Signing off for another year

It has been QUITE the year!! A year full of making, creating, designing, paired with good times, tragedies around our nation and our world, time spent with family, friends, and time making new friends! It's also been a time of poor health for me, and finding a way to juggle the struggles I have and how to continue a normal life with the information I now have. 

 But one thing that has kept me sane, happy and raring to continue in life is ACP! I love to create and it is something that brings so much fun into my life. A creative life is a messy, beautiful and exciting life because it's full of new ideas, fresh products and I love working alongside my equally talented and visionary customers. 

I have BIG plans for 2015. There will be a WEBSITE! Gasp!! There is so much work involved in making this happen but I am SO EXCITED this is happening. It's been a long time in the planning, as in, me deciding what I wanted haha!! I think that is the hardest part! But it's happening, and I've been really busy creating beautiful new products that will be launched on my own little place on the internet. 

I am so so so so so grateful for all the support I've received over the past year. It's incredibly awesome being in the handmade community. You make friends with so many clever people. I am constantly in awe of how brilliant some people are in this world. It blows my mind almost daily the things people think of, and the skill, oh my the skills! It's such an honour to know these people and to draw inspiration from their commitment and experience. 

And last but not least, my customers. How awful my life would be without you! You make my world go round and I wouldn't and couldn't do this without you. Thank you for choosing ME. Thank you for trusting me with all your needs and desires. You're the BEST. 

Here's to 2015!! Woohoo!! xo

Bow ties are COOL!

I have very much been in showcase mode lately as this party pack design came about because I took part in a Doctor Who showcase recently. I find showcases fun and challenging all at the same time. It really pushes me to come up with something new to fit into the theme. To make something I haven't made before! 

I do have a confession to make though. I have never watched Doctor Who before. So when I found out about the showcase I ummed and ahhed about whether I would be able to come up with something for it. I figured I'd just go for it and I went straight to my friend Lindsey who was my helper for this party pack design. I asked her ONE MILLION questions about the show, the characters, the colours, the sayings, the quirks.... and she was oh so helpful and patient with me. Thanks Zee! 

If you'd like to purchase a Doctor Who party pack for yourself pop over to my Etsy store as I've got a set available for purchase in there!

Eeeee eeee aaaa aaaa ROAR!

I recently took part in a jungle themed showcase. I have made monkey face punch art in the past (below) for a custom order, and couldn't resist giving it a go again. It really is such a cute face!! 

For the Monkey part pack I made "Birthday Monkey" cake bunting and 12 monkey face food picks. The food picks are perfect to go into cupcakes, sandwiches, or really any food item on your party table to help tie everything into the theme. 

My second lion design was a little harder to decide on. I wanted my second submission to the showcase to have the fun vibe like monkey's and be an animal most small children would be able to recognise. So off to Pinterest I went for inspiration and I stumbled across a fun lion punch art idea using the scallop circle punch. This is what I came up with! I chose to make it a friendly lion, of course! We don't wanna alarm the kiddies!! Haha :) 

If you would like to see close up shots of these party packs pop over to my Etsy store as I've listed some packs in there too! 

My paper craft portfolio is underway!

The past couple of days I have been focusing my attention on something that has been on my to-do-list since the beginning of the year. My paper craft portfolio! As you know, I really enjoy doing custom work. You come to me, tell me what you have in mind, and I make it work! Since I am not the kind of handmade business that has a huge stock pile of stock to be selling all the time, I thought it was time to start showcasing to my customers just how much I can do for them. 

To start the ball rolling, this past week I have been focusing on designing samples for my gift packaging range. From kraft boxes, to acetate boxes, to paper bags, and to muslin bags. 

Next on my list is to design samples for my party table range. This will include food signs, bunting, skewers, toothpicks etc. 

And the list goes on. I don't want to spoil the fun ahead for you by telling you everything that is to come, so you will just have to keep checking back! To view my Paper Craft Portfolio in full, go here. 

