Guest post for Blogadda : This Diwali, dress up your home.

The other day I got a mail from Blogadda asking me if I had anything special in mind for the festival season and If I'd be interested in writing a guest post for their readers. 

Guest post huh? Guest post YA YA YA!

Here is a sneak peek of what is in store for you there.

"I love this part of the year. The weather is just beautiful. My tiny balcony garden is bursting with golden yellow marigolds. And Diwali is just round the corner (it is undoubtedly my favourite festival).

The warm glow of diyas, invigorating fragrance of gainda & mogra, muted golds & deep reds, hot gulab jamuns & calorie laden cashew nuts and the gorgeous plates that my grandmother so lovingly gifted me years back.

Candles, flowers, colours, food & china. My Diwali is always made up of these. Isn't yours too?

I have always believed that dressing up the home for festivals doesn't necessarily mean burning a hole in one's pocket. But it sure does require tons of creativity and that is exactly what we are going to talk about today. I lurve how each of the five Diwali elements can be tinkered around with and used innovatively to create gorgeous centrepieces that will definitely make one house proud and the house oh-so-pretty!"

Read the rest of the post here.

A Big thanks to Harish & the Blogadda team for giving me the chance to connect with their readers. I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Let the festivities begin!

Image : here

Watch out for my guest post on the key bunch : Wrap them up !!

Note (2nd March'10) : I am publishing the full post for those of you who missed it way back in Oct'09. Here it goes :

"I was pleasantly surprised and happy to get an “email id please” request from the very creative Sharon of the Key bunch. And happier, when she asked me write a Guest Post for her awesome blog. Why?? The key bunch is one year old, that is why!!! Congratulations to both Sharon and Rekha for writing such a lovely blog and making us wait eagerly for new posts.

Here’s what I had to say…

I absolutely love this part of the year. Starting with Eid, followed by Dusshera, Diwali, Christmas, New Years…for me it doesn’t end here…there is Lohri and finally Holi. That is officially the end of the festival season for me and the next six months are spent waiting for this part of the year once again. Of course there is décor theme to be planned for each festival; there are menus to be decided, flowers to be bought, family and friends to be invited and finally gifts to be bought for people who matter to me. Thoughtful gifts that they will cherish (not the last minute biscuits and juice hampers…please). As much as I like giving gifts I also like wrapping them up creatively. I love it when they go oooo…aaaahhhhh just looking at the gift wrap. So here I have put together for you loads and loads of very easily done gift wrapping ideas for this BIG celebration season. I hope you enjoy trying out different wraps for a various festivals and surprising your loved ones (Don’t forget to include all the people who help you run your life and home all the year round ;))

This is indeed one of my all time favorites, I am very partial to brown paper…yes the same one that kids use to cover their notebooks. Tie a string around it, a shimmery ribbon, throw in some dried leaves and pinecones and any box would look great. Wrap up some patterned paper on it or simply paste paper cuts outs…the dreary old brown paper suddenly comes to life.

Another idea that helps us go green is to use old newspapers, books that you are planning to discard, glossy magazine sheets that anyways you are going to give away. Tie a bow made up bright ribbon or simply make loads of tiny spirals of the newspaper to give the gift a life. I have to admit out of all these I have a special fondness for the calendar idea where I can wrap up the gift in an old calendar sheet and mark out the special date. Sweet.

What can be better than giving two gifts than one…wrap up the gift with a silk scarf or a cotton napkin. Get some tiny potlis or simply stitch pretty pouches to gift jewellery. Your loved ones will cherish both the gift and the gift wrap for a long time to come.

Embellishments definitely make the plain and boring wraps look special. A nice little brooch, some pretty beads, shells picked up on a holiday…all look so good. I love the one with the bow shaped pasta…really that is pasta…isn’t that super cute!

No festival season can be complete without a sprinkle of gold and silver. I absolutely detest the shiny gold and silver sheets…they remind me so much of mithai shops. But these here I heart! Really classy thick gold and silver paper can add a lot of elegance to a gift. I also like the pretty flowers; one can easily make these at home. Also I think it’s a great idea to paint a silver leaf on to an otherwise plain black box.

