Foto Fridays - Fire!

Ragi Keerai Adai

Finger Millet + greens savory pancakes

Prep time : 20 min              Cooking time: 7-8 min for each              Serves: 4

  Most of Indian staple carb food is starch-loaded and rich in calories and little else. But not millets. Called coarse grains, they provide a host of other benefits apart from being a source of starch. To quote from various sources on the net,

1. The bran layers of millets are good sources of B-complex vitamins (especially niacin, B₆ and folic acid)

2. They are rich in iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc and phosporus

2. They have a high fibre content

3. They are gluten-free

4. They are very versatile and can be made into a variety of indian foods like dosa, vermicelli, kanji, malt, ragi balls, roti, etc

5. Since they are quite filling, they help control intake and in turn, help in diet control. So it is recommended for diabetics as well.

6. They are quite cheap and abundantly available in India (which is the highest producer of millets in the world)

Foto Fridays - Knock Knock!

Kraft Korner - Pristine Sparkle Earrings 3 - Foam Kundan Earrings

3. Foam - Kundan Earrings

As the name suggests, this is a very simple yet elegant pair made out of foam dots and kundan stones and sealed.

Kraft Korner - Pristine Sparkle Earrings 2 - Quilled Earrings

2. Quilled Earrings

I learnt a few new quilling techniques recently and I thought I'd put them to good use and get practice as well. The top portion is a jhumka made using white 4mm strip, painted in pearl-metallic silver acrylic paint. The middle portion is again a white strip fashioned thus using an old comb, painted similarly. The lowermost portion is white beads, as u can see. The quilled portions have been coated with clear nail polish to give it sturdiness (believe me, the piece becomes very strong after coating.. try it) and to make it water-proof.For those who do not prefer long danglers (like me), i guess just the two quilled parts would make a fabulous piece too.. what say?

Kraft Korner - Pristine Sparkle Earrings 1 - Rice Paper Earrings

White is as complex as simple it seems to be... Both scientifically and artistically too :) It lends itself to any background,it is essential to impart light and effect in paintings, it provides contrast to an otherwise dull work and so on... But a work with only white?  Phew, it is quite challenging!

The challenge this month at Itsy Bitsy dared us to create something using only white(s)... Thankfully, silver can be used too, for bling. Here is the link/inspiration image to the challenge:

Beautiful though the image is, it made me (and i'm sure, other contestents too) rack my brains a bit to come up with something befiiting it.. I love challenges and this one was quite up to its name! I have tried to use different media since I wanted to experiment and learn as much as I could in the process.. And I can vouch that it was unalloyed fun the whole way through :) Well, here are my entries:

Foto Fridays - Bloom