Growing up with Tintin

My little boy turns all 8 and what theme for birthday party do you choose for a grown up boy? The idea comes from the birthday boy himself .... "I want to be Tintin mamma". So be it, lets party in the Tintin way alright!

 There goes the party invites,rolled up like the graduation certificates and tied in with a ribbon and the guest's name tags.Open it up quickly will ya?

Don't miss the walking stick candies of Mr Thomson & Thompson..... and for some facts from Herge(author of Tintin) they were not identical twins check their surnames folks!

There goes the Tintin themed birthday scape with the party favours and prizes for the conducted games like the treasure hunt(got some chocolate gold coins for the prize), sit and solve the puzzles as  the detectives do.

Placed the Tintin book on the stand as a prop for the theme.Chose newspaper print canvas bags to match the detective theme as party favours, and added a water bottle and pouch bag with customized Tintin stickers and bookmarks to go with it. 

and of course Tintin and all the characters gives a big shout out for a very Happy Birthday  in the cake itself !!

 The yummy treats follow,with Cono Pizza, Nachos with salsa dip, noodles,soft drinks & ice creams and the kids just loved them all. 

Tintin's movie gets screened while the kiddies munch on 

whew!one way to make them sit and eat, must say.   

and finally "Alls well that ends well" to quote from the series.

               Do not miss the personalized thank you note bookmarks from the birthday boy.
                           
               A small pat on my shoulders is badly needed to keep this going guys, arranging a birthday party in house for some twenty five kids was definitely not an easy task ,but the smiles and appreciations and some moments of joy with a "Thank you mamma" heard somewhere was priceless!

Hugs from a proud mom here...

Would be partying with some talented fellow bloggers below:
Ivy and Elephants: Whats it Wednesday
Share your cup thursday
The Brambleberry Cottage
Colours Dekor: Made with Love

Colours of India.

Todays post is a tribute to my motherland so heres wishing a very Happy Independence day (15th August) and how else, but celebrating it with the colours of India. I am so happy to share with you some treasured clicks of all things Indian.  

This composition  above is showing the tri colours ( Saffron,green and white) of the national flag of India, made by placing some orange glass bangles against my green dupatta /scarve.

Lotus is the national flower of India.This picture I had clicked enroute to a weekend getaway when I came across this small lotus pond where some young boys were playing away in blissful oblivion, a very symbolic picture for this day must say.....  

Isn't that a riot of colours, a cart full of berries,tamarind,star fruits the very Indian flavours hot and tangy .... tccccccch! Below is a bowl full of Indian ice cream medley fondly known as "Kulfi"  mixed with rose syrup and rabdi (sweetened milk) ...... go on have a feast.

Pin wheels in rainbow hues stacked together, what a burst of colours! 

The land of the Buddha the birthplace of spiritualism and meditation, the search for the inner peace  all started here....  

The lamp above is made out of glass bangles so brilliant and colourful,exclusively"Made in India"

and some bright and kitschy kites to fly your dreams.

They are the musicians doing a folk dance performance.The turbans, the colourful costumes tells a magical folklore story.

This is a painting on the Veena ( a stringed musical instrument) of the Goddess Saraswati the god of music and knowledge.

Hope you enjoyed this tour of India amidst all its colour and splendor, to that note I salute my country

 "Jai Hind"

Linking with - Colours Dekor : The Weekly story

Ivy and Elephants: What's it Wednesday

The Brambleberry Cottage: Time Travel Thursday

Sunday brunch amidst the shabby chic.

Last Sunday was a funday with friends, kids and a lazy brunch amidst a shabby chic deco 

@ Pali Village Cafe, Bandra Mumbai.

It was love at first sight for me as soon I entered this quaint cafe, an old  heritage building renovated  yet the thread between the shabby;vintage and the contemporary, maintained was truly remarkable.

How about this brass bird cage, just the right corner to hang it I  guess. 

