crafty love!

two of my close friends are getting married tomorrow! i am so excited for them to be celebrating the love and commitment that i know they already share.
and they're actually doing it in a way that is so incredibly eco friendly in terms of weddings that i'm pretty sure it'd be hard to beat. they aren't having much of a ceremony to speak of. in fact, they sent out the invites via text message to the small group who are coming, they are both wearing clothes that they already own that have mutual significance in their relationship, and they are skipping the reception entirely! talk about the minimalist approach!
to continue with the intimate love theme, i decided to show my love for both of them, and my happiness about them sharing their love together, in a personal way. i made their card :) the best bit is that the majority of the materials i used were either friend throw aways, mum finds from her 2nd hand store, or things i'd hoarded from my op shopping excursions.

basically, i folded some heavy duty art paper to make a card sized piece, cut it off, and folded it in half to make the card itself. then i lightly sketched on my design in lead pencil. using water colour paints, i painted a stylised version of a black belt (odd design for a wedding card i know, but it has a lot of significance for these two), and then painted their initials in gold at the ends of the tied belt. to finish i wrote a short poem on the inside of the card that i think both of my friends will love :)
and voila! a totally unique, personalised card. so simple and quick, yet i know that they are both totally going to love it.

x

p.s. they LOVED it!!!! it even brought on another round of happy tears! (even i was crying, i love weddings!) 

p.p.s. THEY'RE GOING TO FRAME IT!!! oh my goodness! i feel so honoured!

crafty love (handmade gifts from the heart)

a cute little way to show your love with a thrifting gift!

 

i had the idea for this bottle of "my love" (the letters read: X MY LOVE) when i found the bottle in an op shop.
(my man thought it was the cutest thing ever when i gave him a bottle of my love to keep - yeah, i'm a sooky romantic when i want to be)

how did i make it?

1st: the letters were easy: cut out some letters from a piece of cardboard (from a used cereal box or something similar) and paint them, or you could cut them out of a magazine and stick them to cardboard for a bit of strength, then stick them to pegs.

2nd: the pegs are easily raidable from your parents laundry (my mum had heeaaaps), or if not, you can still buy wooden pegs out there at supermarkets, or get craft sized ones at arts and crafts stores (if the rest of the idea is eco, i'm sure we're forgiven for buying one thing new, as long as they're not plastic!).

3rd: the twine the letters are pegged onto and from around the top of the bottle came from under my kitchen sink.

4th: i measured out the string/twine, so that there was just enough to hang each end in the jar without touching the bottom, and wind around the neck a few times. then i pegged the letters to each end of the string and hung one end in the jar. i wound the middle of the string around the neck of the jar to provide a bit of an anchor to help hold the string the letters are hanging on in place, and then dropped the other end of the string in the jar so both ends were in. then i held the string in place with one hand as i screwed the lid on with the other.

now, a note to make this a little bit easier when screwing the jar lid on: try to have the string coming out of the bottle a little left of centre before you screw the jar lid on, because when you do, it drags the string with it as it turns. if you have the string a little left of centre and hold it tight, the lid should drag it straight as it turns right and tightens.

5th: tie a bit of extra twine in a bow around the lid to make it pretty.

and to finish; give it to someone you love!

x

saturday seconds sneak peek

so this saturday was a particularly bountiful one, so much so that it was necessary to have a second post!

   

these beautiful little port goblets came from a garage sale that caught my eye on the way home from satisfying my op shopping cravings (yes, a garage sale, after all my op shopping i still couldn’t help but stop after i saw the sign) when i got home with all my treasures, my man gave me an exasperated and knowing (but of course still loving) look.

but back to the treasure at hand. 

i took my beautiful little goblets down to the beach to get a few happy snaps, and to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the water. consider these as ‘before’ photos. 

i'm so enchanted with them!

can’t wait to show you the ‘after’ photos! i have a really cute idea for these. it requires a little creative talent, so it should be a learning process for all involved. check back later for an update.

x