Custom Orders Galore!

Just thought I'd share some of Giggleberry's recent custom orders that have been keeping us busy! so many unique ideas come to us when asked about custom orders and we LOVE hunting down the perfect fabrics to make the bunting banners come to life!!




Ordered for a boys bedroom that was already decorated using these fabrics.


Another order for a boys bedroom but this time it was for a nautical themed room and personalised with the boy's name - HUGH


This custom order was for particular lengths as the two long banners will hang over a dance floor and the shorter banner will decorate a dessert table at a red & turquoise themed wedding.


The ever popular 'Strawberries & Cream' bunting was the inspiration for these banners ordered in particular lengths and sizes. These banners each have been made for decorating the nursery of a baby due in March.



Lee from Isobel et Nathalie ordered this banner for her market stall. As asked, I personalised it in 'Edwardian Script' which was the first time I had use the font - lots of fun and I'm loving how in came out!

Giggleberry has been 'spotted' (mind the pun)

After a lovely and fun long weekend away for the Australia Day holiday weekend I have returned home to an absolute mass of emails. As I worked my way through them one by one I was rather excited to see that the Giggleberry bunting banner 'Strawberries & Cream' has be recently included in two separate features.
The first was in the Junior Style section of the Style Collective site.


The feature is titled Inspirational Mondays.... Disco Dots! and is a fun group of red and white polka dot items. Check out the feature HERE


The other spotty feature I had been told about was over at the sweet Sambellina blog HERE. You simply must pop over to this blog post to see the cute polka dot finds including an adorable red with white polka dots tea set!

What's good? What's bad?..... help please

I'm after your advice, please.
I have decided to bite the bullet and build a Giggleberry Creations web page. With the help of Sarah from Style Me Gorgeous I would love to have a place where customers, wholesale inquiries, absolutely anyone can go to and immediately have a feel for what Giggleberry is all about as well as a place that has links to all things Giggleberry e.g. Twitter, Shop, Blog etc etc.
So now we are in the very early stages of planning I have a few ideas floating around in my head but I would LOVE your help...
* What do you like to see when you visit a web page?
* What do you just hate when visiting a website?
* Do you have a web site? what advice would you give me for making the most out of a web page?

Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post. Any and all suggestions, comments and advice are very very welcome and much appreciated.


Hey, while your in a helping mood and your on a computer why not send off a quick email nomination for Giggleberry Creations. There are only a few days left to nominate Giggleberry for the inaugural Handmade Kids Rising Star Award and it will only take a few minutes. Just send an email to jemma@handmadekids.com.au with the heading title “NOMINATION“.
In that email tell Jemma (hint: copy and paste the points below) -

Who you Nominate; Giggleberry Creations http.giggleberry.etsy.com
Why you nominate Giggleberry: **your chance to share what you love about Giggleberry's bunting banners**

Craft Corner - How to make a *real* Pirates Treasure Map

You might remember when I posted about my son's 1st birthday Pirate Party last time we had found a great AWESOME park to hold the party. The park has a huge pirate shipped shaped playground with slippery slides, swings, cargo nets and even a plank to walk!


So last weekend hubby and I took our two youngest to the park for a play while we 'scoped' it out to plan a treasure hunt for the kids at the party.
We wrote down a handful of landmarks the park has e.g. BBQ area and I took a few photos with my trusty iPhone. Once the kids were worn out from all the pirate ship playing we headed home and put them down for a snooze then we got to Treasure Map making!
The idea is that the kids at the party, who are aged between 5 and 1, will (with the help of hubby) use the Treasure Map to find 5 hidden keys around the park. Once all 5 are found they will come back to a chained and padlocked 'treasure chest' and try each key until the padlock is opened and the Treasure (birthday cake) is found!

My very clever husband had the fantastic idea of looking up the park on Google Maps (I love that man) so we had a birds eye view of the park's layout and were able to draw a first draft of the Treasure Map on paper.


Everyone knows a real Treasure Map is always printed on tattered and dirty fabric so I had a dig through my fabric stash and found a piece of this natural linen fabric. I know it looks too clean and crisp but just wait...
With the help of a black permanent marker I drew (please remember: I'm a sewer not a illustrator) the 5 landmarks from the park we decided the keys could be hidden at and gave them each a 'piratey' name e.g. the tree with two park benches under it we called Lone Pirate's Tree. I then used a red permanent marker I drew a X at each key hiding spot because, of course, "X marks the spot".
With the map all drawn it was time to make the fabric look like it had been dragged from port to port by plundering pirates. Firstly I put it through a wash cycle and hung it on the clothes line for 24hrs scrunched up. This made the marker fade a little and put some great creases in it as well as fraying the raw edges. I picked up a small pile of dirt in the map and rubbed it into a few spots. Next I placed a couple of wet tea bags in various spots on the map then gathered the fabric around them and tied it up with elastics to hold them in place. The map then hung on the clothesline for another 24hrs letting the tea stain the fabric.


