DIY Trays

Recently, I've become some sort of fan of trays, I know, I do realize it's a trend right now and there's a reason for that. But because there is no going to Target, Ikea or any other cool store where I can shop for nice trays where I live, I thought I'd make myself a couple. With a leftover box of Ferrero Rocher. Yes.

Here's what you need:

1 box of 24 pieces of Ferrero Rocher

1 or 2 sheets of  any kind of nice patterned or solid paper (I used tissue paper, that's why I'm recommending something else).

Contact paper

Assorted Washi tape

Double sided tape

Ruler

Scissors

Pen/pencil

First you need to eat all 24 pieces of chocolate. You can do it, I'm rooting for you. Then you're going to remove the plastic piece where the chocolates come. At the bottom of the clear plastic box, comes a squared piece of card stock (with nutritional information, logos, etc.) you need to hold onto. You will trace that piece over your chosen paper. Cut it with the scissors and put it aside. It will be a little loosen, which is ok.

Then you have to trace the same piece of card stock onto the contact paper. Once you've done this, cut it too and make sure both the contact paper square and paper you've chosen are the same size. It's ok if they don't exactly match. Now cut a few stripes (or triangles) of the double sided tape and paste them on the back side of the paper you've chosen. Then proceed to place the paper on one of the 'trays'. Now that it's been secured, carefully apply the contact paper on top. Be careful not to wrinkle the paper! (That's why I don't recommend tissue paper like I used). Like I said before, it's ok if they don't exactly match.

It's time to use the Washi tape. I chose a contrasting color (mint) to secure the paper + contact paper to the tray, by putting it along the sides of it and cutting the overlaps in a 45 degree angle and there you go! For the second 'tray' (the chocolate box' cover) I used a different pattern and also added a shape at the center using the same tape I used on the sides.

This project is completely customizable to your liking, easy, cheap and it took me like 20 minutes to make! But I guess that depends on how precise you are with measurements and stuff. I'm pretty obsesive and other than the fact the paper wrinkled I think they turned out quite pretty :) Another option is using the 48 piece box of chocolates for larger trays, which is something I'd totally be willing to try!

g.

Make Your Own 2015 Calendar

I've always been obsessed with planners and calendars. Even when I was younger and had nothing cool to write down on them, I'd still buy one in December/January and excitedly fill it out throughout the year.

Today I'm showing you a little project I did back in 2011 for A, when we were doing the long distance thing, across the world edition (A was working in Mexico City and I was studying in Sheffield, England).  I bought this DIY calendar in a little shop in Madrid when I was visiting friends over Christmas break and I thought it would be the greatest present for A. I immediately started thinking of ways to personalize it as it is really hard for me to find a calendar I like (they're all about kitties, cars and ugly landscape photos).

I don't think you necessarily need to buy it, you can definitely buy the supplies and make it yourself. You'd need:

14 sheets of  a thick card stock (1 for each month and 2 for the covers)

Scissors

A glue of your choice (I used glue sticks)

A bunch of printed photographs (This number can vary depending on your design)
Pens/markers and a ruler to draw the grid/numbers/months/etc...

The calendar I bought was pretty standard: half of each page was blank for you to fill and the other one had the monthly display, and a small section for notes. Now because my calendar was a gift for A and we weren't seeing each other for pretty much the whole year, it is filled with pictures of us (obviously). We had only been dating for four months when I left for Sheffield but we had managed to take an incredible amount of photos together. Here's what I did:

First of all, I chose my favorite 12 photos. I didn't want the calendar to be just images of us, so, for each photo of us, I looked for other photos of details of the day the photo was taken (e.g. the place we were in, something we ate or drank, etcetera). And so, each page had a different composition, according to the images I found for it.

Secondly, I edited all the photos. Back then I believe I used Picnik and basically just filtered all of them in different colors (at different scales) to (kinda) match each other and used the HDR effect (which looking back, wasn't probably the best choice). I also typed a phrase over each photo with the theme of "long distance relationships/love" because, well duh.

I sent the photos out to print at some local pharmacy, picked them up a day later and got to work! I also wrote the phrase on the note part of each month in case it wasn't completely visible over the photo.

Finally, I wrote things all over the calendar. I marked our anniversary each month, scribbled some of the things I had planned throughout the year, and glued little birthday cakes on important birthdays for us (our parents and siblings, best friends and ours). I even included some more of those so he could glue them on other birthdays I didn't know about (he never did).

As for the covers, I edited a bunch of photos specifically of details of all of our time together, things that meant something for us (on the front cover) and things that had reminded me of A while being away (on the back cover). I didn't change their colors, just used the HDR effect again and made them all squares (like instagram photos). Instead of printing these as photographs, I made a custom sheet format on Photoshop with all the photos, printed that on a sheet of paper and glued it to the calendar.

It was really fun doing this project and it reminded me how much I loved (and still do) A and how much fun we had (and still do) together. It helped me miss him a little less and distract me from the winter blues (it gets REALLY cold up there you guys). 

The best part about this project is that you can personalize it completely! It doesn't have to be romantic, you can make one of your family or friends, or any other interest of yours. Do you think you will give it a try? What woud you make your calendar of? Let me know if you do!

g.