Weekend DIY Neon Planter

Trending now, macrame planters! They are not as daunting as they look and you can try it yourself. It took us all of 30 minutes to make this the first time round. Discover a new way to hang your plants.

What you need:
- 8 pieces of paper/cloth twine, each measuring 1m  (we bought ours from DAISO for $2; see image for reference
- 4 pieces of tape about 3 cm each (masking tape/scotchtape/MT tape; this is just to tape down the sections later)
- Scissors
- Plant Pot
- 6 - 8 Drinking Straws (any colours)
- A Plant :)

Time Taken: 30 minutes

Step 1 - Get your materials ready

Step 2: 
- Tie the 8 pieces of twine together with a simple knot, ensuring all pieces are all equal length when tied.
- At the longer ends, divide the 8 pieces of twine into sections of 2. Then tape them down lightly. (as shown).

Step 3: 
- Cut your straws about 1 inch long to form the base support for the planter
- Put the straws through each piece of twine as shown. You will end up using 8 pieces of 1 inch straws.
- Tie a simple knot for each section of 2 pieces of twine as shown
- Try to tie close to where the straws end so that the base is sturdier
- Tape down to secure sections in place cos it can get messy
- You have completed the base! Hooray!

Step 4: Section 2
- Add 8 new pieces of 1 inch straws to each piece of twine.
- We used the blue straws for illustrative purpose for Section 2. You can use any colours

Step 5: Re-section - Section 2
- Tie 1 piece of twine with dark blue straw and 1 piece of twine with light blue straw and tie a simple knot
- You will end up with a V-shape section. Total 4 sections as shown

Step 6: Section 3 - That's the end!
- Add another 8 pieces of 1 inch straws to each of the twines
- We used pink and yellow straws for illustrative purposes
- Tie each of the twines with pink and yellow straws together, creating another V-section as shown. Total 4 sections

Step 7:
- Turn the base over as shown. In case you have not noticed, we've been working the planter from the top down
- Place your pot dead center, pull all the twines up, tie a final simple knot depending on how long you want your planter to drop and you are done!

   Original Instructions adapted from Brit+Co

DIY Coasters for the Home

Make these coasters as gifts or hang it up on the walls as a decorative accent

All you need are:
- Cork coasters (IKEA Singapore has them cheap, 10 pcs at a few dollars, we bought the circular ones)
- Acrylic Paints (We bought fluorescent yellow, fluorescent pink and white. Buy whatever colour you fancy!)
- Masking Tape (Try to use the thinner ones, perhaps 0.5cm in width. These will be used for colour blocking
- Paint Brush (Any type will do)
- A water container to rinse your brush
- A paper plate/palette

Time Required: Approximately 30 minutes

Makes 5 coasters

Step 1
Mark out the areas you want the cork surface to show up. We used polka dotted tapes to illustrate this. Try to use the thinner masking tapes. We realised more colours showing up seems to be more impactful.

Step 2
Start Painting. Have fun. Explore. You may want to wait for each coat of paint to dry before painting the next coat. We realised that cork seems to absorb the acrylic paint so it may take a few coats before the paint becomes opaque and that's when the cork surface stops showing through.

Step 3
Remove the masking tape. Here comes the fun part. You are done. Some folks recommend a sealant but as long as you don't wash the coasters under running water, you should be fine!