To add the final and finishing touches hubby and I used a lighter to burn the edges of the map and a couple of holes in parts of the map that wouldn't be missed (be sure to do this outside and out of view of little peoples eyes so they don't attempt to 'copy')


I LOVE how the map turned out and think the kids, well the older kids, at the party will be so excited to be going on a real pirate treasure hunt!

Treasury Time!

Thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter I saw someone tweet that Etsy's main treasury was opening in 5 mins. I headed straight over and tried to come up with some amazing title for a new list... but being time poor, and with only one theme consuming my thoughts at the moment, I just couldn't go past a Pirate Party Treasury!
Check out the 'Ye Arrrrr Invited' treasury HERE



I then went floating through the other new treasury lists and found Giggleberry's vibrant and whimsical 'Bird's & Polka Dots (Katy Hall)' banner in a treasury titled Sew Fabulous!


This colourful list was put together by 15 Pieces of Flair . Be sure to take a look HERE at this fun list full of some great handmade treasures!

Latest Giggleberry Stockist - Tenth Moon

Giggleberry is excited to welcome a new stockist, Tenth Moon. Tenth Moon is predominantly a pregnancy, birth and parenting bookstore but also an incubator for handmade businesses. Store owner, Michelle, tells me she has been busy "sourcing specific products that are different to what you'd normally find as well as everyday needs that are not easily accessible". Apart from the many great books that Michelle has in store Tenth Moon stocks items handmade by WAHM's and talking point products - including a selection of Giggleberry buntings, Yay!!

The stores Grand Opening is this coming Wednesday, January 20th at 144 Barker Street, Randwick, Sydney NSW, Australia. So if you happen to be in the area why not pop in and say hi to Michelle - I know I will be!

Sweet Mint & Lavender

I know I've said it before but I will say it again: I love custom orders! I love seeing the colours/patterns/themed fabrics customers ask for come together into a bunting banner.
My latest custom order was from Nicole, Editor of Mom Trends Blog, who was after a banner made with mint and lavender coloured fabrics for her daughter. Nicole sent me this image to show me the colour scheme she was after and then let me go fabric shopping!


I found some very sweet paisley fabrics in both the lavender and mint and decided the banner needed a little touch of white too so matched a small lavender polka dot on white fabric with them. What do you think?


I was so very excited to know another little girl, apart from mine, had a bedroom decorated in lavender and green so thought I'd snap a few shots of my daughters room to share with you all.





Her bed fits perfectly between two white built-in cupboards and has a small shelf above it where I have put (for now) 3 artworks custom made by the amazing Belinda of Moonmum on Etsy. I have matted and framed the sewn artworks in bright white frames and LOVE how they turned out. I made the button bouquet (tutorial HERE) with buttons in darker tones of the purples and greens for some fun and of course she has her own set of Giggleberry bunting hanging above her bed too :)

Pirate Party Planning... Arrrrr!

In just a little over a month my youngest, Harrison, turns 1 (wow that year went fast!) and with Master Harris being the last of our little crew we have a good reason to go all out for his birthday!
When throwing around ideas a few months ago hubby suggested a pirate theme for the party. So every now and then I have been bookmarking pirate ideas on blogs, marking handmade pirate items on Etsy and Madeit and putting together some inspiration and ideas... these are a few things I had filed away:


So now with the craziness of Christmas and our little family holiday all over I have decided to go full swing into pirate party planning, Yay!
First things first is to find the invites right? Done. After one of my many Pirate Party searches on Etsy I found these very cute handmade invites by Traci from T and Little S Designs. With one quick convo to Traci we worked out some fun wording, in 'pirate talk' for the party details e.g. "Shiver me timbers Captain Harrison is turning one! Set sail if ye dare and drop ye anchor for a Pirate Party" - cool hey?


Once the invites were picked we now had a colour scheme too: Red, Black & White so I went shopping!!
From The Spotty Napkin: pirate candles, pirate balloons, pirate 'sprinkles' & eye patches. From Complete Party Boxes: red & white striped loot bags, red & white balloons, pirate party hats & lollies for the loot bags. From good old Ebay I found some cute novelty pirate themed toys for the loot bags like small plastic telescopes and also bought these very cool cookie cutters to make some fun party food.


