The Snail Mailer in me!

Բարեւ Ձեզ everyone!
Hello in Armenian. Hehe.


I realized that it's been quite some time since I put up the last post. I moved to another city for my studies a few months ago. Since then, I really didn't get time to actually come up with a new DIY project but hey! As I had mentioned in my first post, I will definitely update the blog with posts about the things I do and the things I love!

So here is one thing that I absolutely love: Snail mailing!

Postcrossing (sending and receiving postcards) and snail mailing is something that I started barely 5 months ago and let me tell you, it's darn addictive!

My first penpal was from France (awesome, right?) and I still remember the day I got the first letter from her! She had sent me a Yankee candle, and a little bottle of French perfume and a little bar of soap from Lush along with the beautiful handwritten letter. I think I was in Grade 10 back then!

So after my senior year examinations, I took up the hobby again and started sending out postcards and letters to people around the world and how I loved it!

Over a span of 2 months, I got some amazing penpals from around the world and people with whom I could swap postcards! Here are a few pictures of the snail mail I send and receive. Have fun!

  

Some typical Indian postcards that I bought from South Bombay. 

Super adorable India-themed illustrated postcards
from one of my favorite brands- Chumbak!

Most of the times when I tell people that I am from India, the first thing they ask me is 'Do you have any Taj Mahal cards?' So here are some that I love sending out.

And of course, I don't like sending out postcards with just a message and the address written on it! So here are the quirky things I do to my postcards!

Bwahaha. Wicked. :P

This little dude is always printed on the Chumbak postcards and I always make sure I add a little Devnagri message bubble. नमस्ते~

I CANNOT work without these supplies! You only see a few here but as I say, these are my basic necessities! 

I was introduced to washi tape after I started postcrossing. It is traditional rice paper adhesive tape with beautiful illustrations and designs on it. Unfortunately, there aren't any stationery outlets in India that sell washi but there are always online stores that make awesomesauce things available to you. 

So this is how they look after they are all prepped!

Ready to go!

I make sure that I write a little something about the picture or the illustration on the postcard  or a little personal message for people with whom I have already swapped postcards before.

I dislike using regular, boring stamps on the postcards so I make sure I visit the Head Post Office once in a while and get some interesting stamps for my letters and postcards!

Notice the washi obsession. :P

I usually make my own envelopes. It gives me the freedom to design them according to the theme of my letters and also according to my likes and dislikes. :)

Some of the mosaic envelopes that I've made!

And sometimes when I am lazy and the number of outgoing mails pile up, this is what you'll see. :P

I am a lazy bum sometimes.

And in return of all this, I get so many beautiful letters, postcards and stamps. I love each and every element of snail mail. Little things like the postmark of a particular post office, the 'Air Mail- Par Avion' sticker and mistakes that people make while writing down my address, haha!

Yeah, people send me such postcards. :P

Beautiful stamps from Singapore and a shaped Moomin card from Finland.
Of course I'm showing off my moustache ring. LOL!

There is so much more that I could share but I guess this journey is endless and no matter how many pictures I upload and stories I share regarding my postcrossing experiences (including letters being missent to Thailand and what not, hahaha), I will always have something more to share the next time!

If you wish to write to me or simply tag along and see the pictures I share, you can follow me on Instagram @shivaniparasnis!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please leave a comment and don't hesitate to leave a few suggestions regarding anything on my blog!

Lots of pyaar,

~ Shivani ~

P.S.- You can buy the lovely Chumbak postcards from their official website  http://www.chumbak.com

All you Indians out there who are reading this post right now can buy some washi tape online from an Indian online store called Lulupu- The Craft Lounge http://www.lulupu.com/shop

All those staying in Mumbai can buy some washi tape lookalikes from Gala Stores, Store 15, Crawford Market! You can get a pack of 10 for Rs. 30 only. How cool is that! :O

DIY Stamps made from erasers!

HOLA everyone!

