PRINTABLE CHRISTMAS DECOR & PACKAGING

A week out from Christmas...and after some baking and cranking of Christmas tunes yesterday, I'm actually feeling it now!

I don't know what we're doing for the Christmas table yet this year, not being in our own home at the moment, I'm not sure what the theme is going to be, but I thought I'd share some printable decor options from my shop with you.

These would look great as a set, or just use bits and pieces from each set for things like packaging, gift tags, food labels, menu cards etc. for your Christmas celebrations.

Nativity Christmas Printables - available in my shop.

Snowflake Christmas Printables - This design is coming up to it's four year anniversary, but it's still my best seller, so it's staying put for now. It was designed in collaboration for Peekaboo Magazine, working alongside Sharnel Dollar & Naomi Vasington.
Decor available here & no-glue pyramid box available here. 

I hope all your Christmas preparations are coming along! 7 more sleeps...

Images : Nativity by Polkadot Prints | Snowflakes by Naomi V Photography

COLOURED CUTLERY :: DIY

As part of my Styled Magazine spring picnic feature, I wanted some colour co-ordinated cutlery. It's super easy to make your own. With so many spray paint colours now available, I'm sure there's a colour to match your next event!



Wondering about the yellow cutlery? I changed my mind at the last minute when styling this, and decided the blue tied everything in a lot better!

Did you get your free printables yesterday? - Happy Spring Picnic-ing! (in the northern hemisphere at least! :)

P.S. I have wooden cutlery for sale in my store. 

Mini-Celebrations :: Chocolate bar wrappers

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Thank you for letting me know your thoughts on last weeks post. Things are moving along with the new website and blog. I'm so excited to see how it's coming together, and can't wait till it's live! 

With a lot of Christmas projects and custom work on recently, I needed to actually step away and apply some real life creativity. So one night, I decided to make dinner a little bit fun. I didn't cook anything super special, just whatever I had already planned, but I put a little effort into making it look a bit special. (I put it together in the morning and it was funny how the rest of the days activities just whizzed by as I looked forward to home-time and dinner!)

I had these mini chocolate bars from Alidi, in my supplies. I cut out some wrappers for them, pulled out some fabric and napkins from my prop cupboard, put some oranges and lemons in a bowl, and viola! It added a little spice to our meal that night. So many times, I feel like I don't make the most of the moments, so when I do...I want to shout it from the rooftop!!

Birthdays only come around once a year, but you can make 'mini-celebrations' anytime...about anything...or nothing! Have you created a mini-celebration at your place recently?

Pretty Paper Flowers :: DECORATIONS

How is this for a bright punch of colour that costs next to nothing? I can pretty much guarantee you will have the supplies nearby at home, and they take no time at all. You could whip some up while watching tv, or during nap time! Head over to Bump Smitten's baby shower blog for the tutorial courtesy of Dozi.

Canada Day Party :: Dessert Table

Typography sets the scene for our dessert table at our Canada celebrations on July1st!

Bakerella inspired Brownie cake pops & a little Australian 'Frog in a pond' cups for the kids!

I used my free Canadian printables (download here) and printed onto sticker paper, which made it easy to add some design elements to the red & white dessert table. And one of my favourites 'wow' factors...the Red Velvet Cake.

Full.

The wall decoration was white home decor letters ($2 each from Typo) attached to the wall with vertical curtain of red wool from Lincraft. It turned out exactly how I had pictured it in my mind...I love it when that happens!
FREE Printable download for this theme available via here


Come back tomorrow, we have some SERIOUSLY big changes happening here at Polkadot Prints...we're going PRINTABLE!! More details to come...I'm so excited!!

CELEBRATE A FIND :: Sweet Cupcake Stands

I came across these gorgeous little cupcake stands via Amy Atlas today, and I think they are a simply stunning idea to give a little 'lift' the ever popular cupcake. 
Created by Hello Hanna, they are so reasonably priced & made from recycled, embossed card. They are pretty enough to use straight from the packet or you could add some decorations of your own! 
Unfortunately, us Australians, we will have to petition for international shipping...or find them locally! (If you do please, please let me know!) 
But, wouldn't this concept be great to spread colour on your dessert table, or to use as a placecard for your next formal event? I can't get enough of them! :)


UPDATE: Good news! You can get your hands on these cute stands via Upon a Fold for Australian readers - thanks Anne!

NEW DESIGN :: Easter Gift Set PRINTABLE

The countdown to Easter is definately on! To help you celebrate this holiday at your place, I have designed a range of Easter Gift pillows and Polkadot Party Dots you can use to put some colour into your Easter weekend! Use the gift pillows for workmates, friends & neighbours. And the party dots are great for gift tags, cupcake toppers and table decorations. 

