Paper plates rock!

I know paper plates are often used in arts & crafts but this is so awesome! 

Note to readers : I am so deep in my works so this is suppose to be a very short entry but apparently it is not, because this is so awesome!

Note to self : Do not make this a practice, you've got almost-endless deadlines. But this is so fantastically awesome!

It's a habit to have a stash of paper plates in my home, new or recycled ones. My husband and I often take our girls out for quick picnic so I could just grab some whenever we go out. Besides that, paper plates are a great tool to keep my girls busy, so they don't bother their busy mom.

Kids drawing on paper plates, are pretty common, aren't they? But what about, Paper-Plate Polyhedron? See below.

Looking for some hanging lanterns for your event without burning a hole in your pocket?

Make your own!

close up view

image source Anders Ruff Custom Designs

One word : Awesome!

Who are responsible for such creative project?
Visit their blog here.
"Maureen (Anders) and the new girl, Adria (Ruff), were complete strangers until a preschool open house. In the hallway before parting, they realized that they had a lot in common - the love of all things paper, parties, design and art. From there a wonderful friendship formed and they decided to embark upon a business together! Both devoted and passionate about graphic design, they hoped to change the face of celebration style for those who love it as well."

Can't wait to DIY? Click here for tutorial. Have fun!

Happy D.I.Y Pelamin : Before & After

It's been almost three months but I have not done blogging about my brother’s wedding. Read earlier posts here and here. This entry will be a short one, of our very own D.I.Y pelamin. Spending thousands of RM on a pelamin would cause a serious damage to our budget. So we commissioned a local carpenter to build us a base for the pelamin and later did the decoration ourselves. 

Metres of cloth and fabric are from my mom's collection. The same chair & mini stage were used at my wedding & my sister's. We bought only three things for this pelamin. One is the glass lantern, and the other two, were bought at a shop selling bakery supplies. Any guess?

 

They are, the shining gold doily paper and the mini crown on top of the pelamin. It's made out of round gold mini cake cardboard, commonly used as base for mini cakes.

Something Old

Set merenjis

Something New

Glass lantern

Something Borrowed

Tapak pahar

Something Blue

Bunga telur

Happy D.I.Y Hall : Before & After

Previous entries on this wedding reception are posted here and here.

We started off preparing the hall two weeks prior the reception. My father and I checked out the hall, accompanying us was Pak Din, the carpenter we had hired to build the pelamin. Six years ago he built my pelamin and my sister's three years later. We were very fortunate to have the hall newly painted by the Majlis Daerah Rompin and the colours matched the wedding theme perfectly.

Majlis Daerah Rompin gave us the green light to begin work two days before the big day. The family, cousins, aunts, uncles all gathered together and with full force, started off by arranging all the tables & chairs. Pak Din came and had the pelamin assembled & erected early so I could begin work on the decorations. Yup, that's me laboring over the doily papers for the pelamin. All the table top covers, clothes for the scallops & table skirting are my mother's. Yes, the banquet chair covers & the ribbon sets too. She has a stockpile of them, which she had earlier bought for my wedding and my sister's.

We had the hall all to ourselves so we placed some mats on the floor, we had picnic, and we even brought some pillows. My sister and I brought our kids along and the hall provided a very spacious area for them to run around and boy, they had a ball!

On the eve of the big day, the caterer came to set up the tables with plates, drinking glasses and such. We installed some light bulbs for the pelamin, placed the telur rebus on all four bunga telur stands, did a sound check, did the bunga manggar and many more of teeny meeny touching-ups.

17th July came and feeling a bit discontented with the table top settings done by the caterer the night before, we spent the last few hours before the event to finish off the pelamin, the main tables and the VIP’s. We took a few rounds inspecting the hall, lit some candles and headed home to get ready.

Finally, after working vigorously for two days and nights, everything is all set and ready to receive the guests.

Postings on pelamin and door gifts are to follow soon.

Happy D.I.Y

Alhamdulillah, the wedding reception went smoothly. We were super busy, with sleepless nights. But we had tons of funs 'D.I.Y'ing the whole event.

We engaged our photographer friends, Mr. Jai & Mr. Yus, for the reception, and as more photos are coming in, I will share a few more soon.

Pretty photos make me happy, really really happy. Jai & Yus, thanks a lot. Job well done!

Doily inspired wedding decoration

It's only two more weeks before my brother's wedding reception and I am still buried deep in my doily-stamping load. A few more days and I will be done. But loving the pretty paper so much, that I have to look up for more doily inspired projects. Here are some of what I have discovered & fallen in love with, thanks to the ever-so-helpful, Mr.Google.

