artmachine: Why Buy, When You Can Make?

artmachine: Why Buy, When You Can Make?: In the middle of a life full of high-stress jobs and tight-packed, busy schedules, blackberrys, status updates and tweets that most of you o...

Why Buy, When You Can Make?

In the middle of a life full of high-stress jobs and tight-packed, busy schedules, blackberrys, status updates and tweets that most of you out there may be leading, I am about to make a wild suggestion. If you follow a gifting tradition during Christmas and New Year- why not take a little time out of your bsy days and make some nice little gifts for your loved ones instead of buying things off the racks from some gift shop? Its old fashioned, yet so charming.

It doesn’t take much really…a bit of enthusiasm, mixed with some inspiration and one lazy, easy afternoon. And if you have all of that, then here’s a little idea to get you started. It is winter and may be just the right time to make a silk scarf for your friend or sister or colleague?

I just made this one:

And here’s how I did it.

I got pure satin silk from the store, and some complementing acrylic colour. I drew a pattern all over and filled in the pattern with gentle rush strokes. Once the painting was done, I got some matching border from the store and got that stitched to all four sides of the scarf. A gorgeous silk scarf was ready…all handmade and luxurious.

You can do it too. What joy it would bring to someone who you gift something like this. In the age of Archies Galleries and glitzy malls, something thing like this could sound like from the Grannies times…but hey, some things never lose their charm- like a handmade gift, made for someone with love...and coming straight from the heart. So go ahead, try making one and send me pictures, And if you love the idea, want a hand-painted scarf or stole and yet too lazy to make it…let me know, I will do it for you.
http://www.sharmilabhowmick.com/

artmachine: It’s That RED Time Of The Year Again

artmachine: It’s That RED Time Of The Year Again: If you are a nesting type like me, you must have already made your home cushioned and comfortable for this winter; your carpets are vacuum...

It’s That RED Time Of The Year Again

If you are a nesting type like me, you must have already made your home cushioned and comfortable for this winter; your carpets are vacuumed and quilts and pillows dry-cleaned and fluffy, and the house winter-proofed with all the nooks and crannies made air tight and dust free. Now if you have any energy left, then here's a little inspiration to turn your already neat home to a cheerful den full of high spirits and all set for the Christmas season and the year-end. And how do you plan to do it? Well what you need indeed is a splash of colour and small little changes to glam up your comfy home to a splendid indoors hideout.

I have a trick up my sleeve for this time of the year, I bring out my gorgeous red silk curtains, and splash the upholstery with bits of red here and there…it acts like an immediate pick p for my black and white and dark brown décor. Combined with some red wall art like Everywoman from my gallery http://www.sharmilabhowmick.com/gallery.html , some red candles on the table…a few red cushions in various shapes and colours…and the simple black-white décor is instantly transformed by a couple of notches worth of glam.

Try it yourself, it’s not back breaking to achieve and the best part is that while including red in your décor with wall paper or wall paint could be a challenge to live with when your love for the colour wears off in springtime or summer, with upholstery or knick knacks, all it takes is just to bring them down, wrap fold and pack away.

But for now, live up to the Christmas spirit…and splash away with happy RED.

If you have some great RED ideas, do share with me at art.machine.india@gmail.com.

http://www.sharmilabhowmick.com/

Make Your Own Art

This really defeats my purpose.


Believe me, I want to sell my paintings from my art site(http://www.sharmilabhowmick.com/) and get loads of orders to paint more and more…but at the same time, I do think that that there are many interesting ways in which you can make your own personalized art to do up your house, and buying a pieve of art for your home is not the only way you could bring in an aesthetic touch to your living space. (if you are a serious collector, you will have to excuse me on this suggestion though). To make your own art, all you need is time, inspiration and some jolly good ideas.

Here, let me help you light that spark, so that this weekend, instead of crawling to the nearest mall and spending your afternoon you bring out your scissors, buy a batch of colours, get some glue and sit down to make your own art project for your house and awaken your inner artist.

Personalised art is so much fun, especially if you have kids around (my one and half year old toddler has her own sense of creating art…she goes about scribbling on the walls with her crayons). So here’s what you will need to get started:

The first thing that one would need before creating anything of course is a subject. Decide on a nice subject for your art project. If it’s a family thing, you could bring out old letters, cards, family pictures, mementos…all together and then start with it. Make small notes about these mementos, and in a scrap book style, paste them on a board or a stretched canvas. Now add some colour to the remaining white parts…so that the material that you have put on the scrap book and the paintings gel in.

Bring some other craft material to jazz up this little piece of art: buttons, spangles, tiny décor everything works. Now finally let it all dry and set…and in just a couple of house you have your art project ready. Now get it framed and hang on a wall. This will always be special…your own family art project.

And yes, if you do attempt it, don’t forget to send pictures…to art.machine.india@gmail.com. I will post them this blog which also features on my art site (http://www.sharmilabhowmick.com/).

Sleep Well

Summer makes me sleepy; especially after a hearty lunch. Today happens to be Sunday and just before dropping off to a weekly afternoon siesta I thought I’d share some tips on how to make your bedroom a drop-dead-snooze-zone. There are many little details that can change the destiny of your afternoon rest from an ordinary shut-eye session to deep restful slumber.  So just look around your bedroom and check its SQ or Sleepiness Quotient and see how it scores.

Sleepy Settings

The Tint Factor
Bright colours stimulate your senses. So your reds, yellows and oranges best be kept outside your bedroom as they can bring in too much energy into your room and interfere with the restful lull that you want to create in the room. Wall paper in pale shades and delicate patters work very well in bedrooms and lend it that personal touch so important in creating a personal space. Use shades of blue, lilac and pink for your bedroom.

