Tag Archives: d.i.y

Aug 07 2013
Leave a comment
Bridal, Events

Wedding Weds: How to decorate a shop bought wedding cake

7th August 2013

For my second Wedding Weds I’m sharing some ideas on how to decorate a shop bought wedding cake. Waitrose and M&S have a range of plain wedding cakes that you can order in different colours that with a little imagination and basic d.i.y can transform a plain cake into something WOW.

RIBBONS & CAKE TOPPERS

Ribbons and Cake Toppers are super simple and inexpensive ways to decorate your cake

wedding cakes, budget, cheap, d.i.y, decor, toppers, ribbon, receptions, vintage

The Mr & Mrs Adams cake Toppers is from Miss Cake via Not on the High St, Etsy.

FRESH FLOWERS

Real Flowers are a lovely way to decorate your cake. I love it when flowers are layered between the cake tiers. You can either d.i.y it using an oasis or if its too tricky see if you’re florist will do it for you. Petals sprinkled over the cake can be just as pretty.

wedding cakes, budget, cheap, d.i.y, decor, toppers, ribbon, receptions, vintage

CAKE STANDS

Fancy cake stands look fantastic but can be expensive to hire for some d.i.y alternatives check out my d.i.y cake stand made out of a lampshade here & Martha Stewarts cake stand tutorial here. Oh How I love Martha Stewart weddings! And how beautiful is the Owl cake stand by Green Wedding Shoes see her fab guide here.

wedding cakes, budget, cheap, d.i.y, decor, toppers, ribbon, receptions, vintage, stands

SUGAR FLOWER SPRAY

Sugar Flower Spray placed on top or cascading down a cake has a pretty vintage feel. You can buy spray online from Cakes For All UK, Rainbow Sugar Craft and my favourite sugar flower sprays are from Cat’s Whiskers Cake Design via Not On the High St.

wedding cakes, budget, cheap, d.i.y, decor, sugar, flower, spray, toppers, ribbon, receptions, vintage, stands

And if you’re pockets are a little deeper I’ve got some great suppliers to share with you in post coming up. Their skills and creative flair will make your jaws drop.

Images: Pinterest, Etsy, Not On The High St

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 29 2013
1 Comment
Bridal

D.I.Y Wedding Favours- Orange & Cardamom biscuits

29th June 2012

If you’re looking for a simple homemade favour idea for your wedding- here’s an option to consider- Orange & Cardamon (Elachi) biscuits presented in a pretty D.I.Y box.

What you will need:

125g plain flour, 125g Butter, 75g Caster sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 6 Cardamom pods, pinch of baking soda, Zest of 1 orange

1) Beat together sugar, butter and vanilla till pale and fluffy

2) Open cardamom pods and crush seeds with pestle and mortar. Add to butter/sugar/vanilla mix along with the orange zest

3) Sift the flour and baking soda into the bowl and then mix into a soft dough.

4) Place in a covered bowl in the fridge for an hour

5) Roll out the dough until 2cm in width- then get using biscuit cutters cut the biscuits and place onto greaseproof paper

6) Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins and then cool on a wire rack.

7) Once cool dust with icing sugar.

This made approx 25 medium size biscuits-you can always halve the size of the biscuits and use smaller boxes if you want to reduce prep time and costs.

biscuits 1

biscuits 2

biscuits 3

biscuits 4

I’ve used a plain white box and added two sheets of pink tissue paper inside the box and three biscuits.

To make the box more interesting I glued two sheets of tissue paper across the lid and then using some lace I had tied it into a bow. You can always add a name tag onto each box so it doubles up as a favour & name place.

biscuits 5

This recipe is adapted from a recipe published in The Times

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 21 2013
5 Comments
Bridal, Uncategorized

D.I.Y Wedding or Engagement Cake Stand

21st June 2013

As I mentioned in an earlier post I added a few craft-y touches to our engagement party and here’s one of them- my D.I.Y Cake Stand. I’m rather proud of my stand and loved the fact no one could tell that it was made from a lampshade, 3 plastic plates and 2 wine glasses.

I didn’t take pics as I made the stand (DOH!) so I don’t have the best step-to-step pic guide but hopefully my commentary will be clear enough.

D.I.Y Cake Stand The Asian Fashion Journal

I bought three different sized plastic plates, a set of wine glasses (used two) and a two tiered lamp shade all for £40 from TKMaxx (TKMaxx home-wares section is fab)

D.I.Y Cake Stand 1

Yep, here’s the lampshade- it was originally a two tiered lampshade- I cut off the smaller tier so only this big base was left. (make sure you buy the right size plate to fit onto your lampshade base.) I then cut out the beads from the smaller discarded lampshade tier and kept them to one side.

D.I.Y Cake Stand 2

Using a glue that bonds glass to plastic, I glued the wine glasses upside down in the centre of the plates. Once all layers were glued together, I glued a strip of draught excluder (you’ll find this in a hardware shop and use the 1cm wide excluder) around the bottom edge of the top and middle plate. I left the glue to dry overnight and then sprayed the stand with two coats of primer and then two coats of metallic finish silver paint.

D.I.Y Cake Stand 3

Using some florists wire I had (cut to approx 8cm long) I bent the wire into a U shape, threaded the beads I’d kept aside and stuck them through the draught excluder in even intervals. You don’t have to do this last step but I do think it finishes off the look.

Hope you liked! the tutorial

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 06 2013
5 Comments
Bridal

My D.I.Y Engagement Thank you cards

6th June 2013

23 May 3

For my engagement party I ended up getting a little creative. I made a cake stand, some tissue paper floral centerpieces and the thank you cards. I thought I’d post some tutorials on how I got on and here’s the first- the D.I.Y Thank You cards. They were super easy to make, inexpensive and I enjoyed creating them.

thank you cards 1 I bought a plain pack of 50 A5 cards and envelopes from hobbycraft for £5.99 (I think that’s the right price) and a single gift wrap pack from WHSmith for £2.99 (again, I think that’s the right price) I then drew my love bird shapes onto tracing paper and traced over the images onto the plain side of the wrapping paper

thank you cards 2 I even traced the thank you writing so I’d get a similar look on each card.

thank you cards 3Then I glued down the love birds, traced the thank yous and then glued some sequins onto the card. (I just used whatever I had in my sewing box)

thank you cards 4My card making factory!

thank you cards 5There was some ribbon in the gift wrap pack so I glued a piece on to finish it off.

and that’s it all done

x

Tagged , , , , , , ,
May 23 2013
1 Comment
Bridal, Events

The reason I’ve been AWOL…I got engaged!

23rd May 2013

Yep readers, the Mr and I have finally got round to having our engagement party!- We were originally meant to have it back in Sept but ended up shifting the date. And while the proposal was months ago until the families get together and bust some bhangra shangra moves while high on the whiskey phiskey it doesn’t count!

I enjoy getting a bit ‘crafty’ and added a few homemade touches to the party- from my D.I.Y cake stand, tissue flower centerpieces and thank you cards. I will be sharing my tutorials with you in the coming weeks but here’s some taster pics.

23 May

23 May 2

23 May 3

I’ll be adding a few pics from the night once I get them from the photographer.

Tagged , , , , , , ,