Catalogue Launch Party Part 2 - the food table!

To read about Part 1 - the setup, click here.
To read about Part 3 - the display projects, click here. 

The food table is actually my favourite thing to create for when it comes to having events. Making all my little skewers and toothpicks and food signs etc matching perfectly makes me all giddy inside. For this event I used the new SAB DSP Sweet Sorbet as my colour scheme and I loved it. It was such a funky mix of colours. As you go through the photos you'll notice my tablecloth. It's brown paper! I think it looked fab and I'll be using this idea again in the future I think! Enjoy the pictures. 

These dip cups were absolutely the favourite food item on the night. There was not one left and everyone was asking if I had more bread sticks and veggies left so they could scrape out every morsel of dip from the bottom. It was the Herb & Garlic Dip made in the Thermomix. Anyone that has the Everyday Cookbook will know which dip I am talking about. It is so delicious! The cups were easily decorated with some DSP & cardstock used as cup cuffs, and then I used the new Spiral Flower Die to make the cute flowers on the front in co-ordinating colours. 

Now these guys. Let's just say the execution was much different from the visual. They were delicious but lets me honest. They look like poop. So we were joking around that we should rename them "Poop Pops", or "Mallow Poops". It was rather hilarious. But let's not focus on my cooking abilities, that is missing the whole point of what I'm showing you here people! It's about the skewers!!! How cool do they look? Such a simple idea and so easy to make.

I think it's just wrong to not have spring rolls at an event. They are just SO YUM. I would eat spring rolls every day if the thighs would allow it. And I love my new double pronged toothpicks. They are a more appealing take on a toothpick especially if you are using them with a larger food item. They are alot sturdier. I used my new SAB Banner Blast Stamp Set & Punch to make this super sweet bunting which was the perfect size for these toothpicks. 

These skewers we YU-MMY. They had vintage cheese, salami, artichoke heart, boccocini and sundried tomato on each skewer. All I had to do to dress up these plain bamboo skewers was tied a mix of co-ordinating twines & ribbons on the top. Such a quick, simple & effective way to tie them into the colour scheme of the table. 

On the night I had a friend attending who has a gluten intolerance so I made sure that there were options of food for her to be able to eat. I adapted everything except for the spring rolls so that it would be gluten free. I had originally planned a different slice but changed it up for her and I must say I am glad I did because this slice. Oh my! Let's just say there is condensed milk involved which I'm sure contributed to the amazing-ness. Because the icing was a little runny on these guys I popped them in patty cases at the last minute so the icing didn't go everywhere. Decorated with a sweet & simple bunting washi tape toothpick. They are once again so fast and easy to make and you can create them in any shape you fancy. I did straight cut, diagonal cut, flag cut & a rounded cut. They all looked so fun. 

For drinks I just kept it simple We had chilled water in our water dispenser and everyone got a cute decorated bottle to drink from. I made sure all the bottles were a different colour so no one mixed up who's was who's bottle once they were all sitting at the table. Decorated with a strip of cardstock, DSP & some twine. How easy is that? Straws are from Lille Parti.

I had something planned for the backdrop of this table but the plans fell through at the last moment so I had to whip something up. So I made this bunting! Super cute & fun. I just pegged on all the bunting pieces to the jute. 

And here is everything all together! What do you think? 

If you are interested in co-ordinating event food table items such as food signs, toothpicks, skewers, cup cuffs, bottle decorations or bunting, you have come to the right place! Please shoot me an email and I will be able to come up with a quote for you. 

My Cream & Gold Christmas Table Setting

I just LOVE neutral table settings. There is something magical about it so it was easy for me to settle on Cream & Gold (with other neutral tones thrown in) for the big family Christmas lunch (which we had on Boxing Day). 

For the most part I was able to throw this table setting together using what I had at home. The only things I needed to buy were the gold & cream bon bons (which were a headache to find) and the chocolate & white striped straws which I purchased from Lille Parti for a couple of dollars (which you can see a couple of photos down). 