Hope you all are doing well! It's been quite a few days since I posted my last DIY project and since then I have been getting some really good response regarding my posts and ideas! If you are reading this post right now, please take out a few minutes and let me know what you think about my blog and what would you like to see!

Okay enough of the boring talks. Coming to today's post! I recently went to a local craft store and spotted some really cute rubber stamps. But since they were imported, the people at the store had priced them as if they were blindfolded while sticking the price labels. Literally. -_-
So as usual, I decided to come up with a really inexpensive stamp idea that ANYONE can easily implement!
Believe me, it can't get easier than this! ;)

So here are the things you'll need:

1. Erasers (the biggest you can find)
2. Carving tools (the ones I used were actually fruit carving tools. LOL. You can even do the carving bit with a blade or a blunt knife)
3. Pencil
4. Stamp pad or color bar

Let the carving begin!

Step uno: Start drawing your design on the eraser. My favorite was the moustache stamp that I had seen at the store so I chose to recreate that :D

I am a moustache lover.

Step dos: Carefully start outlining the moustache lines with your carving tools. Make sure that the cuts aren't too deep nor too shallow. 

Step tres: Once that's done, carefully cut the sides of the eraser and scrape off the area around your design.

Step cuatro: Scrape off everything around the design so that when you stamp it, the surrounding area doesn't interfere with your pattern.

Done done done!

Step cinco: Now just dab the stamp onto the stamp pad or spread some color onto the stamp and just keep stampin', just keep stampiiin' stampiiiin' (read it in Dory's voice)!

Once again, you have your very own DIY stamp ready in just 5 steps! *yaay*

Yellow muchhi? Really?

Try out some other patterns maybe?

I expected the second to turn out much better than THAT, haha.

So I hope you enjoyed this post! Please leave a comment below and let me know your views!
For all the projects you do, make sure you tag them #thediyfactory on Instagram. I love to see what you guys do!

Until next time, toodles!

~ Shivani ~

DIY Pseudo-washi tape

Okay, ignore the title of this blog post. I couldn't come up with a better name for this DIY project!
So as you all know, I have been REALLY obsessed with Washi tape recently. {For all those who don't know what Washi tape is, please google it. B-) }
So I am trying to come up with ways to complement the absence of washi tape in my stationery stock at home. But hey, today's post is really versatile and you can actually make your choice of washi tape using this technique!


For all the video hunters, I am sorry I couldn't record a video this week. So yeah, you have to read the whole post today. *Wohahaha*


So today's post is short and not complicated AT ALL.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them!

Here are the things you will need:

1. Two-way non-foam tape( I got my roll of tape from Crawford Market, Mumbai and it cost me around INR 50 which is less than a dollar)
2. Handmade/Wrapping/Deco paper/Magazine
3. Scissor
4. Pencil and scale (optional)

Le procedure:

1) Okay, so start by choosing a beautiful piece of paper whose pattern you want on your tape. Uh, I am not a boring person but this magazine on banking was the only thing I could find!

So choose your picture (a la Pokemon style- *I choose you*) and cut it out from the magazine. 

Just playin' around.

 2) Flip the paper and start sticking your tape on the back of the desired pattern on the paper.

Sorry for the shabby outlining. :P
This is how the tape will look from either sides of the paper after it is stuck.

3) Use a pencil to outline the tape before cutting it or chuck that start cutting the side of the tape like a boss. B-)

Yes, like a boss.

4) We are on step 4 now. What's next? NOTHING! You're done. Haha.

Choose different patterns to create different types of tape!

I really liked the apple one and the middle one that looks like watercolour!

5) As usual, use it to seal envelopes or wrap gifts! I am using quite a lot of it for my penpal letters :D

So that's it for this post!

Hope you all liked it. Please feel free to leave your comments below!

Until next time, toodles!

~ Shivani ~

DIY Fabric tape

Hola everyone!

