Wedding gift packaging 1

Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas with their family and friends. Throughout last month I saw innumerable posts on gifts and packaging all over the net and I wanted to share some of my work too but somehow, this post just went to the back of the list due to giveaways and tutorials. 

Talking about gifts, Since I have not celebrated Christmas in a long time and we dont having a gift giving tradition during Diwali, my major gift giving opportunities are occasions like weddings, engagement, birthdays and House warming ceremonies.
I often like making a hand made gift for these occasions for two reasons - a) its personal, customized and often unique and b) its much nicer than a store bought gift of the same/higher value.

I have been wrapping gifts and decorating cards for many years now and I am like the official gift maker/wrapper for my family and friends. These days however everyone prefers cash to gifts and since that doesn't involve much creativity. So I try and do something innovative on the cover.  On the right are traditional envelopes which you can pretty much whip up if you have some colored paper or card stock with you. I usually cut motifs from old invitations and use them as decoration. I whip up a bunch whenever I have time and it works for 6 months

 

This one (right) is a cash cover for a Rs.1000 note. I used the flap of another wedding invitation which had a holographic beautiful silver print on it and converted it into a thin box. Since the material was very thick, it wouldnt stick well with glue, so I used some holographic tapes in silver and blue on both front and back of the box to make it like a design.

I really wanted to use a bride-bridegroom silhouette but couldn't get a print that looked Indian. so I just drew on on a gateway sheet and dabbed marker colour on it. As it was translucent, it looked as thought the girl was wearing a blue saree with silver print on it. I finally finished of with a ribbon bow and a cloud tag. It is customary for us to give cash with a Rs.1 coin. Since I couldn't drop it into the box for obvious reason, I stuck it like a charm under the cloud to give some weight to it.

Finally here is a gift card envelope I made for my friend last year. As gift cards are even more impersonal than cash, the sole objective of this envelope was to make it personal. Eight of us friends pooled our money together to get the card, so I first picked photographs of everyone and combined it in photoshop. Fort the base a picked a lovely beige textured image and added floral scrolls to it (they are actually  from a blog layout I saw on the net). Then I wrote the sentiments on top, made my own layout, printed it out on an A3 sheet and folded it into a card

I then added a golden bow at the back and tiny rhinestones on the front for some bling. In the actual slot to hold the card, I made another bow and embellished with an image of Lord Ganesha and added more sentiments to the bottom. In between I just scoured out semicircular slots to hold the card. This one was a real hit at the wedding.:)

Hope, these give you some packaging ideas for the upcoming wedding season. My next post, a continuation of this one, I would be sharing some ideas to package jewelry for a wedding through a tutorial, so do catch up.

Till then Cheers and Have a fantastic New year!!

customized badge tutorial

For the blogger kootam meet, that happened on Nov 26th, I had made some blogger kootam badges for the attendees. When I posted about the badges in the blogger kootam blog and on facebook, apart from the "they are cute" remarks, I also got many requests for a tutorial...So here is one..

When I wanted some goodies to give to the BK members - something that was affordable (since I was spending out of my pocket), something simple and classy( it should be used over a period of time) and of course handmade(for we were an artsy - craftsy group!!). Then  I was reminded of conferences where they give everyone a kit bag and a badge and then simply I decided to make a customised badge.

To begin with it is very simple  process that anybody could do and like everything else I found the idea to do it on the internet.

Blogger Kootam Badge

Materials:

- A badge ( without or without a pin)

- A safety pin (incase your badge is pin less)

- custom prints

- white glue

- Decoupage medium

- Scissors (regular & pinking)

- Brush

Procedure:

1) Get the base ready: You can buy regular tin back badges at the market - then cost anywhere between Rs.6 - Rs.25 a badge depending on the pin thats used on it. I used smiley ones  with a safety pin back for this project for they were easily available. If your badges dont have pins, you can add them easily. Use pliers to pull back the notches behind the badge, insert the pin and close.

