Birds have borne the worst brunt of our times. From lack of green cover, decrease in food availability, climatic changes, to cell phone tower radiations, it is no surprise that they are disappearing at an alarming rate, in large numbers and in variety of species. We have now reached a stage where we scream in delight if we spot the little sparrow outside the city limits.

Birds are indicators of the environment.
If they are in trouble,
we know we’ll soon be in trouble.
Roger Tory Peterson

Make your own rustic bird feeder - Click on the image for the tutorial

I live in soon-to-be-extinct-place where there are few birds left. Apart from crows and eagles, I get to see sparrows, humming birds, sun birds, cuckoo, and many that I don’t identify. Mornings bring in the ubiquitous chirps and flutter, thanks to few green trees and shrubs around.

And here is my attempt to make a simple bird feeder that is easy to fill, clean and offers a great view of the lovely little creatures.

Bird feeders are plenty in design shapes and sizes. The simplest is placing a plate full of grains by your window sill to the most complex web-enabled, solar-powered, automated bird feeder that I recently heard of. Phew!

Here is a simple visual tutorial that needs no sweat or sophistication and is ready in few minutes. All you need is a plate, binding wire in metal or rope, pliers or scissors. It is a simple hanger thought I would like to try my hand at some complex contraptions that I fancy, in future.

3 Simple things for a Simple Bird Feeder Tutorial

I had an old favorite plate that I had picked from flea market two decades back. It served its purpose of holding my paints and art supplies. When I looked around for a plate with an edge that would make a perfect perch for the bird’s delicate feet, this fitted the bill. So this lovely old plate graduated to being a bird feeder. I was happy to be able to use something that was already there.

Binding wire is available in all hardware stores and sells by kilograms. This is one versatile material that can be put to many uses and is any craft makers staple material of choice. I used two long metal wire strings to secure the plate and to join it at the top to be able to hang the plate.

This plate is so beautiful and shallow that it also makes a perfect bird bath. That would be my next project if I find something more suitable to feed the birds with. Till then, its Bon appétit for birds!

3 DIY Steps to Making Bird Feeder

The wire holds the dish so make it as sturdy as possible. Im this case, the plate was very heavy and is less likely to topple in the city winds. The weight holds the dish down so I could make do with few wires without securing the plate. Also, it makes it easy for me to remove the dish for washing or replenishing the grains.

I had an old ball of knotted roots that I used to conceal the hideous wire knot on top. You could use anything there. Or even better, tie a good looking knot. Throw in an extra twig of branch for more grip or perching options for birds.

Bird Foodgrains in the bird feeder

Bird Feeding – Care and Concerns

The biggest challenge would be to keep the bird feeding plate clean as it tends to get dirty due to the birds or weather, which in turn may lead to birds falling sick.

The bird feeder needs to be close to some kind of refuge that the bird can take I case it senses danger of any kind. In this case, there was a small tree nearby. Hang it in a way that no cat can jump to grab them.

They say that it takes time for birds to find this new source of food and it may take a few days for them to become regular visitors. But I guess since birds frequent here a lot, this feeder will be discovered soon. I hope that I can keep it clean, filled and safe – always.

Feed the Birds - Create a Clean & Safe Haven

Its been a happy event to make this feeder with my kid in tow. The bird feeder now hangs, filled with birdie-goodies, swaying gently to the cool evening breeze. We cannot wait to see a bird feeding there. Im so full of anticipation but also know that surprises happen when you least expect it.

There are so many lovely people, organisations, and societies that are doing their bit to save the birds. We know that these minute things cannot match the pace of destruction that is taking place. But making little changes helps and inspires. When all of it adds up, there are results to show.

One fine morning, the birds might just start chirping in your balcony. So why dont you go ahead and try it? And when you do add your love and hope into it.

Do share with me your ideas and projects.

HAPPY UPDATE
After weeks of making this feeder, I could finally capture the little birds on my camera. Everyday, the grains depleted but I could never spot the birds. I was wondering if I should change the location to attract the birds. But lo behold, I am more than happy to share this.

Bon appetit Birdies

Lovely little pecks!

Stomach full of Happiness

I learnt about patience now. Nature works in its own ways.

Glamourous Gladiolus in Red

A bunch of gladiolus flowers is a sight to behold. The most easiest flower arrangement option is to pop these lovely flowers into the crystal and enjoy them each day. Gladiolus blooms every day as many of the buds open up slowly. There are always fresh blooms midst the wilting ones.

And it is no less when it comes to being a stunner for they are also known as sword lilies. Claude Monet was inspired enough by his gladioli to paint them in oils (circa 1876).

