Winnie the do-it-yourself Invites

Our first order this year, was for Winne the Pooh invitations and it seems like everyone is feeling the love for our favourite golden bear and his ‘hunny’ habits. We’ve had a number of enquiries all wanting Winne the Pooh parties and themed goodies. Seems like Winnie the Pooh is in for another busy year.

With all the Pooh Bear love going around we thought it would be fitting for our first DIY article to show you how to make your very own Winnie the Pooh party invitations. In this article we’ll show you how to make ‘hunny’ pot shaped invites and you can use the same idea to make any of the characters.

ITEMS YOU WILL NEED:

• Coloured Card

• Scissors

• Glue

• Koki pens

STEP 1:  You need to gather all your party information together; time, date, place and so on. When you type the info out on your computer make sure you set your page to landscape and that all the wording is on the right hand side  

of the page. This will allow you to fold the page in half and have all your information in the correct place in the card. You must also make sure that your words follow the shape of the ‘hunny’ pot so that none of the words get cut off when you cut out the shape. The inside of your invite may look a little like this

To: ______________

My little boy is turning 2,

Come party with him and Pooh

Date: 27 February 2012

Time: 2pm-4pm

Place: 12 Random Street,

Suburb, Cape Town

Please RSVP by 20 Feb at

                                     022 446 7788

STEP 2: Print the information out onto yellow card, you can also use lilac or blue card depending on what colour you want your ‘hunny’ pot to be. Fold each page in half to form a card. Find an image on the internet of a ‘hunny’ pot that you like. Print this out to the size you want your invites to be. Don’t make it bigger than half an A4 page though as you won’t be able to make the card then. Once you have printed your ‘hunny’ pot image, cut it out, as it is going to act as your stencil.

STEP 3: Once you have your ‘hunny’ pot stencil place it on your folded card. Make sure that you place it in such a way that all the words on the inside of your card fit into the shape. Draw with a pencil around your stencil to get the ‘hunny’ pot shape. Cut out the ‘hunny’ pot. 

STEP 4: Once you have your base shape the next step is to add all the detail. You need to cut out all the shapes from cardboard and add them to your invitation. First start by cutting out the lid of the ‘hunny’ pot. Trace around the outside of the lid of your base and then just join the line up by hand. Cut out your lid. Also trace and cut out the handle of your lid as well as the bottom stripe that goes around the pot. If you are not good with drawing, then print another stencil and cut out each of the shapes so that you can trace around them. Do the same with the honey that is leaking out of the pot.

STEP 5: You now need to cut out the label that goes in the centre of the pot. Onto this, using a blue koki pen, you need to write the word ‘hunny’ as Pooh Bear would write it. It doesn’t need to be neat because Pooh doesn’t write neatly. If you don’t want to write it yourself then just print it. Also use a koki pen (brown) to draw the line detail onto the lid.

STEP 6: 

In this final step you need to paste all your cut out shapes onto your invitation.

 And you are done! Your invites are made in 6 easy steps.

Try using this same technique to create other Pooh Bear characters

Valentine's Day in Bouquet

I must say I’ve always seen Valentine’s Day as one of the more controversial holiday celebrations. Instead of inspiring love the day often seems to create disgruntlement among those without significant others and even often between couples as one of the pair is bound to forget the day despite being surrounded by countless advertisements and tacky bears holding hearts. Some would even argue that it’s simply another day created by greedy retailers as a way to empty our pockets. For many years I would have agreed with these arguments and perhaps on some level I still think that retailers play on our heartstrings to get us to buy things we don’t need, but my mind is slightly changed this year.

I’ve realised that retailers, lonely hearts and disappointment have become the grinches that stole Valentine’s Day and it’s time we took the holiday back. We’ve forgotten that Valentine’s Day is really about telling someone that you love how special they are. So whether you have a significant other or not, there is bound to be at least one special person in your life, or if not a person a furry friend, that you can show this Valentine’s Day how much they mean to you. There’s nothing better than giving a gift to someone you love and seeing the appreciation cross their face as they are reminded how much you care for them.

So instead of giving your loved one a meaningless Valentine’s trinket that appears in the shops at this time every year, why not get them something a little different. We are celebrating Valentine’s day in bouquets, but not your everyday bunch of flowers, our bouquets are edible.

Our cupcake bouquets are made to look just like a bunch of roses so you get to embrace the tradition of Valentine's day as well as enjoying some yummy treats together. You also get a choice of a glass vase, tin bucket or flower pot for your arrangement. And then there is our decadent cakepop bouquets. A fun array of of heart shaped pops, chocs and candy. So place your orders now to re-embrace the true meaning of V-day and make this year a special one. (Orders only available in Cape Town, South Africa)