The Bunny Finally Hopped

I've added some new content for the Bunny Hop birthday party.

Click on the link below to view images of the birthday party:

http://rosalineandmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/bunny-hop.html

Earn Your Stripes

                                     

If you are tired of an old boring plain coloured wall, try painting a few stripes on to spice up your entire room. Stripes add a fun and modern element to any room and you can mix almost any colour to create an interesting focus wall.  From the images you will see that you can use narrow or wide stripes or a combination of the two. You can paint vertical stripes to add volume to your room or horizontal stripes to add length. Although the images only show two colours, you can use various colours to make a bold statement.

Stripes are pretty simple to paint and are much less work than you might think. The best is to start off and cover the entire wall with one colour. Decide on the width of your stripes and make small markings on the entire wall. Tape your masking tape to the wall and ensure with a spirit level that all your stripes are straight. You've now covered most of the hard work. Start painting the contrasting colour or colours within the marked area and wait until the paint is completely dry before removing the tape. Removing the tape can be quite tricky and you need to exercise quite a bit of patience as a small tug can peel off the paint. Starting from the one end slowly pull the tape off and work your way to the other end. You have now successfully earned your stripes!

I've included a quick video as an illustration!

1200 Hits in 1 Month!

On the 18th of January I decided to start a small blog as a platform to publish some of my work, my ideas and my inspirations for projects. Being very critical of my own work I first asked for a few opinions and finally decided to publish the blog publicly on the 21st of January. 

Rosaline's blog has done better than I could have ever hoped for. In the past month, I received a staggering 1200 hits from all over the world.  I have viewers in Botswana, Malaysia, India, Brazil, America, England, Holland, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and Australia. I am completely overwhelmed and amazed at how well the blog has been doing and how much fun it has been to write about interesting finds and projects I'm working on. 

A lot of my ideas for posts has come from readers as I receive emails daily from readers asking for advice, post idea's and things they would like to read about. 

A BIG thank you to you all for your loyal support!

Your Loyal Blogger,

Rosaline

Stencil Chic

Every so often I find a creative and stunning idea or project that is so relatable and easy to do. These fantastic stencil mirrors just happen to be one of them! 

I found this awesome idea on the ELLE Decorations website and what makes it even more exciting is that the stencils were included in the original article. I have added them at the bottom of the article for you to download. 

This project doesn't take much and is quite cost effective. You can easily spice up your bathroom cabinet and add a fresh look to that old boring wall! You can even do the same above your dresser - it will be just as effective!

There are two different ways to do stencils, but I personally choose to paint onto a wall instead of using stencil paper. Firstly, download the stencils and print them out to size. You can change the size according to your specific need. Once printed, cut the stencils out and trace these onto the wall. Use very light markings as the markings are sometimes difficult to get rid of. Once you've chosen your colour of paint, use a very thin artist brush and start colouring in working very carefully and neatly! Lastly, choose 3 types of similar looking mirrors, and hang them onto the stenciled mirror! 

Click Below To Download:

Mirror Stencil 1

Mirror Stencil 2

Centre Of My Heart

I had a request last week from someone via my blog to help them with a few creative valentine's ideas. This person needed help as the couple doesn't live in the same city and he needed a few ideas to spoil his long distance love with. 

With only a few days to organize, there wasn't much time to waste and I asked him to write a love letter addressed to her. I then arranged for the love letter that he wrote to be baked inside a special valentine's cake which was just big enough for one. I left her a small note as a clue on the cake box to eat her way to the centre of the cake to find her secret love message.

If you ever attempt to do this, remember to protect the love letter from the heat and cake mix with a cover. I used a small pink easter egg. This way I could add a small wire heart and ribbon to add a special touch to the letter. 

Have a LOVE-ly Valentines day!

Love Tea Time

Wake up your loved one on Valentine's day with a warm cup of tea and a handwritten tea-bag tag.

Cut two hearts out of red paper and use a white or metallic pen to write your message on your heart . Remove the tea-bag tag and at the end of the string, attach the two hearts, back-to-back, using a stapler. Add your hot boiling water and serve with love!

More Bunny Hop Progress

I added some new content for the Bunny Hop birthday party!

Click on the link below to view:

http://rosalineandmore.blogspot.com/2011/01/bunny-hop.html

Asian Ease

I had a request from one of my readers to post ideas for a themed dinner. I did an Asian themed dinner a little over a year ago and thought I'll share the photos with you for some inspiration. 

You can easily recreate the same look at home. I tried to tone down the strong colours and I opted for more neutral colours instead - brown side plates, bamboo runner and lots of green plants. I purchased three types of unusual flowers and grouped each individually in their own vase. Play around with your flower arrangements and create something unusual and interesting. For place mats, I purchased an Asian newspaper and used different pages from the newspaper - you can buy these at most Chinese stores. To add a bit of 'life' to the table, I hired 3 goldfish for the evening and used them in vases as part of the table decor. It added some interest to the table. Should you struggle to find a animal or pet shop to hire your goldfish from, use the Animal Kingdom in Atterbury Value Mart. Then lastly, I always enjoy adding depth to the overall picture and in order to achieve this I hung a few chinese lanterns and chinese umbrella's from the roof. 

Just think of something theme fitting and creative you can dish up for your guest and you will create your own Asian themed dinner with ease! 

