A couple of weeks ago we got such a wonderful surprise when Laura Wener, the Editorial Researcher from the Expresso Morning Show on SABC 3 e-mailed us the first time to ask us if we would fly down to their beautiful Cape Town studio to teach & share some of our creative DIY projects with their viewers. WOW - what an oppertunity! Of course we agreed, {with a whole lot of butterflies that come with the thought of being on live television} and now we have already had 3 DIY segments air. I will be sharing all the videos here on our blog. First up, the most recent clip , "Our Bunting Cake Toppers".
Serving Tray : a little sunshine to brighten up a winters day
We absolutly love putting together our DIY for theprettyblog. Take a peek below at our post from today. . .
Winter is here and it's in this icy time when you or your loved ones may find yourself sick in bed with the flu. When you are feeling under the weather there is nothing better than knowing someone is thinking of you.
In todays DIY we will show you how to take an ordinary frame off the wall or out of the garage and make it into a loving serving tray. Print out our free printables and follow the instructions below to show you care.
{Or simply use the tray in your home, it will look great on both your coffee table or your dining table. It can also be used as a personalised gift. Place photographs of your family, friends, birthday, wedding etc behind the glass to change the look}.
SHOPPING LIST : 1 x large photo frame, 2 x door or draw handles, 4 x bolts (these usually come with the handles), 1 x electric drill, 1 x long ruler, 1 x pencil, 1 x tin black board paint, 1 x paint roller, 1 x stick of chalk
DIRECTIONS : Serving Tray
- Place your frame down on a good working surface in a landscape position.
- Measure the frame from top to bottom and make a pencil marking in the middle of the frame on both the left and right sides.
- Place your handles over this mark and make sure that the middle of your handle is over the pencil marking you have made.
- Using a pencil lightly draw a circle on the frame around the top and the bottom of the handle .
- Drill a hole through the centre of each of these circular markings that you have made.
- Feed the bolts through the drilled hole from the backside of the frame. The bolts should meet up with the handle on the front side of the frame.
- Screw the bolt into the base of the handles until tight on both the left and right side of the frame.
- Download the free tray printables, print and trim to fit inside your frame behind the glass.
Personalise the message on your tray by turning it into a chalkboard. Simply remove the backing board from the frame and paint it with chalkboard paint, (two coats should do the trick). Once it is dry place it back into the frame without the glass top. Use chalk or a chalkboard pen to scribble and draw out a message. A hot bowl of soup and some fresh bread should help anyone to start feeling just a little bit better.
Add a little sunshine to a colleagues day by printing out our "get better soon cards". Simply place in an envelope and attach to a box of chocolates or a bag of sweeties.
Attach these handy tags to a bunch of flowers or get creative and put a, "dose of get well cheer" pack together. Wrap up a box of strepsils, med-lemon, nasel spray and headache pills.
Once again, thank you so much Blackframe Photography, it was great fun to shoot this DIY with you. All of the imagery in this post was shot by Andre over at Blackframe. Please visit their blog to see more of their beautiful, cute and quirky wedding photography.
Happy Serving Tray making.
love Sam x x x
from the "Elephant factory"
{DOWNLOAD THE TRAY BACKGROUND PRINTABLE HERE}
{DOWNLOAD THE TAGS & CARDS PRINTABLE HERE}
Handmade Coasters - Perfect for your Home & as a Personalised Wedding Favour
It wasn't long ago when Nicola from the prettyblog asked the question on facebook, "Which DIY's would you like to see on the blog?". Liezel Kriel replied saying that she would like to know how to make custom coasters from photographs. Annerine Van Schalkwyk replied, "Enigeiets wat in en om die huis gepas en gebruik kan word.." and Nicci Le Cok replied,"DIY's for party favours please."
Sooooo we have combined these concepts and today we bring you a super easy, super fun DIY that can be used in your home and as a party/wedding favour. We have included a printable in this post with
1. Quirky colourful sayings, and . . .
2. Easy to use frames for you to completely customise your coasters with your very own photographs. You can use photos of your family, pets, friends, engagement shoot, wedding photos etc. {As a reference we have used a range of insanely cool photos from some of the wedding shoots of Blackframe photography. I particularly love the idea of using your photobooth pics too.}
Simply download our Printable PDF at the end of this post and follow the easy steps on how to put these coasters together.
Use these handy coasters to protect your furniture from liquids and to show off your favorite pics.
SHOPPING LIST : Photo Paper, Thin Cork Sheets or Cork Flooring, Spray Glue, Sticky Back Plastic (the kind you use to cover schoolbooks), Ruler, Kraft Knife, Cutting Mat
QUIRKY COLOURFUL SAYINGS : DIRECTIONS
- Please print pages 2-4 of the downloaded document onto a photo quality A4 paper. {inkjet printing is recommended}.
- Trimm across the dotted lines so that you are left with only the artwork for the coasters.
- Apply the sticky back plastic to the frontside of the artwork or you can have this laminated instead to protect your coaster from cool drink and coffee, tea spills.
- Spray glue the back of the artwork and apply it to the surface of the cork sheeting.
- With a ruler and a kraft knife cut out each coaster by trimming along the solid colour.
- There you have it. Coasters ready to give as a gift or use in your home.
- If you are giving as a gift, tie beautiful twine or ribbon around a stack to keep them together.
PHOTO FRAMES : DIRECTIONS
- Please print page 5 of the downloaded document onto a photo quality A4 paper. {inkjet printing is recommended}
- Please print page 6 of the downloaded document onto a thick A4 card.
- Trimm across the dotted lines on page 5 so that you are left with only the artwork for the coasters.
- Print out the photos that you would like to place onto the coasters onto a photo quality A4 paper. {inkjet printing is recommended} Make sure that they will be small enough to fit in the space. These coasters are 9cmx9cm.
- Use the templates on page 6 in order to cut out your photographs to the right size and shape to fit into the frames.
- Apply spray glue to the back of your cut out photos and stick them to fit into the the blank frames from page 5.
- Apply the sticky back plastic to the frontside of the artwork or you can have this laminated instead to protect your coaster from cool drink and coffee, tea spills.
- Spray glue the back of the artwork and apply it to the surface of the cork sheeting.
- With a ruler and a kraft knife cut out each coaster by trimming along the solid colour.
- There you have it. Coasters ready to give as a gift or use in your home.
- If you are giving as a gift, tie beautiful twine or ribbon around a stack to keep them together.
Once again all of the cute photos you see in this post were photographed by our besties over at Blackframe Photography. The imagery in the coasters are a range of photos from their wedding collection. Visit their blog to see more of their great work.
Happy Coaster making.
love Sam x x x
from the "Elephant factory"
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