I feel so blessed and lucky !

And this is thanks to all my wonderful friends and family who have been so supportive of me following my heart and crafting away!
I got a very special gift the other day. It's a picture frame adorned with paper quilling by Atiya Rehman.

Thank you so much Atiya dear. This is the best gift for me. I'll take great care of it. Your work is really good for a beginner who started learning on her own. I'm so proud of you. Insha allah , hoping to see more of your lovely quilling.

Another beautiful gift was a comment on one of my blogpost by Kavya.

This is what Kavya said:

Hi yasmin!!!
I just love your works and quilling... I just created some quilled dolls using your works as inspiration...I love quilling but no time as i am in middle school in dubai...I have made some quilled tulips recently.....thanks a lot!

So here is a little message for KAVYA :

I'm so proud of you , Kavya that you are already making dolls. Thank you, Kavya.It is so good to hear that you are quilling too. I feel so happy and blessed that I can inspire you. This is the best news for me. Kavya, I would love to see your quilling. I have no means of reaching you so please get in touch with me:)I have a little 'surprise' for you!!

Any one for a cuppa?

Most of my friends know that I have soft spot for making cups and saucers. All this time I was crocheting it. Then I had to try it in my quilling as well...so here it is . My quilled set of cups and saucers ...I think they would make great gifts as trinket holders? What do you say?

Yay!!

I'm so excited to have won this amazing giveaway at Benzi's blog. I've been visiting this blog and enjoying all her beautiful creations all this time - such lovely work. And today i won her amazing candy...I cannot help but share the news:) Here is a peek at the goodies :

And while we are at giveaways ....there is another amazing cricut give away. Click Here. Check it out.

And another lovely candy ...at Craft Emma's Store

More candy to be won at Cheryl's Blog.

Knots of Love

That is what I call this shawl- Knots of Love. I had made this shawl some time back but never got around to posting about it. There were internet issues, then blogger issues and then so many other things....Finally I took the pictures today before packing it up to send it to my dear friend.
This is made for a dear old lady with lots and lots of love. This is a very special person to me because she has inspired me so much with the beauty of her knitting. I actually decided to learn knitting after seeing her gorgeous works.

This shawl is called ' Midsummer night's shawl ' and is designed by one of my favourites designers Lisa Naskrent of Crochet Garden. The deisgn has a lot of fine details but as usual the pictures don't show it. I hope my dear friend likes it.

The funny thing is that we never met each other, yet there is this strange bond of love. She made a little book of pattern hand written and even put in actual swatches of the pattern stitches for me. This time she even sent me her own book of knitting patterns - something she had compiled and preserved for many years. I had no idea ...when she heard my sister was visiting us she just gave the package to her for me. Can you imagine ?...I was totally astounded!!! Got a bit teary too :)

I am so touched with her kindness and love. I feel very lucky ! Some people are truly 'kindered spirits' (in the words of Anne of Green gables). Now that it is rainy and cold in Bangalore , I hope she enjoys using this shawl.

Some more pictures :

ETA : the rest of the pictures are not uploading ...maybe later .

Another award for me !

I feel lucky to be honoured with another award. This time , it's from a new friend and fellow blogger Santosh Bangar. Thank you Santosh for the appreciation!
Santosh had amazing blogs herself. Her recipe and food blog has some really lovely stuff. I know where I'll get my recipes this Ramadan!

I would like to share this one with all my visitors- those who take the time to drop in at my blog and sometimes leave such kind and wonderful words.

An award for me !

I had a lovely surprise waiting for me at Aruljothi's blog. I'm getting this award for the second time...which makes me very happy but also means I have keep getting better :)
I'd like to pass on this award to :
1. Anastasiasia
2. Arline
3. Paula
4. Mimi
5. Rima
Some of these are old friends who have always inspired with their new and beautiful creations. And some are new friends in the world of paper crafts who are really good and I feel I have a lot to learn from them. There are many more who I admire and get such inspiration from. Thank you , ladies !

Framed in Flowers

It's summer vacation season for the schools ....so it the time to handle bored kids who are happy either playing out ( way too hot for that now ) or play station games! So I have been busy trying to make arrangements for a boredom free vacation.Or at least a week !!!
In the meanwhile , not much crafting is getting done. I get so distracted with all the beautiful crafts I see online that I drive myself nuts. I feel like I have to try and make all the crafts - so many lavely crafts with paper, fabric, polymer clay, wood, paints, beads, glass ....get so tempted to try all different things and I end up trying at least a few. Does this happen to everybody or am I getting crafty mania?
Anyways, I have finally finished assembling and framing my quilled flower bunch.
I have seen so many lovely flowers and designs done with this technique. I decided to make poppies ( poppies are such pretty flowers because the colors are so pretty). So here is my take on it...

My husband thought that the flowers have a carved wooden look about them. He wouldn't believe me when I told him it was paper. I had to ask to see for himself.I guess this paper gives it the look and strength.

