DIY Paper Lanterns

DIY: PAPER LANTERNS

Great little idea for outdoor décor, photo backdrops etc.

I came across this idea on the internet last week and thought it was so pretty I should share, some of you may have seen them on pinterest, needless to say I did and had to give them a go.

This is a pic of the ones I saw online

And here is a pic of the ones I made

So how are they made?

Materials:

• Paper lanterns (you can find them online here)

• Fabric scraps

• Acrylic Paint

• Mod Podge

• Paint Brushes

• Ribbons, lace, or other trimmings

Step One: Paint your paper lantern

I used pastel colours, pinks, aqua, cool blues, liliac, just added one drop of concentrated colour to loads of white paint till I got the colour I wanted, make sure you have loads of white paint before you start, I had to run out to buy some half way through.

Step Two: Add your fabric pieces

Cut out the motifs you want to use out of your fabrics, this is tedious work. Try and follow the exact outline of the shapes as it looks better when you attach them to your paper lantern.

I had scraps of cath kidson material left over from another project so I cut out the rose pattern from that, in hindsight that fabric was pretty heavy, if you could find an old sheet with a similar pattern it would probably stick better for you

Once you have everything cut out, coat the back of each piece with mod podge (or glue) and press it gently onto your lantern. Then add a thin coat of mod podge over the front of each piece to keep all of the edges pressed nicely against the lantern.  This also stops the fabric fraying

Step Three: Embellish and trim

The final step is to add your embellishments. You can use anything you want ribbons lace, pearls, crystal beads, flowers on a wired garland to the bottom of your lantern. Hang your lanterns from wide ribbons, or fairy lights if your feeling fancy– indeed a piece of string would do.

now i’m just going to add my dangly bits to the lanterns to finish them off

DIY Flower Demo Review Session 2

DIY Wedding Flowers

Now I know I promised this a week or so ago but I’ve fallen slightly behind, have been busy at another workshop designing bridal accessories, getting really tired as my impending labour is drawing  near, cant wait to meet my little one, but to take my mind off things and because I cant run and do the things I use to. I’ve been filling my time with Craft workshops, and DIY projects I saw on pinterest but never got around to trying, that’s the thing about pinterest, you see things you like and collect the ideas but never get time to do them, so I said right I have a few weeks now before the baby arrives to try a few of them out.

Anyway, what I’ve been finding it is these craft workshops are really expensive and the costs really start to add up, now don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed them and have learned a lot, but I’m becoming quite broke in the process.

Fortunately I did come across one recently which was very good for its €20  fee, yes €20, most of these one day workshops have cost me between € 200-300.

It was a DIY Flower Demo, run by flowersmadeeasy.ie they are based on the furze road . There were a lot of girls up there, mostly brides with their friends/moms looking for ways to do their own flowers, and what I loved about this demo day was that the demonstrators selected arrangements that were so easy to do, anybody could give it a go.

What I decided to do was take a few photos of what they showed us and then show you how I got on myself following what I learned at the workshop. It might give you an idea of how easy they are to recreate yourself

So here are some pics from the day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flowersmadeeasy

and heres how i got on when i tried to apply what I learned from the demo day.

A really nice Shoe Project, Giving this a go myself!!!!

How to Reupholster High Heels

November 23rd, 2011

Fabric–
Mod Podge–
Scissors–

Is there anything you can’t do with these three things? My personal specialty is Mod Podging fabric onto wooden furniture legs, but …love Maegan has taken MP to an entirely new level. From a practicality standpoint, I have to wonder if the edges will stay glued down, but you know what? Who cares? You have a 100% guarantee nobody else will be wearing the same shoes and you will have found a way to DIY designer shoes. Win. Win.

This opens up all sorts of possibilities, don’t you see? Buy inexpensive, but comfortable shoes and then go fabric shopping. This is simply and utterly brilliant. I wish I would have thought of it.
Click on over to …love Maegan to see what you need for this project and exactly how to execute your new passion for reupholstering your high heels.