I am back with my 2nd post. For the first time I recorded a video for you all with instructions and all, haha. So I have been craving for Washi tape all week and it's really sad that I don't get it here, in Mumbai. And of course, the online ones are really expensive. So I thought of making this! Check out the instructions below or you can also see my video on YouTube!

Link to YouTube video :  DIY Fabric Tape

So here are the things you will need:

1. Tape (Use paper tape or even scotch tape will work)
2. Random pieces of cloth
3. Scissor
4. Glue (Fevicol or Mod Podge)
5. Butter paper (or even wax paper)
   

So let's beginnn!

1) Cut the butter paper according to the size of the tape. Make sure its width is more than that of the tape!

2) Cut the cloth according to the width of the tape that you are using.

3) Once you are done with that, pin up your butter paper to a neat support.

4) Okaaay now we are ready to do the real work! :P
Start by sticking the tape onto the butter paper. Since you are using butter paper, the tape will peel off easily when you want to use it!

5) Once you have done that, take the glue and start spreading it onto the top of the tape!

6) Now comes the fun part! Take the cut piece of fabric and carefully start placing it onto the glued surface of the tape! Press it firmly :)

7) Let it dry completely for 15-20 minutes! And there you go! It's readyyyy! *woohooo*

I know it's a little shabby. :P

8) Use different materials like this fabric ribbon that I found! It luckily turned out to be the same size as that of the tape so I could conveniently paste it onto the tape! :D

Here are some more that I made.

Use them in place of almost any kind of boring tape. Check out the gift boxes that I wrapped with this tape. They look oh-so-adorable!

Hope you all liked it!

Please leave your comments in the comment box below!

~ Shivani ~

DIY stamps with foam tape

So here is my first project. *weehee*

I am going to talk about how to make stamps with foam tape. I saw some really cute patterned wrapping papers at a bookstore recently whose price was horribly high! So I thought of coming up with a ‘gaavthi’ version of those stamped papers that you can use as wrapping papers or even as letterheads :D Believe me, you'll love them!
Well, I must warn you that you can only make simple patterns with the technique I am about to share and you can't really do intricate patterns with this thing.
I'll be posting another project soon that will allow you to do some fine designing for the stamps!

~ If you are bored to read everything, you can skip to the video link at the end of this post. Yes, ~
I know I am awesome B) 

SO LET'S START!

These are things you will need:

1. Foam tape
2. A block or a base (for fixing the stamp cutouts)
3. A pair of scissors
4. A beautiful sheet of paper
5. A color bar or an ink pad

The method: 

1) Decide the pattern you want on your paper. (I am demonstrating a very simple striped one)

2) Pick up the foam tape and pick up your scissor. *woah* 

3) Now, start cutting the tape according to the pattern you have in mind.

Yeah, that's my hand. :D

4) Keeping the other side of the tape as it is, stick the tape on the base or a wooden block according to your pattern!

5) Once you are happy with the patter, peel off the upper covering on the tape. Voila! It’s ready! Umm almost. :P

Don't worry about its stickiness. It will go away once you stamp it

for the first time.

6) Apply your favorite color onto the stamp. I had used a brush and some diluted paint but I would suggest using a stamp pad or a color bar. :D

7) Hold your breath (and your paper) and STAMP!

Don't worry if it doesn't turn out perfect the first time. You'll get the hang of it
as and when you stamp more. :P

 8) Stamp away and create the pattern you want! Voila! It's ready!

Ignore the failed attempt on the bottom left of the picture :P

9) Let the pattern dry thoroughly. Add some more ditzy doodles to it if you wish to.

10) Use it as a wrapping paper and make sure you make it look cooler by using additional stuff like ribbons and twines.

Ta daaa!

And you are done!

For all those who are bored to read all this, check out my video on YouTube ---> (you will also get some beautiful background score with it, haha)

DIY Series #1 - Make your own stamps!

Try it out and let me know your views!

Hope you enjoyed it! 

I'll see you guys soon with my next project. Until then,

Adios!

~ Shivani~