Window Dressing
During the winter it is not unusual for even the most conservative of us to dabble in the reds and purples; but come summer and those very shades begin to make you restless. To bring in a fresh lease of life and a breezy feeling and yet, keep the harsh sunlight away, do up your windows in florals and mix them with translucent screens. If you want to keep the curtains in pale shades, just get them lined with dark material to keep the light away.  But if your curtains can’t stop the sun at all, then try the time-tested get bamboo screens – they will never go out of fashion.

Gadgets Gadgets
Everybody knows about it, magazines write about it and being an ardent Fengshui practitioner, I've a special explanation for it, but whatever may be the explanation: gadgets do interfere with your sleep. In Fengshui terms they bring in 'Yang' energy into your bedroom which is supposed to evoke 'Yin' energy. So leave your laptops, I pads, chargers, cable, cell phones in the study or in the hall. Don’t get them in. If watching TV from the bed is a habit acquired over time at least draw a cloth cover over it before hitting the pillow.

Lull A By
What you can get in really is a decent music player with soft numbers, and if insomnia is a problem and your head is all up in knots, try natural sounds of springs, waterfalls and rain.

White Noise Here’s a trick that works like a dream and I use it to soothe my toddler quite often. Try and download a few hours of white noise: vacuum cleaner sounds, fans or any noise that can completely blur your mind into slumber.

Cotton Country 
The thicker the weave of your cotton linen bed cover, the kinder they are to your skin. So invest in good quality linen, they are worth every dime you spend on them.

PJs
People generally have their favourite pair of shorts, pajamas, t shirts that they swear by to get into the mood for some rest. But here again, wear clothes made of natural fibre, which fit loosely and let you stretch your limbs as you sleep. They should cover you enough to neither make you feel hot or cold . In an air-conditioned room, try to cover up and sleep to avoid dry skin and not to make you feel too cold.


Hot/ColdToo much air cooling does create dryness, so try and use a humidifier once in a while. Do not set the temperature too low. Just make it cool enough to induce sleep.

Magic!Even if all the settings don’t help…there are some more tips: certain crystals like the grounding stone called black tourmaline and amethyst induce sleep if kept close to your bed or under a pillow. Aromas like Clary Sage help in the same way.

I hope this inspires you to cut out the distractions and catch up on your sleep. And now please allow me to...zzzzzzzzzz...

Sharmila Bhowmick

Beauty Bath

A 10-minute shower or a 40-minute luxurious bath – each to us own, but one rule does fit all.  We all like a clean,  dry and tidy bathroom. Crunch for space and modern apartment design has brought down the size of our toilets and bathrooms making the usuage of space crucial and keeping it clutter-free ever so important. But you only need to follow a few tips to  get your own rejuvinating and healing bathroom space. Here’s how:

Colour Is The Key

Remember: colour is the key. Choose a colour-scheme for your toilet/bath and work around it. Choose colours that calm you down and refresh at the same time. Powder blue, lavender, white, pink and lime green are among the preferred colours for a relaxing batchroom space. Mix, match a single colour tone or two to choose tiles, accessories, wall fittings, mats, towels. A single pastel shade would give your toilet a sense of space.

Store in Style

Make sure, you have your supply of soaps, blades, paste, brushes, shampoo, bodywahes etc in a separate shelf in your toilet yourself, also fresh rolls of toilet paper, handtowels etc so that if you are in the middle ofa shower and have run out of shampoo, you can find it handy. The best method is to keep one set of toiletries spare and handy while using another. This would prevent early morning, toothpaste crisis. Use wall-cabinets to keep your floorspace free, make use of the space uder the sink to build storage space. Small niches within the tiled-wall itself can be used to keep toiletriesmof daily use handy.

Light some, hide some

Who said your bathroom has to be stark and bright? Use functional light fittings. A spotlight above the sink mirror, subdued ceiling/ wall lights for the rest of it. This would add glamour to your bathroom no matter what the size.

Spic n Span

There is no point in decorating your toilet and leaving it wet and musty. A regular and thorough weekly deep cleaning of the toilet pot and sink and bathroom tiles is a must. See to it that towels are washed and sun dried regularly, the toilet floor is dry; wipe the shower cabinet immedoately after a shower. In case you have a jacuzzi, see that the water is drained and the cabinet cleaned after use so that it doesn’t develop any odour. Pick and throw any hair strand immediately after shower so your toilet drains remain unclogged.

Tease the Senses

Keep your toilet/bathroom smelling good. Using naphthalene balls for deodorizing may be a practical solution, but if you want to turn your toilet into a healing space that helps you destress, keep an oil burner and burn your favourite aroma oil or aroma candles of your choice. It will soothe your nerves during a warm shower and also keep the bathroom smelling great.

Reading Time?

Believe it or not, people do take their reading to the toilets. If you are one of them, keep a wall shelf for your magazines or digests that you love to browse through while on the pot or in the bath. But do clear out these magazines regularly  and bring in fresh ones or the toilet humidity can end up giving you a pile of damp pages.

Wash & Dry

Shower curtains, floor mats, shower caps: wash regularly and Hang. Remember a germ-free toilet is most important for the hyegene quotient of your living space.

Quick Tips:. Stick to a color scheme harmonizing the fixtures, cabinets and wall colors to give a sense of space
. Using wall mounted WC rather than floor mounted so that the floors are clean
. Install glass partitions in bathing area to avoid spilling of water
. Hidden wall cisterns may be used to keep the water closet area clutter free and clean
. Provide small niches or open shelves on walls to store daily used stuffs appropriately
. The vanity under the wash basin counter should be well planned keeping in mind individual's storage needs.