2) Once you have bought your badge, measure it. You will need a print or an artwork to fit this size.

3) Even before I made the badges,I had already developed a blog button for BK which said "I belong to blogger kootam" so I decided to use the same artwork for the badges too.

4) Since the artwork was in Photoshop, I just converted it into a circle, re sized it and arrange it on a A4 layout for multiple prints. You can do this with any photo editing software.

5) While resizing make sure to add 10- 15% extra depending on the thickness of your badge to your artwork. Dont just make it bigger, then the important figures could go behind. ( I did that first and realised the the paper was too big for my badge :( ) Just add another circle in the same colour of your artwork around it so that it will cover the sides correctly. 

TIP# You might want to take a print of one piece first and check it if its right, if you are making multiple badges

6) Now Print them and cut them out with pinking shears on the edge so that only the tips are white

7) Now you have to slash the sides. From the tips till the actual line that with come on the badge. It is necessary to do this step, to make sure that you have a smooth circle covering.
It is not necessary to pink the circles, but it is helpful in guiding you how and where to slash.
While slashing also make sure that the cut is not visible on the front side
TIP# You might want to trace the badge on the back of the paper with pencil as a guide to slashing

8)Apply white glue, fevicol on the paper and drop the badge face down. It is easier this way rather than putting glue on the badge. You can move around the badge littleto make sure the artwork is the way you want on the badge. Now press to stick and smooth out any bubbles.


9) now press gently, mould the shape and stick back the excess on the backside. Press to even out creases and air bubbles. Since you have slashed it, you will get a very good shape.


10)Now the hardest part - Wait till it dries completely!!!!


11) Once dried, apply 2-3 coats of any decoupage medium on the top and on the side, waiting to dry it in between coats. Coat with a brush in one direction with even pressure so that no streaks are visible....

12) Its Done!! Wear and enjoy!!

When I made it I realised that this idea has a lot of potential. It could be used for different craft clubs (members can make it themselves at a meet!!), book clubs - maybe with the initial of a member, scout groups and other meets and clubs...!!! Here is the picture of the table arrangement I did at the meet..!!

 

I hope you all found this tutorial interesting and useful
Waiting to hear from you
Cheers

Handmade gift exchange

As I was in Facebook the other day, I found a link for a Handmade gift exchange - Winter. I was immediately intrigued and went to check out the site. The Handmade Gift Exchange is an initiative by Craftaholics Anonymous ,in which crafters pair up and gift each other something during the holiday season. There are two different categories - USA and international, where Linda, tries her best to pair you up with a crafter closest to you, so that you save on shipping charges. My love for gifts being legendary (hmmmm!!) I signed up and was assigned a partner from Australia, Megan.She is a stay at home mom of a 7 year old boy and she loves travel. Even in her intro mail, she told me that she was just about to take a cruise to New Zealand with her family. Lovely!

As we exchanged mails (writing to each other like pen pals) I felt that I had to make something special for her. No points for guessing what I made for her.....Jewelry.
She told me that she likes simple and classy things and loves Diamonds...
As I cannot afford diamonds, yet wanted something simple yet blingy (that sounds like an oxymoron doesnt it?) I went with something crystals. I made a simple necklace with multicolour glass crystal, clear acrylic crystal, some jump rings and a ball chain. Then when I made it, it felt incomplete. So I added a little black gauze bow for some cuteness

Okay now as the suspense is over...here is the necklace...actually I featured it in my post on roof top photography...

 I made it with the thought that maybe Megan could wear it during her Cruise. I then packed it in a little red paper box (handmade) and attached a happy holidays bookmark in traditional red- green and gold colors. Megan had told me that she likes dabbling in paper crafts. I made it using an invitation card, gift wrapping paper, some ribbon and a big kundan stone and finally wrapped up everything in a handmade bubble envelope....

So much for my recyling craze :)

I finally heard from Megan after a long time that my gift reached her and that she really likes it. She told me that the moment she looked at it, She realised why I had chosen such a simple yet classic design for her.  She said that she also recollected the exact words she told me that promoted me to make this pieces. WOW!! She's got the point bang on!