Since Gladioli are the cheapest flowers for floral arrangements in the Indian market, they do not enjoy the status of roses, lilies or orchids. But I’d say it is one of the most beautiful flowers that is found everywhere. Each little flower on the bunch is a beauty by itself. They are beautiful even when dry.

When the gladioli flowers start to dry, hang the bunch upside down and let them dry in a shade. They don’t lose too much color and still look beautiful. These flowers are here to stay.

For those who think it is a flower of last resort for floral arrangement, see how chic it can be with a little bit of embellishment. Here is a the most quickest way to enlivening your dinner table with nothing but a bunch of gladioli and a string of fairy lights. I made this arrangement in few minutes without a plan. Party table arrangement cannot get any simpler than this.

Simple floral decoration idea for your next party

Flower Arrangement with Gladioli and Fairy Lights
I have worked with many colors of gladioli before but something about this deep red color caught my eye. I never worked with red so I picked it to see what I’d end up doing with it. It is always nice to pick up something at random, follow your instinct, and create something new.

Trim the flowers stems with a sharp blade/ knife. Searing of stem ends is not necessary for gladioli if they are freshly picked. Remove any old wilting flowers from the base. Remove excess leaves from the stalks as they make the water muddy/ slimy faster.

Take care to keep the electrical connection safe and away from flowers and water.

I created a circle of twinkling fairy lights strand and placed the vase in the middle. I did not place the lights in the flowers as I did not want whatever minuscule heat of the LEDs to touch the blooming petals.

The best option was to place the soft fairy light below and up light the arrangement. And of all the colors, I chose red lights to go with the red flowers just so as to surprise myself with the outcome… though it was the combination I would never have otherwise tried.

Switch on the lights. And lo behold!

Wedding and Parties Table Centerpiece Idea with Fresh Cut Flowers and Fairy Lights

This floral decoration works great for weddings, birthdays or any special occasions where there are many tables that need to be embellished. What a sight it would be with tables full of flowers up-lit in soft lights.

They are a lovely serene sight during the day; scorching red stunners by night.

Please do try!

Send handmade cards to your loved ones this festive season

Festive season calls for greeting loved ones and showing them that you care. This season also calls for sending greeting cards to near and dear. Nothing compares to the warmth and joy of receiving a handmade card from loved ones. Crafted with love and care, these cards bring a lot of joy to the maker, giver and to the receiver.

Here is a quick DIY tutorial for simple, cute and easy-to-make greeting cards. I had made these cards earlier as an invite to a school event but the design can be replicated or improvised to make some good handmade greeting cards.

This tutorial describes the making of a prototype/ sample of a handmade invitation card. Once you get the basic card correct, you can make many cards in one go. Use your imagination, internet, left over materials & supplies, and computer printer to churn out the most-best-loveliest handmade cards for your loved ones.

Handmade Cardmaking Supplies

Card Making Supplies, Material and Tools:

• Colored paper: You may chose to make cards in one, two or different colors. You can also make a color gradient card with different shades of the same color.
• Satin ribbon – to tie up the papers together
• Stapler to secure the pages, scissors to cut, and a pen to pen down your message.

How to make handmade greeting or invitation card
Arrange the different colored papers one upon the other, like even spaced steps. If you are using A4 size sheets of paper, you can make 4 cards out of one set of papers.

Arrangement of colored papers for handmade card

Evenly space out the paper pieces in steppe fashion. Carefully align the paper, one on top of the other before securing them. You can draw or print out images, messages, cartoons, or photos on each page of the card.

Arrange, staple, punch, write and send. Simple Cardmaking Process.

The bunched up papers look like the ones below. You have to secure the set of papers with a stapler to keep them together.You may choose to keep the loose ends of the paper neat, scalloped or cut in any fashion, depending upon the theme of the card.

Colored papers used in making greeting cards

Punch two holes near the stapled spot and tie satin ribbon bow in the color of your choice.This bow can conceal the staple pin too. Since this card was high on color, I chose white ribbon to balance it. Here are some of the samples I tried with different color ribons and diffirent cuts. All that remained was to write the message on these cards

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Since this was an invitation card for a fancy dress competition, to be given by the children to the guests, I wrote the following wordings for invitation on the card.

Each loose end of the paper had space to write one line. Apart from the top paper (where the main invitation message comes) there were 6 loose end papers. Here is the message:

What will I be?
a rock-star, tiger or honey-bee…
an astronaut, doctor or Gandhi?
We lovingly invite you to see
the many things we can be!

Here is the prototype of the card with handwritten message. These messages can also be printed for neatness and then tied together.

