Aarohi Singh and 3 gorgeous Give-aways :)

These days I feel I'm on a roller coaster with the wheels firmly tied to my feet. Can I untie them? No. That settled, I will not debate & waste energy, I'll just go with it - sweeeee... Opening the next post of the Artnlight Anniversary Celebrations is none other than Aarohi Singh. She of the blazing heart and bold colour. When i set eyes on these pictures of her, I begged her to have them for this post. Nothing is more apt. These pictures of Aarohi with the painting that she created for Good Homes are such a reflection of the way Aarohi is & lives. Red for heart and action, Yellow for intelligence and light and a pair of piercing intuitive eyes that see things that most miss.

  

 

  Aarohi is generous. In her speech, in the way she lives, in the way she is there for you when you need a kind word, and so it should come as no surprise that instead of 1, she wants to do 3 giveaways :) And to win it you have to state your order of love. I purposely replaced the word 'preference' because you can't 'prefer' one of these over the other. It is a matter of love.

 Give Away 1 - A set of 4 elegant black and white illustrations Aarohi made of Kaajal.

 Give Away 2: This GORGEOUS set of Lotus coasters

 

Give Away 3 - A print of the famous 'Nimbu Mirchi' painting by Aarohi.

 So yes there will be 3 winners :)

And this is what you do to win the give-away:

1. Like the 'Art by Aarohi' fb page and leave a comment there saying which giveaway you want and why. In case you want to be eligible for more than one give-away, please leave separate comments for each give-away and why.
2. Leave a similar comment here, stating which one you love/want the most and why.
3. And this give-away closes on 6th of October. So make sure you have commented before that.

 

And because we can't have tea together, and because we didn't click a picture together when we actually met for tea,  here's us sharing a virtual cup. Head over to Aarohi's blog to say hi to a pic of me with a mug of tea :) And comment away to win your free give aways :) :)

Winner of the Archana Srinivas Print!!!

And the lucky winner of Archana's gorgeous print is Ally!! of Whats Cooking Today!!

Congratulations Ally :) Please get in touch with Archana and email her your address so she can mail you your print :)

An Indian bedroom in Dallas

Preeti Menon is a graphic designer by profession, but she is so much more than that. I have never seen anybody more keen on connecting with people and she has a rare gift of intuition and healing. Her knowledge of essestial oils, its healing properties and the power of right nutrition and what it can do for your body, mind and soul are a few qualities that have me in awe of her. One of the things that comes very naturally to her is balance and this is abundantly reflected in this beautiful bedroom in her home. I had seen her home only in pics she sent of family and going there personally and being able to see and click these pictures has been so happy making. I will hand if over to Preeti to speak about this space she  created with so much love. 

"I wanted to keep the theme of our bedroom in a fine balance between the yin and yang moon. I wanted my husband to feel this was as much his space of sleep and relaxation as it was mine. So our primary colors were deep romantic moonlit rich blue sky by Ralph Lauren Regent Metallics. To offset it, we chose a subdued cool gray. " Preeti Menon

 

"My best friend gifted this to me. And it was nice but I didn't fall in love with it. I kept it away for awhile only to come to it one day with half of it broken and dismantled. I pried away the loose parts and waalaah! It turned into an old grandpa clock with a happily swaying pendulum!"

She along with my brother were most excited when I went to the U.S. and we went happily shopping to many gorgeous stores which I will blog about as soon as I can.

Do check her blog againbeborn and her baby food blog "Mama make it Fresh"

Archana Srinivas and a beautiful give-away

I cannot think of blogging without thinking of Archana Srinivas. She is the 1st Indian design blogger I met online when I began reading design blogs and her flickr stream was a must check on my morning involuntary click lists. And so when my blog turns 5 it is only natural that she be featured, acknowledged and thanked. She taught me to see beauty in my everyday life, in my home.  Writer of different gorgeous blogs that span from her love for food to photography to India to her daughter, decor and chai, what connects them all is her unerring eye for beauty that the sun creates. And as a tribute to her, here are a few of my favourites from her well visited archives on flickr. I'm sure all of you must have seen and loved them as much as I do.

She is one of the rare people who I've seen use the whimsical and quaint slate board with such elegance.

Archana is formidable force in her kitchen and these are her tools of trade.

I love the easy and natural grace with which she displays her collections, be it ladles or be it dry leaves collected on a morning walk.

Archana wrote to me when she saw the 1st few in the India aaha series I had designed & here they sit framed against her wall.

Archana's photography in natural light can produce some seriously dramatic results like you will see in the following pictures.

And here are a few glimpses of shade and light in her new home in Minnesota. Here's wishing Archana a lot more amazing blogging and just a very beautiful and enriching life.

Creating beauty whereever she is and spotlighting it in the simplest of ways is Archana's hallmark.

We've seen and loved Bangalore's flora through Archana's eyes and now we will be acquainted with Minnesota's natural wonders

 

And now for the exciting part, 

just leave a comment here about what part of Archana's work is the most powerful for you and which is your favourite blog of all her blogs and 

you win this gorgeous print, 

which she will ship all the way from her new home. This is one photograph of hers which I would love hanging on my wall. It is art and true Archana style. We discussed if I should ship it or she will and she decided she will. So your give-away will come all the way from Minnesota in the U.S. packed with love by the blogging diva herself.

And these are all her gorgeous blogs, so you find it easier to check out all her work & pick your favourite :)

Rang Decor

Rang: The Colours of Life

A Cup of Chai

India & I

rolling in Sugar dust

Mallika: my princess

Yellow Button, Bangalore + a discount for Artnlight Readers

Yellow Button a lifestyle store in Bangalore is exactly like its name suggests - bright and cheerful and as small and as cute as a button. It is Madhavi Rongala's dream come true. Each and everything in the shop is handpicked and displayed lovingly by her and her team. Yellow button keeps fun clothes, jewelry, personal and home accessories, bags, slippers, stoles, baskets and much more.

Here's the exciting news: Yellow Button is giving out Rs.250/- worth gift vouchers for the 1st 4 people who walk into her store from Artnlight. And for all those people who go in after these 1st 4 lucky winners, I want to announce a 25% discount on all my products (click here to see them) . This will be valid for all artnlight readers in Bangalore from today till the 23rd of September. The discount code is ARTNLIGHT. So do go over to her store and shop to your heart's content.

Paper Source, Santana Row, California.

There is a lot of the U.S. trip that I haven't blogged about and in the days to come I hope to rectify that. This post is special because it would not have been possible without this blog. I met Sindhu Rajaramji Iyer through this space, she is an artnlight reader and when I went to California, she and her husband Ramji Iyer picked me up from my friends place and took me home for a fantastic home cooked lunch and to this amazing store called Paper Source in Santana Row. It was filled with the most scrumptious paper products I have ever seen. They also had a brilliant selection of beautifully designed books. As a designer just thinking about it is a powerful shot of inspiration along with being just plain happy making. 

 This store made me think of how we don't really use a lot of paper products in India. In general we have no concept of Thank you notes and no one uses greeting cards beyond school and maybe junior college. It also got me thinking that maybe its a good thing because imagine how much paper would get consumed and used if a population like ours got to doing this regularly. That said, the diaries and books had the most interesting, lovable an innovative concepts. It really got me thinking about designing on paper seriously.

 

 

I was so excited to see and touch Papaya products for the 1st time. I have long been a fan of their work. 

Couldn't resist clicking pics in front of this gorgeous wall :)