Friday, December 30, 2011

Simple jute bag makeover



I got this jute bag somewhere.Simply loved the press print on it.
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But then I felt it looks a tad bit simple and it needed something to make it look a bit presentable.So I stitched these violet and pink buttons on it.and tadaaa! look how it turned out to be!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Baggit

Baggit is one brand where every piece it cut to sophistication.I know most of the handbags have this 'corporate' look to them but its well timed with urban chicness.Also Baggit doesn't use leather.Not that am into PETA or anything but I really wouldn't fancy a dead animals skin under my arms.They are no doubt a little expensive but its all worth the money.They run for a good 2-3 years.

My personal Baggit collection.Its not much but I hope to increase it someday.
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My statement coco blue laptop bag.
Its spacious enough to keep a small notebook laptop.Its great to keep notes straight and not get it crumpled.






My daily use wallet.

It actually looks very compact but actually very spacious and has a compartment for everything.
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This is my most favorite party clutch.It also comes in bronze.

Bharat natyam



Ah yes! I did do Bharatnatyam for a whooping 12 yrs.Being from a south Indian family my mom enrolled me at the age of 4.Well I continued to dance till I was 15.But then with the board exam stress and pressure I decided to take a break.But erm this break still continues :P.I did complete 6 levels out of 7.The last one is still left.
Bharatnatyam isn't boring unlike the myth that a lot of Bollywood dance lovers spread.Its a form of grace traditional art which only a handful understand.I still miss it.The soothing and the calming effect you get when you dance is unbelievable.
I miss the whole 'dressing up' part before the shows.The extravagant makeup,the over extended eyeliners,those huge gold jewellery,the smell of those ginormous gajras,and the wrap of those half sarees, and the red altas....the whole excitement has a magic of its own.
These are some of my personal favorite collection of jewellery.



This one is called the Laxmimala.It has gold coins with a stamp of goddess Laxmi on it,hence the name.Its a signature favorite of a every Bharatnatyam dancer.This is bought from a shop in matunga where you get all traditional dance accessories.



This one is this traditional Indian wedding type jewellery.But it looks great along with the Laxmimala and silk sarees with golden color border.This again is bought from the shop in matunga.



This is what I call the sun and moon jewellery.Without this the entire outfit is incomplete.Its like a 'must-have'.The sun and moon is similar to lord Shiva,where he wears the sun and the moon on his hair.Bharatnatyam revolves around Lord Shiva as it dances for Nataraja the lord of dance who is an avatar of Lord Shiva who dances to the destruction of the universe.



Ghungrus.Again an indispensable part of the entire outfit.Without having it on its like drinking water without a glass.Ghungrus gives a rhythmic aspect to the dance as well helps audience hear the complex footwork.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Fashashi-Shirin Godhrawala





The top is made by Shirin.Its chick and can be worn as a casual as well as a party outfit.It can be worn as an off-shoulder as well as on both. The necklace is again custom made by her.It would go well with black skinny denims.




Its a 3 layered beaded neck piece which the best part is she gifted it to me :D.

p.s- she also makes bikinis ;)


Lots of exciting and completely unique things coming up from brand Fashashi.Wayy to go Shirin :D

The black lace



Blace lace top-Shirin(fashashi)
Leggings-any regular shop
bangles-vero moda
handbag-baggit

This beautiful black lace top is made by my friend Shirin who is this amazinggg fashion designer.Its so classy and can be worn for a perfect night out.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Going ethnic.

I have never been a fan of jazzy shiny stuff.Am basically attracted to a little more matured type of things.Everything that i own is more or less ethnic.The bronze junk jewelery,or the gold Egyptian style,the heavy ornaments or the pastel colors are so beautiful to look at.For me they give this soothing almost majestic like effect.Colaba causeway is one place where you get such stuff for a cheap bargain.Here are some of my favorite picks.


