Lets Celebrate : Winners

Drum roll please...

I am really happy to announce the winners of the Let's celebrate series. I had so much hosting all the giveaways and I hope you had a great time being a part of them.

Before I make four beautiful people very happy, I'd like to thank some people.

Krithika (shopo), Shruti (Ichbaan) and Rashmi (Afday) for being so generous and making this possible.Thanks ladies. 

And now for the results.

The Goddess Notebook goes to Shikhar & Emreen
shikhar said...

My fondest memory of Diwali was when I used to live in Kuwait(in the gulf) and on that particular day all the Indians living around my area had lit up their houses without using absolutely any electricity and it looked absolutely magnificent!

Emreen said...

diwali... sweets , lights, spending time with family and more...

The Bloom Cushion has been won by Nayana

Nayana said...

use some jars for floating candles and tie the neck of jar with colorful ribbons.

The Copper tealight holder goes to Anu

Anu@My Dream Canvas said...

Can I enter for my mom in Delhi :-) This is lovely! Liked Afday on facebook. My fav look for Diwali..lotus tea light stakes in a green leafy potted plant.

And the Bud vase winner is Meenakshi

Meenakshi sundar said...

Oh!this is handmade with love...truely from ur heart to us....wld love to lay my hands on this lovely!

meenakshi_s76@yahoo.co.in


Congratulations to all of you.Please email me your address & contact numbers and we will ship your goodies across at the earliest.

Wow! This sure was fun!

Happy Image : here  and the rest have been credited in the original posts
p.s. I used Random.org to pick out the winners.

Lets Celebrate : fourth giveaway of the week

Hello Everyone. How did you celebrate Dussehra? Like I told you yesterday ours was going to be a quiet dinner at home with family. And we did exactly that. I made a lot of Manglorean food and we finished our dinner with hot jalebis (We eat jalebis every year on Dussehra, Want to know why? Its a sweet story)

I love these middle of the week festivals/holidays.It feels good to take a break and bake, read, have dear ones over and do up your home. Fresh flowers normally do the trick for me. How about you? Usually I like to be surrounded by several bunches but sometimes I like to  have only green leaves around me. And sometimes I like the idea of taking out all the vases, bottles, jars I possess and put one flower in each. Then I group them all on a sideboard and let me tell it looks pretty as a picture. 

Bud vases anyone? 

Yes, the giveaway for today comes from my home to yours. Or lets just say from my heart to yours. This is my little way of saying thank you to each one of you for making purplehomes a part of your life, for dropping by,for leaving me lovely comments, for emailing me and giving me all the love that you always do.

You guys always make my day and I am always looking forward to "meeting" you here.

Big thank you and a big bear hug.

I made this ceramic bud vase sometime back and I would like one of you to have it. What do you have to do to get it? Nothing. Really! 

Because today it is not a contest, its thank you time :)

Just leave me comment with your email id so that I can use random.org to pick one name. Well, so technically speaking you still have to do something to get this :) I really wish I could gift each one of you but looks like I only have one  of this with me at present and picking one using email id is only way to do this...right? And like all the other giveaways this week, its open till the 17th of October'11 and I will announce the winner on the 18th of October'11 so that you get your gift just in time for Diwali:)

Oh! also I will be able to ship this only to my Indian readers. But I have something special planned for my International readers as well..so please don't be disappointed..I will be thanking you in a really special way very very soon:)

Before, I end this post..Do remember to participate in all the giveaways this week. Lets Celebrate. A big thank you to all the lovely ladies who helped me make this week possible. Thanks Krithika, Shruti and Rashmi.Do remember to participate in all their giveaways and win some truly awesome goodies :)

To win the Goddess notebooks, go here

To win the gorgeous cushion cover, go here

To win the exquisite handmade copper tea light holder, go here

Image: Personal Album

Lets Celebrate : third giveaway of the week

Hello lovely people! How are you doing today? A very Happy Dussehra to all of you. What are your plans for the evening? I am going to have my family over for dinner so I intend to spend the entire evening cooking for them and feasting afterwards.

Every year on Dussehra my Dada (paternal grandfather) would get steaming jalebis for everyone. When he passed away my dad started doing it for us. There wasn’t any logic or religious reason behind it but soon it became a family tradition. After I got married I started doing the same:) and now we can’t imagine Dussehra without a plateful of these crispy sticky spirals dunked in sugar syrup! Yum!

So this evening I have requested my dad to get them for us while I have made a tub of creamy vanilla ice cream at home to go with it. Food, family and tealights...

No festival is complete without tealights which brings me to the third giveaway of the week. Trust me you are going to fall in love with this one.

