Punch Craft Greeting Card

I am always looking forward to trying out different crafts, medias and methods for creating something new. Though I have had punch craft materials with me since long, some how I did not have time to try it. The other day(actually on New Years Eve), my niece was bored (as she finished her term exams but her friends were busy preparing for it) and to keep her occupied I pulled out my Punch Craft materials and tried it.

At first it was difficult to use the punches as they were very hard. But after punching a few times, it became easy. My niece was more interested in the papers left out after punches rather than the punched shapes.

Here is what she did with them with a little help from me. she prepared a greeting card:

She cut the edges of a thick paper with craft scissors and stuck the punched out strips of paper on it. Then she added some punched flowers. A little scrap of fabric, was edged with lace and glued on as curtain. Beneath that she wrote her message.

You can see the punched out strips here and the message. 

I was happy that she was occupied for an hour or so and tried her hand creating something new. 

I have the punched flowers and leafs with me. I wanted to create some thing with them. But I don't have time right now, as I am busy with cleaning my house on war footing and and preparing for the on coming festival of Sankranti.

Watch out for more paper crafts.....

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Rangoli-294

Friends, sorry I could not post these past two three days as I was very busy. Here is one more Rangoli for you:

 21 to 1 straight dots.

Here is a closer look at one section so that you can easily draw it.

Sankranti or Pongal and the one month(Dhanurmaasam) before it is basically a festival related to agriculture. This is a celebration of Harvest- Harvest festival. Sun entering in the Zodiac sign of Sagittarius is thanked this whole month, for, with out his heat and light this harvest would not be possible. So our South Indian villages basically dependent on agriculture celebrate this month long thanks giving to Sun, irrespective of cast or status with great devotion. 

The villages and small towns are where our culture and traditions are zealously followed even today. If one takes a walk early in the morning as the Sun is rising, one can see the front yards of the houses decorated with various Rangolis. The girls and women of the houses draw these Rangolis with great care showcasing their skills and creativity. 

As a child, I along with my cousins would take a walk(braving the chill) in our locality to note any designs we did not know or were new to us. We would note these designs mentally along with the dots, come back and try it on paper and file it for future use. 

All of our family would gather at our Granny's place every year to celebrate this festival.  We would always look forward to this festival as it was lot of fun meeting all of our kith and kin  and friends. New clothes, sweets and snacks, playing with friends, visiting each others houses, bonfires, entire family going to movies -well I miss all that now. 

So remembering those times, I have chosen huts, trees and kites for this Rangoli. No matter where we are our roots are tied to our villages or towns where we were born and brought up. 

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Rangoli-293

Here is one very easy Rangoli for beginners and kids, very simple easy to draw and quick to complete. But this is a cute looking Rangoli, one of my favorites and I draw it every season.

No dots required for this Rangoli. We use + sign for this. You can see the black + I have used. To draw one unit, we require 4 '+' signs. You can add as many as you want and connect as shown above. You can fill in with colours inside the blocks.

Watch out for more designs in coming posts.....

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