Red Riding Hood, “In the Forest, Hide & Seek”

Remember the super cool competition we were running this year at the wedding expo, "Win an engagement shoot styled by Elephantshoe and photographed by Blackframe Photography"?

Well, Natasha & Chris were the lucky winners of the prize with their killer idea centered around the fairytale Red Riding Hood. We absolutely loved putting together the concepts and styling for each shot with our besties Blackframe. 

RED "Natasha" is an incredible makeup artist & THE WOLF "Chris" is a talented film Director, they will be saying I do on the 23rd of March 2013. We all met up early one Sunday morning in Newtown Johannesburg to begin this unbelievable shoot. Take a look here.

ONCE UPON A TIME . . .

There was a girl who lived near the forest. Whenever she went out she wore a red riding cloak and everyone called her Little Red Riding Hood.

“SO THEY PACKED A NICE BASKET FOR LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD TO TAKE TO HER GRANDMOTHER”

“DON’T DAWDLE ALONG THE WAY AND PLEASE DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS!  THE WOODS ARE DANGEROUS”

“WHENEVER SHE WENT OUT SHE WORE A RED RIDING CLOAK”

“SHE DIDN’T NOTICE A DARK SHADOW APPROACHING OUT OF THE FOREST BEHIND HER...”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE, LITTLE GIRL?” THE WOLF ASKED IN A VOICE AS FRIENDLY AS HE COULD MUSTER”

“ THE WOLF, IN THE MEANTIME, TOOK A SHORTCUT...”

“LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD NOTICED SOME LOVELY FLOWERS IN THE WOODS, SHE FORGOT HER PROMISE TO HER MOTHER.  SHE PICKED A FEW”

“WHAT BIG EYES YOU HAVE.” SAID THE WOLF

“SUDDENLY, THE WOLF APPEARED BESIDE HER”

“THERE WAS A GIRL WHO LIVED NEAR THE FOREST”

“DON’T WORRY, MOMMY,” SAID LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, “I’LL BE CAREFUL.”

If you LOVE this post and would like to have your own engagement/couple shoot then please contact us or Blackframe Photography. 

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

1. Please print pages 2-4 of the downloaded document onto a photo quality A4 paper. {inkjet printing is recommended}.
2. Trimm across the dotted lines so that you are left with only the artwork for the coasters.
3. 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.
4. Spray glue the back of the artwork and apply it to the surface of the cork sheeting.
5. With a ruler and a kraft knife cut out each coaster by trimming along the solid colour. 
6. There you have it. Coasters ready to give as a gift or use in your home. 
7. If you are giving as a gift, tie beautiful twine or ribbon around a stack to keep them together. 

PHOTO FRAMES : DIRECTIONS

1. Please print page 5 of the downloaded document onto a photo quality A4 paper. {inkjet printing is recommended}
2. Please print page 6 of the downloaded document onto a thick A4 card.
3. Trimm across the dotted lines on page 5 so that you are left with only the artwork for the coasters.
4. 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.
5. Use the templates on page 6 in order to cut out your photographs to the right size and shape to fit into the frames.
6. Apply spray glue to the back of your cut out photos and stick them to fit into the the blank frames from page 5.
7. 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.
8. Spray glue the back of the artwork and apply it to the surface of the cork sheeting.
9. With a ruler and a kraft knife cut out each coaster by trimming along the solid colour. 
10. There you have it. Coasters ready to give as a gift or use in your home. 
11. 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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{DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE FILES HERE}

We Love {Fun Props}

There are so many different & fun props that you can use in your styled couple, engagement and wedding photography shoots. In particular we love these vintage bicycles {they add so much charm} and can also be customised to tell your personal love story with stationery like banners and signs.

Visit our contact page and pop us a message if you would like to find out about HIRING a vintage bicycle for your shoot or IF YOU WOULD LIKE US TO DESIGN the stationery props for your shoot.

Photography credits for the images above from top to bottom, left to right : PHOTO 1, PHOTO 2, PHOTO 3, PHOTO 4, PHOTO 5, PHOTO 6