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.

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!

Busy Bee

I can't say Valentine's Day is one of my more celebrated events: I kind of forget about it most years, and I like to think every day is a chance to celebrate your love for another person (or fondness for a friend, a pet, a hobby, etc). And we're super busy at the moment: James is shooting weddings and I'm making stationery like a fiend - both for clients and for the upcoming wedding expo: It's A Date's debut into the exciting world of hired table cloths and general nervousness about being 'out there' as a stationery designer.

But should I feel inclined closer to the date, I'll be taking a whirl at this, once again, Jeff Rudell has come up with the goods:

How to make a Valentine from an Onion.

In other news, I had my eyes tested today for new glasses and it totally reminded me of the episode of "Arrested Development" where George Michael goes in for an eye exam and ends up with glasses that make him almost blind as he was too scared to say the wrong answer.



Optometrist: One or two?
George Michael: Two. No, no, one.
Optometrist: Okay, two... or three?
George Michael: Three. Unless three is too much of an improvement. I’m sorry, is one... is one in the mix still?