Dear friends and kiddos,

I am sure you all are looking forward to Rakshabandhan.
The very fact that we celebrate it with so much vigour shows the purity in the emotion it carries.
If we are far away from the family, we try to send our wishes to them in some way.
This year, send your very own homemade Rakhis.

Here are some quick ones for you.

Common Requirements :
Fevicol or glue
Cello tape
scissors
satin ribbon or any other thread you prefer for the rakhis
different color or sizes of buttons or sequence or stones
Circular cut mix card paper. I used old jewellery advertisements and a circular punch to cut these.
Any card paper and punch to mount the rakhis. I used old wedding invites which are thicker than normal cardpaper and seemed right to hold the Rakhis in place.

1) Foam Rakhis :
Requirements: Foam sheets, foam flowers, foam hearts, Foam dots , Candle, Match box

Steps – Use a round cut foam base and then use your imagination making combinations of the foam flowers and the buttons to top them.
Instead of buttons, you can use whatever is available – round cut card paper or sequence or flowers or even stickers.
Glue your ribbon to it. You are done.

A final tip here as you must be wondering what is the candle for 🙂
Foam is something which sometimes refuses to stick so after you apply fevicol, make sure it dries.
In addition to fevicol, once my rakhis were ready I just used a lighted candle to drop some hot wax onto the places where I wanted the ribbon to hold.
That way, I would be sure that it would not come undone 🙂

2) Paper Rakhis :
Requirements: Printed paper or coloured paper.

Cut four equal pieces of paper. Make them into a fan (Alternately go on folding one side then next).
Fold them in the centre and paste the four equal fans together to get a circle.
Take a ribbon and insert into the hole which is created in the center when you join the four fans together.
Make a small loop so that the ribbon holds fast and then above that loop, stick any dots or circles or buttons you want.
Alternatively, just glue the ribbon from behind. Refer the photos, it will be easier to understand.

3) Felt Rakhis :
Requirements: Felt sheets

The base of your rakhi should be a felt circle. You can give it some cuts to make it appeal more like a flower.
I preferred the plain circles though. Use your imagination to top them off with your buttons, card paper circles.
I actually sewed on the cardpaper circles and buttons thus making this the most rugged rakhi I made 🙂
Glue your ribbons. Felt sticks very well.

I hope you have enjoyed making these Rakhis in your mind. Now, try your hand at them.
A Rakhi does not need extreme precision, it just needs a little imagination and lots of love.
We are interested to know if you tried making your own rakhis, so do drop a line or a photo.

If you need some more ideas, you can also refer my friend Swapna’s blog which has some creative inputs for you.
Link – http://www.themomviews.com/rakhi-making-ideas/
And if you have a toddler who wants to help you make rakhis, try our last year’s ideas 🙂
Link – http://aspoonfulofideas.com/rakhi-or-friendship-band-activity-with-toddlers

Lotsa love and good wishes,
Poornima