Showing posts with label festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festival. Show all posts

Monday, October 14, 2013

Ganpati Decoration 2013


Hi dear reader!!!
I know I’ve been missing from the blogging circuit for quite some time, but I had a very good reason.....
I was on a vacation :D .....to INDIA!!!!!!
I had so much fun there meeting up with my family and my husbands family.......
But, I had the most fun during Ganpati festival that was celebrated from 9th September....
Ganpati Festival is a huge thing in India....
People in India worship Lord Ganesh (Ganpati) as their prime deity....
This festival is celebrated for 10 days, and people bring a Ganpati idol at home and worship it for 1 and a half days, 5 days, 7days or 10 days as per their wish......
After the certain number of days, the idol is immersed in a water body, usually a lake or the sea......
Ganpati festival is one of the most eagerly awaited festivals in India......
Worshipping Ganpati whole heartedly, making “Naivedya”- a platter of assorted home cooked vegeterian meal as an offering, singing aartis and bhajans (hymns and praising songs), welcoming guests who come to seek blessings, meeting up with the family, and the whole pious atmosphere in the house brings immense happiness to me and my family......
And the most fun part of all this is the decor we do around the idol to complement our beautiful God.....And, I am lucky to be the one doing it!!!!
I do the decorations every year, and I am very much a fan of eco-friendly materials....
And, I make new decorations every year.....
I usually pre-determine the theme, but this year I was completely at a loss for ideas.....
I was thinking of many different themes, but nothing was striking a chord!!
At last, just four days before the festival, I finalised on “Roses”......
We have a custom made table on which we place the idol....
It is a five feet wide table with an arch on the back.......
This is what I made......

Ganpati Decoration 

Now let me tell you how my idea came to life....
I began with making red and yellow colored paper roses.....
I made spiral roses which you have seen previously in my post “ DIY Rose Branches”....


Spiral Paper Roses

I made a lot of them...And, I also made approximately four leaves for each flower.....
I spent almost a whole day just cutting and folding  the roses and the leaves.....believe me, my fingers were swollen by the time I finished, with the cutting and folding!!!
The next day, I lined the edges of each flower with golden glitter to add a little pizzaz!!!
By the time they were drying, I got to making the backdrop.....
I glued Red Iris paper on the arch on the back....This paper changes its color in different lights and at different angles.......Its funky!!!!
Then I lined and glued red and yellow roses in a double row, interspersing with the leaves......
I also glued a 6 inch strip of golden cloth along the edge of the arch in a pleated fashion......
It kinda made the roses pop!!!
I also made a circular arrangement of roses to be placed behind Lord Ganpati’s head......


Circular Flower Arrangement

My arch was now complete......


Ganpati Decoration

Then I moved my attention to the table.....
I covered the table base and the table legs with a green sparkly cloth.....
I also glued red and yellow roses alternatively along the border of the table......
Then, I made two circular flower arrangements lined with golden cloth and glued them to the table legs......




The center stairs were covered with green paper.....these stairs are retractable like a drawer....
Finally I added the finishing touch by entwining multicolored LED lights throughout the flowers on the arch and along the table border.......
This was the final result....with Lord Ganpati Proudly sitting on it....

Ganpati Decoration




Ganesh

Ganpati Decoration

I was pretty glad with the outcome.....Let me know what you think of it......
I’ll try to include my previous years decorations in the upcoming posts....
Till then keep crafting and keep visiting.......
See you again soon :)

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Diwali Decorations

Diwali was celebrated last week, and we had lots of fun at home.....
Celebrating Diwali in US is a different experience altogether, but we tried to bring in
the spirit home, at our level best....
And, what is Diwali without its decorations???
Let me show you what I did....
Traditionally, clay lamps filled with oil line the doors and windows during the festival...
The picture below is a "Diya" ( Lamp) hand painted by me on our glass door....
This is how the painted surface looks.....its the inside!!

Diya Painting on the Door

And, this is how it looks to a person watching it from outside :)

Diya Painting

Marigold "Toran" ( string garland) is also traditionally put on the main entrance 
with 5 mango leaves in the centre....
You know how impossible it is to find one such 'Toran' in US :(
So, I decided to paint one instead.....
This is how it looks from inside......

Marigold Toran Painting

And, this is the outside view......

Hand Painted Toran

This is how the whole combo looks on the door......

Diwali Decoration

What is Diwali without some diyas right???
I had a terracotta plate with me which I painted golden....
Then I placed a LED candle on it....
Thus I made my American Diya :))
The main reason for making this one was my 5 year old whose 'active' presence made it impossible for me to light any real diyas !!
But the effect was so nice!!!

Decorative Diya

This is another assembly.....
The base is metal with rhinestones which I had bought from India......
Just painted the top of a LED candle and put it in the base to make this Diya....

Fancy Diya

One more type of assembly is the one I made below...
I have placed hand painted terra-cotta diyas in a row with LED candles on top.....
I know there are too many diyas.....but 'Diwali' literally means 'Row of Lights'.....


This is a floating diya handmade by me.....
It has a metal centre and is decorated with green and red festive colored rhinestones.....
Its usually used with a votive.....
I gifted this to a friend for Diwali....

Floating Diya


Hope you enjoyed viewing my decoration and diyas......
Happy Diwali to you and your family....
Comment below if you liked the decorations and Thanks for visiting :)