More kolam art...

 Follow up to this post, some more kolams/muggus

Trash to treasure...bottle to a pot

 The POM pomegranate juice bottle has a cool shape and when you cut off the top and paint the bottom, it morphs into a pretty plant pot.

 From this...

to this!

Photo frame to magnet display

   Running out of space for magnets on your refrigerator doors? Or have one of those new refrigerators that won't let you stick magnets on them? Or maybe those magnets just feel like walking out of the kitchen and getting the spotlight to shine. For me, it was all of the above. 

    So I took a couple of old picture frames, took out the glass and frame inserts, picked up an aluminum metal sheet in a pretty thin gauge, cut up the sheet to make sure it fits snug in the photo frame, used a gift tissue as decoupage paper to cover the metal sheet, hung up the photo frames on the wall and viola! My magnet collection stepped out of the kitchen and got its own spotlight...finally!

And speaking of magnets and swag, mine make some pretty bold statements :-)

Kolam Art

 Call it "muggu" in Telugu, "kolam" in Tamil, or "rangoli" in Hindi, it is a design drawn typically in the house entrance. The term "rangoli", in recent times, has come to signify designs filled with colors and/or flowers.

The history of "muggu" is interesting. It was done in the past with rice flour (talk about finger agility - to be able to draw such fine lines and designs with rice flour using just your fingers); and in addition to serving as an adornment/decoration making the house entrance more inviting, the flour used to serve as food for tiny creatures such as ants and birds. "Muggu" was one of the examples of the ancient way of living where one tended to all the beings in nature. While most rangolis, at least mine, are drawn using chalk - some still do it the old-fashioned way. 

"Chukkala muggu" or "sikku kolam" means a rangoli that's drawn with dots and the and the lines/designs drawn around the dots are drawn from one end to another in a continuous motion without breaking. Sometimes though, the dots are connected to make patterns rendering the dots invisible.

chukkala muggu

Sankranti muggu - a rangoli drawn for the harvest festival

a line muggu typically drawn during the month of Margasiram

 another line muggu

another chukkala muggu

a muggu for Diwali - dots joined to make patterns

another chukkala muggu where the dots are connected to make patterns

From Trash to Treasure...cardboard decorations

 Diwali decor made from a cardboard box - cut up the box, paint and draw some designs and/or glue on glitter tape and hang up on the walls.