Our festivals are not limited to scrumptious food, gorgeous outfits and family get-together; beautification of home too figures prominently in the celebration. Now that Eid-Ul-Fitr is a week away, it’s time to prep up the home to welcome the near and dear ones on the day.
If one chooses and can afford to, one can buy classy decor stuff but it’s always great to create it at home on a shoe-string budget and give it a personal touch. Using a bit of imagination and some craft material, you can actually take your celebrations to the next level and surprise your guests with these creative twists.
OLD BARK CANDLE HOLDER
Candles are warm and attractive. Imagine your guests relishing delicious Sheer Khurma and Biryani while candles in the holders that you meticulously made over the week, give them company! They will surely add a personal touch and cosiness to your home.
Creating candle holders using barks of old trees will give a rustic look to your décor and will also help the environment conservation cause.
Candle holders can be stunning centre pieces or can be used near the windows.
Shanaya Inzmam, an art teacher breaks down the bark candle holder method for you.
THINGS YOU NEED
- Small logs of an old tree
- Small glass tumblers
- Cutter
- Drilling machine
- Pencil
- Sandpaper
- Scented candles
METHOD
- Select some small and medium-sized logs
- With the help of a cutter, cut them into similar size. Now use a drilling machine to create a hollow inside the logs.
- Once done, rub sandpaper on the outer surface to make it smooth. Now, with a pencil, draw any shape on the surface, somewhere in the middle (such as a heart, star or a moon)
- Using the cutter, try to create a cut-out on the bark.
- Place these barks on the table and put the glass tumblers inside them.
- Light aromatic candles in each tumbler. The flames of the candles should appear through the cut-out made on the surface.
PAPER LANTERNS
Besides Diwali and Christmas, Eid is the time to deck up your home with lanterns as they illuminate the house and instantly add to it a festive touch. Apart from elevating your mood. Iva Izman, who specialises and deals in printable lantern template, tells us how to make a paper lantern at home.
THINGS YOU REQUIRE
- Lantern printable template (You can download from internet)
- White thick cardstock
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Double sided tape
- Glue
- Hole punch
- Ribbon or string
METHOD
- You can look for many interesting printable designs and download the printable PDF lantern template using a colour printer. P, print as many as you like!
- Using a cutter or a pair of scissors, cut out the template carefully. Cut along the lines carefully and score/fold on dotted lines.
- Use a hole puncher to make two holes, as marked on template.
- Put a ribbon/string through the holes but do not tie them as yet. Make sure when you insert the string, it goes in the hole from the top (where the design is printed).
- Grab the string and bring it from behind to front. Make sure each side is equal in length. Score lightly and fold along the dotted lines.
- Put your double sided tape or glue. Using double sided tape is easier when putting it together.
- Now carefully construct your paper lantern as given in the template, starting from the top left and make your way across, and then below (clockwise). Make sure you do not overlap on the string.
- Now that you have constructed your paper lantern, you may decorate it as you wish. Hang it across the room using a string.
EID MUBARAK RIBBON GARLAND
Shabnam Hussain, a craft teacher, says an Eid without greetings banner is incomplete. Hence she tells us how to make a ribbon garland banner with Eid greetings.
THINGS YOU NEED
- Tape
- Cardboard
- Scissors and hobby knife
- Paint, paper or fabric
- Cardstock paper
- Glue
- Ribbon or string
METHOD
- Start by cutting out all pieces from the template. Put together front 1, 2 and 3 with tape. Do the same with upper ribbon 1 and 2.
- Lay the template pieces on your cardboard and draw them on the cardboard. Use scissors or hobby knife to cut out all pieces from the cardboard. Now you should have five pieces of cardboard to create the ribbon base.
- Paint your cardboard pieces (or cover them with some other paper or fabric)
- Trace the flowers, leaves and Eid Mubarak letters on heavy cardstock paper. You don’t need to trace the letters on heavy cardstock, it is mostly the flowers and leaves which need to be cut out in heavy cardstock to be strong and stable. Cover the rear side of the flowers with paper in another colour, it will show through the openings you can cut out (this is voluntary, if you don’t want to cut out all those little openings, just draw the outlines of the flowers).
- Put together the cardboard pieces (I used my glue gun for this)
- Glue on the flowers, leaves and letters. Lay them out before you glue them on, so you know how and where you want them to be.
- Glue on a ribbon or string on the back depending on how you want it to hang. All done!
(With inputs by Khushi Qazi)
Follow the writer on Twitter @amu_prasad