I also found from Spotlight pirate serviettes and from the local supermarket I bought some faux pearl necklaces and a big bundle of gold and silver chocolate coins... every pirate needs their treasure! And of course I have bought some red, black and white fabrics to make some Giggleberry bunting for decorating!
I then headed to a great blog for party planning, The Celebration Shoppe, where I had bookmarked their awesome ideas and tips for putting together a swashbuckling party HERE. I had seen a link to a clip showing how to make a pirate flag HERE and loved how great it looked (and how easy it was) so last night I got creating and put one together... with a little extra personalization for the birthday boy. We haven't quite worked out where it will hang on the day. Harrison's high chair perhaps??


So where is this party all taking place? (this is one of the best parts). Thanks to my sister we have found a park that is about 15 minutes drive from our house that has the most PERFECT play areas possible for this party... you guessed it A PIRATE SHIP!! (sorry I yelled, I'm just so excited) seriously, how COOL is this set up?


The park also has undercover tables and chairs and BBQ's. That means no setting up and cleaning up my house for the party shenanigans!!
Wow - this is all looking rather impressive when I put it all in one place.

Our next job is to visit the wonderful pirate ship park and plan out a treasure hunt for the kids at the party to go on. Hubby has big plans for making a 'real' treasure map where he will take the kids on a pirate adventure to find the treasure (birthday cake), where X marks the spot.
I'll be sure to post more pirate party planning updates as we get closer to the fun day.

Customer Feedback Photos

A little while back the gorgeous Bec from Pretty Thing Distract Me asked me for a custom Giggleberry bunting using hot pink, black & white to match the colours of her logo (below). I LOVE this colour combination and had a blast putting her flags together.

As soon as the bunting arrived Bec emailed me to tell me "I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the bunting, it's already hanging in my office :D Thank you so much, you do fantastic work...". I adore the idea of using the bunting to brighten up a work space! I'm storing that idea away to do in my own work studio (if that ever happens).
Check out Giggleberry in 'action' in the photo Bec sent me... I'm rather jealous of her gorgeous ribbon collection too!


But wait there's more... Bec also has used the funky bunting in her latest photo shoot! How cool do these girls look?


Thanks so much Rebecca for sharing these pics.

You can check out all of the handmade goodies from Rebecca on her website Pretty Things Distract Me and stay up to date with what's happening through her Facebook page HERE.

Let's start 2010 with a Giggleberry BANG!

Happy 2010 to you and all your families!! Once again I find myself asking where on earth did the last year go? Time really does fly when your having fun!!
2010 has lots of new and exciting things in store for Giggleberry including a brand new razzle dazzle Giggleberry web page (thanks to the fabulous work of Style Me Gorgeous), new stunning images of Giggleberry bunting (thanks to the talented Tea and Jam Photography) and of course plenty of new Giggleberry Bunting Banners - but more on those projects later!

For now I was hoping you could all help me kick start Giggleberry's new year with one heck of a BANG! Pretty Please
The girls over at Handmade Kids are holding the inaugural Rising Star Awards



What is the HMK Rising Star Award?
A chance for those of us starting out to have our products seen, heard and in some cases chewed on by the big wide world! A great opportunity for a 'newcomer' to reach a bigger audience.

The store/individual has to be:
(a) Located in Australia/New Zealand;
(b) Making/producing handcrafted items for kids or relevant to kids;
(c) Selling products on a website (including madeit, Etsy, etc);
(d) In operation for two years or less.

That's Giggleberry Creations to a T - Yay!

A store/individual can be nominated by self, friends, family, and colleagues for the 2010 HMK Rising Star Award -(That's you guys)

How do I nominate?
In order to nominate Giggleberry, you need to send an EMAIL to jemma@handmadekids.com.au with the heading title “NOMINATION“.
In that email tell Jemma (hint: copy and paste the points below) -

Who you Nominate (provide URL); Giggleberry Creations http.giggleberry.etsy.com
Why you nominate them: **your chance to share what you love about Giggleberry's bunting banners**

I've already sent off my email... and I truly hope that you can spare the 3 or 4 minutes it will take to send off an email too... come on, you're obviously already on a computer... only a few more clicks and the email can be sent.

Nominations close midnight on Australia Day (26th January 2010). The FIVE stores with the most nominations will go up for the big vote off. You can only nominate from each email address once.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you in advance... my Giggleberry fingers, toes, eyes, arms, legs... everything are crossed!