Via Curbly on Pinterest

Tags: crafty, diy, fabric, fashion, houndstooth, modpodge, reupholstery, shoes

DIY Flowers DEMO Review 29th April 2012

Went to my first DIY wedding Flower demo yesterday in Sandyford at a flower wholesalers I guess you could say, They were demonstrating how to make 3 different styles of Flower packages, classic, summer and vintage flowers, I found it really good, they showed us how to make bridal/BM bouquets, buttonholes and corsages, as well as alter arrangements and unity candle holder arrangements. The two girls who were demonstrating were excellent, there was a fair crowd there mostly florists I would say but there was the odd Mother daughter pairing looking to get a few tips on how they would do their flowers on the day.

Have to say we got great tips on when to order in flowers, how to condition them, how to do nice fancy finishes on the bouquets etc. There was a raffle at the end and all the bouquets made on the day were brought home by someone who attended the demo, unfortunately I didn’t win, gutted!!!!

I did get a goody bag though, and it had some oasis, a FG wand, and a box of pearl headed pins in it, wasn’t bad as it only cost me 20 euro to attend the demo, I think they were trying to promote their wholesale flowers, they had package prices made up for us, with the list of stuff they used for each package, fairly handy if you were trying to figure out how much you needed to order. I think they also run a flower school, with class on wedding floristry for anyone who was interested.

All in all I’d give it a thumbs up!!! Will try and upload a few photos for you to show you the arrangements made on the day, took them on my phone.

 

the website is http://www.flowersmadeeasy.ie or  www.theflowerschool.ie

Why not Upcycle an Old Wedding Dress?

Whats this all about you might say? well ever since I’ve applied for my fashion design course its all I can think about. I’ll have to do a garment upcycling module and have decided that my focus will be on upcycling old dated wedding dresses which up to now were destined for a life in a dark wardrobe hopefully I’ll be able to give them a new lease of life. I know its pretty ambitious as bridal fabrics are a nightmare to work with but I’m looking forward to the challenge, I have bought 5 really hideous but cheap dresses online, some are from the 80’s and early 90’s and are pretty awful but there are parts of them I think I could salvage to help create a fresh design, This garment upcycling seems to becoming a huge trend, I have searched online and have seen so many examples of upcycling shirts, skirts etc. however there aren’t many ideas out there for upcycling wedding dresses, I guess we’ll just have to get a bit creative and see where it takes us. 

 

Loving all things vintage I fell in love with these vintage birdcages, had to track down 20 for my own wedding managed to get them, just think sitting them on top of a flower wreath is the perfect centerpiece for a vintage themed wedding.

So I’ve gathered my materials for making a birdcage veil will be post my progress over the coming weeks and will post a step by step guide for anybody who wants to give it a go.

After my wedding I was searching for something to do with my china cups, so I decided to buy some candlewax on ebay, and also some prewaxed wicks, place the wicks into the centre of the teacup and then poured the melted candlewax in , left to set overnight and now I have a few decorating my living room, since then have discovered I could have added in scented oils, oh well I’ll know for next time!

Found this little gem on the martha stewart website, really clever idea if your priest allows confetti, i thought it was something different for the mass booklets. These little vellum pouches so handy for so many craft projects, I love the way colourful contents can be seen through the vellum

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

 

Just wanted to share this little idea I came across, I saw these really cute bride and groom chocolate covered strawberries and did a youtube search to see how they were done?

Luckily for me Lidl was doing a wee promotion on chocolate fondue sets so I bought 3, one for white, one for dark and one for milk chocolate, they were perfect for melting the chocolate, once melted I dipped the washed strawberries into milk chocolate and left them to set on a baking tray, once set  I placed a few scoops of white chocolate into a piping bag with a small piping nozzle and just drizzled the white chocolate over them and this is how they turned out, this is a picture of my first attempt, have tried them many times since and it gets better each time, going to try the little bride and groom ones next, will post up a pic of how I get on. If  you do manage to give this a go send me a pic of how you get on and i will post it up on your behalf!!!!