The Expo

It was, easily, the most fun, fulfilling day I've had since I started It's A Date Event Design a year ago.

The feedback we got was amazing, it was such an honor to be able to see so many people interact with these little products I had been creating, trimming, assembling at night for the last two months... And, also, I got to talk about weddings all day, which is probably, if I'm going to be honest, one of my absolute favorite topics and one I could have probably talked about for the rest of the night too. We made lots of new friends, both with visitors and other suppliers at the expo, which will prove invaluable, I'm sure, when we get the chance to recommend other services.

Renate, my partner-in-crime for the It's A Date Event Design stand, was unbelievable. She effortlessly charmed everyone that came into our stall, talked the talk like she had been doing it for years, and was the best support to me all day, as well as making me laugh laugh laugh! My family were also amazing: both with the set-up and pull-down. I know I was a ball of nerves the day before and they humored me, buckled down and just got the job done, and done beautifully. I'm very lucky to have such great people around me!

Here are some photos my husband took at the beginning of the day of our finished set-up stall. This first one is of our entire stand. We were stand number 4, which meant visitors will still pretty fresh when they got to us - after the next few rows of stands, I'm sure it was another story!

You can see the Wedding Arch I created in this image, I mentioned it a few posts ago. This is my second wedding arch, and my favorite so far, I just adored the colors we used.



Set One: Designed after a rather inspiring chat with Renate! This was one of two elaborate sets, and featured a Wish Tree! Colours were yellow, burnt orange, brown and white, with a bit of sage green thrown in for good measure!





Set Two: Colours were aqua, black, white and silver. I went for a lace motif with this set which I think worked well against all the black!



Set Three: My favourite set, the Sweetheart Table. Colours were Baby blue, Gold, Brown, Cream and everything had a travel theme, right down to the Passport invitations.







Set Four: Colours were Red, Purple, Slate Grey and Cream, and this set had a culinary theme!





You can find out more about these projects here.

All photos © James Sann Photography and It's A Date Event Design.

Rabbits and Sleepyheads

I had a little downtime today between projects, and got the chance to create these rabbits for a table display at a home wares store. The rabbits are about 250mm tall and are constructed out of card stock, cardboard and this awesome sticky-backed velour that I had purchased a few weeks ago without any particular project in mind. I printed a silhouette of a rabbit out and cut it to shape in the card stock and cardboard, and then wrapped the velour over the shape. I cut another copy out of the cardstock and stuck it to the back, just to neaten up where I had wrapped the velour around. A purple ribbon completed these cute little rabbits.



I also created some wrapped eggs out of purple tissue paper and thin black ribbon (which haven't been pictured as they were a very last minute project!) The rabbits and eggs will be paired with a black and white dinner set for an Easter-themed display and, I think, will look pretty cool with such a monochromatic scheme. When I delivered them, the manager mentioned that they were Cadbury colours, which I hadn't realised! I guess I was subconsciously thinking about chocolate all along!

In other news, I have not been able to stop listening to "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit - quite the corker of a track! Its one those songs I'm sure will always bring back happy memories of sitting amid piles and piles of cut paper and glue tape, eating blue M&Ms* with the two loves of my life and feeling like I'm at the most productive and creative I've ever been. Bliss.

PS. I finally have gift certificates in my Etsy store! Yay!

* I have a blue tongue and blue teeth thanks to these little guys! Blue is the only colour I can't use for my display, so these are the only ones we can actually eat for the moment!

Time Flies When You're Flat Out

Well, quite a long time without a post! I have been surrounded by cut paper and print-outs for the upcoming Bridal Expo, and haven't had much chance to get on the computer! Quite a nice change actually, and I really am enjoying putting everything together.

Clearly, so is my dog, who found the most comfortable spot amid my supplies and had a little nap yesterday whilst we listened to Sound Relief and the lovely rain.



Hopefully more to write soon!

New Wedding Arch - WIP

Today I started on a new wedding arch - I forgot how enjoyable the last one was, I've had a lovely time cutting and pasting tonight. Here's a work in progress shot of a flower I created using second-hand sewing pattern paper:


(Photo above is from my dodgy iPhone camera - yesterday I got to use James' Canon 350D and in contrast, it makes my photos from my phone look a little ordinary)

I got the inspiration from a fabulous tutorial by Andrea of Everyday Beauty who used the same material to make beautiful little flowers to go around her pink lights (pictured below).