I knew that I was going to have a busy display running down the centre of the table, so I chose to not make place setting cards. Instead I opted for these simple name tags to tie around the cutlery. I love the way it brings a rustic feel to the place setting. 

For drinks we each had a wine glass jazzed up with a twine bow, and a glass bottle for water, decorated with a sweet mini paper doily, a brown cardstock circle, white & gold baker's twine and a mini punchie with "merry" on it. Majorly cute and everyone commented on how lovely the bottles looked. It is such a easy and cheap way to dress up a boring bottle instead of using a regular water glass.

For my table decorations, I simply ran a roll of burlap down the centre over the top of my calico tablecloth. Then I placed my trusty mini logs & spray painted pine cones all over which I had made for my Thanksgiving lunch which you can recap on over here. I just collected whatever I could find around the house that was neutral toned and whacked it on the table too! It really was nothing fancy! 

Here is one of my reindeer animals! I made a whole bunch of these and showed them on my FB page, you can see all of them over here. (I also blogged about them when I first found the idea here). They were a fun talking point over lunch! 

The last little detail on the main dining table was my big paper doily under the dinner plates! This idea came to me as I was pulling out the mini doilies for the glass bottles. I saw my packet of large ones there and the idea truck! I love how it looks! Love me some doilies! 

Now onto the glorious FOOD!! 

I made up some matching food signs for over on the food table. I know how much I like it when I know what food I am piling onto my plate so I am loving using food signs at all events these days. They are super easy and cheap to make. I just used cardstock, chocolate & white baker's twine, I punched out some ornaments out of my glimmery gold cardstock and threw on a large pearl to glam it up a little. 

The foods we enjoyed for lunch were Rice Salad, Mango Avocado Salad, Ambrosia Salad, Turkey, Ham, Garlic Prawns & Cranberry Sauce.

This was my layout for the food table. I set it up on mums buffet in the dining room right near the table. I threw on a lovely vintage cream lacey tablecloth, a burlap runner and a couple of decorations. The white stands are candle holders from Ikea. They come in handy ALOT. 

And here is all the glorious food! We sure did enjoy it! Can't wait until next year so we can eat it all again!

 And the moral of the story is, if you need food signs, place settings, bottle decorating or any other papercrafting related goods to style your party, we are ready to help you! We can customise everything to suit your needs, your colour scheme, your theme and your tastes all for a reasonable price! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

Christmas Day (throw together) Lunch Table

I know I'm late with my Christmas posts but here they are. As ridiculous as it sounds because it feels like Christmas was month's ago, this post is actually only 2 and a bit weeks late. So it's not THAT bad. 

Christmas last year was a little different from normal. We had a really quiet Christmas Day at Mum & Dad's with a few extra friends over for lunch. I hadn't thought of making a nice table setting for lunch and was making salads in the kitchen when I saw the dismal Christmas table setting being put together by my Mum (she's not known for her decorating skills). I quickly finished up in the kitchen and threw together a few things on the table to dress it up a little and to try and make her ghastly green tablecloth look like it was meant to be there (I love green and even I don't like that thing). 

Doesn't a little bit of string tied in a bow around a wine glass (or is it a champers glass? I have no idea...) look so elegant? It's my new favourite decorating thing to do. Now all those bits and pieces were NOT from my parent's house. Oh no. I brought over 8 boxes of MY bits and pieces from my house over to hers for decorating purposes. There was a main reason I brought it all over but you will have to wait a few more days before I show you that one! :) 

For lunch we enjoyed Mango Macadamia Salad, Garlic Chilli Prawn Skewers, freshly cut ham off the bone, chicken thighs (for people like ME who hate seafood) and Coleslaw. Nice, simple, tasty, fresh & light! 

Man I could do with a slice of that ham right about now. Nom nom nom!! 

My BIG Christmas table project will be revealed later in the week. You better be ready for it, it's fairly AMAZING.