Crafta La Vista: wedding

Showing posts with label wedding. Show all posts

Friday, 6 March 2015

DIY Photobooth

Everyone loves a photo booth at a party but to get the professionals in it can cost hundreds.

If you are looking for a cheap but very effective solution then I have it here - costing under £20!!!!!

What you will need:

3 rolls of wrapping paper

masking tape / bluetac

card (if you want to make a sign)

scissors / cutting machine e.g. Cricut

various props

blackboard & chalk

Step 1 - Create your background

When buying wrapping paper for your background you need to think of a couple of things:

If there a theme to the party, you should try and find wrap that matches the theme so that your photo booth doesn't look out of place
You also need to think about the lighting of your venue. If it's a dark lit venue then you are likely to need a camera flash so don't pick a wrapping paper that is likely to reflect. I mostly got away with the one you see in the photos but there was times where the flash really caught the glitter and reflected back. Also avoid anything with foil as it's really reflective

Once you have your wrap, don't unroll it until the night as it could become damage. When you get to the venue, lay all 3 piece face down and line them up. Then take your masking tape and stick them together so that it becomes one big piece. You might not need 3 but I found this was about the right size for groups of 5/6 in a photo.

You will probably need help for the next bit as it's hard to do it by yourself.

Ask a friend to hold the background up against the wall whist you stick the top of the background using either masking tape or bluetac. Then put some more at the bottom and along the sides if necessary.

Step 2 - Make your sign (optional)

To make the photos more a memento of the evening, I made a sign to stick on the background. This part was really simple, just cutting the letters out of card. I used my Cricut machine to get a really clean finish but scissors will work as well.

Step 3 - Buy some props

Obviously the more props you buy the more fun your guests will have but remember it will also make your booth more expensive. This is where my bargain hunting skills really came in handy as I scoured pound stores & discount shops. I was very lucky that Claire's accessories had a sale on where I could by 5 items for £3 - crazy bargain considering most items I bought were £5 each

Lay all the props out on a table next to your background so they are easy to get to. I also had a blackboard and chalk so the guests could write cheeky messages to the party host

Step 4 - Add people

Step 5 - Take your photos

you can leave it to your guest to take photos using their cameras & phones but I like to have my trusting Polaroid with me

Polaroid Z340

This polaroid is amazing - not only can you print your photos out straight away but it lets you pick and choose which to print so your not wasting paper. I'm not going to lie it's a bit temperamental so I won't leave it out for guests without instructions but I've taken it to lots of parties and weddings and it's always a big hit - people love getting a picture to take away on the night

I've made an instruction guide to using it so if you want you could print this out and leave it next to your camera

I'll be back,

Thursday, 23 October 2014

How to throw a Tiki wedding in VEGAS!!!

I was over the moon for my little brother Sam when he announced he was marrying the amazing Zara and the fact that they wanted to do it in Vegas was the icing on the cake!

Of course I offered to help in any way I could, especially when it came to the wedding decorations and I'm going to share with you my 5 simple steps to turning any party into a Tiki celebration to remember!

1. Burlap Bunting

I love burlap material as I think it gives a really vintage feel to your decorations, however this time I was looking for a distressed look so made sure I left it a little rough around the edges.

I tried out 2 new styles inspired by my travels to Hawaii (but mostly Pinterest)

White Distressed

Cutting out triangles from my burlap material, I made sure I had enough for the words "Just Married" and made a few extra to split up the words.

I used my Cricut to cut out letters/images on vinyl and stuck them onto the triangles but if you don't have a Cricut you could cut the vinyl with a craft knife or just cut up masking tape.

Then I coated the top of the bunting in white fabric paint. Don't worry about being to precise with this step as you want it to look a little distressed but make sure you go up to the edges so it doesn't fray too much.

Once dried, just peel back the letters and then stitch some twine to the back of your triangles so you can string up your bunting

Personalised Screen Printing

Again I cracked out my Cricut and designed 3 bunting images. This time I personalised them for my brother's wedding by making a Z & S monogram for them both.

Instead of triangles for this one, I cut out large rectangles and then frayed round the edges. To make sure it didn't come apart completely I used some fray stopper which once dried, I was ready to go.

This time when I cut my designs out I had to remember to flip them backwards first as I wanted to practice my screen printing skills.

Taking the cut out vinyl, I stuck it to the outside of my screen and covered any gaps round the edge with masking tape.