My favorite purple earrings.I bought them from causeway at a cheap bargain of 40Rs.It gives your entire look an extra edge.There is no need to pair it up with heavy necklace or bangles because it would look like some chaos going on.Also available in pastel red.



This is my 2nd favorite neck piece which I love wearing on plain white tops.I bought this from some exhibition on MMRDA grounds(Bandra) for 300Rs.You could get something similar for a lesser amount in causeway.



I haven't even used this one yet.Just waiting to buy a right outfit to match it.Its again for causeway for 75Rs.



I call this the "alpha male" among all my necklace collections.No! in fact among everything I own as of now.I zeemmblyy lobbe it.I bought this from kala ghoda festival from an artisan from Hydrabad.Its for 350Rs(they don't bargain :( ).
It looks good on anything you wear right from black to white to red.


Among the other things that were there are shown in this pick.Lack of money made me buy only one :(.This year i"ll definitely buy 4-5 of them.

Christmas vanilla cake.



Hungry? I can understand :P.Imagine the pleasure of making and eating it whole :P.
Anyway it really is soo convenient to make.I used the Pilsbury vanilla cake mix for the sponge base cake.The icing is again Pilsbury flavored vanilla icing ready to spread.For the top chocolate design.I just melted a regular dairy milk+butter+water and spread it in a random order all over with a spoon.And here it was!To give it that christmas effect I added some decoration from my xmas tree which are totally indedible :P.You could get mazypans or even ready made edible xmas decorations for cake from any market.

Avon nail paints

My friend is an Avon representative so I purchased these nail paints from her which are soo awesome.

1)Avon's matte finish nail paints.

Matte is basically a finish without shine.Its more like the texture of wall paint.It looks classy.If you want a shine add a coat of transparent nail paint.
Avon's matte finish nail colors come in inky blue,Violetta,black,red and grey.The best thing about this type of finish is that it looks equally good on dark skin.

I bought these:Inky blue and Violetta.


They looks like this:
Inky blue


Violetta:



They are for Rs80 each.

2)Dream fuschia
Its a very pretty pink color.Which is almost the 'IT' color on every girls nails nowadays after the trend of red.They are around 60-70Rs each.They look good on fair as well as dusky skin.

Easy to make Christmas cookies



These cookies are unbelievably simple and tastes heavenly.All you'll need is:
Flour(maida),Honey,Finely powdered sugar,dry ginger powder,Butter.

1)In a mixing bowl take about 100gms of butter.
2)Add about 250 to 300 gm of flour.Approximate the amount you take to make a normal dough.
3)Add one entire small bottle of dabur honey.
4)Add about 2-3 pinches of dry ginger powder.
5)Add about 3 tablespoons of sugar.Depends on your taste.If you want to cut down on sugar then increase the amount of honey.
6)Mix everything into a normal dough.Taste the dough to check the flavor.
7)If the mixture is too wet add a bit of flour.If its too dry add little bit of honey or even a tinch of water will do.
8)Preheat the oven to about 180 degree for 10min.
9)Take small balls of dough and slightly press them flat with your hands and place on baking tray.
9)You could add sesame seeds on the tray and sprinkle some over it(optional).
10)For other shapes use ready made shape cutters or you could simply use a toothpick and knife.
11)Bake for 15 min a 180 degrees.Make sure you keep a constant eye on it so that it doesn't burn.
12)If it turns a regular shade of brown before the time.You could switch the oven off and remove the tray out.
13)Cool at normal temperature for about 10-15 min till it hardens.

Happy baking!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The laughing heart....



The latest commercial of Lewis caught by eye.The poem in it had so much depth and meaning to it.On further search I came to know that its written by Charles Bukeweski.His poems got recognition after his death.He mostly wrote about freedom,revolution."The laughing heart" is by far his best works.I have no clue what it has to do with selling denims neither with the American revolution but I sure know it has great impact on you if you relate it to our life.It gives me kick.
Here it goes:

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
-- by Charles Bukowski.

Homemade b'day cake.