The giveaway is courtesy Afday. An online store that believes in the philosophy that art is for everyone and for everyday. I like that :)

Afday.com is Rashmi Daga’s baby. She is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus and  has worked and led several sales teams in the past. Her passion for art and marwari genes coaxed her to turn into an entreprenuer with www.afday.com

Wow! I am loving all these lovely ladies I am meeting these days.

Rashmi says, “We believe that “Art” is present in and around our lives in many forms. A statue can be a piece of art and a key ring too can be a piece of art. As they say, it all lies in the eyes of the beholder.We also think that Indian designers and craftsmen - professionals and amateurs are creating the widest and most unique range of Art. This needs to be brought in front of the entire world.  It is also time that we make this easily accessible and in a format which is convenient.These thoughts have resulted in creation of Art for Everyday abbreviated as Afday.com".

Kudos to Rashmi for doing this. And a big hug for she is going to make one of you folks very very happy. Yes, she is giving away this stunning piece.

An exquisite handmade copper tea light holder

It can hold 3 tea lights and is a perfect gift for your loved ones! Its Copperware top and the wooden base looks gorgeous and I love that matt finish.

It has been handcrafted in the Himalayas. The products come from a Design-led social enterprise based in Uttarakhand. They work with craft and skill-based producer communities and individual entrepreneurs in the region to design, produce and market a range of Furniture, Craft products and Accessories. They received the Design Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2009 by British Council India, Community Youth Collective Fellowship in 2009 and Paragon100, Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship 2009-10.

A great way to encourage the artisans and make them self sustainable. So please remember to visit afday for all your Diwali shopping because not only do they have a great collection but they also support many many artisans.

And now let me tell you how you can make it yours. You are allowed three entries:
1.First entry : Leave me a comment sharing with us some of your offbeat ideas to light up your home during the festival season. Here is mine : Use a bird cage and fill it up with flowers and diyas.
2.Second entry: Become my and Rashmi's friend (by simply clicking on the "follow" widget here and the "like" button on afday's FB Page.Do remember to leave me a comment telling me about it. If you are already a follower on both just let me know and I will put in another entry for you.
3.Third entry: Tweet, Blog or write about this giveaway on your FB wall and leave me a link of the same here.

This giveaway is only for residents of India since Afday currently ships only in India. But the rest of you need not be disappointed you can always participate for your loved one staying here and we promise to mail it to them:)

The last date to participate is 17th October'11 midnight IST. I will announce the winner on the 18th of October’11 so that you get your gifts just in time for Diwali!

Good luck and see you tomorrow for the 4th giveaway. 

To win the Goddess notebooks, go here

To win the gorgeous cushion cover, go here

Image : Afday

Lets Celebrate : second giveaway of the week

Whenever I think of happy festive moments doing up my home and cooking always-always are my most favourite things to do. I am sure they feature high on your list of favs too!

Nothing big and complicated. Small changes that make my home look fresh and a little different. A new cushion cover, a bright lamp shade, changing the artwork on the wall and at times only some fresh flowers. Pretty little things that make me very very happy. Which brings me to our 2^nd giveaway of the week.

Ichbaan.Founded by Shruti Jain, a textile designer from NIFT Delhi and Akash Ashesh, a fashion designer from NIFT Hyderabad, it is an emerging talent making its name for its highly intricate and unusual approach to design.Ichbaan offers an exclusive range of handcrafted textile arts and home furnishings. Their creations are an unique combination of modern design and vintage techniques handcrafted in unimaginable fabrics and techniques.

Shruti, the creative director sent me some of their product shots. And do I love it? Yes! I do.

 Happy sunny yellow. Love this Bloom Clock.

 Cityscape Textile art. Have you seen the detailing? Don't miss the scooter.

 The Rickshaw Clock Art. What a neat idea! 

Perfect gifts for your loved ones. Check out more of their product line, here. And now for the bit that you've been waiting for. Ichbaan is giving away this stunner. 

Its called a Bloom cushion for it has a very beautiful structural metallic bloom on it (made with beads on an indigo silk dupion fabric).

What a great color for Diwali!

Alright now let me tell you how you can make it yours. You are allowed three entries:

1. First entry : Leave me a comment sharing with us some easy and fun decor tips for the festival season.

2. Second entry: Become my and Shruti’s friend (by simply clicking on the "follow" widget here and the "like" button on Ichbaan’s FB page). Do remember to leave me a comment telling me about it. If you are already a follower on both just let me know and I will put in another entry for you.

3. Third entry: Tweet, Blog or write about this giveaway on your FB wall and leave me a link of the same here.

This giveaway is only for residents of India since Ichbaan currently ships only in India. But the rest of you need not be disappointed you can always participate for your loved one staying here and we promise to mail it to them:)

The last date to participate is 17th October'11 midnight IST. I will announce the winner on the 18th of October’11 so that you get your gifts just in time for Diwali!

Good luck and see you tomorrow for the 3rd giveaway. 

