Indian festivals and decorations

Its that time of the year when everyone starts preparing for a long line of festivals!!!

At my place last weekend we celebrated  Ganesh chaturthi- festival of Ganesha. 
Me and my son were busy making decorations for the festival a few days in advance. 
In our daily creative activities with my 2 year old we made garlands , buntings, painting of Ganesha and such which creates the atmosphere of excitement, anticipation and frolic!! My childhood memories of any festival are associated with these three factors. I want my son to have all these memories even though outside our house it does not feel like a festival like it feels in India!!

Here the weather is getting milder and flowers are spouting everywhere in the garden. In Indian decorations , flowers play an important role. Avaneesh and I plucked and gathered flowers from the plants. I made a garland of the flowers. 

You can see a glimpse of the paper marigold and mango leaf garland my son had made.( in the pic below) I will share the tutorial soon.

These are Modak- sweet dumplings I made. I make these with ricotta cheese. Stir sugar, saffron, cinnamon and some milk together with the cheese on heat till the mixture gets a thick consistency. It might take 25-30 minutes. Let it cool and then give it the modak shape. For offering to Ganesha they have to made either  11 or 21. 

Some roses in my Moroccan glasses - fit well in the Indian theme!!

I did this floral arrangement  for the occasion. I made in a copper vessel  to give it an Indian touch. 

Its hard to find flowers like marigold and others which are traditionally used in Indian festivals.So I think using Indian style vase/ vessel made of copper or silver 

can add that "Indian" touch !!

Downstairs I decorated the side table with my 2 year old 's Ganesha painting. Most friends tell me he is a gifted artist but I am still not convinced. 

Diwali- Do-it-yourselves project: gift tags

                I made some watercolors paintings for my family on card stock for the Diwali festival. 

I thought they will look good as gift tags or mini greeting cards. So today in the morning when the baby was sleeping I sat down and created a format( as seen above) to convert them into printable Diwali gift tags or mini greeting cards. 

All you have to do is to print it , cut , fold, write a message inside and give!!! A little Do-it- yourselves project for this Diwali!!!

Make it extra personal by writing a personal message/ greetings inside!!! You can choose a paper of your choice- handmade paper, card stock or photo paper. You can use this tag by punching a hole in the center and attaching a ribbon to it and tie it to the gift.

Or you can use a sticky tape on the back and attach it to your gift. 

You can also use it as a card and put it in an envelope and give/ send to your friend. Its your DIY and your creativity. Print as many as you want!!! 

You can get these digital file of the gift tags here!!!