Download our free Summer Holidays Planner 2016

We created a printable Summer holidays planner for up to 6 family members. Make sure that your summer months (July and August) are well prepared, and provide an overview to everyone using this easy to use planner. Simply fill in the initials of all family members, and give a color to all possible activities: Staying with grandma and grandpa, go camping, working, staying home, etc. Then start to give each day of the month the correct colors. Here is an example of my first week:

Download the A3 sized planner, the Tabloid sized planner or scroll upwards and click on the image to download it. Find more printable planners on CustomTemplateStudio.etsy.com or like us on Facebook

Military Helicopter posters

In the last weeks we have been designing a set of military helicopter posters. It started a couple of months ago, when we designed a poster of a Chinook helicopter. Based on this design we received a request for a poster of a Black Hawk helicopter, which we created, as well as an Apache helicopter.

We hope you love hem as much as we do! You can download a digital file to print yourself or order a printed version in our webshop.

 

How to create your business card at home with a PDF business card template?

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to create your own personal business cards? Without going to a print shop, or buying expensive software like InDesign or Photoshop, you can still create very personal and appealing business cards. Below I'll explain step-by-step how to use a business card template to make an infinite amount of business cards with Adobe Reader and your home printer.

Custom Template Studio has a collection of unique business card designs. Some of the designs are available as editable .PDF file. These templates can be adjusted by anyone, with Adobe Reader on your pc. The one-sided business cards are the easiest to print yourself.

       

1) Download Adobe Reader (download it from http://get.adobe.com/nl/reader/). 

2) Open your Editable PDF file in Adobe Reader.

3) The editable textfields are shown in blue (or you can mark them by clicking 'Highlight Existing Fields'. Click on one of the text fields to select it. Remove the current text with backspace or delete.

4) Fill the text fields with your personal text. And update the other text fields as well: add company name, job description, name, address, phone number, etc.

5) Save the file, or do a 'Save as' when you want to keep the original Template file.

6) Use paper of a higher weight (250 or 300 gram), and print up to 6 business cards on one sheet. 

7) Cut out the business cards with scissors or a paper cutter. 

Good luck promoting your business!

Custom Template Studio: vintage business card templates and posters

I have some exciting news  to share with you. Together with my husband I started a new webshop called Custom Template Studio! We are co-designing a collection of vintage business cards and home wall decor. They are custom designs, so we can adjust the design to your wishes (colors, size), and of course we will add your personal text. Feel free to contact us, if you have any questions, or custom request for us!

Workshop Upcycling in Antwerp: @ Atelier Pistolet

Are you a real upcycler? Or interested to know how to start upcycling? I planned a workshop in Atelier Pistolet for everyone who likes to know how to create trendy products out of tetra packs.

What will we make?
A small wallet, etui or smartphone sleeve out of tetrapacks. I will make sure that there are enough tetra packs for all participants. Or, if you like, take your own tetra packs with you!

When?
On Saturday the 13th of July
Between 14u - 17u

Where?
Atelier Pistolet
Jezusstraat 48, Antwerp

Costs?
30 Euro per person.

How to subscribe?
Send an email to marjan[underscore]geerts[at]hotmail[dot]com or come to Atelier Pistolet, and pay and subscribe to the workshop.

Hoera @ Beparkte Oplage

If you're interested in handmade products, and live in or near Antwerp, you should visit a special event in Antwerp: the Beparkte Oplage. This is a market for handmade products in the Shelter in Park Spoor Noord in Antwerp. The first edition in 2013 will take place on the 24th of March. Hoera will be there as well: come by to say hi!

Marjan

Creative Workshops in Antwerp

Last week I visited Atelier Pistolet, a pop-up shop in the Jezusstraat 48 in Antwerp. This shop is open from March to May 2013. The idea behind this popup shop is, that it is not only selling handmade jewelry, accessoires, and other gadgets, it is also organising a couple of creative workshops: drawing, crochet, mosaïc, etc. More information on the facebook page of Atelier Pistolet.

iPad sleeve in magazine Buitenleven

Yesterday I received a copy of a magazine called Buitenleven ('Outside living' in Dutch), which is published by the Dutch organization ANWB. A couple of weeks ago, they asked me permission to publish a picture and description of one of my upcycled iPad sleeves in their Spring edition. Which I couldn't reject, of course.


I started reading the magazine, and I must say: I love it. I am not a hobby gardener, but this magazine is about 'green' lifestyle, sustainable food, cooking, gardening, nature and so forth. And it contains beautiful images of flowers, people, nature, animals, and food.


Many thanks to Buitenleven for their interest in my upcycled creations!

This week: Free shipping to Belgium!

This week I have a special offer for all Belgian fans: free shipping on all items!

Valid between 16th of February 10h00 and 22nd of February 22h00 (CET) on all items that need to be shipped to any address in Belgium.
The only thing you need to do is use code FREESHIP11 at the checkout in my Etsy shop.

Spread the word!

iPad sleeves for Christmas

Now that my (extra long) christmas holidays have started, I work on increasing my stock of  upcycled sleeves for iPad mini and iPad 2 and 3, which are, by the way, very nice gifts for Christmas. After each new sleeve that is finished, I am more satisfied with the result, and I love the colorful prints of the tetra packs!

In the meantime I write my holiday greeting cards for friends, family and neighbors. Let me take this occassion to wish you also very cheerful Christmas days, and a blessed new year!

