Golu 2014

This year my theme is "Ramayana tales" .  I have created the following 14  scenes from Ramayana and I have made some of the  dolls myself with polymer clay.  I made all the props for the scenes.  

Also, as a return gift I created my own "Ramayana adventures" game in the lines of monopoly board game. I thought this will be an interesting way to get our children to learn the great epic. 

* Bala kanda: Birth of Rama  (Handmade cradles)

* Bala kanda: Thadaka vadam (Handmade backdrop)

* Bala kanda: Sita swayamvar (Handmade Rama doll )

* Ayodhya kanda: Guhan helps Rama cross Ganga. (Handmade boat, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana dolls)

* Ayodhya kanda: Bharatha rules under Rama padhuka (Handmade padhuka and throne)

* Aranya kanda: Ravana tricks Sita to cross Lakshman rekha (Handmade hut)

* Aranya kanda: Ravana abducts Sita in Pushpaka vimana and Jatayu fights him. (Handmade pushpaka vimana)

* Kishkindha kanda: Rama meets Sugreeva (Handmade mountain)

* Sundara kanda: Hanuman challenges Ravana in court (Handmade Ravana and Hanuman dolls)

* Sundara kanda: Hanuman sets Lanka on fire (Handmade fire props)

* Sundara kanda: Hanuman meets Sita in Ashoka Vanam (Handmade tree)

* Yuddha kanda: Vanara sena builds a bridge to Lanka 

* Yuddha kanda:  Hanuman brings Sanjeevani herb to save Lakshmana

* Rama Pattabhishekam

GOLU 2013

Its been long since I updated my blog. Forgot to put together my golu pics for 2013. I had arranged the golu steps in a snake and ladder theme and built a park with nursery rhyme theme. My daughter's favorite rhymes and stories can be seen in the park :) Sahana was just a year and a half old and she enjoyed looking at the park and reciting her favorite rhymes every morning.  I didn't have to baby proof the golu. My kutti was such a darling not to disrupt the arrangements.

Rain rain go away

Old mac donald had a farm

The hare and the tortoise

Mary had a little lamb

Thirsty crow

Kaka, Pati, Vada and Nari story

Jack and Jill went up the hill...

The monkey and the crocodile

Madu mekum kanna... ne poga vendam sonnain

London bridge is falling down ... Row row row a boat

Humpty dumpty sat on a wall ...

Twinkle twinkle little star and nilla nilla oodi va 

Face mask!

I always wanted to hang a face mask in the house to remove dristi but didn't want it to scare my daughter! I found this not so scary terracotta face in India. I  painted the plain face with  vibrant  acrylic colors.
The face has found its spot on  the wall connecting our family room and living room and it seems to be following me everywhere !

Face mask

Terracotta vase painting

My cousin Ramya introduced me to an awesome terracotta shop in India. She buys plain terracotta items and paints them. I thought I should give it a try too. I started with a simple vase and painted with acrylic colors. It was fun painting it. 

Children playing from dawn to dusk and their mothers calling out for them. 

New look to ikea clock

I wanted to get a red clock that would go with the colors in our living room but my husband had set  a hard limit of < $10 for the clock! I searched a couple of places but did not get a nice one for that price. So I got a plain red clock from ikea for 5 dollars and painted some patterns on it. Here is the new look !

Reverse glass painting!

I wanted to have a try at reverse glass painting but  I had no idea how to do it. After some searching on the Internet I realized it is achieveble .  List of things needed.
- Glass frame
- Silver glitter paper
- Black glass outliner tube
- Acrylic paints
- An outline of the picture you want to frame ( My pictiure was that of  lord ganesha )
I flipped a picture of lord ganesha on the Internet (mirror image) , scaled it to the size of the glass frame and took a printout of it.
I placed the printout behind the correct side of the frame and started painting the lord in layers (the outline first and then the background colors). Finally I placed the silver glitter paper to complete my painting. Here's a picture of my first attempt.

Ganesha clay idol

Ganesh chathurthi is very special to me .   This year I thought I would make a clay idol of the god myself! I got "air dry terracotta" clay from Michaels and made this idol and used black eye peas for the eyes!