Write or print a personalised message on your handmade card

As you flip each paper, you can see drawing/ cartoon images of what is written at the bottom. There is never a dull moment while reading this card. Six pages of simplicity, fun, color, imagination and a lovely message makes this card an adorable one.

You can fashion your invitation cards, party invites, Christmas greetings, New Year messages, save-the-date cards, thank you messages, and more on these lines. Eventually what matters is the message you write on them. So go quirky, funny, silly or sober, there are enough words of wisdom, quotations, or ideas on the net – when it comes to writing the message.

This Christmas, New Year, and hence forth, make you own cards. Involve your kids for some offbeat ideas and for their choice of colors. As you make these cards, you will make memories, like I did.

Have fun!

Children’s Fancy Dress Competition is one of the many occupational hazards of parenting… and most often the unavoidable one . And when my kid’s school had one, there was no escape for me.

After getting to know that my kid was ok about participating in the event, I was searching for good fancy dress costume ideas ranging from animals, bumble bee, honey bee, Disney character costumes, and cartoon characters to professions. It was difficult to freeze upon any costume as my kid refused to be anything that I suggested (and which I thought were easier to make). Nothing appealed to the little one.

After much fuss, Shaun-The Sheep (one of his favorite animated characters) appealed to him. The fancy costumes had to be handmade; not brought off the shelf or rented. Once decided, I wanted him to be involved in making of the costume so that he gets into the skin of the character .

Ground Rules for Making Fancy Costumes for Children:

• The dress has to be comfortable – not too tight or loose enough to hang.
• The child should be able to carry on his/her activities after wearing the dress, comfortably.
• No harsh material. No pins and sharp objects.
• Clean and fresh materials – to avoid child discomfort, itching, etc.
• Minimise the time the kid has to sport the dress. Keep a change of clothes handy.
• No chemicals, make-up, powders and scents on face and body.

Here is how I made a light-weight and easy-to-assemble sheep costume for a fancy dress competition:

Things you need to make a sheep fancy costume

• An old white T-shirt or vest
• Black shorts
• White Skull Cap
• Black Stockings – for legs
• Black Stockings – for hands
• Cotton Balls

How to make Shaun The Sheep Costume for Kids

An old t-shirt or vest in white color is used as a base for making this costume. You can chose to cut the t-shirt back open for it makes the costume easy to put on the kid.

Basic stuff needed for making a sheep costume

Stitch the cotton balls to the vest in any fashion. I started in an orderly manner but it did not seem right. Going random was best and consumed less cotton balls.

Before this, I tried to glue the balls but they did not stick well enough and too much glue was getting wasted without the desired results. Maybe I did not have a good glue that works well on fabrics. Stitching the cotton balls is my best option to keep the costume sturdy.

Stitching Cotton Balls on While Vest

Keep filling in the blank spaces. You can leave some gaps here and there, as the vest is white and it wont show much. While you stitch, make sure that cotton balls dont tear or shred.

Wooolly Boy in Making - Adding Cotton Balls to the Vest

It took about 2 hours to get all the balls well stitched to the vest. I guess gluing would have been faster.

Ready to Wear Sheep Wooly Jacket for Kids

Make Sheep Costume Complete with Headgear/ Cap
Use a skull cap with a snug-tight fit. Stitch the cotton balls all around the skull cap, filling all the gaps. Attach two long triangular pieces of black cloth at the sides – for sheep ears.

Sheep Costume Headgear with Skull Cap and Cotton Balls

Make Sheep’s Tail for the Costume
Stitch together a bunch of cotton balls to make it look like a bushy tail along with a cord for tying it to the shorts. You can also pin this attachment with a safety pin.

Assembling the Fancy Dress Costume
Since I wanted to costume to be easy to assemble on the kid, I chose separate elements for body, arm, legs and head. Everything could be detached or attached and assembled into one costume. And nothing much gets wasted after the event.

Dressing up your kid as a sheep
Prepare your kid a few days in advance telling him about the character and the costume he/ she is supposed to wear. This will prepare the child for a new, weird and probably uncomfortable dress. Try the dress on before the D-day.

Pull up the black stockings on hands and legs, shorts, shoes and lastly the cotton balled vest.

Secure the vest at the back. Attach the little tail on the black shorts. Put on the skull cap and adjust ears.

There, the sheep is ready to bleat.

Shaun The Sheep - Ready to Bleat

Reuse or Recycle your Fancy Dress Costume
Costumes for fancy dress competition are made for one occasion. Then they end up in the attic, loft, trunk or garbage bin. If due care is taken while making the costume to salvage most of its content and reuse its elements, then it is worthwhile to take part in the event.