Marjan

ipad mini cover from upcycled tetra brik

I got some requests for iPad sleeves. So I started to design these as new items for my etsy shop. 

Currently I have sleeves for iPad mini, but I will soon create some for iPad as well. They have a zipper on the short side, and are lined with felt, to protect your precious little iPad. 

I hope you like them!

Marjan

Trashilicious

Yesterday I came across a nice Belgian webshop, that I'd like to share with you: Trashilicious.
It is a webshop that sells bags, jewelry and home deco made of upcycled materials, coming from all parts of the world: from the Filipines, Vietnam, France, Brazil, Ghana...

Their items are made of car tires, paper, cans, plastic bags, plastic bottles (PET), to mention a few. Really nice!

Packing for De bePARKte Oplage

Today I prepared for De bePARKte Oplage in Antwerp, which will take place tomorrow (23rd of September) in Park Spoor Noord. I am looking forward to a special day, with lots of creative people, beautifully crafted items and many visitors, looking for unique products.

I will sell my purses, bags and pouches, my diy kits for creating your own cross stitch monogram tags, small gift boxes and bag tags. All made of tetrapack.

Hope to see you there!

Hoera is selling on crafts market in Antwerp

Some good news: I will be selling my upcycled purses and pouches on a crafts market in Antwerp on the 23rd of September. It is called De bePARKte Oplage, because it takes place in a park, in the north of Antwerp, and all items that are sold there are made in small quantities.

So everything that is sold there, is unique and handmade. The market is in a shelter, so no worries about rain. I'm looking forward to it, and would feel honored if you would pass by to say hello!

Marjan

New collection of upcycled bags and purses

I started walking around with my upcycled bag (see my previous post 'Upcycked bag made of tetrapack' , and got so many enthousiastic reactions (thanks to all!) This encouraged me to make more upcycled bags,  not only bags with the print on the outside, like the bag on the left, but also with the silver colored side of the tetra pack on the outside. Personally these are my favorite :) If you are interested to have such a bag, feel free to visit my Etsy shop, or contact me (marjan[underscore]geerts[at]hotmail[dot]com) for a custom made upcycled bag or purse.

Upcycled bag made of tetra

A while ago I pinned a nice upcycled bag on Pinterest, that I found on destinationweddingstore. I found that is was repinned immediately by other pinners. I adored this bag as well, and also the idea to create a bag out of tetra myself, because it is a durable and waterproof material. Last week I started this DIY project, and made myself a bag out of milk packs.

The result is pretty pretty: It is a small square bag with two handles, which can contain my wallet, phone, keys and agenda and more small stuff. I added one of my upcycled tags to one of the handels, to give it a personal touch. For my sewing machine, it was quite a heavy job: I broke two needles while making this bag, but it was definitely worth the effort.

I have a feeling that this is the first, but certainly not the last bag that I will make out of tetra. This first experiment will certainly be followed by other bags, purses, pouches and boxes. To be continued....

Collecting tetrapacks

A while ago, I started asking family and friends to collect tetra for me. The only way to create a stock, and have a backup to upcycle large quantities of tags or boxes, is to start collecting this material. 

A few months before, I started searching for tetra in large quantities, the kind of material that professional painters used to lay on the floor, to protect it against paint, or chalk, when they're renovating a building. I read somewhere that they use misprints from the tetra industries, but I couldn't find those rolls in the big painting wholesale shops in Antwerp and surroundings. I found out that it is forbidden to sell and use this material with the original prints in the painting branch, because of copyrights. The only tetra that I could find was tetra in white or brown, which produced especially for the painting branch. So this has nothing to do with repurposing, reusing or upcycling!

So the only way to do some proper upcycling, is to use juice and milk packs that come from peoples fridge. Now that I asked my family and friends to help me: I get new packs every week, so my collection starts to grow. 

So this is a nice moment to ask all of you: if you live in the Antwerp region, you want to spent less on your PMD bags (special garbage bags for plastic and metal packaging, that cost a fortune) and you love upcycling, please comment on this post, and we will find a way to get your empty tetrapacks to my place.

The story of Hoera

Hoera! Today I created my 'About Hoera' page on Etsy: this is a sneak peek into the world of Hoera's webshop. So if you're curious to know how I started this shop, why it's called Hoera and what is happening in my home 'studio' (not much bigger then my kitchen table), feel free to take a look. Hope you like it!

Grandma's upcycled melon seed necklace

One of the things I learned from my grandma: creating a melon seed necklace. It might be one of my first experiences with re/upcycling. In fact, it is a very easy thing to do, with a very nice result, which I like to share with you: 

1. Buy a Galia melon
2. Cut it in pieces 
3. Remove the seeds
4. Wash them in water
5. Dry the melon seeds on a paper towel
6. Use thread and a needle to tack them up to a beautiful natural necklace.
7. Enjoy! (and don't forget to eat your melon)

Note: add some other natural colored beats, if one melon doesn't give you enough seeds for a long necklace! 

Hoera on Love2Upcycle

To my own surprise, my DIY greeting card kit (from upcycled cardboard) got featured on the Love2Upcycle blog. I'd like to thank the Love2Upcycle Etsy team for their interest and the nice blog post!

I wrote a tutorial about upcycling cardboard about these greeting cards a while ago. Happy upcycling!