I am sooo happy that she is planning to wear it along with a nice black top during here cruise....Yay!! She also loves the book mark and is hiding it from her son for her own use.

And before I forget here are the lovely gifts I got from her

She had made me a lovely soap kit. It contains a hand knitted bamboo yarn soap pouch with a cute soap bar and a wash cloth to wipe off makeup. The colours are natural - gray-white with hints of blue and yellow. Its soft, fluffy and I haven't really received such a lovingly made (hand crafted) Thoughtful gift in recent times.  

To be frank, I have never before seen a knitted soap pouch. Even when there is a net pouch I usually take the soap out out of it to use it for the fear of ruining the pouch. But Megan says that bamboo yarn is really strong and will not get affected in water. It is so beautiful and pretty and I am unable to let myself use it, though maybe due to Megan's insistent pressure to try it will use it someday :)

She also wrote me a special  card letter that I'll always cherish....!! Thanks a million Megan :)

Finally my Special thanks to Linda for organizing this wonderful event. Thanks for bringing together not just gifted inspiring people but also catalyzing friendships that are born across continents based on mutual respect and love for one another....

Cant wait for the next Handmade Exchange :) !!

Check out this link to find out what all gifts were made and exchanged in the Handmade exchange Winter 2011

Cheers

The Winner is...and inspirations

wow!! The Sew mama giveaway is finally over and the response was tremendous. I guess that concept of the linky giveaway worked for people chose to enter giveaways after seeing the visuals. There were totally 150 entries and I loved reading all your comments.

As a mandatory entry I had asked the participants to come up with "an idea or a project " using these supplies. Most people said that they wanted to decorate Christmas ornaments or do up next years cards and favours. The next most common idea was to make fabric postcards and art quilts. Some even thought that the giveaway is split into packet they'll make great stocking stuffers. More ideas include hair bows, bracelets and necklaces. A lot of people were excited about the earring kit for they were on the verge of just learning to make jewelry.

But wait, there's more- Danny wanted to make a bedazzled purse with her daughter, Lisa wanted to do a sequin applique on her shirt, Nikipeachy wanted to make hairclips, amanda from ninth street notions wanted to make a button pillow, Kerican wanted to do a marine layers wall hanging, Kristen wanted to make knitting stitch markers and Marie wanted to make a cosmo bear.

Wow so many different ideas with one stash bag...great and without further ado let me announce the winner (radomly chosen by number) for more fun..and the Winner is..... 

no.63 Catskill Quilter 

who really really wanted to win it for her Grand daughter who turned 12 recently. Congratulations and I hope and wish you have a fabulous time using these supplies and making something wonderful with your grand daughter

And to others thanks a million for playing along, a big welcome to all new followers and I hope that this blog would provide you all the interesting information that you are looking for with regard to jewelry. I am soon planning an index page to make all the navigating easier.

If you didnt win or even if you did here is a coupon for 15%  discount in my Etsy Store...to avail the discount just use the code Sayuribk during checkout!!Valid till 26th December.

*If you from Chennai, blogger or otherwise, do check out the Blogger Kootam Lets do Something Contest/Giveaway to win 2 prizes worth Rs.500 each

Hope you all had a wonderful time!! Cheers

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway is back

 Thanks for the wonderful Participation...This Giveaway is now closed! I will announce the winners shortly!!!

It is that time of the year when crafters all over the world participate in a big time giveaway where loads of handmade goodies and supplies are exchanged. Last time it happened in may, I participated with my Valentine BFF corsage bracelet. Since that was the first time I hosted a giveaway, I wasnt really sure, how the turn out would be. It proved to be really great and I had so much fun visiting so many other blogs for giveaways.

It was indeed a little chaotic last time, so now SMS has made some wonderful changes. It will be one big Linky party full of giveaways in different categories. So this time instead of a piece of jewelry I am going to be giving away a stash bag full of crafting goodies, which can be used for sewing, scrapbooking and other crafting purposes....

