D is for Decoupage

Some of the regular social clubbers have been asking us what Decoupage is so we thought that we should write up a quick blog explaining. Here goes….

The name: Decoupage originates from the French word découper which literally means to cut out.

The beginning: The origin of decoupage can be traced back as East Siberia. From here the art moved to China and finally entered Europe through Italy during the 17^th Century.    

The whole idea: The aim is to create an ornate and original object by gluing layer upon layer of cut out material onto it. Pieces from magazines, newspapers and other random materials are usually cut into various shapes and stuck down to revamp old and tired boxes, seat covers and furniture pieces. Each layer is usually sealed with multiple coats of varnishes or glue – traditionally about 30 to 40 layers of varnish were used to get a glossy finish.

People who decoupage: Whilst mostly seen as a hobby or past time – there are a select clan who carry out the traditional practice for a living.Someone who does decoupage is known as a decoupeur, or "cutter".

Haven’t tried Decoupage but really want to?  
We are going to decoupage a laser cut out heart that you can take home with you.

Join us on Wednesday, 3rd of September at I love my laundry, 14 Bree Street, Cape Town at 18:00 - 21:00 for an evening of the crème de la crème of all things French including decoupage – bring yourself and a pair of scissors s’il vous plait. See what else the night will have in store here. Buy tickets here.

written by Zeenat Moosa - Social Club Blog contributor

Social Club #5 Peace & Love

With a white t-shirt in the one hand and two bottles of vino in the other, I rung the bell at Jacqui's house in Seapoint.  As always it's so good to see all the ladies and catch up.  Jacqui had the lounge curtains drawn and later on she revealed the DIY area outside where we were going to tie dye our t-shirts that evening.  You could see that she went through a lot of effort: there was a washing line with baby clothes pegged, gloves and a heart with every lady's name on the line, fairy lights and all the other goodies for the tie dye mission.

Washing Line with gloves and our names

First we ate a delicious vegetable lasagne and salad, followed by cookies with peace signs on to go with the 70's theme.  Then everyone was ready to get their hands dirty.  We made aprons out of black bags and then we listened to Jacqui while she showed us the two ways of twisting your shirt to make different tie dye patterns.

Jacqui showing us the two ways you can twist your shirt

We could choose from three colours: red, blue or green.  Everyone started with twisting your shirt and then securing it with rubber bands.  You chose your colour and then dunked it in the dye, then you rinsed it off and let it stand for a while.  Then we couldn't get the rubber bands off fast enough to see the pattern on your shirt.  

Left: Kristina & Kelly, Right: Anda

From top left: Peace sign cookies, Kelly & Karina, Anda, Kristina & Karma

Left: Sarah, Right: Karma

From top left: Karma & Kelly, Anda & Jacky, Natalie & Karma and Kelly

Everyone!

Natalie, Jacky, Kristina and Karina

Here are some of the end results:

Kelly and Kristina's vests

Natalie and Anda's result

I really had such a fun night, excellent host, amazing food, great company and such a fantastic skill that we learnt.  Thanks so much Jax!

Natalie & Jacqui our host

A message from our awesome host, Jacqui:

What a wonderful vibrant time it was, tie dyeing with all my specials. I know it was part instruction, part trial and error but I think we can apply that to a lot of things in life... "We live and learn". Even for me it was a first. I think everyone's designs were unique and even though we may have pictured them differently, they certainly surprised us! Was truly lovely having you all in our new space. Drop in anytime, our kettle is always full! Thanks Sarah for your help and love you all, keen for next months!

Social Club #4 – That’s Amore

Kate hosted us in her apartment in the Cape Royale, we were all in for a treat!  Kristina, Marli and I shared a taxi (we all know that Kate lives walking distance from the nightclub Jade and after a few vino’s our rubber arms will be twisted and we will end up there, thus no drinking & driving!) and the taxi driver asked us, are you ladies late, because you all ready and running to the car.  I said no, we are just very excited for Social Club!!

Kristina, Natalie, Karma, Kelly and Jacky

Always happy to see each other, hugs, screams of delight, kisses and a quick catch up with everyone.

We all got a chef’s hat, which was handmade by the host herself, Kate! Flashing of Cameras and a quick look in the mirror and everyone was “Balisimo”. Sjoe… and then the vino was flowing and Finally, Social Club #4 was officially on its way.

All the girls

Next on the agenda is to try and catch up with everybody’s lives since we saw each other a month ago.  Our talks are juicy: we talk about The ex, Flings and / or future men in our lives. I must say it was quite overwhelming as we (especially me) can get very loud and everybody speaks at once!  As from our next Social Club we’ll have new ground rules, i.e. you can only talk when you have the object (will have to find something) in your hand and everyone else have to listen.  If anyone talks out of turn they will be penalised.  I will have to give it some thought as to what the “punishment” would be.

Snacks

The snacks were so delish: French bread, olive tapenade, basil, olives and tomato relish.

The Social Club new skill #4: Pasta Making!

Process of making the Ravioli

Kate taught us how to make ricotta ravioli from scratch!  Kate prepared the pasta beforehand as this is a lengthy process.  We rolled the pasta out and put it through the pasta maker, while pulling it from the other side as it comes out so that it stretches.  We did that a few times until it was long and thin enough.  We scooped a mixture of ricotta onto the pasta sheet and placed another sheet on top, pressing down all along the filling and ensuring that there are no bubbles.  Then cut it out a cm away from the filling and it’s done.  Popping it into boiling water for a few minutes and serve with tomato pasta sauce.  OMG! It was so tasty and authentic.  And as you can see I didn't take any notes (I blame this on the wine and good company)!

