New Year resolution...

 Although people who know me... know what an "organization freak" I am...but I think I need to get better at it..and what can be better than pledging it to be my NYR.  Specially my closet... I have so many things to coordinate and match... and I end up finding nothing when I really want it...**grumppppp**. 

 Sometimes the biggest closet spaces are not sufficient.. but since I live in a one bedroom apartment  I do not have too much space to begin with..I need to work on fine tuning my " organizing the closet" tricks while making sure that I remain under budget. 


See how pretty and neat these ones are..

  interesting how boxes...bags..baskets have been used for storage....neat eh!!..  not over yet...I will clean up my mess and posts pix asap.. :D...I tromise ( coz promises are lies ) !!!

Figured out what your NYR is going to be????

Have a fun weekend and a prosperous 2012.  Thank you for reading my Nicks & Nacks.

xoxo

Images@ Better homes & gardens.

Christmas wrap up...

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  I celebrated mine at my friend Mindy's place with her adorable family.  We reached ahead of time and had loads of fun baking cookies...wrapping gifts...playing board games...watching movies...!!  I guess it would end up being a very long post if I start writing about all the fun we had...

Here is a wrap up of it all....

 

The festivities began with our trip to the Oakmount bakery and I drooled over this red velvet.  This was so good it melted in my mouth.

Then I got to wrapping up some fresh cookies for my colleagues at work.  Since cookies got a little oily I simply wrapped them up in wax paper...tied them with twine...and printed out some Christmas labels...Simple Bimple..!!!

We reached Buffalo...and I tried making these Santa hat brownies that I had showed you guys earlier over here.  These finally ended up so cute... except..that the frosting got a bit running..:(:(

We baked these cutie pies... white chocolate cookies...chocolate chip cookies...M&M cookies...!!

Later, gifts got wrapped..placed under the tree..stockings got ready.. ( the one above is my 1st ever stocking..:P)

Our candles in place.. table all set....till we sat for our amazing Christmas dinner.   Had a lovely Christmas, thanks to the Mallon family !!!...

How was your X-mas??

xoxo











What's keeping you busy...

 Hello everyone,

I am sure everyone is going crazy .. with just a few days left for Christmas.... there is so much to do... gift shopping..wrapping..decorating the house..cleaning....blah blah... **endless list**

So, the exciting news on my end is that I am going to celebrate my 1st ever "proper" Christmas with my friend,Mindy and her family. So I am super excited with gift shopping..wrapping..packing.  Since both of us decided to do the cookies and some decorations..I am frantically going through loads of  ideas for home decor and baking tips.  I did share some baking ideas with you guys here.

I am sharing some of these simple decor (DIY) ideas with you..

Ever thought of decorating with pine cones.  Living in PA you can easily find them around the neighbourhood...parks..I often collect them when I go for a stroll. Check out these ideas...

You can learn more about making these cute little decor things here.

Next I saw this amazing-ly cute tree made out of ornaments.  You can use small or big ornaments and better still you can use your old ornaments too.

Want to learn how to make this....I grabbed this idea from "Full of great ideas".

Another nice idea for bringing your old /unused ornaments to use.  Just make a garland out of them using hot glue and ribbon.  Learn it here.

Or how about having a Christmas tree... with a twist!!... Just a simple branch..spray painted..and decorated..check it out here.

What I like about all of them is their simplicity...beauty...and cost, of course :D

Want to checkout what is on my coffee table right now...

Ain't these just so beautiful.  These were gifted to me on Christmas by my very adorable friend ,Elizabeth.  She actually made them during her pottery class and I think they are simply gorgeous.  Thank you !!

This is how I have used them on my coffee table .....adding a little tea light to it and a holly for some hint of festivity.

Did you like these simple, adorable ideas... :)

xoxo



Pictures@ create-me, Domestic Goddess, full of great ideas, Living etc.

                                 

Indian jewellery...

I recently got to dress up in my desi attire and my desi jewellery for a party...* after ages*... and while I was digging through my collection.. deciding what you wear,  I thought about how much I miss wearing these pieces. 

I wanted to share with you a few of my favourite desi jewellery .. and the stories behind them ....

These are lac jewellery pieces from Rajasthan.  I have them in many color and shapes... what I really love about them is their vibrant colors...The bangle you see in the third picture is from the streets of Nepal which sold semi precious gem work on silver. I can probably never part with this piece ever.. beautiful isn't??

These earrings have meenakari work on them.  They are my absolute favourite as the black goes so well with both desi and regular clothes.  Can you believe this work..on this particular piece is handmade..??? **some steady hands I tell you **

My huge earrings and loops are just simple bead work... I love them because they are so long.almost toughing my shoulders...and whats makes them special is the fact that I have owned them  for more than a decade.  You see those pink bangles in the background.. those are lac bangles...I love the details on them..which also makes them super fragile...the reason why they are special is because after years of hunting and wanting to own them.. I finally found something in my size ** I forgot to tell you guys..I am  super-puny with tiny hands**..so...:P

and these....... are my absolute favourite ones.  These are kundan earrings and the bangle is gold+white gold+ cat eye stone.  These earrings are super duper special because they were my grandmother's..she handed them over to my mom  ( Mom wore these to college back in the late 60's).. and then she handed them over to me when I went to college... sweet eh ?!! :):)... The bangle is special because it was a gift from my parents.

Did you like my little desi collection???.... show me yours..

xoxo..

Pictures@ create-me



From trash...to WOW!!!

I was reading through all the blogs I follow.. and came across this amazing DIY project at Kristine's blog- The painted hive.  It was too good to resist so I am sharing it with guys...

This brake fluid drum...went from this..

to this....

One word... GORGEOUS..brilliant idea Kristine.

You can read more about how she achieved this look here.

Keep the creativity flowing... xoxo..

Pictures@ The painted hive- Kristine





Beautiful Monday...

 Can you believe barely two weeks back I wrote about Monday blues... and today I am gonna tell you about a beautiful Monday... such is life... ** its all in the head**... :P

So, a couple of weeks back me and my partner in crime, Mindy went to color me mine.  Both of us needed a stress buster amidst our courses, finals and thesis writing.  It was my first time with ceramic painting.. and I wasn't too happy with the final product but... will share the experience nevertheless....

Tell me watchaa think.....

There were so many cute little ceramic pieces to choose from...I wanted to paint on something that was plain...so that I could get some creativity in it :)

So, I ended up picking this plain cylindrical vase... and chose my colors..

How lovely my palette looks..:)

My painting water bowl..

 My work in progress.... peekaboo !!

 And this is how it looks after being baked and glazed..Like it... wanna know how I used it..???

Did you like it??

Though I am not too happy about what I painted... but better work in store.. :).. 

xoxo..

Pictures@create-me

Preparing for X-mas...

The best part about festivities and holidays... is yummy food..!!!..I wanted to make something that had red in it.......WHY??... just goes so well with Christmas.... right?!  So while I was going through some wonderful inspirations for the same and came across these creations. 

1) Santa hat brownies

I read about them at Daisy's world.  Check out the recipe here ....sweet eh???

2)  Red velvet cupcakes

These are so beautiful and healthy too.  The recipe was simple to follow...read it here.

3) Fruit cake

 

What a lovely little holly on top.  This is so festive... wanna try it out??... read it here

4) Snowman cookies





I found this very innovative...and did you see how each snowman is different.  So cute :)
Find the recipe here.

I will definitely try out the Santa hat brownies... what are you gonna try??

Have a great weekend guys... xoxo

Picture source@ Daisy's world, the cupcake recipes, TLC family, Cutest food