So would you like to see what all would be in the International Giveaway here it is...

 The stash bag contains

Sequins & beads
1) icy blue dutone sequins mixed- 1 packet
2) Mixed rhinestones (normal) - 1 packet
3)Mixed Bugle beads (orange & green) - 1 packet
4) Copper & gold sew on shapes - 1 packet
5) Silver lace (gotta) flower - 1 medium sized

Buttons
6) 2 colours (pink & white) buttons - 12
7) Snap button with Rhinestone (with matching rivets) - 4 pairs

Ribbons/ Thread:
8) shiny black ribb0n - 1 meter
9) Knotted ribbon - dutone - moon gray - 2 meters+
10) Poly core sewing thread - purple - 1 spool

+ a starter earring kit (with eye pins, hooks and beads) to make 2 pairs of earrings. That is a total of 12 items for you. The sequins and the rhinestones can be glued as well as stitched. These supplies will add a nice Indian and ethnic touch to all your projects and hopefully give you loads of ideas.

Here's how to participate in the Giveaway 

 Mandatory: * Leave a comment stating what item/product/ideas you have for using these materials ( it is not necessary to become a follower!!)*

Totally Totally Optional !! Leave a separate entry for each....

 1) Follow Jewelsofsayuri through google friend connect or GFC and drop in a comment

2) Like jewelsofsayuri on Facebook and drop in a comment

3) Visit my website http://sayuri.hpage.com/ and leave a comment in the guest book/and mention in the comment form here for an extra entry

Keeping with the Christmas spirit, All participants will get 15% in my Etsy Store...to avail the discount just use the code Sayuribk during checkout!!

As per the rules this giveaway will be open from Dec 12 till Dec 16  following which I'll announce one winner (selected randomly...and yes I will ship internationally ;)). Come back on Dec 18th  to know who won.
TIP: make sure that your email is available to me so that I can contact you. Once the winner confirms their address the articles will be shipped.

So have fun participating in the Giveaway and Also here is the link of everyone who is participating in the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway. So pay a visit, enter a lot of giveaways and have loads of Fun.

*If you from Chennai, blogger or otherwise, do check out the Blogger Kootam Lets do Something Contest/Giveaway to win 2 prizes worth Rs.500 each

Cheers

Kolaveri scrabble tile necklace tutorial

*If you from Chennai, blogger or otherwise, do check out the Blogger Kootam Lets do Something Contest/Giveaway to win 2 prizes worth Rs.500 each

 Like I promised in the last post, I am back with the  tutorial to make the Kolaveri necklace ;)

 If you still havent hear the song or do not understand what the phrase means, click here to go back to my previous post on the Kolaveri necklace and how it was developed

*Kolaveri - translated simply means a murderous rage or even hell bent passion, or a compulsive desire to irritate, so if you would like, substitute this the word for another one, to make this necklace. You can use this technique to make any type of necklace or bracelet with scrabble tiles

Materials required

- Scrabble tiles

- A candle/flame & needle

- Eye pins

- Normal glass beads

- Loop/cable chain

- Clasp

- Nose pliers

Procedure:

The process is very simple. Collect the necessary scrabble tiles to make your word. You would need an equivalent number of eye pins and beads.

1) Now heat a needle in a candle flame and poke hole in the tiles. 

2) Insert an eye pin and a bead and with your pliers make a half loop.

3) Select a chain that has equally spaced loops and adda clsap at the end.

4) Now add the middle letter to the middle of the chain

5) Holding the loop with your pliers, turn the remaining wire with your hand to make a nice wrapped loop

 If you are making a single letter necklace you can stop now.

6) Now using the same process add the other letters to both sides of the middle letter, making sure to leave equal space between them, so that they dont clash with one another

 I found it easier to do the middle first and then add other letters on both the sides. You could also do it from one side to another if you find that easier.