Crocheted Bag

My latest bag ....just off the hooks. I can never get over how nice these bags turn out and that they can actually hold a lot of stuff. You wouldn't think it's so roomy when you look at it but it hold more than expected. I could make more and more of these but weaving in the ends is such a task ....ugh !
The last pictures shows a close up for those who like details. This bag is made for a friend who requested for these colors. It's done in washable cotton yarn and lined with pretty off-white satin. I hope she likes it.

Some Yummy Candies and giveaways
I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to check out all of the blogs I love. This morning I decided to to catch up and saw a few lovely giveaways. Check them out :
Scrap with Stacy : Amazing giveaway ends on 1sy July

Two Pink Peas Huge Give away :Another amazing blog candy giveaway ..check it out -

Ducks in a Pond
Little ducklings and ducks all enjoying a swim in the pond.
What do you think? I know ..so many pictures ...but I have to improve my photography skills in order to get it all in one nice picture. More quilling to come ...

I really don't know how to show the little details like the grass and the tiny flowers growing around in the rocks and the grass. If you click the pictures, maybe you can see it.

Quilling ...flowers, birds on frame
This is a frame made for daughter of a friend. It's her favorite colours. I hope her little girl likes it.

I've been quilling and trying out different techniques as well. The flower here is very popular among the Malaysian quillers. I loved it and tried my hand on it too. It's not bad ... but I guess there is room for improvement.

Another thing I've been enjoying is 3d quilling. I have a few things to done and ready to be photographed. Will post them here real soon.

Coasters in Crochet

There has been constant crocheting as well as quilling in my house these days. So many pictures to upload ...but until then - here is the latest stuff.
I've been dabbling with designing motifs...and loving it. These are a couple of my designs. I've made them into coasters. They are pretty fine ...more like lace since I've used size 20 crochet thread in cotton. I put in a lot of picots ...I love the dainty look picots give to any crochet lace.

Feeling Good !

I had a nice little surprise waiting for me at my blog. Thank you, Kavitha for this lovely award!
And now ...the random things about me :
1. I love music but cannot sing for the life of me.
2. I actually enjoy having guests and doing all the work.
3. I love watching TV shows on my lap top rather than the nice big television.
4. Weird thing- little babies get to sleep almost immediately when I hold them. My own baby was the only exception so far !!!! He would take hours :D
5. Erma Bombeck is my favorite author and has been since I was 16.
And now it's my turn to pass on the award. Here are just some of the blogs I really love the creativity and enjoy reading.

1. Khushboo
2. Lekha Justin
3. Hussena
4. Farah Muzaffar
5. Amna

Tea cup and saucer sets in crochet.

Hello friends! Remember me ? I do wonder if I have any readers left in here at all ...I've been away for so long. Well, where have I been ? Been going all around the country visiting everywhere and everyone with family and friends. I'm not complaining ...had loads of fun. Just barely any time to get crafting done.
I did manage to get some crochet and quilling in the late hours ...when finally everyone was in bed. But then that left no time for blogging. Anyhow, now that everything is back to normal and routine I hope I'll be more regular.
Here are a couple of cup and saucer jewellery holders done. I'm so enjoying making these. More to come in many different colours :). Well, I put these up during the craft fair and they were gone instantly !It's such a wonderful feeling to see someone appreciate your creativity and work.

A Handmade favor or gift box

Yesterday I came across this post and saw Khushboo's amazing work. This little bag looked so cute, I just had to make one. And ,of course, Khushboo gave a little nudge as well to start working on it.
I used whatever I had on hand at the moment ...I just had to make it right then and didn't want to lose anytime looking for stuff:D. I know , lazy crafter - I am ! What I liked about it is that it is such an easy and simple project and you don't really need any tools for it. I used simple white card card paper and used some punched flowers to colour it up.
I'm going to make many more of these little goody bags and try out variations as well :)

Dolls...Another quilled one.

I've been quilling these cute little dolls and I just can't stop:)The ideas are coming in faster than I can process...how can I keep track? It is such a joy to see simple strips of paper turn to so many different forms and designs. Just amazing that all it takes is twirling paper strips and gluing it!

Quilled Doll

Paper quilling has been such fun that lately I have been spending a lot of time on it. From simple quilling to dimensional work - it's all so fascinating. Here is another one of my latest paper dolls. And here are the little details of her hair etc. More dolls coming up.

Something new with Paper

This little Arab guy is made of paper. I first saw one made by Farah Al Fardh and was so inspired that I had to give it a try. Paper quilling is turning out to be so much more fun as time goes by:)
More little paper people to come .....check back soon to them.

More Crochet Jewellery

Yes, some more are done .I just love these flower upon flower designs...they look so feminine when worn. Yes...more of crochet jewellery to come yet...the uploads take forever!! Silly internet issues!

Jewellery in crochet
Recently I've been working on some crocheted jewellery and am enjoying it so much:) I'm also enjoying wearing these and the best part is when people actually want to know where you can get them.

There are more to show but haven't taken the pictures yet to upload. time flies when you are busy with crochet as well as quilling....