A couple weeks ago, Coca-Cola Freestyle approached me with a fun challenge. Come up with a DIY project that’s inspired by one of their low and no calorie beverages available in their Coca-Cola Freestyle machines. Have you seen these machines around? I’ve been noticing that they are popping up everywhere! If you’re unfamiliar, basically it’s like this magical machine that has a touch screen, where you can choose from a massive selection of Coca-Cola beverages. Remember when you were a kid (ok, maybe as an adult too, what?), you’d go to the gas station mini mart and you’d mix and match your soda drinks. A little coke, with a little lemon lime, with a little root beer… and maybe a dash of cherry flavored coke… and then go back to the coke… etc… Imagine that, but with, like…. A gazillion more options!
So, challenge accepted. First, I stopped by the closest Coca-Cola Freestyle machine (which for me was a Boston Market.) The first screen you choose from lets you narrow it down to 4 main drink categories – All Drinks, Low/No Calorie, Fruit flavored and Caffeine Free. I was totally intrigued with the Low/No Calorie beverages, so I touched that button. That led me to another screen that showed all their Low/No Calorie options. I was pretty impressed with that menu, and lately I’ve been on a ginger kick, so I decided to check out the Seagrams Diet Ginger Ale. I also love Lime, so I settled on Seagrams Diet Ginger Ale Lime. Push that button, and like magic, the drink comes out.
Anyway – Going back to the DIY challenge, I really liked the gray/green color combo happening with the Seagrams Diet Ginger Ale Lime beverage button. So… that got me thinking, what could go great with that… First thought – CHIPS and GUAC! Oh wait, this is not a food challenge, lol. But that ultimately lead me to – NAPKINS! So… away we go…
First thing I did was buy some inexpensive store bought cotton napkins. I got a set in white and one in a light green.
I decided on doing two napkins inspired by the green/gray. First was the gray. Something about being around all these drinks got me thinking about swirly motifs… that then made me think of Marble texture – and if you’ll recall last Christmas’ ornaments, I’m totally still obsessed with all things marble. However, the nail polish technique I used to make my ornaments didn’t seem like it would work as well on fabric. So after a little research, I came across this old technique of marbling using shaving cream. SHAVING CREAM??? Yes. Shaving Cream. Have any of you done this? It was new to me, but sounded so fun.
Basically you lay down a base coat layer of shaving cream. (I found that the design looked best when the shaving cream base coat was flat and smooth.) I used a piece of cardboard to smooth and flatten it out before applying the colored paint. Next, drizzle some paint (I used a gray fabric paint). Then using a stick or brush, swirl the paint around, which then yields the marble texture. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. It’s actually all very much an art experiment, and I ended up doing a few tries until I found a technique that I liked. Anyway, after you have your swirl pattern decided on, simply lay your fabric (or paper) on top of the paint/shaving cream. Press down gently to make sure all the surface of the fabric (or paper) is touching the paint/shaving cream, to ensure the pattern is transferred. Then carefully lift up the fabric and place it down with the paint/shaving cream side up. Allow to set for a few minutes. Then, using a squeeze or ruler or something flat, carefully scrape away the shaving cream and you’ll see your design has been transferred onto the material! MAGIC!!!
For my second napkin, I decided to do something very graphic and bold. I opted to create a half circle stencil, which was inspired by a cut lime wedge. I laid out the pattern on the computer and printed it out. Then using a craft knife, carefully cut out the stencil on a piece of cardstock. I then simply sponged white fabric paint – and voila! Instant graphic pattern!
And there you have it – two fun and simple DIY napkins that will make the perfect accompaniment to a little snack of chips, guac, and some yummy Seagrams Diet Ginger Ale Lime!
To find out more about Coca-Cola Freestyle and to find a machine near you, check out their website here.
This post was done in partnership with Coca-Cola Freestyle. All content, opinions and images are my own. Thank you for supporting my sponsors that keep Happy Mundane going!