Kristina & Jacqui hard at work

Having fun making pasta

Now this was  unexpected, the highlight of my night, a little block of what I call a ‘mouthgasm’ (no auto correct I do not want to spell mouthwash), in other words: a rice crispy square covered in melted Mars bar.  Rice crispy squares have been my favourite treat since a child, but covered in melted Mars bar is just the cherry on the cake!  Hence me eating 6 of these squares and I am actually on a highly healthy eating plan, but I justified this with me going to Jade and dancing it off!

Afterwards most of us were still up for a boogie, so after a little nose powdering and lip gloss, and we were ready to hit the club. Click Clack Click Clack with the high heels down the road and straight onto the dance floor (via the bar to get a drink).  The place was packed like sardines and I must say not ideal for me, as you just blink an eye (or bat an eyelash, whichever you prefer) and gone are your friends!  So the rest of the night was very eventful but cannot be disclosed as this is not officially part of the Social Club, all I will say is that some parts involved the following: a bouncy couch, gangnam style and 5am!  Oh and a lot of fun.

Social Club #3 - Pineapple Express

Ready for Social Club with my two bottles of vino and two pineapples

Our hosts Jeanine and Jacky did such a fabulous job, we were entertained and wined and dined!

Our gorgeous hosts for the night - Jeanine and Jacky

Everybody had to bring their own pineapple and we didn't have a clue why.  When we arrived, we had to place our pineapple on the place setting.  Loved it!

The place setting

We had some wine, pasta, bread and snacks and caught up with all the ladies.  Then we were instructed to start cutting the pineapple and everyone guessed right, we were going to make cocktails!

So after your pineapple was hollowed out, you took some rum, wine, cream, pineapple and brown sugar and placed it in the blender.  Once blended we poured the mixture in a shaker and cooled it down with ice while shaking it.  Then the beverage was ready for consumption!  So you poured the mixture in the pineapple and decorated with cherries, umbrellas and pineapple leaves.

Hollowing out the pineapple and the finished product - whalaa!!

On the left - Jeanine demonstrating what to do
On the right - Jacky is trying to take note

But Jacky is like WTF I have no clue!!

All the girls busy with their creations

Jacqui, the first attempting to blend her cocktail. Oh this blender is noisy!!

From left, everyone showing off their pineapple cocktails: Jacky, me, Kate and Kelly

Kristina and Jacqui enjoying their concoctions!

Then we were told to lift up our place mats and underneath there was a fun fact about pineapples which we had to act out in sherades so the rest of the girls had to guess!  Some examples:  Pineapples can induce labour , Pineapples is the king of fruit and pineapples come from Hawaii.  This was quite a laugh as you can imagine!!

Can't wait to see what the next social club will bring.

All smiles after a few sips of the pineapple express!!

Social Club

Social Club #1

What is more fun than ladies getting together to socialise, drink wine and share experiences?  This is exactly what the social club is about.  I started the Social Club 2 months ago and it has been such a hit!  I hosted the July Social Club and thought everyone how to make roti’s from scratch.  I was so lucky to get treated to a cooking class as a birthday present from my sister this year at Lekke Kombuis in the beautiful Bo Kaap.  There I learnt how to make a Cape Malay curry, roti's and samoosas.  I will definitely recommend that you go, as it was such a fantastic experience.

From left: Karina, Marli, Kelly, Kristina, Kate, Jeanine and me

I didn't have any rolling pins, so we used wine bottles, haha!

1.)  You mix 2 cups of cake flour with 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt. 

2.)  Then you make it into a thick round roll and you cut it up into 8 pieces.

3.)  You roll this piece out into a circle and then smear butter over it and then you roll it up with your fingers into a long piece.

4.)  Take it by the ends with both hands and hit it on the table, while pulling at both ends, to make it longer.

5.)  Roll it up in a spiral on each side and place both spirals on top of each other.

6.)  Place all the spirals in the fridge and let it rest for 20 minutes.

7.)  Roll it out into a circle and then fry in sunflower oil until brown on both sides.

Here I am cooking the roti's.  I served the warm roti's with a Cape Malay chicken curry and salsa.  It was delicious ad we finished everything!

Social Club #2

The second Social Club was hosted by Kristina and she taught us how to make decoupage candle holders.  She made delicious snacks and was a wonderful host.  She lives between Bredasdorp and Cape Town and went to the Napier book sale where she bought old map books and an enciclopedia.  We used them and other books that we brought along to make our candle holders.  She gave us whiskey glasses which we covered in our cut out pictures and then we painted the decoupage mixture over it and walaaah it is done!  Kristina owns an art supplies shop called Art Attack, check it out here.

Our stunning hostess Kristina introducing herself.  

(Everybody have to say something about themselves)

Hard at work selecting their pictures.

From left: Jacky, Jeanine, Kelly and Jacqui

Scrumptious snacks

The finished product - decoupage candle holder

Some photos of the ladies

Group shot of all the ladies.

From left: Kelly, Karina, Kristina, Jacqui, Sabrina, Helen, Jeanine, Kate and at the back Jacky.

Who knows what the next Social Club will bring, the only clue we have is that it involves a pineapple.  Check back here as I will keep you updated!