This is a printable file, so you can print as many as you like at home or through your favourite printer! There are two designs sets - stripes & blossoms, so something for everyone!

This Easter printable is now available in my store 

or on Etsy if you prefer. 

Easter Tree Table Styling

For the past few years, I have had an Easter tree. It's a great way to bring some fun and bright colours to your Easter table each year, and why let Christmas trees have all the fun!

I have been growing my wheatgrass base for the past couple of weeks (after my failed attempt at the ice cream party, I finally worked it out!). 

So yesterday I had a chance to put it together with some new decorations. These I have bought at Bed Bath & Table over the past couple of years. 

It' a little 'egg heavy', I may need to replace these and find a thicker branch! And while I'm thinking of Easter...I need to replenish my stockpile of chocolate hot cross buns too!

What traditions happen at your place at this time of year?

David Monn Luxury Event Designer

(My favourite! This is all indoors...I want to sit here sip lemonade, and talk with my friends)

Oh to have these kinds of budgets to play with! These are all designed by David Monn from New York. Have a squiz at his portfolio...I will let the pictures do the talking!


Off to the Sunshine Coast this weekend...loving summer with friends!

Ice Cream Sundae Baby Shower - Part 2

(The decorate your own biscuit favours were a fun project as people arrived - they are little onesie jumpsuits for those who think it may be a little more like a bell shape!)

So today I thought I'd share a bit more of the finer details of the Ice Cream Sundae Baby Shower. 

Overall, I wanted to keep the design of this table fresh, friendly, and create kind of a summer outdoors old school vibe. Using different mediums like wood, china, tin and greenery helped to keep it friendly and fun!

It all started with the invitation  

Baby Letters - Party shop

My wheat grass didn't end up growing, but Mondo grass saved the day! - planted in Ikea pots 

Wooden Scoops - Wheel & Barrow  

Sundae Cups - Cups from party shop and personalised labels

Glass Vases & White pots - Ikea

Onesie Cookie Cutter - Little Betsy Baker & topped with personalised bag toppers

Cookie Dough Cupcake Cups - Little Betsy Baker

Hope you enjoyed this little journey into the Ice Cream buffet baby shower! :)

Check out more details of this event here

Ice Cream Sundae Baby Shower - Part 1

Yum! That's all I can say...oh, and that I am still on a sugar high from the Ice Cream baby shower held for my sister on the weekend! I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. I hope you'll agree!

I will have more details & more pics to share with you tomorrow...I'm off to eat something salty! :)

Check out more details of this party here

Baby Shower Week - Asian Vege Steamer

Okay, so...up late working on a deadline for a client...sometimes life is a little too full. Which = stress! But to ease the pressure, I looked through some photos of my fun baby shower and surfed some creative blogs! Back to happy!


Here's a couple of the photos - This is a regular Asian vege steamer right?, but...only if you are wanting to cook Asian vege's...

OR...you can use it to display yummy treats!  

I've lined the two layers of the steamer with the baby shower pattern for use at the upcoming ice cream sundae party and I'm going to put some garnishing things in it! 

Well, I am off for the weekend. Off to get ready for my sisters baby shower (she's having a baby!! - big yay!), Off to enjoy my little family, Off to get some sleep... 

Happy weekend one and all!

Baby Shower - Large Letters

Okay, so back to Baby Showers...I bought these large letters from my local Lombards party shop for the hefty price of $0.99 each! Bargain!

Like many of my ideas, I didn't know how I would use them at the time, but I thought they would come in handy at some point, and it wasn't like they would break the bank, so in the trolley they went. 

So what does one do with white cardboard letters? I printed out some designs from the baby shower invitations, stuck them on, and trimmed around the letters. They will be used on the food table at the upcoming baby shower. 

We're doing an ice-cream sundae buffet - yummo! I'm going to keep you updated on all the bits as they are designed so you can see from start to end how it all works out (hoping now that I've said this, that it looks good at the end!!). 

Valentines Placecard - FREE Download

It's valentines day soon, and while I am not a big fan of the huge commercialism of valentine's, it's still a great opportunity to tell those you love, 'I love you'. So, I thought I would give you a little freebie today - a valentines placecard you can use for an at home 'pink dinner' night, or a little love note placed on the bedside table of your special little someone. 

There are 4 designs in total ('wow' I hear you say!:) Using a colour palette of purple, pink & orange, the first two designs are a more modern angle, and then for the Valentines red & white purists, there are two designs for you too! :) 
Polkadot Prints Valentines Place Cards
Simply download the PDF, print the pages you want onto cardstock on your home printer, cut out, fold and voila!...placecards! 

Let me know how you end up using these at your place! 
Enjoy!