DIY PINATA BANNER

This banner was actually one of our wedding decorations, but I also used it to surprise Graeme on the morning of his birthday yesterday! It was a bit of a time consuming project, so I'm very happy that I got to use it more than once already (and totally saving it for potential use later haha). And who knows, maybe I can use the letters again to spell something different? What anagrams can I get out of "Graeme & Hilde"....?

I had so many ideas for wedding-related DIY projects, and one of these ideas was a Graeme & Hilde banner as a decoration at our venue. We also set up a DIY photo booth complete with homemade props and temporary tattoos designed by one of Graeme’s friends, made our own favors and a super simple guest book (which was such a last minute idea, I was literally printing out, cutting and gluing in photos in the book the morning of the wedding haha). The banner was one of the more time consuming projects though, but I’m really happy with how it turned out so I thought I’d share how I made it. My original plan was actually to make a gold one using gold wrapping paper, but after trying that out and deciding it didn't look nice enough, I decided to take it more in a piñata direction.

To make this banner, start by cutting out the cardboard letters. Print out the letters you're going to make on printer paper, tape them onto cardboard, and use a craft knife to cut them out. I used the font Homestead which you can download here. Once all your letters are cut, adhere the tissue paper. Start at the bottom of each letter, first covering the bottoms with two layers of paper, and then work your way up. I found that the easiest way was to cut long strips of tissue paper, gluing directly onto the cardboard and then cutting to size as you go along. Curves and corners can be tricky, but it really doesn't have to be perfect. Once all your letters are done, lie them face down and attach the string. I kept it simple and just taped it on the back.

Adhering the tissue paper is easily the most time consuming part, and the part where you might start to question a few things. I definitely questioned my sanity at points, and wondered why I started the project in the first place when I had so many other things to do. And why Graeme and I don’t have cute (short) nicknames for each other; it’d be so much more efficient. But once I was done with the whole banner, it all made sense. It looked pretty awesome at our wedding, and I’m sure I'll end up reusing them again. I mean, who doesn’t love a good banner?


Ps. Needless to say, everyone will be getting their Christmas presents wrapped in gold wrapping paper this year!

Pss. The top and bottom photos are by our wedding photographer, Desiree Mostad.

THE CUTER BOOK

I've probably mentioned this before, but when I lived in Glasgow, I used to go to a sewing class on Tuesday afternoons called Say It Ain't Sew led by the wonderful Iona Barker. It's a beginner's class open to anyone, and every week you tackle a little sewing project. And when we visited Scotland last Easter, I managed to squeeze in a little Say It Ain't Sew time! As it was Easter, the project of the day was of course to sew little bunnies, and Iona brought this book, The Cuter Book from Aranzi Aronzo. I made the Haha Bunny and added some googly eyes, and I also got a chance to look through the rest of the book though, and pretty much had to have it. And voila! It is now in my craft book collection.

It's crammed full of super cute little felt animals to sew, and I have so many ideas of things I want to make out of the patterns in this book. I have a few friends who are expecting babies soon, and how cute would a mobile made out of the Birdies or the Munkys be? Or as an applique detail on a dress for my niece? I've been meaning to make her one out of the leftover fabric from when I made this dress (and how cute will we be when we're matching haha). Or, even better, blowing up the patterns and making actual sized teddy bears? Have you guys acquired any good craft books recently?

SEPTEMBER IN INSTAGRAMS

Woosh, September is gone! How did that happen? And crap, it's less than two weeks til Graeme's birthday and I have no idea what to get him yet. Suggestions!?

September highlights include the opening of Nuart Festival 2015, celebrating our first month of marriage, and a lovely weekend at my parents cabin at the South of Norway, where we visited Farsund and had some ice cream in the sunshine. We also bought a New car this month, and obviously had to mark that occasion with some ice cream too. I don't think I ate enough ice cream this summer, so I'm clearly making up for it this autumn.

Plans for October include harvesting the apples and the plums in the garden, cooking lots of roasts like this and this, baking these (need to test out that creme brûlée burner we got for our wedding!), starting my Christmas present making and a weekend trip to Prague! Travel tips are very welcome!