Then I put a rectangle under my screen, positioning it toward the bottom of the screen and then pulled the ink over the top until I felt the image was fully covered. Lifting the screen up it relieved the image on the rectangle with a large gap up at the top - NOT TO FEAR there is method behind my madness. The reason for this is so that I can fold it over the twine and then sew on with my sewing machine. Of course remember to leave your bunting flags to dry before stitching them all together

2. Tiki Photo booth

Every wedding should have a photo booth. They are my favourite part about a wedding and a brilliant wedding favour for your friends and family to take away.

This is such a simple way of creating a bit of a buzz at your party.

I made the background by buying lots of 2m pieces of ribbon from Ebay, which were all different widths, and then sewing them all to a 2m piece of ribbon along the top - SIMPLE

Then I made a tiki blackboard with a piece of MDF covered in blackboard vinyl and then glued bamboo round the edges, before sticking a paper flower at the top. This allowed the guest to write their own special message to the happy couple or just something really funny

To finish it all off I bought lots of tiki tat as everyone loves a bit of cheesiness and dressing up for a photo. Stanley the Flamingo was a definite hit of the night

Now you can just let your guests take their own photos but I have my own digital polaroid where you can take picture but choose which ones you want to print out instantly. People love to get their polariod to take home and I've used it for so many parties now that it's definitely been worth it's money

3. Pompom Bunting

It took me a long time to come up with a colourful way to do some tiki bunting but when i saw this pompom tutorial inspiration smacked me in the face

Mini Pompoms - Vivid Please

I bought 5 different coloured balls of £1 wool from poundland and made 15 pompoms in each colours. Then i got a large sewing needle and threaded a long piece of wool through each of the pompoms to make a string of bunting.

Once finished I wrapped it round a piece of cardboard so that it didn't get tangled up when packed in my suitcase, then on the day all i had to do was slowly unravel whilst stringing it up on tress and the outdoor bar

4. Beer Koozies

Our wedding guests had their party Polaroids to take home but I also wanted to create something that people could use on the day - hence the beer koozies.

Now at the time, I knew exactly what I wanted to make but had no idea what it was called so after lots of Googling I found out it was a Koozie I was after, also known as a beer/stubbie holder.

I used my Cricut to cut out the template on foam and then stencilled the personalised wedding design on the front of the koozie, before stitching up both sides. I'll put up my templates on this blog in the coming weeks so that you can make them as well

5. Pool Lights

I did lots of research on floating candle holders but the cost of them didn't really stand up to the fact that we would only be using them for one night as I don't have the luxury of a pool at home so I came up with the idea of using glow sticks.

Originally we had planned to put the glow sticks in balloons and have them floating on the pool, which worked really great in my bath where I could turn off all the lights but because there were other lights outdoors they didn't really shine through the balloons. Instead we ending up putting the glow sticks in the bottom of the pool and leaving the balloons to float on the top. The pack of glow sticks I bought also had connectors to make a glow stick ball which was lots of fun

Just remember to take everything out the pool before you get out so it doesn't get stuck in the filter!

I hope these ideas have sparked your creative streak and if you decide to throw a tiki party of your own, then you have as much fun as we did!

Sam & Zara - I am so proud of you both.

You have grown up to be amazing people and you are both so brave to carry on your life together over the other side of the world, even though I selfishly want you back home with us. I wish you all the happiness for the future & hope every day is better than the last.

I'll be back,

Monday, 6 October 2014

Ding Dong the Bells are going to Chime - Home Made Dress for a Wedding

My little brother got married a couple of weeks ago in VEGAS! We all had the most amazing holiday and I couldn't be happier for them but before I write my post with all the crafty things I made for their wedding I wanted to ease myself back in with a simple post about the dress I made myself for their big day

note: the back picture was taking before I painted the diamonds on the dress

So the pattern I used is a Vogue Pattern and I picked mine up at Remnant Kings but you can get yours on sites like Ebay if you don't have the same store near by

I also bought my material at remnant kings - 5 meters of this Light Mint Cotton (although think I only used about 4 meters for the dress). This pattern isn't easy peasy but I have very limited sewing machine skills and managed to knock it up in a day so it can't be too bad!

Once I finished the dress, I made a diamond shape with my Cricut software (check out my cricut projcets page for the diamond template) and then I printed out 3 different sizes of the diamond on vinyl and laid it onto lino blocks to make a stamp like this tutorial

I then used my white fabric paint on the lino block and then printed diamonds in a triangle formation at the bottom of the dress, largest at bottom getting smaller as they go up. In retrospect the white paint didn't work very well with the lino block and I had to go over a lot of it with a paint brush - so I'd probably use proper lino paint if you have time to buy some. I also took the smallest diamond and placed one near the top of my dress, painting two lines out of it so it looked like a diamond necklace.

