getting creative on Christmas: handmade decorations!

After a frantic search for Christmas ornaments in my new hometown, I came to the realisation that there were none to be found - this being an Islamic country and all.

Now, the husband and I are not Christian but we've grown up celebrating Christmas and it's a festival very close to my heart. There's no way it could be just another day, without any holiday spirit and accessories! So it was off to the stationery store, where I bought paper supplies, scissors and glue. 

Google searches quickly yielded Christmas tree and star cutout patterns. Now, I have NEVER been a crafts person, but these were simple enough! Print out the pattern and cut it out. Then hold it over the paper and trace the outline. Cut out and you have a tree/star/whatever pattern catches your fancy!

Also found an issue of a "Holidays Special" shopping pamphlet from Sri Lanka. Proceeded to cut out decorations and use them shamelessly :)

Take a look at the Christmas table!

moving day!

We've finally moved into the new place! Today morning saw us getting here bright and early with the packers. By noon, all the worldly possessions we had brought with us were lying in the kitchen. The day was spent unpacking and organising about half the boxes. 

Most of the clothes and kitchen items were at the top of our priority list, followed by books, DVDs and some decorative items to make the place look homey. Although we've had to leave most of our books and movies in storage in Delhi, we have some perennial favourites and a few new titles with us.

Check out the bookshelf -- it's my own interpretation of the gorgeous shelf unit I wrote about in a recent post. The shelf unit was already there. Everything else is ours, including some souvenirs picked up during our travels and a few cherished gift items from family and friends.

glassy goodness

A brief note about my profile picture and why I chose it. I came across this beautiful photograph on the Good Housekeeping website. It's part of great write-up about a few simple ways to dress up your home.

For me, this idea captures the essence of my whole Domestic Goddess project. It's easy, it's economical, it's environmentally responsible, and it looks absolutely lovely. It's going to be the first way in which I decorate my own apartment -- a few glass bottles with green moneyplants and dry grasses (if I can get my hands on them here). 

I'll place them on the windowsill of the open, so that the light filters through them and they get the luminous quality you see in the photo above!

Picture source: Good Housekeeping