To win the Goddess notebooks, go here

Images : Ichbaan

Lets Celebrate: First Giveaway of the week

Once upon a time, there was this supremely talented lady who for a number of years  "built meaningful content and creative concepts for Web, TV and Radio and played manager". One day she decided to give it all up to start something to make the lives of Indian artists and artisans better and  hers happier :)

Now who doesn’t love a fairy tale like this? And when the story becomes real we love it even more, don’t we?

Meet, Krithika the star of this fairy tale and the lady behind the much loved online store, Shopo. Handmade.Creative.Indian. That is shopo for you. Both the lady and the store need no introduction, I am sure.

Krithika and I have been touch for a couple of months. Let me tell you she writes the sweetest mails :) We’ve been wanting to do something special for all you lovely readers, forever... And then one day we were exchanging mails on festival traditions that we follow or we have created over a period of time...one thing led to another and here we are with the very first giveaway of the "Lets Celebrate" week. 

Krithika says,“Navratri for me meant sundals everyday! There is this particular "Thengai mangai Pattani" sundal my mom makes, it’s a green peas saute with coconut and raw mangoes and it is just out of the world delicious. I gave up crackers when I was ten (against child labour and stuff) and Diwali has always been family visits, Lotto housie games with them, listening to all the narakasura stories over and over again from granny and movies, not to forget all the yummy sweets”

See I told you she writes the best emails ever...full of heart warming memories. By the way what does Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali mean to you?

Now I really must stop talking and get acting. Its giveaway time folks! The first one (three more to follow...yay yay)

Krithika is giving away these Goddess notebooks to TWO of you lucky readers (These are A-5 sized journals with lines on one side and blank on the other for writing or doodling). Aren't they perfect? Especially this time of the year.They would make such apt Diwali gifts too. By the way if you are looking for Diwali gifts, shopo has tons of great options, do check them out.

The Kali Notebook

 The Lakshmi Notebook

The Saraswati Notebook

I like the fact that pictures of Goddesses has been used in such a contemporary form and on notebooks. We all know that in India it is customary when a person's foot accidentally touches a book or any written material it is followed by an apology (out of respect) in the form of a single hand gesture with the right hand, where the offending person first touches the object with the finger tips and then the forehead and/or chest. Books equal knowledge and knowledge equals God. That for me works really well here.


These notebooks have been designed by playclan

Which one do you like? I heart the Saraswati one.

Big Thanks to Krithika and to shopo for being a part of this.

Alright now let me tell you how you can win these.You are allowed three entries:

1. First entry : Leave me a comment telling me what is your favourite Navratri, Dusshera or Diwali memory.

2. Second entry: Become my and Krithika’s friend (by simply clicking on the "follow" widget here and the "like" button on shopo’s FB page). Do remember to leave me a comment telling me about it. If you are already a follower on both just let me know and I will put in another entry for you.

3. Third entry: Tweet, Blog or write about this giveaway on your FB wall and leave me a link of the same here.

This giveaway is only for residents of India since shopo currently ships only in India. But the rest of you need not be disappointed you can always participate for your loved one staying here, right? :)

The last date to participate is 17th October'11 midnight IST. I will announce the winner on the 18th of October’11 so that you get your gifts just in time for Diwali!

Good luck and see you tomorrow for another giveaway.

Images : playclan

Lets Celebrate

Oh!I have been waiting for October. Forever.

For the amazing weather it brings with it, for the Nature Bazaar and the Blind School Diwali mela, for the never ending riot of festivals and celebrations at home and for the BIG NEWS that I am dying to share with you. The last one will have to wait...just a wee bit more :) Patience my lovelies...

Aren't you falling in love with October just like me? 

We had a lovely weekend that started a little early (Friday afternoon), with Sara participating in her first Ram Lila. Her playschool put up this amazing show starting with Ganesh Vandana (of which she was a part) followed by the enactment of Ramayan. The little ones did such a great job, thanks to the effort of their ever patient and loving teachers. My little muffin looked like a pretty doll in her pretty lehenga and ghungroos. Jasmine flowers on her head and alta on her tiny hands.Ya, thats a proud mum talking :)

I am looking forward to many many such happy evenings in the future. 

Rest of the weekend flew by...planning for the days to come and generally cooking and eating with loved ones... Mocha sherbet and apple halwa, anyone?

We are looking forward to pandal hopping this evening and celebrating Ashtami tomorrow. And since I am such a happy space right now and this month is all about celebrating with your loved ones (YOU) and the joy of giving...lets celebrate together. How you ask?

Starting tomorrow till Friday, it will be raining giveaways at purplehomes. Yes! You heard it right! 

Yippie! Lets celebrate with a giveaway EACH day and spread some joy and happiness.

Looking forward to having you over, each day, this week.

Love,

P

Images : Personal Collection