Diwali Patakaa!

Diwali or Deepawali is 'festival of lights'. 

It is the biggest and brightest festival for India (similar to Christmas). 

It's the time of the year when you decorate your home on full swing. 

We love it as all our family & friends are together and celebrate with fun.

Some buy latest pretty home accessories and some do their own crafts. 

Lets share some of our ideas for this Diwali!

But first of all....

Designing Life wishes all Very Happy Diwali!!

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previous Diwali ideas by me from My Home

how about some Ganesha & Om fridge magnets, HERE

a Toran/Bandhanwar made out of felt. I made this for our first Diwali in US.

Mason Jar Craft! pretty little jars for tea-lights

don't just hang lights, leave some free on floor/shelves

a Ganesha painting, made by me; my favorite!

Pinterest DIY Inspirations for Diwali

Polymer Clay Diya!

how about some Diya shaped mithai(Indian Sweet)

want to get rid for egg cartons? via

turn them into pretty flowers and attach to the lights

via

via

Paper Torans! awesome idea!

facelift the boring tea lights, just use simple duck-tapes

Diya salad? wow! must try

don't have Ganesha paintings? Want to keep kids busy?

How about some Ganesha coloring pages :) just google for these!

Beautiful Buy This Diwali!

Fabric Crackers! buy here

Cracker Cushions! buy here

Driven by the vision to connect or reconnect Indians to their roots,

NDTV recently launched indianroots.com

they have beautiful products for you and your home!

roli-rice holder

shubh-laabh

enameled diyas

hand crafted rangoli

pooja plate

SHARE your Diwali Ideas with us!

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Diaper Cake 2

Remember the post about Diaper Cake and its tutorial?

That diaper cake was for my SIL for her Baby Shower in Jan '12, and

we have our super cute nephew Vihaan with us, two months now!

Now my cousin, she was expecting too, her 2nd kid!... 

Remember I did my niece Ananya's play room. 

Yup Ananya soon to have her partner to do all the naughty stuff 

(Ananya being the boss as 'Nanya Didi'). 

So this time instead of giving her a Baby Shower, 

we welcomed the little baby Atharv. 

So we gave this cute gift to welcome Atharv on his 10th day.

with love,

-Designing Life!

Welcome to family Atharv!

for Diaper Cake tutorial, see HERE

Share your life events with Designing Life!

A Perfect Baby Shower with a Diaper Cake

In India I had heard a lot about the 'Bridal Shower', even I had one before my wedding too. After coming to USA, I came to know about the 'Baby Shower'. 

Baby Shower is a way to celebrate the due child by presenting gifts to the parents at a party. The term "shower" means that the expecting mother is "showered" with gifts. In Hindu tradition, they are called by different names depending on the community the family belongs to, like 'godbharaai' in northern India, 'dohaaljewan' in west, 'saadh' in east and 'seemantam' or 'Valaikaapu' in southern India.

My sis-in-law is expecting, and we planned a surprize Baby Shower for her. There are a lot to plan a baby shower from Venue, Guest list, Invites Theme Decor, Menu, Cake, Return Gifts/Favors, Games and most important & fun part is the Diaper Cake! Yes, it's " 'diaper' cake" and of course not edible, but lots of fun and full of suprizes. Of course I'll give you the glimpse of the event but before that I'll share the Diaper Cake Instructions.

via Pinterest

As the picture shows, the cakes' designs vary from one to another depending on theme, decor, boy/girl and budget.

  

1. So to start with get pack/s of baby diapers, I bought Pampers pack of 50. Number of diapers depends on the size and style of your cake.

2. Then plan the design/color of your cake and get related stuffs to put in the cake and decor it. I chose 'blue color' as my theme and baby clothes and accessories to put inside my cake.

baby stuffs and decor materials

3. Roll the diapers. Remember! DO NOT use any adhesive or tape or even stapler while making the cake as all these diapers will be used later. Babies are sensitive so one should take good care of the cleanliness, hence put a clean spread on your work station to avoid dust and dirt on diapers.

use small rubber-bands to roll diapers 

and larger bands to put all the rolled diapers together

rolled diapers

4. Take a baby bottle or any cylindrical baby stuff and put the layers of rolled diapers around it. Now number of layers again depends on the size of cake choose, I had put 3 layers around a baby milk bottle. An then similarly, make other the other tiers.

rolled diapers around the bottle and a few baby onesies hidden between diapers

all three tiers put together in similar way 

and the cake is ready to for the icing i.e. decor

5. Prepare the base before decorating the cake. I chose large square cardboard, covered it with beautiful silver paper and made elegant borders with blue ribbons. Now cake is ready to be decorated.

the base ready, and 1st layer of ribbon (decor) done

all set for the Baby Shower

The Process Video

View the video for the whole process and more details

Glimpse of the decor!

closer look to the wall of clothes

the original edible cake!

Hope you liked this cute DIY project, 

a must for perfect Baby Shower 

and even a perfect gift to a mom-to-be! 

I had so fun in making this cake and then the party.

Share your party ideas with us!

ROME Cow Parade 2010

A cotemporary 'open air' art exhibition of

colorful herd 'Made in Italy' on the streets and squares of Rome.

"The event aims to create opportunity community with the aim of conveying the positive values

of sociability and of combination of creativity and of art usable and accessible to the

general public outside of the places Members in a more direct relationship with His latest

target, visitors and citizens. It is also a chance of promotion for artists

emerging that established by presenting their works in a national and international profile

in line with historical and urban land. The event aims to involve 100 works-sculpture to be

placed in the main streets and squares in towns, from center to periphery, involving also

the most prestigious places of the capital". - Cow Parade ROMA 2010

For further details and more picture, visit here.