In this sheep costume, the entire costume – vest, socks and cap can be reused after removing the cotton balls. The cotton balls can be used for other purposes as they have been exposed to air and dust.

If you are done with the costume but don’t have the heart to dismantle it, you can donate or gift it to someone. The school can also keep the costume for its plays. This costume can also be used for Little-Bo-Peep nursery rhyme, Halloween, Christmas nativity scenes or stage plays. Or just put up an ad at a common place for anyone who would be interested,…. you’d be surprised with the response.

Make your own fancy costume
I hope you find this tutorial helpful in making this costume for your loved ones. The ground rules for making any character costume remain the same. It is also great to have your kid involved in costume making for he/she gets comfortable with the whole idea and also absorbs a bit of creativity that goes around .

Let me know if this helped you in making a fancy costume. You can also check out sheep costumes for children available at Amazon.

Rice paper lamps are one of the most beautiful and affordable lighting accents one can have to bring in light-air simplicity in your homes. They are beautiful to look at, low in maintenance  and most frugal lighting options available for budget home decoration.

This hot season calls for soft lights and cool ambient lighting that goes easy on the eye. Rice Paper and Bamboo lanterns are the best bet for bringing in this touch of zen, simplicity, white, purity, and balmy effect. The lightness and simplicity of white paper adds to the aura you want to create in your room. And perfect for this hot summer.

Paper lanterns are beautiful when hung individually. But if you want a ceiling centerpiece, it is great to bunch up some lanterns together and light up the lights. Here is how you make your frugal rice paper and bamboo lamp shades chandelier for ambient lighting:

Things you need to make your paper lantern lighting accent:

• White Chinese/Japanese Paper Lanterns. Something like this
• Metal or bamboo frame or ring (to bring in distance between the lamps and  to balance them)
• Electric Cord for Paper Lanterns(as per the length of the lamp required)
• Bulb holders and bulbs (CFLs to go gentle on the environment as you are lighting more than one bulb for this arrangement)
• Tools such as scissors, cutting player, screw driver, etc (in most cases, teeth and finger nails suffice)

Here is the basic template of how I did it. There are many other interesting ways in which it can be done. Be bold and creative in trying out.

Tutorial Design Template for Making your Rice Paper Lamp Accent

Step 1: Using the above template, hang the paper lamps with ordinary string on the frame. This is to get an estimate of how much wire you will need, what would be the length of the entire lamp arrangement, how to balance the lamps against its lengths,  etc. It is always better to have a rough idea of it would eventually look like when hung on the ceiling.

Knots, Wiring, Bulb holders for Paper Lantern Chandelier DIY

Step 2: Wire the bulb holders and secure them in the lamps. Cut the required wire length for each lamp.

Step 3: Hang all the lamps on the frame at a workable height. Try to balance the weight, heights and lengths of the lamps if you want to make uneven hanging arrangement. You need to strike the balance before you secure the wires with knots or adhesives. If you are wanting to make an uneven arrangement with different paper lamp sizes, then you need to spend some time getting it right.

Three is not a crowd - DIY Lamp Shades

Step 4: Secure the wire lengths and locations with knots or adhesives.

Step 5: Check for all the internal wiring with bulb holders. Secure the open wires with insulation tape.

NOTES:

> Having attached to the ceiling, check for the balance of the design as these lamps may droop to one side due to weight of the biggest lamp or long wire length. Only after you are sure of the design and balance, attach the electrical wires to the power outlet.

>The circle frame determines the shape of your lantern. The frame could be circular, triangular, or any other shape to accommodate any number of lanterns of varying size and diameter that you want to accommodate. Apart from round paper lamps, there are many other shapes available such as squares, pyramids, cylinders, etc.

> These tri-lamp chandeliers look good on ceiling and even better in dark neglected corner of your house. This frugal lamp gives an instant face lift to room corners where you can hang  3 or 4 lamps in elongated fashion to fill in the empty area. Accentuate this arrangement with houseplants such as palms, spider plants, etc.

And then switch on for a beautiful experience that breathes in soft light, as the cool evening breeze that wafts by.

Zen, Pure, White, Soft, Diffused Balmy Light for Night

This trio hangs in one of my rooms and  and every time I switch them on, they do a lot more than just lighting up the room. Every time I switch it on, the room becomes inviting

Design Tip: Here is a beautiful book called Paper Illuminated: 15 Projects for Making Handcrafted Luminaria, Lanterns, Screens, Lamp Shades and Window Treatments that serves as a great DIY guide for creating personalized lighting accents.

Do try this lantern DIY if you love paper lamps for it is an experience by itself… and let me know how it went.