Homemade | Rhinestone / Kundan Rangoli

Dear Foodies,

Padmam - Lotus muggu

I'm going to take a detour from cooking on today as I can no longer keep this new craft that my mom and I (...mainly her :) ) have been churning out from all you guys. Last month for a puja at my brother's place we were trying to come up with ideas for setting up the altar and other decorations. Since it was their new home we did not want to risk using traditional muggu (rangoli) colors and staining the floors. When looking for designs online I came across some that were made using kundan stones and that's when this got started.

Peeta muggu (to be placed under a 3" high stool - peeta)

Michael's is our go-to store for craft items and it was no different this time. We found a huge pack of assorted color acrylic rhinestones and with the 40% coupon it was a good buy for a impromptu project. Only drawback was having to sort the beads by color before we got started. But with some glue and plastic printer sheets we got started on our very first one soon.

Since then we've made many more...it's hard to stop and we knew we were spent our afternoons ordering stones on Amazon and our evenings scouring bead stores in the area for the right shape, right shade or the perfectly sized stone :)

another Padmam with a different petal tip design

For the first few muggu's we used Graffix Ink Jet film, but later realized it's a little too thin and flimsy for such a project. We currently have these sheets from Graffix that we ordered online. They are much more sturdier but the only downside is the color. I noticed that the sheet itself had a blue tinge only after opening the package. So if you can find clear sheets of the same thickness, that would be ideal.

Flower pattern - Not the best photo but my favorite so far

Since the sheets are transparent its easy to trace the pattern on a sheet of paper and attach it to the plastic sheet using staples or paper clips. Its best to move a few inches at a time, trace the pattern with glue (we used this) and immediately place the rhinestones. Do use a good amount of glue or the stones will fall out over time when handled...found that the hard way.

We also used pearl and silver bead strings for some of the outlines. My mother figured that the best way to make them fit the pattern is to leave them stringed until they are glued in place. While the glue is still fresh, gently tug at the string and pull it out. You can then make slight adjustments but its a lot easier than gluing beads individually. Once the glue has had time to dry, trim off excess plastic sheet around the pattern. We skipped this step for now and left a lot more space so they are easy to handle and move around.

This our most recent project and the one we are most proud of, I think. We spent many evenings visiting stores and looking online for the right stones for this one but it was definitely worth it. Its still not complete. My mom's done making all the petals (below pic) and we'll have to create the final shape by using some gold string to form an outline.

Materials & Sources

• Acrylic Rhinestones - Various colors, sizes and shapes
• Pearl and Silver beads
Sources: Michaels Craft store - don't forget to look for coupons; local bead stores/outlet; The Crafts Outlet - Amazon store, eligible for prime shipping;
• Craft Plastic Sheets - we used these Graffix sheets, but in a clear color if you can find them (and let me know where!)
• Glue - Aleene's Clear Tacky Glue
• a pair of tweezers really come handy when you have to move little beads around

petals to go around the above circular center pattern - 8 total

Google stone rangoli and get prepared to be awed. There is soo much great work to be inspired by. I thought I had a brilliant idea when we were trying to find an alternative to traditional color powder rangoli, but looks like its been around forever. This was the first collection that inspired me, here's another that lead to our current project; and another one. The very first muggu is the one that will be at the base of our Varalakshmi vratham kalasam this year.

Did you worked on any craft projects recently ? Please share them here!
 

Friday Frames | of Seeds and Pods

Hello foodies,

A weekends back, as I was organizing my kitchen pantry I decided to sprout a few of the everyday seeds I use and see what comes up. Here's a glimpse of a few surprises....

Kalonji - Onion flowers ?!

Mustard pods!

I had never given mustard seeds a thought, did not think about how they are grown or harvested. Did you know they grow just like peas in a pod ? After seeing these teeny tiny pods, I am not going to complain about shelling peas anymore :)

the flowers were a pretty yellow color

Thyme Flowers

and finally here's some vanilla extract brewing

Friday Frames | Homemade

Dear Foodies,

these perfectly sized jars are waiting to be filled up

Red & Green Thai chillies, garlic, galangal, lemon grass, shallots & lime leaves -
no points for guessing where I'm headed!

Kick start...

Dear foodies,

...your day with some Jalapeno-cheddar scones,

homemade butter and freshly squeezed orange juice

I need a kick too, for not coming back here for soo long. I am not going to start with an excuse, I have tonnes, but none really matter.... Instead I'll sneakily pass on this wonderfully buttery scone recipe that packs a punch in it....its dotted all over with some spicy jalapenos.

I came across the recipe for these fiery delights on Deb's blog, Smitten Kitchen. I nearly have half her recipes bookmarked! I don't know when I will get through all of them, but this particular one said it wouldn't wait any longer :D So here's the recipe. I stuck to the whole thing, just added half an extra jalapeno (it could have used more) and topped the scones with some Parmesan cheese before sending them into the oven.

I bought some heavy cream in the hopes of making panna cotta, but that did not happen. The agar-agar flakes have been sitting in my pantry for almost a year now, sigh. I used some of the cream in the scones and while they were baking, I got a brilliant idea of whipping up the rest of the cream into fresh butter. I brought out the blender jar, tipped the contents of the cream can into it and whizzed it around. In a few minutes I had light and airy buttahh! Sprinkled with some salt and sugar you'll have the most wonderful stuff to spread over the warm scones.....yummmm. Here's a detailed how-to on Kay's blog (half her recipes are bookmarked too!) If you want to get some exercise done before you feast on the divine stuff, then skip the blender and try the hand-shake method :D Don't blame me if you get addicted to making flavored butters at home from now on... :D

On another note, it been almost a year n a half since I bought the domain name for my blog, but haven't used it. The first time I tried to re-direct the blog, it did not transfer the photos. Now the photos are displayed, but the comments on the posts did not get transferred. I followed all the steps listed in the blogger site, should I be doing something else ?