I am often ridiculed by my family because I can never make myself throw old biscuit tins, chocolate boxes, empty glass jars…I end up repainting them and using them as gift wraps. So I got really excited when I came across these pics. The old paint tin in its new avatar with all those goodies inside…doesn’t it look divine? And the old tin box…I love-love-love it.

So use whatever you like, whatever you can lay your hands on…leaving you with another awesome idea I came across…twigs, pebbles, leaves...oh so gorgeous.

I’d love to hear from you, if you try out any handmade gift wraps this season, inspired by someone or creations of your own, do drop me a mail with the pics of course, at purplehomes.blogspot@gmail.com so that we can all go ooh-aah seeing them ;)

Loads and loads of good wishes to each one of you. Have a great time celebrating!!!

Images : All from the internet

Patricia : Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

Patricia just dropped me a message about Five of her favorite things to do on a vacation.

She says, "Every day of my life… I plan my next vacation. That statement on its own will tell you how much I love travelling.... I absolutely love browsing through holiday packages, checking airfares, hotels, making plans, reading about the destination…. And sorting out everything to do with our holiday. So much so… that I only have to tell my hubby what time he needs to get to the airport, the rest he can be assured of… is all well taken care of!

On a holiday….. I love people watching. I can spend hours at a café on a busy street and just watch people …. Its something I don’t really get the time to do within my busy schedule… One of my favourite places was Champs Elysees in Paris. I’ve spent mornings… and evenings sipping coffee and eating crepes at Champs Elysees watching people rush to work with coffee in their hands, watching tourists getting excited over the Arc De Triumph, watching artists paint, sculpt or simply sketch…. Oh.. the list is endless.."

O...Patricia...what a lovely heartfelt post...and great pics too...how i want to go back to Europe...NOW...i agree Salzburg is the most scenic of them all...n icecreams n gelatos..yes yes must have everywhere...and the walk in Venice...and the supremely talented street artists..O hell i agree with each of your fav five ;) ( Read mine here)

To read what else she has to say, click here.

Guest Post by Parul : Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

Here is the 2nd Guest post in the "Five of my favorite things to do a vacation" series. Read mine here.

A big hug to Parul for such a lovely post. She says...

"My darling friend Purplehomes decided that she wanted me to describe the things I love doing on vacations. Here goes.

I love travelling almost as much as I love hot aloo ka paranthas with butter melting on top, which if you know me is saying that I love it a lot. The esteemed M has true wanderlust and is the sort of person who has the right nakshatra arrangement in his birth-chart to ensure travels far and wide. That and his innate love of planning mean that I am able to sit back, point at the globe and say, there, that is where I want to go for my next holiday. He pretty much takes care of the rest, scheduling the trip, booking the tickets, figuring out hotels (I help here because I absolutely love browsing through TripAdvisor) and then carting the family to the airport. Well, his supremely efficient secretary helps, of course but even so, it is rather convenient to be married to a planning/control freak. Most of the times, that is. I saunter in every now and then and proclaim - Ah, but there is a wonderful cafe on that street that we must try out, one of my blog friends said so. He normally ignores me when I have such pretensions of being the dreamy, creative sort."

Hop over to Parul's blog for her Five favorite things to do on a vacation

Guest Post by Oshean : Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

I open my mailbox and i get this lovely surprise! I see this awesome post from Oshean who i don't know and who doesn't know me as well. But came across my blog and felt like sharing these wonderful pictures in response to the Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation. I guess thats how blogging helps you meet new people and make new friends.Thank you so much Oshean for a heartfelt post. We'd love to hear from you again. Here's what Oshean's has to say...

"I have recently returned from a holiday so I thought of sharing some of my holiday pictures here. I am not a planner and at times it is only after I’ve sat in my car is when I decide the destination. So, for me each holiday is an adventure. The five favourite things I like on a vacation are all to do with the journey because it is the journey that becomes important in my case and not the destination."

It’s the road to unknown that drives me

The fact that I can be so close to nature and the nature so close to me is what gets me excited

Awesome food makes me greedy

Sitting by a waterbed gets me thinking and smiling

Running after butterflies make me sing