As I am sure many of you have discovered, DIY doesn’t always go as planned. Today is an example of what I will be calling {real-life DIY}; things that didn’t go to well, but taught me some lessons. My experimentation with pallet gardens is continuing. The first attempt is still growing well, but in a…
DIY Tutorials
Spray painted tins
In my experimentation for a good way to do a pallet garden I decided to try some tins. Spray painting them worked really well and the colour added a great effect. Recycling is great, but if it can be pretty it’s even better! Make sure to do 2 good coats of paint, as I still…
Door or wall sticker // tutorial & download
I have finally had a little bit of time to try and add some detail to our home. Although I haven’t got very far one simple little quirk I added was a “hello” sticker on the front door. Download the template here All you need: Sticker/self-adhesive paper Your design (You can download the “hello” here) Swivel…
Adding detail to plain fonts in Illustrator // tutorial
I am by no means an Illustrator expert, but I am learning things all the time. The other day I discovered, by mistake, how to add some detail to plain fonts. Step 1: Write your text and give it an outline stroke in the same colour as the text fill. Step 2: Go to type…
DIY table numbers and name cards // download and tutorial
On Saturday I tripped while walking on the mountain and managed to dislocated my knee cap. Although this is not a nice thing to happen, it does mean that the doctor has booked me off for 4 days and I get to catch up on a bit of blogging 🙂 Today I have a mini…
Photobooth props // free download and tutorial
Use this free download to make your own awesome photobooth props for your wedding or party. You can save loads of money!
Vertical pallet garden // tutorial
So, for a few months I have really been wanting to try out the vertical pallet garden idea. Being busy and not having a pallet, made this a little tricky. However, I was given a pallet and decided that I needed to take some time out from work and do something useful that I just felt…
Zebra cushion inspiration
Today has been a lovely wintery day in Cape Town and we have taken full advantage to stay at home most of the day. While browsing Pinterest I came across this quirky zebra cushion set: Looking at their price, it is totally something that can be done for a fraction of the price. I started messing…
Free borders and bracket frames // Download
In designing all our wedding stationery I had a lot of fun designing borders and using different ones for each piece of stationery. It was a great time for me of growing my skills and adding in quirky personalised features for our wedding. So I have decided to put a bunch of the borders that I…
DIY Cardboard Christmas tree // tutorial
It got to Christmas eve and we still had no decorations up in the house. Things have been a little bit crazy with wedding planning, honeymooning and sorting out the house, so decorations took a bit of a backseat. While Michael was busy with some other stuff I quickly made us a little tree using…
Easy batwing/dolman sleeve top // tutorial
I had to do a bit of research to find out what this kind of top is called. I began at my usual starting point (good old google) and tried ‘lazy sleeve’ and then ‘squirrel sleeve’, which revealed the same basic style of top, but for some reason it seems to be mainly used by…
Striped tee dress {tutorial}
Some photos have been sitting on my harddrive since April, waiting to be posted. Since I finally have some time, here goes.. Excuse the poor photos, I tend to be a night time crafter.. All you need it a fabric of your choice, and the usual sewing stuff (thread, scissors, sewing machine/overlocker..)I also used a…
Make your own chalkboard, paint and all // tutorial
Yesterday was a rainy day in Cape Town, and since I have a week of holiday, it meant that there was finally time for me to do a craft 🙂 This is a simple way to make your very own chalkboard paint, choosing your own colour. I was inspired by this post. What you need:…
Necklace (or key) hanger // tutorial
I finally decided that I can’t have all my necklaces hanging on the same old broken sunglasses frames. So as my final project before starting up my Dietetics Honours course, I made a necklace hanger. I used a piece of scrap supawood (from making these wooden pendants), plain fabric, left-over paint (I’d recommend fabric paint…
Clay pendant // tutorial
I saw some clay pendants at the Grahamstown festival last year and so I asked for some air-dry clay for Christmas. These really took a few minutes each to make and I think that they come out really cute. Most important is the clay (you could use any kind I guess, but this one doesn’t…
Card set using paper cut-outs
As thank you and christmas gifts I made some sets of cards. The antelope were cut using a swivel craft knife (a very useful tool!) and silhouettes found from good old google search. I used a slightly stiff cardboard to make the boxes and normal white paper for the envelopes. A little bit of lace…