This dining side bar was the winner, an old rusty file drawer has been given the right minimal makeover and voila ! look  how it steals the show.

These vintage candlebras turned chandeliers, were in their best surroundings to create the right mood,aren't they a beauty folks? 

and don't you wanna peek at what we ate ? Ahh,there was mustard marinated pork chops, pan seared duck breast,cajun dusted norwegian salmon and of course some tiramisu  to die for .... burp!

        I surely had a lovely Sunday friends, hope yours was a funday too.
        All you lovely people out there do have a lovely week ahead.

                                                            Hugs Auro
 Will be partying with: 
 Sunny Simple Life:Sunny simple sunday
A Potpourri of Life at 2805:Potpourri Friday
Flour Me With Love:Mix it up Monday
Ivy and Elephants: What's It wednesday
The Dedicated House:Make it pretty Monday

Poetry in the rock cut caves.

Last weekend we had a day-out amidst the caves and hills of the rain drenched Western Ghats of Maharashtra,India and I've come back with some beautiful photos to share with you of Incredible India.

A visit to the Karla caves,and its rock cut carvings left me spell bound ....

 I stood mesmerised looking at these fabulous archeological findings of rock carved poetry and oh, how I wished I could carry some of them home ... sigh!

As I walked through these colonnade, I found myself lost in the pages of my school's history books.What marvellous work of art and architecture it is! This definitely requires a round of applause to those thousand artisans who had such acute sense of art and creativity in them yet their  talent and work of art are left unsung ....

These caves house one big Chaitya griha (Buddhist  hall of worship) inside it and the perfection found in the symmetry of these arches and columns during the olden times,when computers never existed for the measurements, is simply amazing!

These imposing pillars have a story to tell,the Lion Capital as it is called was first erected around 250 BC by Emperor Ashoka the Great to mark the spot where Lord Buddha had first preached his Dharma(Gospel of peace and emancipation).The pillar with the four lion head was adopted as the National Emblem of India on 26th January 1950,the day India became a republic.It has an origin steeped in the culture and myraid colors of India.

The overcast skies, the monsoons(rain), the lush greenery, the rocky terrain,the poetry carved in the caves all these have cast a spell on me and I am still heady and dreamy,want this feeling to last .... so I dream on!

Hugs Auro

Joining in with:

Coloursdekor :The weekly story

The Brambleberry Cottage: Time Travel Thursday

Ivy and Elephants: What's It Wednesday

The Dedicated House: Make It Pretty Monday

Tinseltown Tablescape

Today, I am quite excited  to share with you a simple table setting for a family dinner on Father's Day. In fact, my son helped me to lay the table as I told him it's a surprise for Daddy. I wanted to give it a contemporary look with bold accents.So,there are very dominant colours like black and white with a dash of silver and blue. 

  These are the kitschy placemats made out of a collage of pictures of the stars from Tinseltown, primarily actors and actresses from Bollywood (the Indian film industry). 

One of the sides is displayed above. The back of the same placemat is below.

The simple straight lines of these white square plates and bowls, with the single blue flower appeal to me:

I loved these silver trivets at first look; they were stacked together with the spoons and table wares in the kitchenware section of a  home & lifestyle store. I was careful to use these trivets so that the hot food served does not melt the laminations done over the collages. They add to the aesthetic and utilitarian values. 

  With these colour coordinates and the tinsel town accents, suddenly a magical ambience was created, and I found myself smiling after I saw the total effect.What was missing was some romantic Bollywood music to be played in the background to create the cinematic magic, and a clapstick to clap and call out  "Lights, Camera, Action!"

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my Tinseltown tablescape. Have a great weekend!

 Hugs Arani.

Linking to : 

 Ivy and Elephants
Between Naps on the Porch
Colors dekor 
The Brambleberry Cottage
Midwestern Girl DIY
The Tablescaper
Boogieboard Cottage

Cuisine Kathleen:Let's Dish