DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   This was found at  www.helenmade.blogspot.com  .  Kind of cool and unique!! saw this origami bow tutorial  here . However, it was in another language and many of you needed a written tutorial plus pictures tutorial, so here it is. A 3" x 3" paper would make a nice bow. I used 4" square for the bows that I made for the cake  here . A thin pattern paper would make a beautiful bow. If you are using double side pattern paper place the side that you want down. Mountain fold horizontally, crease well, then unfold. mountain fold the other way, crease well and unfold. you should have this. Valley fold diagonally, crease well, and unfold. valley fold the other way,crease well and unfold. You should have this: 2 mountain fold lines that looked like a plus sign. And 2 valley folds that looked like an "X". Follow the creased lines and fold your paper like this Press it down and fold the "closed" side about 1/2...

Rakhi: The Thread of Love     In India, festivals are the celebration of togetherness, of being one of the family. Raksha Bandhan is one such festival that is all about affection, fraternity and sublime sentiments. It is also known as Raksha Bandhan which means a 'bond of protection'. This is an occasion to flourish love, care, affection and sacred feeling of brotherhood. Not a single festival in India is complete without the typical Indian festivities, the gatherings, celebrations, exchange of sweets and gifts, lots of noise, singing and dancing. Raksha Bandhan is a regional celebration to celebrate the sacred relation between brothers and sisters. Primarily, this festival belongs to north and western region of India but soon the world has started celebrating this festival with the same verse and spirit. Rakhi has become an integral part of those customs. An insight of Rakhi Rituals     On the day of Rakhi, sisters prepares the pooj...

   Here's another recipe found at  www.sweetapolita.com  .  She makes such lovely desserts!! Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Instant Fudge Frosting I have a real thing for the 70s. I mean, heck, I was born smack dab in the middle of them, into a family of much older siblings ready and eager to love, spoil, and torment an unsuspecting baby sister, so overall I’d say it was a pretty fabulous era. When I think back to my first memories of cake, they come along with my first memories of life at all: sitting around the dining room table with siblings who, at that time, would have been about 15, 14, and 8. I have particularly fond memories of the family birthday dinners gathered around that same table, eating the birthday kid’s meal of choice: my mom’s lasagna, my dad’s famous barbeque steak dinners, or, any other favourite of the time. There was, though, one thing that didn’t vary: the cake. Throughout the 70s (and possibly the 60s), I remem...

    Each July, tens of thousands of spectators line the banks adjacent to the Stari Most, the Old Bridge that crosses Bosnia-Herzegovina’s beautiful Neretva River in the city of Mostar. Undeterred by the Balkan sun, onlookers keep their eyes locked on the apex of the single-arch bridge where, one by one, divers enter the water in a spectacle of machismo and local tradition as they vie for title in the world’s longest-running high diving competition: the Ikari.     As one of the oldest venues for extreme sporting events, the Stari Most has been the place to go for male rites of passage since it was first built back in 1566. Set in the Ottoman Empire’s regional capital, the Old Bridge connected the Neretva River’s two banks at its narrowest point, a strategic location that marked the centre of the city’s earliest development. The name Mostar comes from the “mostari,” or bridge-keepers who held watch over the structure from the Halebinovka Tower...