Will miss this legend Dev Anand

To a legend, an actor who made such a great impact on BOLLYWOOD- 

the Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee

Dev Anand

(Sep. 26,1923-Dec. 3,2011)

I admired this romantic Bollywood hero and his acting and especially loved his role in the 1965 hit  movie Guide.

Sharing the song Gaata Rahe mera dil with you all

Dev Sahab

You will  live in our hearts forever

Garden Birthday Party

We celebrated our daughter's second birthday on Saturday, May 14, 2011. The theme was a garden party with a hint of bollywood. As the weather Gods were not in favor of us having it out on the patio, (yes it was raining on Saturday) we had to change our plans from PLAN A to PLAN B.

To brighten up a very muggy day...a burst of color to welcome the guests.

I was hoping that it would be a very sunny and bright day...but it was raining cats and dogs! Anyway,rainbow pinwheels definitely brightened up the front pathway. So there!

The real deal, flowers floating in water

Paper tissue flowers made by yours faithfully and put up by my friend Aradhana Sharma. We had actually put up flowers on the ceiling as well, but I forgot to take the pictures....Darn!

That's my princess here....

I really like that message....

Elephants to welcome guests.

This printable template of the bunting and cutouts can be purchased at BirdCraftsShop

The GAMES:

I had a few games lined up for the kids.

One of the games was musical flowers very similar to musical chairs. I had colored foam sheets spread around the room. Music would be on. Once the music stopped, children had to found standing on the foam sheet. The one not on the sheet was out of the game. The winner would get a prize.

 I had used these pre-cut paper flowers for another game. The children had to throw and fiill a basket with these flowers within a time frame of 30 seconds. A fun game

Pinning the bees/bugs on the flower. 
Kids were blindfolded and they had to place their bug/bee closest to the circle marked. This was  a fun game as well.

I also had a game for the ladies. I had a clear box filled with beads. The ladies had to guess (a) the number of beads in the box and (b) guess what was the first word my daughter-  the birthday girl had said. The winner got a handmade necklace made by me. A beautiful lampwork flower beads with white dracona carved beads

s.


The Birthday Cake....

(Do you see the BIG goof up here?)

The Menu

The menu for the party was an Indian spread. We had catered the food from an Indian restaurant called Kwalitys. 

We had chefs making fresh rotis for us. The menu was baingan masala, methi matar malai, aloo gobi, masala chicken, gulab jamun, matar pulav.

The Goodies 


Colored pails filled with jelly lollipops and flavored candies and a flower themed pencil and erasor.
The bollywood themed box and bag templates is from BirdCraftsShop

Image courtesy - Vivek Sandell, Reshma Sandell, Tulika Datta

Friday Feature: THE EYES HAVE IT

Please welcome Kimberly Wolff of The Eyes Have It. Kimberly designs bindis, made from Swarovski Crystals and Austrian Crystal Rhinestone Chain. I stumbled upon her store while looking for bollywood goodies on etsy. I am simply bowled over by the originality of the bindi designs and I am so honored to feature  her creations today. 

Kimberly lives on the outstskirts of a small town in the mountains of North Carolina with her husband, niece, great nephew and three cats. 

Kimberly used to work for a home improvement company in Florida but after her move to North Carolina and with no job, she started to think of ways to get creative and get things working for her home and family. Her niece, who is an avid belly dancer and a jewelry artist and clothing designer suggested that Kimberly start making bindis for the belly dancers and that is how the idea sparked and The Eyes Have It  was born.

Kimberly's First designer bindi

Describe your work and style

Although I have a hobby room, I prefer to work in my family room, kicked back in a recliner, with the television on, listening to my favorite court shows. I’ve devoted a lot of my time in the last few months to increasing my inventory so that I have plenty of free time now that the weather is warming to do gardening, landscaping and outdoor projects.

Jeweled false eyelashes for a night out!!!

Many of my bindi designs are unique due to my use of rhinestone and ball chain. I have always had an appreciation for Swarovski Crystal, as evidenced by my curio cabinet, so I have chosen to use only Swarovski Crystals, with the exception of an occasional 1950’s Vintage West Germany Teardrop Crystal. And with Swarovski, you have to use quality findings with them. I mainly use gold-plated, silver-plated, solid brass or copper. Most of my designs have a very dainty, elegant look.

Due to my love for creating sparkly wearable pieces of art, I am always looking for different and unusual findings or adding more colors of crystals. 

Any sources of inspiration

My customers inspire me. The reactions I get from clients, keeps me striving to create more unique and unusual wearable artworks.

After I had ladies purchasing my belly bindis to wear as forehead adornments, I designed the Goddess Forehead Adornment. I renamed my belly bindi “Is It A Belly Bindi or A Forehead Adornment”

How do you promote your creations? Did you participate in any shows or craft fairs?

I enjoy creating and making bindis, but not marketing them. I do love belly dance festivals and conventions, so I vend at any large event that I can. Auralynne (my niece) and I vend together so it makes it more cost effective. Events that we have already or will be vending at includes Rakkasah East (Somerset, NJ), Tribalcon, Southern Fried Burlesque Fest and Black Orchid Danse Festival (all in Atlanta, GA), Asheville Burlesque and Sideshow Festival (Asheville, NC), Tribal Revolution (Chicago, IL) and Miami Belly Dance Convention (Miami, FL). We hope to be adding more events to this list.

Connect with Kimberley

E-mail: theeyeshaveit@brmemc.net

Website: www.etsy.com/shop/theeyeshaveit

Facebook: www.facebook.com/eyeshaveit

Aren't they simply gorgeous? Don't you think you want to sport one right away? I love bindis and I especially liked the forehead adornment bindi.  Want to pounce on these unique designer bindis, please shop  HERE

The Sari App

In India, saris are a fashion statement and  if you know how to drape a sari,  you can sashay down any event, wearing this Indian attire like the bollywood divas!

How many of you have struggled to drape a sari?

Okay, perhaps you know how to drape it, but drape it well enough that it stays on your waist? 

Ah! If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then the Sari App is for you! Thanks to Bhavna Sharma and Siddhartha Bannerjee, this App is available to women the world over who love wearing this Indian attire but did not know how to.

Download  it onto your iphone or ipod and in 5 simple steps you are done and raring to go baby! 

Sari App Features:

•Illustrative and verbose full-screen almanac

•HD quality step-by-step video tutorial

•No WiFi/EDGE/3G connection required to access content

•FAQs on Sari drape answered

•Friendly navigation User Interface

•Optimized for Retina Display

•Facebook and Twitter page integration

•Includes launch video full version

•iOS 4.2 tested

•Supports iOS 3.2 or later

So go ahead - download the Sari App! You will never need help but just your iphone or ipod. Wear those kanjeevarams, chiffons and more with ease and confidence!

Image courtesy: sariapp