace I buy it. Sometimes I have designed dress for laces :-). Here is one dress , which I designed for a creme colored lace. Pink self embroidered cloth, I have attached the lace on the sleeves and edges.

 On the neck attached Pearl Kundans and motifs.

This is also , self embroidered cloth. On this I have attached Brown colored kundans along the neck.

 Closer view:

I liked all the three, obviously I made those. I have to like them :-). Which one do you liked the most?, I will be happy to know your choice.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana 

Krishna Idol in different costumes

Shri Krishna - considered as great politician, management Guru, philosopher who preached the "Bhagvadgeeta" to the world through Arjuna,  lover of Radha,.... Among all the Hindu mythological personalities, I like Krishna the most.
Krishna Janmashtami- the day when the birth of Krishna is celebrated by Hindus. This brings me the memories of  my visit to Brindavan, the land of Radha Krishna. I was mesmerized by  the temple, beutiful idols of Radha Krishna and of course the tasty Lassi :-).  While returning, I could see many shops selling many idols of Krishna. The one attracted me most is this one :

 

Very attractive ! I could see many beautiful costumes there, which were in different colors. When I asked the shop keeper , he explained me that , in Brindavan , it is a tradition to decorate the idol with different costumes and worship it on Krishna Janmashtami. .

Even I bought one more costume for my Krishna idol :-)Here it is:

You can see that cute crown. And on the occasion of  Krishna Janamshtami, I wanted to see my Krishna idol in red costume , 

Isn't it artistic way to worship Krishna?

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana 

Kumkuma Bharani with Kundan Designs

For a long time I haven't shared anything about my collections. Again back to boast about my collections of Kumkuma Bharanis :-). About some Kumkuma Bharani  I have already shared in the previous posts:

1.  My collection of Kumkuma Baharanis
2.  Kumkuma Bharani- with Peacock design
3. Paper Mache Kumkuma Bharanis
4. Kumkuma Bharanis made from Seashells
5. Some more Kumkuma Bharanis
6. Kumkuma Bharanis with unique designs   

Here are some more :

These are made of wood  in different shapes and decorated with  Kundan. I had bought these from a Artisan from Nagpuar.

Here are the closer views:

This one is Peacock design, with a lid and 2 sections :

This one is  leaf shaped with three sections. The lid can be slided:

The below one is conch shaped, and lid can be slided. This  also has 2 compartments. 

All are beautifully decorated with colorful Kundans. My favourite is always peacock shaped one. I'm crazy about peacock designs :-)

Recently saw some scrap metal work. Share about those in the coming post,

Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana 

Award from Indiblogger and me- First time tried 3d quilling

OMG!OMG! I received an award, from Indiblogger (For category Lifestyle/Hobbies) , I never expected this.
My entry to blogosphere was accidental. Before that , I never knew , there is something called blog :-). Searching for some designs I came across some blogs and started my own blog. The journey in blogosphere is really wonderful. Many awesome friends are added to my friends group.
Okay ,Coming back to this award, its really unexpected. After nomination, I had requested some of my friends to recommend , but after that had forgotten about that. I remembered about award, when I received  reminder mail from Indiblogger about the award night. As it was holiday and with the intention of wishing the winners , I was watching the online announcement of the awards. In between that was disturbed by household work,  guests and of course by my son  . When I came back from attending one such disturbance, slowly I could see my blog's name. I could not believe...then I realized its my blog...yipee hoo...award for my blog. I screamed in happiness! One of the happiest moments in my life ....

 This blog , I started just to share about my passion and hobbies.I can't write as some of awesome writers in this blogosphere, though I admire and enjoy reading their blogs.
Each post in this blog is about some or other kind of arts and crafts. So in this post also I'm sharing my happiness, through this 3d quilling.

Quilled doll  with a big smile, with trophy (that's me!) is telling "Thank you Indiblogger , my readers and all who have supported me"

 .

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Sarees of India 2- Kantha Sarees- Pride of West Bengal

This is my second post in series Sarees of India. The first  post is about a Banaras saree.

In this post sharing about Kantha Sarees of West Bengal.

 West Bengal is famous for many kinds of handloom sarees. I can say Kantha saree is pride of West Bengal.

Kantha is kind of embroidery, which was used by Bengali women to make old clothes look attractive.(I will write about Kantha embroidery in the series "Embroideries of India".)

Kantha Sarees are normally available in silk , silk cotton or cotton materials. On plain saree very intricate embroidery is  made with bright color threads. When I visited a craft fest I could capture photos some beautiful Kantha sarees.

Here are some Kantha sarees :

The colorful sarees , with very elegant Kantha embroidery , aren't these tempting ?

This I  liked the most , Black and Orange combination, with leaves patterns embroidered on it.

Yello, Blue , Creme and Pink, which one you liked the most?

 

Last time when I visited Kolkata , I could add some Kantha sarees to my wardrobe. One is green:

I was mesmerized by the motif and the patch work combination .

 

The closer view of the motif: 

Another is creme color , with very beautiful vine embroidery.

 

If you are saree lover , then I feel at least one Kantha saree is must in your wardrobe. What do you opine?

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Make over of an ordinary saree- Screen printing again

One of my clients had given a very ordinary saree for make over. Here it is :

 I tried to convince her a lot , not to go for make over of this saree, because that would be expensive and it might not look good also. But as it was last gift from her parents, she wanted to wear this saree. So she insisted for make over. 

It was really difficult for me. This is very normal saree, heavy lace won't look good for this. I went for normal zari lace. Attached it along the borders.Always I use screen printing for make over. Printed with big rose prints, as it is matching with lace.

 

 

And printed small motifs along on Pallu. Still I was not happy with the look, tried 3d glitter paint on the motifs and attached some kundans.

 

Closer view of the motif:

 

She is happy to with the work, at least she can wear this occasionally  . 

Soon working on writing on a series of sarees of India. In next post share about Kantha saree of West Bengal . 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Coffee to drink or paint ?- Coffee painting

Confused reading title ? :) Yes !Coffee can be used for painting. Even I didn't know about this. Recently while browsing for some designs for glass painting  I had come across coffee painting. I was mesmerized by coffee paintings made by many artists. Even I thought to try my hands in coffee painting. The result is here :

This is painted with only coffee powder and water. Very simple too. The specialty of this painting is this has l  only shades of Brown! To highlight , I have used Gold color  3D outliner.  

Its really fun to paint with coffee, with nice aroma of coffee, and of course with a cup of coffee!So next time while having a cup of coffee , think of painting with coffee :-)

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana