Deva Shree Ganesha!

How could I bid farewell to our little Ganesha without ensuring you all greet him? Yes, our charming Ganesha will be taking his grand departure of this year in few days. His impressive visit in our abode is strikingly stylish. Festive décor touches lent an added sparkle to his presence. 

Unlike India's noisy and colourful one, our immersion will be more personal at home only.

On these festive days I surely miss seeing the most intricate and extravagant celebrations back home, with crowds thronging the streets, frolicking flashy music on jam-packed roads. Ah, the blurry memories of childhood brought up the past that has been forgotten. We used to be up on the balconies waving good byes to all Ganeshas taking their grand exit with great pomp and celebration.

 

Blanketed art of the Ganesha's collage wall by the artist of the house, turned out to be a perfect backdrop. The pleasing celebration of this year’s festivity approaches to an end at our home also. Our little fella will be heading back taking all of our troubles and worries with him. Though, eco friendly Ganesha has lead us to an easy immersion this year.

Churma Ladoo

Our Ganesha has been treated well by offering his favorite delicacy Churma Ladoos everyday. 

His very much felt VIP presence in the home for the last couple of days will be missed. As all good things have to end, so does his departure. With Plenty of etched memories and deep footprints in our heart, we will bid him farewell, so he can make his majestic entry next year. Hoping you all had a wonderful celebration at your end as well :)

Up next on the blog, we will be falling for FALL. Stay connected with Pinkz Passion, until we meet again, toodles!

Ganesha collage wall of happy memories!

The zone of serenity in our home, our temple room is a blessing to me and to those who enters. I have been tearing through every possible fascinating choice and countless other thoughts about the bare canvas /wall in our temple room. Finally, the wall opened up a steam of variety to pour in my list of criteria for decking the creative art pieces of our artist daughter.  To keep the touch of warmth and personality of our daughter (which we will appreciate every day in her absence) unique composition of frames now adorn this wall.

A perfect mess of a collage wall that sings the medley of our artist’s great work and favourite frame of Ganeshji collected or gifted is now filled up in the temple room with a visual impact.

Started off with the big frame and surrounded it with rest of the frames with tight space. To escape from a lot of unnecessary nailing, I laid out the frames on the floor and reshuffled each piece until reached to a perfectly grouping of my liking. After visualizing the final effect by moving few frames around, I sealed the deal.

Laid out the various sized frames with dissimilar shapes to create variety, ensuring to balance the selection with repetition of same medium. Here I have mixed the same medium of Ganeshji canvas and other frames I had, varied by different heights.

Loving the effect of filling photographs or pieces arranging into haphazard cluster. In my previous home, the stair wall was dazzled with the memory of our children growing up. Now in this room,  our cherished art collection and personal flair of daughter's paintings are adorning the wall.

Splash dash of colours on the frame added the characters and made the space more inviting. There are endless options to hang out the photos or make a collage wall but I narrowed down my options before picking that hammer and nail.

Give your "imaginative muscles" some work out and pull out those hiding away frames for some twist of admiration. Up next on the blog will meeting our eco-friendly home Ganesha before we bid him farewell, stay tuned on facebook until we meet again, toodles!

Passion of Collection!

Who wouldn’t fall for his spellbinding and hypnotizing rotund and jolly appearance? For the one who utterly embodies divinity with chubby cheeks, sparkling eyes, benign smile curved lips and his innocent trunk face. The one who radiates an aura of his twinkling and gleaming personality, the one who excels all the masters and the one who is most worshipped divine being, we did...yes...with Ganesha.

As the whole world welcomes him for a grandest celebration, I could not select any better day to cap off my long held idea of a post to take you on a virtual tour of our proud collection of "Ganesha". Though, we (me and my husband Aj)  both being an avid collector, are deeply confident about our interest and tastes, the credit for taking personal interest in building our collection should be endowed to my husband, Aj. The collection reflects his well -travelled life of business and his deep resonated sense of taste to pick the right pieces. Perhaps, his discerning eye is intuitively drawn towards certain pieces. 

So, keep your eyes and heart open as eventually I steer you around our home.

      

As you draw in, you will see the masterful layering around the home with carefully chosen mix of brass belting out the saga of our truly precious collection. As our home gets ready for the festivity, few upbeat hues of the festivities are brought to life at my entrance way. You might settle with my thought; DNA for "Ganesha's" love runs in the family, his charm has catapulted magic for our artist daughter as well who drew these beautiful paintings adorning our entrance. 

                 

When celebrations start, a dash of dancing lights and flowers along with our inherent craving for brass transform our living room a focal place in our home. The curated cabinet, in our living room,  is a perfect discovery for homing our rare, treasured and sentimental pieces. A common thread of brass here stitches all together.

Periodically combing through what you have accumulated eases a challenge to balance the pieces. Grouping in ingenious ways permits each item a greater decorative value. Particularly this "Ganesha with kumkum" I remember as the first one coming home before we begin collecting. His gesture being in a shell makes him an adorable and an exclusive piece of our collection.

Embracing possibilities by detaching preconception leads me to a perfect pairing of some timeless brass which often authenticates a little sense of newness in my décor. The “Zula Ganesha” was plucked by me for a pooja celebration at home,  over a decade ago. The antique brass tray was scored from the “Gurjari Bazar” of India. It’s a fabulous plus to our collection and no wonder you often spot in my décor being my absolute favourite. Little elbow grease and tamarind worked its charm to give the sharpness and shine to the plate. 

I chew on modifying and styling collection, instead of being jumbled on a shelf taking up your space. One of such styling of the impeccable crew of brass Ganeshas are taking their grand entry on the blog especially for the collection post. Each figurine in the troupe of brass portrays the compassionate Ganesha frolicking different traditional instruments. 

Traditional and fanciful rare piece such as this “Ganesha writting Mahabharata”, resonate depicting stories of history. To add more reflective glamour on the festive season, I every so often fetch him and other brass knick-knacks on our coffee table for a cheerful look. 

I often find myself challenging to balance the pieces without everyday being a feel at the brass store. To justify the correctness of each piece, I group with a great mix of style that is flexible and continuously evolving with different pieces. The "Idealistically sitting Ganesha" here on the vignette was fetched from an antique store boutique from Delhi. And the kettle, you are gazing at, is unexpectedly fetched from a yard sale rightly proving that one person’s trash becomes another person’s treasure.

We started feeding our passion by hunting and gathering aesthetically beautiful and elegant pieces such as this “Bal Ganesha”. Grouping him with few of my favourite things together builds a strong reason to stop by him and take a closer look. 

You don’t necessarily have to inherit an antique to love it and make it your own. This cutest “Nerdy Ganesha” is our most recent purchase from India. His sharp, smartened look made him a one of a fanciful gem of our collection.

For the collection journey, only part of our collected pieces were chosen here to share. But my tale of collection would never be complete without sharing our traditional and ethnic idols.

Raising the veil off of one of the classic “Wooden Ganesha” who was brought home as a treasured memory of our first purchase of a new home. This new age “Lotus seated Ganesha” came home recently as a gesture of our old school friendship by a dear friend. 

Along with few serene “Sitar playing Ganesha” and an infantile form of “Bal Ganesha”, we also own the most marvelous shade of blue ones. There are also few who a tug a string of our heart and often take numerous rounds in my regular décor on Facebook and Instagram pages.

Few multi-coloured idols of "Ganesha" also lend some personality, charm and whimsy to our collection.

A significant collection usually begin with just one item whether books, art, paintings or Ganesha, outline the personality of your home and reflect style and taste of the owners. Spark an interest in something you haven’t realised or considered collecting. Whatever and however you collect, just follow your heart. If you love something, you will always find a place for it. Love and surround yourself with your favorite pieces and live with it. 

Amid the plethora of fantastic treasures, I wrap up this journey of our collection. The tad-bit long post is a result of hours of styling, hundreds of clicking and finishing off final touches before festivities at our home. Now, as I am off to welcome our this year's Ganesha, wish you all the very happy Ganesh Chaturthi and a wonderful celebration, until we meet again, toodles!

Go Green Ganesha!

The herald of the auspicious arrival of “Ganpati Bappa” is imminent. As many states in India and probably across the globe Ganesha aficionados have started the groundwork in full swing for the preparation of the grandest and most expounded arrival for the festival.

Yes, we are also under his fever as he is coming with his little boy lost look to flabbergast us over his powerful impression and comforting plump belly to gobble down our “ladoos” for the poised celebration of 10 days of devotion and delight to bring fortune and joy in our lives. 

Ganesh 2015

I have lost the count of exact numbers of years that he is welcomed to our home now for the festival. Though, since last 2 years, we were puzzling over with new possibilities for his sculpture. Hit with a wave of confusion on his arrival for his figurine as it is difficult to find a perfect one to meet our purpose and also not to forget the struggle we had to face when we bid adieu.  After worshipping the deity for 10 days, his “visarjan” (immersion) was challenging being on the coldest sphere.

 

 

Our curiosity won out after few good thoughts and some scrolling on the web, which compelled the artist in the house to give her clever touches to mould him and form him to suit our desires.  As a result of our vision and courage to think differently we are able to go green with his figurine. The fruits of her labour created and moulded “Ganesha” with air dry clay from Michael’s Craft Store and few strokes of paint. She also whittled out a lotus base “aasana” for him.  

 

Ganesha 2014

The last year’s statue was a first attempt at going green but this year’s look bowled all of us out, we loved how he is adopting a little boy look. Being a clay model our practical requirement of his immersion is well served as on the last day we just soak him in a pot at home and the infused water with clay is also kept forever by pouring in our garden next day, that way he exists with us always.

Up next on the blog will be some over dose of brass and my collection show off.  Exclusively for the “Ganesh Chaturthi”, unveiling many new and existing Ganesha, so stay connected on facebook for more updates and some eye candy images of celebrations. Until we meet again, toodles!

Aurea...the exquisite blue pottery

“AUREA” denoting a resplendent beauty which holds sophisticated pottery designs of Jaipur tied with an efficacy. “Aurea Blue Pottery” is an exquisite pottery label of a creative force Roopal, who started this venture dexterously for not only modelling the brand uniqueness but also determining a new future of blue pottery in Jaipur, India.

 

Earthenware clay is an exciting material handed down since prehistoric times and the bygone era of a caveman. Ever since childhood, I have been always enchanted with the exciting material and the versatility of clay. The squishiness and a sense of touch endure an exciting journey of discovery and turn into an incredible creation. Though, to our surprise, Jaipur blue pottery is the only form of pottery in the world which does not use clay. The timeless collection of blue and white is put together without the use of natural clay or mud. The look is accomplished by blending powdered quartz, glass pieces and other minerals to make the clay-like mixture for making blue pottery. Jaipur’s blue pottery is created with a low-temperature glazed pottery with a single firing process.

 

Hitting all the right notes, Roopal embarked on a project with the target of bracing the traditional art of blue pottery and by all means supporting the local artisans. Roopal articulates about the launch of “Aurea”: “Aurea Blue Pottery was eatablished in late 2013, with a couple of artisans and a vision to revive the craft of Jaipur's blue pottery. Jaipur's blue pottery which was once in popular demand both abroad and in domestic markets, has been losing its popularity. From my interaction with the artisans and buyers and reports on the Web, we realised that although much work had been initiated towards improving the quality of materials used and processes involved, there were a few areas which still needed improvement. First, being the need for design intervention, so that the village artisans could keep their products in tune with the trends of modern households. Second, was the need for well planned marketing efforts, so that these products could reach their intended buyers. And most important was, the need to restore the quality of craftsmanship which had been dwindling due to the artisans trying to compete with low cost mass produced ceramics.”

The Turko-Persian originated blue and white pieces boost sophistication, glamour and pizazz. The classis, timeless and stylish wild scheme of blue and white will  never fail to take the center stage or spark a conversation in your home décor. The amalgam of designer style and traditional art will merit any colour scheme.

 

Aurea swots the trend of the globe for a best product and collects the information from a diverse sources for a better appreciation of the products. Roopal squarely accentuates on their theory of upscale product motto and a signature design strategies of Aurea:  “A beautiful blue pottery item stands out because it speaks for itself in terms of the neat hand work and free-hand yet precise designs. But the artisans were producing hastily done low quality products so that they could sell them for less, not realising that it was leading their craft to a long term wreck. Our objective was simple - to spread awareness about the marvels of this craft and work on designs which automatically appeal to the contemporary connoisseurs. And our goal was to make each specially designed product with the care and skill that this craft deserves, so that the superior quality fetches the right value.” 

With the festive season approaching, sparkle your home with this trendy yet affordable antiquated designs created with peerless expertise. Aurea assures to provide the tasteful yet trendy souvenirs, a thoughtful gift for your office, or a great arty, stylish addition of the traditional accessories for your home.

Aurea caters from the facebook page. Or better, next time, when you step your foot in Rajasthan (India), do visit Aurea’s retail outlet in Hotel Rangoli, M.I. road, Jaipur.  To get connected online or order, head to their website here. I would like to thank Roopal for reaching out to Pinkz Passion  and showcasing our readers an extraordinary features of Jaipur blue pottery. We wish you all the best for all future accomplishments, until we meet again, toodles!

(Images: Aurea Blue Pottery)

Jay Kanhaiya Lal Ki.....

At the knock of festivals, thoughts creep in and my mind starts racing and eyeing for ways to lend an added sparkle in the home. Almost every Hindu family celebrate this day to welcome Lord Krishna in the world, mine is not an exception. I have tried to sizzle up the temple room with some classy and tasteful arrangements for tomorrow’s festivities. Few ornamental brass and blinking lights will create the festive magic in minutes. Here are the visual pleasures I have added in our temple room to boost the festive cheer in the home as we get ready to celebrate birthday of Lord Krishna.

 
As I always chew on creating something new and wonderful in something you already have. You may have noticed few of the pieces already on my facebook Page, my brass wares proudly evolve around my home décor. Here also, I pulled out my brass (you know, I don’t need any festive reason) and layered them in grouping.  Few diyas with extra flickering lights and flowers highly influence the look of a festive décor.

 

Instead of any wall hangings in the room, I opted for an old antique copper Krishna statue we have had with us as our wedding gift, which is placed on a “bajoth” to enhance the piousness in the temple room.  My Brass plate is adorned with few colourful roses to give an extra splash of colours on the vignette.

 

To add more ethnic touch, I have covered the table with the brocade wall hanging I had for use in the temple.  You can opt for your fancy dupattas or sarees for the base of any table to bring the traditional dash and wonders to your overall adornment.

My Bal Gopalji to whom I serve and please every morning is also ready with a beaming pleasure to cast a spell with his flute and morpinch (peacock feather). Fancy diyas and stored away accessories are the elements that extols the joy of the festive season. Smarten the room with what you have to create the fancy.

Peanut Sukhadi for "Prasad"

I also managed to squeeze in rangoli in one corner of the temple. Few droplets of food coloring and rice will lead your way to any desired design you have in your mind.

Bring some cheer this festive season by stealing these bite size ideas for your home. Outlining your space with your own unique signature will lead you to the rightness of the décor. You don’t have to spend inordinate amount of time to get ready. Just tap into your inner decorista, and you will be ready to rest a spell in your home for “Janmashtmi”. Hope you all have a wonderful celebration. Few cheerful posts are lined up next, so make sure you are connected on facebook until we meet again, toodles!

Hello September!

Greetings with an updated visual from my end! As the new month settling in, I am fully armed with chock full of decor inspirations for fresh month, fresh posts and approaching festivities. Long strings of posts are lined up for the month of September. Day dreaming to concoct new plans and concepts to serve your appetite. Some aqua blue moods and pink and fuchsia carnations which I happened to pick this weekend are adorning blue room to woo away our blue mood. Flowers are my best preference to lift our spirit in this wallowing mood.


 

Presently, we are crammed with all the must know of new life as the young lady leaves home with a bold determination to carve her own path in the life for the future we all envisioned. Once we thought there is still long time but now it’s here and we are genuinely perplexed about how that childhood era ended so soon. We are bit taken aback thinking about picking up our life without her. A great deal of thoughts is racing for this unhappy transition. I guess it's best if we leave these encapsulated feelings untouched for now.

 

                  

On the other hand, I have started to sharpen my creative eye to shake up the festive décor for you all to overcome the great emptiness welled up deep inside me. Happy thoughts and my blog with keen readers like you will surely whittle down the rough phase. Until we meet again, stay connected toodles!