Table Setting

image source

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Decorative Garland

image source

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Wedding Favors

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Hanging Pom Pom

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Cake Decoration

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Paper doily + brown paper bag = ?

The creative bride decided to make her own favor bags. She made them up using brown paper bags, with two types of tags. One, she used my doily tags which I have blogged here.

photos by nurul

And below, her own handmade tags. You can read more on her blog, kamipunyarumah.blogspot.com.

Aren't they just lovely?

Nurul's journey

Nurul Huda's first order is the handmade paperbags for her akad nikah. Six months later, she put a request for handmade wedding invitation cards for her VIP guests. She liked the idea of using doily papers so much that she ordered another 400 pieces of those for her favor bag tags.

Quoted from her blog,

"Kad kawen VIP pula ditempah dari Warna-i untuk Farhana...

Manakala untuk saya, ditempah dari ArtChetak...
Kedua2 kad adalah mengikut citarasa kami masing-masing....
Saya dah banyak kali berurusan dengan Kak Durra dari ArtChetak..
Setiap kali, hasilnya amat memuaskan...
Dan sebab itulah saya mempercayai beliao...
(Boleh kot nanti utk kenduri cukur jambul ke, anniversary ke..menggunakan khidmat akak lagi...?)

Kita tengok gambaq dulu na...
Pehtu sambung cerita lagi...

Inilah kad2 kawen kami...

3 jenis kad kawen anak Pok Ya...

Kad VIP saya...

Lagi..sebab cantik sangat, letak 2 kali..ngeh..ngeh..."

The reason I'm posting this is not just because of her above testimonial, but because of this...

HER own handmade invitation card!

"Ini pulak kad yang saya buat sendiri...

Designnya adalah bersempena dengan bunga kegemaran saya iaitu tulip...

Kad ini diperbuat dari kertas recycle...
(Kalao sapa2 nak contact no. supplier, boleh emel saya...)
Manakala sampulnya diperbuat dari kertas surih (tracing paper)...
Riben dan bulatan itu menggambarkan tema kami...
Biru dan putih...

Kiranya, bab kad ni, saya sangat puas hati...
Baik yang ditempah atao yang dibuat sendiri...
Kedua2nya menepati citarasa dan tema kami...
Yang paling penting, saya mahukan kad ini diingati oleh sesiapa yang menerimanya...
Saya rasa berjaya kot.. "

She has, indeed!

And nurul, tulips are my favorite too!

Do a happy doily

More inspiring crafts made from doily paper.

image source & how-to from here

image source & how-to from here

image source & how-to from here

image source & how-to from here

And last but not least, on my own bedside table, crafted from empty mayo jars, some ribbons and of course, doily papers.

The beauty of wrapping papers

I LOVE wrapping papers. I think they are underrated. They could do wonders if you know exactly what to do with them besides wrapping gifts. Salute to the designers. Below are some of the pieces I did using 80cents wrapping papers & 20cents envelopes. If you do it yourself, these paper bags costs you almost next to nothing.

D.I.Y and budget-friendly favor boxes.

Plastic Candy

Cone Candy

Box Candy

Each of these boxes are made of materials that only cost RM0.50 or less. They are put together using envelopes, ribbons, clear plastic bags, manila cards, wrapping paper & coloured paper. No time to do it yourself? We'd do it for you with a minimal price. Check out www.marthastewart.com for more ideas.

D.I.Y AidilFitri cards.

Making our own greeting cards is fun! Despite a few sleepless nights, we managed to finish 30 pieces of them only. They are not for sale though. We were merely experimenting and playing around with ideas until we came up with satisfying results. And why note use these ideas for your wedding invitation cards? Click images for bigger pictures.

New items coming soon!

Very soon, we will be offering personalized boxes for all. We are in the midst of designing a number of paper box templates for you to choose from. A budget corner will be introduced for items less than RM3.00 each.

Come back soon!

Another frugal idea - favor bag.

Here's another version of paper bag idea which was posted about a month ago. The price starts from RM1.60 including printing.

Frugal gift wrapping - Do not judge a gift by its wrap.

Gift wrapping is an art. Sometimes the effort we put in to wrap a present or gift holds more meaning than the gift inside. These two links will give you some ideas on how to use materials you may find around your house as creative & attractive gift wrappers, and some are eco-friendly.

• Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas
  
  
• Gorgeous Gift Wrap for NO Money!

Freebies - Box templates

Here's a little something for you. They are in jpg format. Simply download, print and fold.

Right-click on the thumb images below and choose 'save link as'.