Photo Booth Props

Photo booths are the perfect tool for adding spontaneity to your pictures and encourage guests to have loads of fun while taking photos.  

I recently suggested to one of my clients that we do a photo booth at their wedding. Because the photo booth costs did not fit in to their budget, it was my job to come up with another creative idea that would fit into the budget.

You can do the same at your next party or celebration:

Have a cordoned off area that will be for the photo booth only. You will need a fun back drop for your 'booth'. Select the type of style you want the photo's to be taken in - retro, funky or formal. Ask one of your friends with a nifty camera to take the photo's in the photo booth. Have the camera set up and ready on a tripod to ensure that all your 'photo booth' photo's will be from the exact same angle.  Create time slots in which the booth will be open for photos and invite your guests to partake during these time slots. The key to your booth will be fun props. I had awesome wooden props made and there will be enough props to make each photo unique and fun. 

Very Vegas

A friend of mine asked me to help her out with a few dress up ideas for a Vegas bachelorette party she's attending this weekend. 

I've never been to a Vegas party, but this being a bachelorette party I can just imagine all the girls dressed up and looking so glamorous. We came up with an idea of a plain little black dress and something big for her hair to bring in the Vegas theme. The idea came about and I made her a hairband out of poker chips. It worked very well and there's no way she won't look like she's at a Vegas party!

You can easily make this at home for your next Vegas party or just a dress up party. You can use the same tips for any themed party - keep your outfit simple and just add something spectacular to your hair. 

For this hairband, you will need:

- 15cm of Felt 

- Black Net
- Polka Dot Ribbon

- 9 Poker chips 

- Diamante's 

- Hairband 

- Glue gun

Start off by cutting a circle out of the felt material to use as the backing. The felt backing will give the poker chips support and will hold up the entire structure. Then, cut the net into petal like shapes and glue them onto the felt piece by piece. Try and overlap most of them to add some depth.

Glue the polka dot ribbon onto the edges of the felt to cover it up. You have now created a perfect border for the poker chip flower. Start by gluing the first few poker chips as the base. 5 Poker chips will create a perfect circle.

Once they've dried, glue 3 chips on top of the bottom chips. Leave them to dry.  Glue the last remaining poker chip in the centre to cover the hole and to complete your 'poker chip flower'.

Finally, secure the hairband with another rectangular piece of felt onto the felt backing.  Ensure that it is glued properly. Lastly, glue the diamante's onto the net to give it a bit of shimmer and that touch of glamour!

Rosaline Takes Flight!

This week is extremely exciting to me as Rosaline finally has it's own identity and can spread her wings and fly!

I met up with the designer at GVG Design Studio 2 weeks ago and I had a few ideas of what I wanted. My brief was simple and included a few things that I knew I definitely wanted in my logo - a bird, a rose, scribble/doodle and the Rosaline colour. 

People always ask you about your logo and where it originated from, so I thought I'll share the background with you.

The Bird
Most people close to me know that I have a particular liking for birds. There's just something that has always attracted me to their ability to be so meek and mild and withstand so much wind and resistance. There's a bit of symbolism in that I wanted my business to be able to do the same. Very ironically I was married into a German family and my surname translates to 'Bird'. Soon after I got married, my father in law nick named me 'Voeltjie' and I have been mad about 'voeltjies' ever since. Birds give me a sense of hope and peace and I wanted to be able to inspire and translate this through my work and logo.

The Rose

The names Rosa, Rosl and Rosie has always been my favourites. It immediately makes you think of something that is soft, feminine and pink. The 'rose' in my Rosaline had to be included to incorporate the softer side of the business. 

Colour
Out of all the pinks on the colour spectrum I have always been attracted to the 'dirty pink' and only recently found out that the colour is actually called Rosaline. How suited? The ancient meanings behind the colour depicts relaxation, acceptance, harmony and feminine energy which I want to transcend into my work.

Doodles and Scribbles
I've always loved freehand scribbles. It's an interesting and contrasting combination with printed text and it brings in a fun and creative element that I wanted to include. 

The result is perfect and I absolutely adore my new logo!

I can strongly recommend GVG Design Studio - professional, creative and spot on!  - gvg@vodamail.co.za

Do It Yourself Headboard

You can easily make this 'shabby chic' headboard yourself. 

To create this look, take a few pieces of old wood and nail them together. If you have to buy new wood, sand your wood roughly to even the surface. This will prevent your clothes and other material from tearing when leaning against the board. 

Paint the wood with a few brushes of paint here and there to give it some character and to give it that 'shabby' look. Bare in mind that the more distressed, the better for a look like this. Once you have your panel of wooden slats, paint your message of choice on and set it against your bed.  

Sleep tight!

Valentine's Gifts Under R50

It's the month of love and showing someone you love them shouldn't cost you a fortune! I've spotted a few Valentine's gift ideas under R50.00 in local stores, and thought I'll share them with you. 

Red Converse Style Shoes : R49.95 Pick & Pay, Nationwide

Red and White Heart Storage Box With Two Compartments : R49.95 Newland Store, Atterbury Value Mart

Lindt Chocolates In Red Tin : R29.99 Clicks, Nationwide

Coloured Lip Boxers : R49.95 Pick & Pay, Nationwide

Red Rose Scrunchie : R18.99 Newland Store, Atterbury Value Mart

Red Heart Face Storage Bin : R49.90 Plasticland

Glass Dome Magnets : R29.00 Rosaline