Wishing Trees

I'm looking into making one of these for a client, and I am completely inspired by some of the beautiful ones on the Internet:





Images above from Here Comes The Guide



Image above from Cristalier.

This is an 'escort card tree' I found on the amazing Michelle Rago's blog: "It was a tree-like structure created from hundreds of stems of white cherry blossom branches sitting on a base of hybrid white delphinium, hydrangea, and white macarena roses. The actual cards were cut from decoupaged skeleton leaves and loosely strung on ribbon so the guests could easily pull them off as they found their name."





Images above from Michelle Rago, Ltd.

Paper Inspiration

Such beautiful works, which make me want to get out the craft paper and scalpel:


Amazing Wedding Paper Flowers (can be used as Cupcake Toppers) by Millalove.


Cardstock and glue on paper, an inspiration of Jeff Rudell, created by Tara Donovan.

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!

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!

Little Birds

I've been training for my new (part-time) position this evening - it's with a home wares company so, no doubt, soon I'll be posting lots of images I see during the day... everyone likes looking at pictures of KitchenAids, right?!

However I did really want to post these absolutely stunning "Words of Love Paper Birds" I found on Etsy - I adore birds, and I really adore these:




Image © Cotton Bird Designs.

The very talented artist behind Cotton Bird Designs makes fabric and paper sculptures, using vintage and recycled materials and hand stitching. This Etsy store is a fabulous resource for some cute little wedding extras, such as these little birds, as well as "wedding cake toppers and other textile sculptures such as cottages, bird book homes, fabric flower sculptures, and brooches".

Such beautiful work and truly inspiring - I'm very happy to have stumbled on their site!

Pattern Inspiration, Home Design & Paper Flowers

Some of my favorite Apartment Therapy images from this week (images are linked to their articles):

Shawna's wallpapered stairs
Such a simple idea but beautifully executed.



Chanel 2009 Haute Couture
Paper flowers = love. This is on such a massive scale it makes my hands ache in sympathy!









Images © Apartment Therapy.

Chandelier Love

As a summer project I'm currently building a chandelier out of paper. It's one I've adapted from Jeff Rudell's - although I do not expect the end result to be anywhere near the standard of his paper masterpieces. I'm having such a lovely time making it though that I really look forward to working with paper and card more in the future. I'm also getting a little bit better with my Xacto blade which will no doubt assist with trimming projects in the future.

I adore chandeliers - my obsession started with wanting to hire some for our wedding and not being able to find them anywhere (or anywhere near our budget). I regret not trying to build my own this time last year, as I think they would have worked really well. Here are some inspiring uses of the chandelier silhouette that work really nicely in their spaces:

Traditional and Different Mediums:


Image from Girl Meets Glamour (a new favourite read).


Image from My Modern Metropolis


Image from Homebody


Image from Palindrome Press

Decals:


Image from Paper Chick

As Inspiration for Events:

Image from Tickled Pink Brides

I guess, like all trends, this one will be over soon, but I am loving it whilst it lasts.

A Perfect Bow

It's still so hot! I'm up late as I cannot sleep, even with two fans going! Winter can't be too far away, can it?

As part of my job, something I do almost weekly is tie bows. I wish that read, "Tae Bo" instead, as the infomercials with Billy Blanks always got me feeling quite motivated, but no, I mean of the sit-down/minimal workout, ribbon variety. Everything from invitations to table favours to wedding arches and vases can be tied with ribbons, and you really can't go past a cute, good quality satin ribbon to inject a little bit of colour and whimsy into your decor.



The trick, however, is tying a perfect bow, one that is even and neat and looks like it should. I found some great links today which explained how to do so in a very simple fashion - in a way very similar to tying shoelaces, as a matter of fact. My old tactic always ended up with me tying the bow upside down, but it appears I was looping incorrectly. Silly me!

For your reading pleasure, instructions on how to tie bows (with pictures!)

- Lisa M. Pace's Scrapbooking Journal: Tying a Perfect Bow Everytime!
- The Container Store: How to Tie a Ribbon around a Box
- Bow Making 101: How to make a Tailored Bow (can't wait to try this one out, it looks pretty flash!)
- MarthaStewart.com: Three Perfect Bows

Images above © 2008 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.




Image above © Apartment Therapy.

Two other lovely things from Decor8 today: Orla Kiely is designing a line of home accessories for Target in the US, which looks so cute, and as Holly mentions on her blog, is super-extensive . I'm loving the over sized leaf and fruit silhouettes, the patterns are to die for, and I'm really digging the colours - there's lots of inspiration there for some upcoming stationery suites I'm working on.


Image above © Anthropologie.

Then there's mention of Anthropologie running craft classes - as a big fan of their line, I can't imagine anywhere more inspiring for crafting. Oh, to be in the Northern Hemisphere...