Image © Everyday Beauty

I tried doing the same, without lights, with very little success, just due to not having a centre to wrap around, so I ended up fashioning the pattern paper like a big pom-pom. The leaves are just simple cut-outs in black paper. Fun fun fun!

Bargain High

You know, I'll be honest - the current economic climate really gets me down, like I'm sure it does to everyone. Money isn't stretching as far as it used to, everything seems either ridiculously overpriced or ridiculously undervalued in this current climate. And for someone who spends (at least) two hours a day on international websites, purchasing something online to be shipped to Australia is most commonly a costly/disappointing experience - either stores WON'T ship to Australia or it will cost an arm and a leg to get here - hardly anyone's fault but it makes my wish list seem more and more far-fetched.

But I'll tell you one thing I can be thankful to this economic climate: I have learned to bargain shop, something I hadn't given enough time or thought to in the past (I'm a convenience shopper and I've learned the error of my ways!). It started with checking out the 'cheap shops' rather than regular stores for things that didn't have to be name brand, and being very pleasantly surprised at what treasures these stores can yield. And then there is thrifting, which I am quickly becoming addicted to. I came home with some really wonderful items today and it cost me less than half my budget for the trip, something I am really thankful for.

Here are some pictures/details of my finds (most are going to be used for my expo stand!):







I purchased the ribbon above, and quite a bit more, for just under $20, which is a bargain compared to other places I've shopped in the past. At 15c a metre for most of it I really couldn't go wrong!



This had a pretty terrible picture in it, but I thought the frame was so cute, I had to have it, and luckily, I can swap it for something else I have in mind... $1!



The silver tray and blue bowl were 50c each and will be perfect for housing some little mementos!



These silver bells were 25c each.



I just love this mini jar - my love of yellow glass continues! My mum had a similar styled blue jar (much larger though) so they must have been common! I picked this up for $1!



These cute letters (above) were $3 for 40 and are made from a neutral cardboard.

I also recently purchased these two things from their online retailers and I loved these products so much, it made it worth the hefty postage costs:



These gold postcard stands are from Sadie Olive - Sara could not have been more accommodating to me when I was inquiring about purchasing these, and she has some really beautiful items in her store - you should check it out, you'll fall in love with about half a dozen things like I did! I first saw these holders used in a Martha Stewart article and I've been on the search ever since, and I'm very happy I found them.



A glowing report can also go to Nicole of Pink Loves Brown, who shipped my beautiful blue suitcases so quickly! They are even cuter in person/paper, and I really look forward to getting to use them!

Ahhh... okay, now that I've indulged my Bargain High, time to get back to some real work!

70s party

We had such a great time at my friend Dale's 70s party on the weekend, here's me and James getting in the fashion of the times: I got to fulfill my lifelong dream of wearing a caftan and James is channeling some Underbelly-esque dodgy cop action:



James took heaps of great shots, if you're interested you can find them here.

Coloured Lollies Round-up

At the moment, I'm facing a problem that I'm sure quite a few brides have already faced: I need heaps of lollies, but not just any, lollies in a particular color. I never had this problem when I was an actual bride (and I imagine it wouldn't have been quite as hard as we had a predominately black/white theme) but has anyone recently tried finding any type of confectionery in aqua? It's hard work!

Things would be a little easier if I was in the US, as M&Ms are available in a range of 25 colors that make my heart sing, including SILVER and GOLD! How cool is this?:


Image © My M&Ms

Unfortunately this seems to be limited to the US so my dreams of cute aqua M&Ms might be a bit of a long shot. However, I have found a few good confectionery suppliers who are based in Australia who may be able to help if you're facing a similar dilemma:

Goody Goody Gum Drops has a wide selection of confectionery to choose from. 1KG of a particular colored Jelly Belly will set you back around $AU39.50 plus shipping.

Sugar Fix provides sweets and candy from the US and UK as well as some Australian brands. They have a great 'retro' section if you're looking for something a little bit different.

Tom's Confectionery Warehouse has a great selection as well, particularly in their Jelly Beans section, which has quite a few colours to choose from: blue, pink, black, a cream color, brown, deep red and quite a few different shades of green. The Simpsons range of Jelly Beans had some really great bright colours as well and at just under $AU5 a kilo (plus shipping) they might work out to be a more economical option.

I really do have my heart set on finding some kind of aqua-colored lolly, so I'll keep searching. Another option is to dye something white an aqua colour - if I attempt this, I'll be sure to post the results!