To finish of the dress, I look a piece of lace and hand-sewed it round the middle of the dress.

I love the final result and I hope you do to - it just shows that you should judge a pattern based on the image you see on the front, there is so much you can do to it if you use a little imagination!!!

I'll be back,

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Vintage Wedding Cushion

My friends Kerry and Al got married this year and Kerry was going all out with her handmade wedding touches - right down to home-made white chocolate fudge in a little vintage jar as a favour! YUM YUM

So I wanted to add the same crafty flare to their wedding present and decided to make something myself.

I had just got my Cricut cutting machine and was busy trying it out when the idea for this cushion hit me! It's a really simple way to make a personalised gift for the happy couple and it's something they can have out in their home for years to come.

What you will need:

Natural Coloured Linen (depends on the size of your cushion but I used 1/2 a meter)

Cushion - mine was 12" x 18"

Zipper - size depends on if you want it on the side or bottom (I used 25cm on the side)

Cricut Machine (to find out how to get a discount on yours click here) or a craft knife

Vinyl (any colour it's just a stencil)

Black Fabric Pen

Sewing Machine & Thread

Sewing machine zipper foot - I bought one for my Janome sewing machine

Step 1

Take your piece of linen and make sure its big enough to fold over the top of your cushion and wide enough that you can add a small hem

Step 2

Next you need to hem the side you want to put your zip on - I wanted the zip on the side of the cushion so I had to hem one of the longest sides, but if you want it at the bottom then you will need to hem the two shortest sides.

Step 3

Lie your material down so the outside of your cushion is facing up the way, then fold the material in half.

Open up your zip, take the side you want to attach the zip to and pin it along the edge of the material, but just on one layer of the material - don't pin them together.

Sew the zip along where you have pinned. This is when you use your zipper foot so that you can have the foot flat on the material without it getting stuck on the zip.

Step 4

Fold your material in half again the same way as before and this time close your zipper. Then on the layer of material you have not sewn the zip to yet, pin it on so that you keep it straight with the other side.

Again you need to sew your zipper to the material but it's easier to do if you unzip the zipper again.

Step 5

Now that your zip is attached, make sure the outside of your cushion is still facing inwards and then pin along the remaining two sides. REMEMBER TO LEAVE THE ZIP OPEN!

I placed my pillow back on the material to see where I needed to pin the material so it would have a tight fit.

Sew along the remaining sides, and close up any gaps on the zipper side, so that only in between the zip is left open

Step 5

Turn your cushion cover inside out, put the cushion inside and zip it up, making sure that it fits correctly.

If you have made it to big then you can turn it inside out again and sew a bit further inside your previous line.

Step 6

Next you need to make your Stencil.

I created mine using the "Folk Art Festival" digital font but if you want to use the free font like I have done below

Take your piece of vinyl and cut it to the size of your Cricut cutting mat - or A4 if you are just using a craft knife

Step 7

Take the backing of vinyl stencil and place it on the front of your cushion so it is centred.

Step 8

Open the zip up on your cushion and place a piece of cardboard inside it so none of the pen leaks through to the other side and then colour inside the stencil until there is no blank space left.

Step 9

Remove your stencil and put the cushion back inside the cover

Step 10

Stand back and admire your handy work!

There are so many designs you can use with this method so it really is a great way to make a unique present for any occasion!!

I'll be back,

Sunday, 27 April 2014

Cricut Projects

I'm getting into my Cricuting grove and I've made a few projects from the basic shapes to show you guys it's not as hard to make your own as you might think!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm up for buying their digital image packs but only if there are a lot of images in the pack I want - but when there is just that oooooone image you want, is it really worth that £30 price tag!?!? Well maybe if you are mass producing an item but not if you like to do lots of one of items like me.

So here you are you lucky ducks - not only do you not need to buy these images, you also don't need to make them from scratch, best of both worlds. Just download the files by clicking on the links below and then on the download button or arrow

To import them into your Cricut craft room, click on file, then open and you should see an import option at the bottom

I use Cricut Craft Room for my Cricut mini so if you use the same then please click on my large links above the images. However, for those using design space, I've also attempted to make an .svg vector file so you can import it as well, which is the small link below the image. Some of my files would not convert into .svg but I've done my best to support both.

I've worked hard on these images and I'm happy for you guys to use them for personal projects but