{DIY} Hessian bunting!

Can bunting ever get old? I doubt it. It is such an easy, cute and pretty way to spruce up any party. We definitely thought it was something that had to be at our wedding and soon my mom (the most amazing woman on earth) started gathering materials to MAKE bunting for the garden area at our reception hall.

There’s only one thing I regret about bunting at my wedding, and that is the fact that I didn’t have more.

 

Making it yourself is also a great way to cut costs and provide some bonding time with your mom (and in my case, my sister-in-law). Grab your bridesmaids to help you with the cutting process, and it will also be easier and quicker.

 

Here’s what you need:

Hessian (our bunting was 10 m and 6 m long, respectively, so if the hessian is 3,5 m wide, you will only need about 1 m in length. You can find the fine hessian at your local haberdashery.)

A very sharp and sturdy pair of scissor

Patience

A couple of hands to help you cut (your hands will tire)

Bias Binding 

A sewing machine

Doilies or white paint - depending on how you are decorating your bunting.

Method:

1.  Cut a template out of carton. We used a piece sized 25 cm in width, and 30 cm in length.

2.  Cut the two top corners 0,5 cm shorter.

3.  Mark with the aid of the template the hessian in the following manner:

     For  10 m bunting you will need 30 flags.

4.  Cut the flags out and line the raw edges with Ponal or similar glue to prevent fraying. When using ordinary material, one can use fray check to prevent fraying of the material.

5.  I used bias binding to link the flags.  

     Start about 60 cm from the end of the bias binding.

     put the bias binding flat with the raw sides facing you.

     Place the raw edge of the top of the flag in the centre of the bias binding and stitch the flag to the bias binding a bout 0,25 cm from the edge of the flag.

6.  Leave an 8,5 cm space before attaching the next flag. Leave another 60 cm  bias binding at the end of the last flag.

7.  After attaching all the flags, fold the bias binding double lengthwise and stitch along the complete length of the bias binding. 

 

We rounded the bunting off with pretty circle doillies as well as heart cut outs, because it was our day of love!

Did I throw the bunting away? Oh hell no. It is now used to decorate some windows in my house

Wedding pics: Kikitography

Wedding Table Numbers {DIY}

Our wedding might have been almost three months ago, but I still have so much to share. And with all the time and effort my dear mother put into all the little details, it would just not be fair to her to not share her amazing handy work. We did almost everything decor related by ourselves - and it was hard work! I helped where I can and documented when I was there. Luckily, I could help over weekends and was there for the table number making process.

Firstly, you need to dive into your local Hospice or Thrift shop and find some sturdy, old - but still decent, books. My mom's church has a little library from which it sells books. There were boxes full. My dad and I delved into a box one afternoon and found these sturdy Reader's Digest compilations. You don't have to choose books that are all the same size, but it does make it more uniform and easier when it comes to the wrapping part, as you can cut a template and go from there.

To ensure that the books can stand open and, to have a space to put your table numbers and menu, you need to stick all the pages together - with the exception of two pages in the middle. We used ponal glue.

So, obviously after procuring your books, you would need to wrap them. My mom and I had a funny system, where we cut out two sizes from the paper and stuck them on. I think we didn't wrap the book as the paper was too thick and it would have made wrapping a little more difficult. We used double sided sticky tape to do the job.

After all the cutting, taping and sticking, we lined the back of the books with green librarians' tape, but you can use coloured duct tape, it works just as well. This was just to round the books off. But, before we did this, we measured and cut our lace pieces. On half the books, we used the lace horizontally, while on the other half, we stuck them vertically. I couldn't decide which one looked better and even asked the ladies on instagram whether I should go with the horizontal or vertical look. They all chose the one I wasn't too fond of, so I went half/half.

Once all the sticking is done, you can print out your table number and menu to stick on the inside, where you left two pages open. And now you can relax.

My mom and I enjoyed looking at our hard work over a cup of tea!

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Wedding pics: Kikitography

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Two birds came along

Once upon a time there was a girl. She liked making things with her hands, she discovered, and she decided to pursue this like. It had taken many forms in her life, ideas that would sometimes be too big for her brain and hands to comprehend and were given up halfway, such as the extra art classes in high school.

There is a legend that this girl once asked her mother to sketch her grade 8 art projects for her, only to help her pass, and that the girl failed a class project when asked to draw a twig with leaves (no help from her mother there, and it also resulted in a big red cross across the page, a large encircled zero and the teacher using this girl's sketch as a perfect example of how one must not draw.) This, however, is not a legend, it's my story. I often try to take on projects that I know for the life of me I will never finish...

And last week I showed off my perfect little strawberry. I say its perfect, so it is!

This had a couple of my friends begging, nay merely asking, that I create some creatures for them. This is the result:

It's not superman

Hoot hoot

I made this, I did

It's a strawberry. It is.

I am very proud to showcase my handy work to you today! Ha! Anyone that knows me, knows that there are a few things I am entirely incapable of. This includes cooking, cleaning, sewing a button on a shirt, working a hemline. Well basically anything that was expected from a housewife in the fifties. I can't do it. I'm simply not programmed too.

You might think it's because I'm lazy. But seriously, I am able to fry an egg in such a way that it looks like dog's vomit. Gross right? And my Grade 8 Home Economics teacher will be able to attest that she, in shifts with my mother, had to do all the stitching for the Apron Project we were assigned to do, just to help me pass.

In a few words, I'm pretty useless when it comes to stuff like this. AND I did it, I actually made something. I actually stitched it. And gave it to my mother. I made a giraffe too, for a baby, so I don't think he would mind the ugly stitching. (I have no evidence of the crime that is giraffe.)

And it's like a bug that bit me. I am currently working on a few other things. I will show you guys as soon as I'm done.

What do you think of my strawberry?

It is time!

Drumroll people. I have been working on this drawer cabinet since the beginning of January. Actually, in my head, I have been working on this thing since I inherited it from my ex-flatmate who immigrated to Namibia.

The story:

After the flatmate had left, he also left a few of his belongings, among them a drawer cabinet, a bedside table and a bed, all painted in the same blueish baby puke colour. He asked that I donate them to a charity, but I thought I would hang on to them for a little while if friends wanted to stay over in my flat. Eventually, after moving to another place, living there for six months and waiting to move into the new flat, I decided that its time I start with my do it yourself (more like cry-it-yourself) project. (I gave the bed and bedside table to our gardener.)

I had searched far and wide, and by wide I mean I even went to another city, for the perfect glass knobs, and after I found the most beautiful ones at MegaMica, I bought six, because that was what I could afford.

At the end of the month I went back, and shock-horror, there were only two knobs. Eventually, I got paid again, went back again and....drumroll again...may I present to you my finished drawer cabinet. Tada!

Bull, handele, handele (or that other Spanish word)

Being the art opportunist (read copycat) that I am, I recently commissioned a friend of mine to paint me a Nguni bull on a beach. Thank you Jacky Kearns for this most beautiful piece of art!

I saw a painting at some art shop of a massive strong bull and had to have it, but the price tag read "You can't afford this even if you sell your liver." So,  I just went to MegaMica and bought a mega canvas for R300 and five days later this is what I've got:

Update: IT IS DONE!

How absolutely gorgeous is my bull? Love, love, love it :)

No colours anymore, I want it to turn black

Paint it black! (Hair and make up compliments of 'Saturday morning just woken up' - PTY ltd)

The ugliness!

The original paint and knobs. Not very pretty!