Phone Charging Station

A few days ago I had a lovely lady visiting our home after a year and a half. The moment she entered our living room she noticed my new curtains and changes in the look since she was last here. I love people who notice these things and are articulate about their likes or dislikes. It instantly opens a comforting conversational flow for me...and while we were at it she praised my husband about taking care of all the wires we had snaking around on the floor before our son crawled into our lives... I smiled, I was glad she hadn't seen the sideboard behind the door ;)

Slightly embarassing but I have made amends. Ikea provides a solution for 9.99 euros. Not bad for a boring white box is it? A plain old shoe box was all it needed.

 I used fabric from my stash to compliment the prints on my previos projects. Its a rainy day so with bad light I couldn't take any better pictures.

I used a paper cutter to cut off a slit in the lid for the wires to come out. At the side, I cut a square big enough for the plug of my extension bar to pass. I also made a bigger slit on the longer backside of the box to keep it ventilated.

Finally some order in chaos!

DIY Flower Accessories

These charming petal accessories are all over the place. The reason why I like making them is that they give instant gratification. They're so quick to do and you don't even need any special supplies. Just search for a tutorial and within no time you will have a finished handmade project.
I had seen a couple of tutorials and used whatr I had on hand..

• Fabric scraps
• Organza deco fabric
• An old earing or pom-pom.
• Hot glue

I made one Brooch. a Hair Band and a Wrist band.
They make nice little gifts for pretty little girls don't they?

Gajrella

If you like carrot cake, you are going to love this. If you hate carrot cake you might still need to try this...its an order. Eat your carrots! Hehehe don't worry I was just trying to remind you of mommy! Sorry about the lack of food-photography skills..this was taken in a rush before the eid prayers.
So here it goes..

You Need:

1. 1 kg carrots ( grated, A food processor can be your life saver)
2. 1 1/2  litres Milk
3. 1/2 cup condenced Milk (optional)
4. 1 and a half cups sugar
5. 4-5 cardammom seeds freshly ground
6. Kewra essence ( i didnt have it though)
7. Nuts, sultana to garnish

How To:

• Put the milk to boil, add the grated carrots when it starts boiling.  Add sugar and cardammom.
• Let it simmer on a medium heat for 25 mins.
• Stir occassionally..until the carrots become soft.
• I like to run the stab mixer in it at the end to give it a nice texture and consistency.
• Add the condenced milk.
• Turn the heat off when thick,round bubbles show on the top
• Let it cool at room temperature first and then refrigerate it. Serve cool,garnished with dry roasted almonds, crushed pistachios and cashews.

Makes enough to serve 8-9 sweet-toothed people:)

Eid Favours

Belated Eid Mubarak to everyone who celeberated Eid to mark the end of Ramadan. Hope yours was as much fun as mine! Its been four days now,but I have still not been able to come out of the spin. It was all about family, friends, pretty clothes, henna, bangles,food AND presents!

I have a small tradition of my own. I like sharing some sweetness with my friends in close neighbourhood as our better halves go to the Mosque together for Eid prayers. I wanted to keep it basic, desi and yummy. The idea behind it came from this traditional dessert served in small clay pots on festivals and weddings in the sub-continent. This is how a pair of Thotti pots look like.

Since I didnt have those clay pots, I used these:

Now, here's how it all linked up..I had seen Nigella serve her  White Chocolate Mint Mousse in shot glasses a long time back.

..a little less long time back (if thats a valid unit to measure long-time-backs) I was at a local shop where I found seven of those papered-votive candle glasses..guess for how much..?? Just 10 cents each!!! I had decided there and than what my eid favours are going to be:)

I filled them up with carrot pudding or 'gajrella'.. a traditional dessert.
Some transparent packs and ribbon..mind you at 1 am in the morning..with house guests and an alarm set for early morning.

EDIT:

See how my german neighbour returned the favour! She's the most active OLD lady I have ever seen. From cleaning to gardening to picking fresh flowers from the fields..this lady does it all wearing a starched button down shirt and a perfectly ironed skirt. Although I did tell her that I did not need the glasses back..but perhaps with my poor deutsch I didn't explain it well :)
She send two heavenly Lindt Chocolates with a small thank you note. Ahhh it fells so good to have somebody do that!

The Count: Storage Boxes

I know I have reiterated about the lack of space in my flat enough. While our hunt for a new flat continues, I am constantly hoarding pins about eye-pleasing storage ideas. My inspiration were partly the famous PB numbered boxes and partly this guy:

These days I'm impersonating Mr.Count all day long. In the kitchen, in the bathroom on the road..my son wants me to count everything.

The good ol' box of pampers saves the day once again!

 I covered the boxes using a thick fabric,

Printed the numbers and made a stencil using exacto.

Using a sponge tool I stenciled the numbers on. I just had 2 cartons on hand..so for now we'll learn to count just till 2 :p

Knock Off Clutch Bag

Hello everyone! Its been really quiet in here. We're (AH) half way through Ramadan and its been good so far. The weather is fine, weekends seem to start on Thursdays..as there are so many iftar partys lined up. There is more goodness to come later in the month on Eid! There's a wave of Eid collections by all big Pakistani labels. We, expats can only flip through online catalogs and sigh and drool and 'like' them on facebook..OR like me go on a thrifting trip down in your own basement to work something up.

 Let me be honest, I could have found a prettier and a finer clutch bag anytime in any good shop here in Germany. This was just a trial project or better put..a fun way to reuse things that were about to go to the recycle bin anyway.

 Here are the old (new) clothes that I thought would be useful. I dismantled them, taking the trim off a neckline, an edging off another, some embroidery, a touch of green and gold to match my eid dress. All this was what I already had.

• Pre-baby wardrobe
• An old dusty purse
• A round 1 euro placemat!
• Glue
• Scraps of fabric, ribbon or any other embellishments.

I chose this old black purse that I had and pulled the straps off.

I used a rich grey fabric from an old shirt my mother had stitched for me. A thin layer of adhesive spray on the purse and I simply wrapped the fabric on the purse.

 For the corners I tucked them in and used hot glue to secure them.

To prepare the 'flap' of the clutch..I'm a lil embarrassed to reveal but while decoding the Chinyere bag.. first thing that came into my mind was the round placemat I had on my table for everyday use...and guess what it worked just fine. I trimmed it to size, and covered it with fabric.

To fill it up I started hot gluing the trims and embroideries that I plucked from my stash.

More glue to attach the flap on the back side of the purse..and I was done.

I added more color and a personal vibe to my inspiration.

There, I made a Tweed Clutch Bag worth 50 Dollars in store. Mine cost next to nothing..not bad.