This cake is by far the best I have done so far.It was made for my best friend neha on her birthday.It was jointly done by me and my friend.It looks simple but really! took almost half a day to make and design it.



This cake is made right from scratch.The reason why there are 2 colors on it is because we ran out of dark chocolate so we used white on the other half :P.and volla! look how pretty it turned out to be.The silver beads on the partition are edible and are available in any market where you get the cake goodies.These were bought from crowford.The bow and the flowers however are inedible and were solely meant for decoration purposes.

Cake baking? Not so Difficult anymore

So how many times have you been tired and fed up of making a cake from scratch? The endless procedure of beating eggs, straining flour and worrying about the right proportions of baking powder? aahh then you may not have heard of the ready made cake mixes being available in markets.They come in both eggs as well as eggless.The best thing about these cake mixes are after baking the cake remains moist from inside exactly how we get in bakery shops.Home made cakes tend to be dry from inside.

The best and the most easiest available cake mixes available in Indian markets are:

1)Pillsbury:


Also available in strawberry,rich chocolate and vanilla.All you have to do is add 2 eggs+oil+water around 75ml each for oil and water and bake it for around 30 min at 180 degrees.Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean that means the cake is baked well.Cool the cake for around 30 so that it sets well.Then add any icing as you want.
Pillsbury also gives a wide range of ready to spread creamy icing.


2)Betty crocker:


Betty crocker is another famous moist cake mix slightly expensive than pilsbury.It also has its own variety of brownie mix,fudge mix.The procedure to make this is same as pillsbury.

3)Eggless cake mixs:
For eggless cake mix I would suggest to go for tarla dalals brand.All you need to do is add vegetable oil and warm water according to the proportions mentioned on the box.
It turns out to look like this:


4)Home made icing for cakes:
If you arent a pro at making icing you could start with a very basic process.
1st procedure:
1.Buy 2-3 large bars of any dark chocolate or even regular chocolate like dairy milk,or bournville etc.
2.Take a sausepan and shred the pieces of the bar in it.
3.Add 2 tablespoons of butter and half a cup of warm water.
4.Stir till you get a nice and thick consistency.
5.Turn off the heat and pour the mixture over your cake and spread it evenly.(warning do not pour on a hot cake just out of the oven,it will crack)
6.Take a milky bar and greet all over it to give it a frosty look.

2nd procedure:
1.Buy icing sugar(you will get it in any grocery shop).
2.In a medium size bowl take the sugar and add 50 gms of butter enough to melt the butter.
3.To give it a creamy texture you could also add egg whites.However you could use it as it is mentioned on step 2 and spread evenly on top of cake or between the 2 halves of cake.You could also use this mixture on cookies to get that extra tinch of sweetness.


Hope the tips are useful.Happy baking :)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Rising state (online shopping)

I recently got a mail from Rising state an online shopping website.I admit i was quite surprised by the sudden interest in my blog from them and also offering a wooping 5% discount :D.
Rising state has a collection specially and ONLY for women of the modern age.Its collection represents subtleness and sophistication which happens to be my style.I specially loved the accessory collection which happens to be extremely classy.So I decided to shop for myself,and this is what I got.

Its a really pretty and graceful rose shaped bracelet which can be worn by almost on every casual teeshirt.

Then my 2nd purchase was

Its a very new and fresh design for bracelets.Styled like a belt,looks almost like a watch from a distance.But at this rate I had to buy it.

The 3rd item in my cart was:

If this happened to be in black then it would completely like the hand accessory what wanabes would wear.But since it comes in white it adds this subtle and classiness to it.Can be worn on anything right from black to brown to red.Would definitely be a stand out factor.

So far this site has been really good and different.The only issue is with the charges of the shipping which is around 9.99$.For me living in India this becomes over three times the amount purchased.One tip:if it had cash on delivery(COD) it would reaally well.
Anyway dont forget to visit http://risingtaste.com for a renewed shopping experience.