Bring it on.... 2014

                                    May there be beautiful blooms and precious lights
                                                               Bring it on 2014!!

                                   Wishing  all my readers a very happy & prosperous 2014

Images @Shaz Originals

Christmas Countdown

What do festivals symbolize...  broadly speaking, an occasion to rejoice..celebrate and be happy... This is what Christmas means to me...it's the time of the year when I want to spoil my nieces with gifts and surprises...plan holiday lunches..brunches..dinners..dress up and be happy... 

This year however is going to be a little low key on the partying front... I am writing my thesis and defending soon , so everything else has taken a backseat.

Well but me being ME... could not resist keeping away from buying and wrapping up for too long.. so I finally started wrapping up the gifts for my nieces.. 

...I can't wait for them to tear these open...:)

What do festivals mean to you..? would love to hear back from you'll..Merry Christmas folks..xoxo

Images @ Shaz Originals

Red Velvet Cupcakes

This long weekend I thought of getting a little constructive on the "home front".. specially with the holiday season setting in..

So here is what I ended up with.... Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...

Here is what you will need...

1) 1/2 cup butter

2) 8 oz cream cheese 

3) 2-3 cups powdered sugar  (I used only 11/2 cups) 

4) 1 teaspoon  vanilla extract

Get all your ingredients ready... toss them together in a bowl and blend.  Once you have a smooth paste ready, transfer it to a freezer ziploc stash away in the refrigerator. 

Next, lets get the supplies for the cupcake batter...

Mix up he ingredients into a smooth batter and pour them into the cupcake tray with liners...and let them bake at 375C for 20 minutes. 

So these are ready....now wait about 30-40 minutes till  they are completely cooled off..

Then start icing..there is a little trick for that...just cut off a little edge of the ziploc that's in the fridge ( it forms a cone and is easy to dispense...with no mess) ....taaadaa..

Took them to my work place today..friends loved them.... :D..

Images @ Shaz Originals 

Random Ramblings #1

 "Random ramblings"- sometimes random thoughts keep me very occupied ( I am sure it does the same to you)... it often arises from feeling nostalgic about home and family..pretty memories...or just simple "getting to know myself" phases... I thought it would be fun to pen these down in a series and share it with you all...so here is the first one. .. 

   Truly desi at heart...and totally in love with bling bling...!!

   
Photographed above are traditional Indian bangles or chudiyan made in metal, clay or glass. Most of my collection stayed back in India and now I miss wearing these....

Hope you all are having a great day....my favorite people....xoxo

Images @ Shaz Originals 

Kathputli Wala- The puppet man

                                                          Kathputli Wala- The puppet man
                                                                         Amber Fort 
                                                                       Rajasthan-India

Wishing you all a very happy diwali...xoxo

Images @ Shaz Originals
                                                   
     

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.

                                 

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

Happy Thanksgiving...

My little prayer on this day...

Thank you The Almighty for blessing me with the most amazing parents, siblings and family...
Thank you for all the love I have in my life...
Thank you for my amazing friends who make things bright and beautiful...
Thank you for blessing me and my loved ones with health, prosperity, intelligence...
Thank you for a beautiful LIFE...
Thank you for little and big things.. for tears and joy...for failures and success
Thank you...
Thank you...
Thank you...

Ameen!!

Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving !!

@images source-Amina Michele

xoxo

Eid Mubarak..!!

 The worst part about being away from home ... celebrating festivals alone... and missing out on traditional decorations, food and more than anything family.. !!

Here is a visual list of a few things I would have done..had I been at home for Eid.

1) Henna...

2) Yummy food...

3)  Bangles shopping...

4) Juttis...

Loads of love to all at home.... xoxo

Images from Create-me, Google, happy blogger.