While looping make sure that all the tiles are facing the same directions. This is actually tricky and I put a couple of tiles in the wrong direction and had to do them over later

 Thats it! It is done....Wear the necklace and show off you KOLAVERI in style ...:):) LOL

I hope you found this interesting

Cheers

Charm of the Kolaveri necklace

Why this kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri di....????

If you havent heard this song or atleast this phrase then that means that you are totally out of sync with the virtual/music world. Written and sung by Dhanush, this is a song is from the upcoming movie "3" which is directed by his wife Aishwarya Rajnikanth Dhanush. When it was launched in Youtube it went viral (more than 12 million hits) and it was played on MTV for 3 days as top song. Though this is a Tamil movie song, the lyrics are completely in broken English, facilitating its acceptance all over the world.
 Kolaveri - translated simply means a murderous rage or even hell bent passion, or a compulsive desire to irritate

When I heard it first, I dint like it, but slowly I started humming it as it was so catchy. It has became such a big hit that an entire blog is dedicated to this song

 Only the first video in that blog is the original, everything else is a dedication and they are all so funny. The words absolutely make no sense, but given the fact that over half the people in this world cannot speak fluent English, its caught the fancy of many.


The productions house hasn't launched any merchandise but most big brands like Urban dictionary are catching on this trend, making merchandise out of it (mostly for men). Looking at all those Tshirts,blaming women for love failure, I had this kolaveri to make a Womenswear version. Thus was born the Kolveri Necklace - Made from Scrabble tiles... :D.

For Sale

The Philosophy of the necklace is simple as derived from the song with is strung together with basic words sometimes gibberish (like soup song) to make a song. Here I used applied the concept to using individual letters (tiles) to make not just a word, but also a statement.
There is a tutorial on its way for this necklace. It is also for sale and please contact me to buy it.

 Then as I was in the mood for charm necklaces I also made another one. This time a totally contrasting, very classic and elegant piece, with (Filipino) Opal shell charms

SOLD!!

Adding charms is very easy if the charm has a loop on it. Just open up a jump ring and attach the charm to the chain at fixed intervals.
Can you believe that these charms have been sitting idle in my stash for the last 10 months and the minute I made the necklace and put it up on facebook it got sold....So much for the wait...!! As my Dad puts it I guess everything has its own time and place...

*If you from Chennai blogger or otherwise, do check out the Blogger Kootam Lets do Something Contest/Giveaway to win 2 prizes worth Rs.500 each

Cheers

World Gold Council Report

Sometime back, a representative of the World Gold Council  contacted me regarding their third quarter Gold Demand Trends to find out if I would be interested in passing on the findings to mu readers. I said yes and she promptly mailed me the reports. The report provides insight and stats on global gold demand, and also includes a section on the luxury, gold jewellery. Here are just a couple of points in brief...
-The report has some interesting data for the period between July and September relating to the global demand for gold jewellery.  Of particular note is the fact that in value terms demand reached a quarterly record of US$25.5bn. This was 24 per cent higher than the value registered during the third quarter of 2010. Chinese jewellery demand also saw an increase in demand reaching 13 per cent higher than the previous year’s levels.

-  Third quarter gold demand volume increased 6% year-on-year to reach 1,053.9 tonnes, worth a record US$57.7bn. A strong rise in investment demand drove the growth in overall demand, as investors across the globe sought to protect their wealth, diversify their risk and benefit from gold’s strong returns. Jewellery demand contracted in the face of record gold prices and challenging economic conditions, while the technology sector contributed a steady level of demand

- Regardless of the price raise India's demand for Gold still is the maximum for the quarter say these graphs.
To get the full Gold Demands Trend report visit www.gold.org/media for download 
 or You can also write to me and I can send you a copy of these reports and it is worth reading if you interested in the gold market.
 
* The Gold Demand Trends report is the authoritative source of information and insight for those involved in the gold market, current and future investors and consumers and businesses alike. It provides analysis on the long-term gold market fundamentals and the current trends driving gold demand.

Cheers