Share your photos from 2013 with our stunning Christmas Cards

My daughter had her photo taken by AK54 photography, it was a test shoot, but I ended up with some stunning photos and I just wanted to share them with you and some other photos in some of CocoCards Christmas Card designs.

Any photo from the past year can be used for a stunning Christmas Card, as I change the design, colour and font to compliment your photo.

Just a few examples below:

OPTIONAL REVERSES - to compliment your photo

TRIFOLD CHRISTMAS CARD - choice of multiple photos on reverse

Click here for examples of my designs CocoCards

Baubles and Diamonds

Click here for our full range of delightful Christmas cards.

Click here for our full range of wedding stationery.

Mottram Hall Wedding Show October 2013

Just a few photos from my new wedding stationery launch at Mottram Hall this October. I had an extremely positive response to my new designs.

My aim was to show off the quality of the printing, paper and envelopes and the variety of designs.
The wedding range is as bespoke as the wedding couple desire.

 

Design with colour..

I am in love with Pinterest and wonderful websites like  design-seeds.com  . They inspire me constantly and I just want to spend hours designing cards in all these amazing colours.
I managed 3 today, but if you take a look at design seeds, it is brilliant, especially for weddings, to choose complimenting colours.

The luxurious touch - hand lined envelopes

One thing that Cococards loves to do is ensure your card order is perfect, we are a truly bespoke service, you get one to one attention from a designer. We add to this service wiht our hand lined envelopes, these can match any design, come in any colour. they can be funky, flowery, even a photo of your child.
I have added just a few designs below:

Easter egg decoration ideas for your kids

I have spent the weekend decorating an easter bonnet for my youngest and now I need to think of original ideas for my two oldest children. for their easter egg decoration competition at school.

I wanted some exciting ideas for them, and this is what I found:

The first 4 are from Martha Stewart, the retro tower eggs are from Mr Printables and the very cute bird, rabbit and chick are from Good Housekeeping - we still have not decided what to go with.

Just thought I would add a photo of our Easter egg bonnet. that we made this weekend - it was lots of fun.

Mothers day inspiration

I always like to create somehting a but different for Mothers day, getting the children involved with making things for my Mother.

I have added a few suggestions below for Mothers day crafts below, which I love.

Check out nurture store for tips on how to make this Mothers day bouquet.

These hand prints for Mother's day gifts are great, I am going to get the children to draw around their hand, colour it in, then cut them out and add to a card. So it does not matter if the little one goes outside of the lines while drawing as it will all be cut to size.

What about word birds and add Happy Mothers day to them, see nurture store again for this fabulous idea.












And finally another bouquet idea from Kindercarze.  A forever bouquet.

Weekly party idea - Superhero party

Each week I am aiming to give some ideas on how to throw a great kids birthday party, full of ideas and inspiration from the web.

This weeks theme is Superhereos.

To start with I designed a couple of new invitations to set the theme for the party.

         Buy them here                             

Planning and preparation

Creating - What about making superhero capes, eye masks and cuffs at your party, this could be done at the start of the party when they are all just arriving, a good ice breaker, or you can buy these below at the Etsy shop - Copus Hagen Designs which are just wonderful -

The cake - there are so many amazing companies out there at the moment that will decorate a cake for you, these are by macake, an amazing Australian woman, so for all my australian clients, take a look at her website.

The party games

There are loads of suggestions on the web for games and ideas, but here are just a few:

Superhero Relay

Draw and cut out four Superhero emblems from posterboard (such as Superman diamonds). The emblems should be around 12"-15" in diameter. To start playing this cool kid party game, divide the kids into two teams and establish a start and finish line. Give the first player of each team two emblems. The first kid in line needs to place an emblem in front of them and step on it. Then, they need to place the second emblem in front of the first and step from the first to the second, and like this, they continue around a designated point and return to their team so that they are only stepping on emblems. The next player in line must do the same, until each player on the team has had a turn. The team to finish first wins!

Superhero Obstacle Course

For this kid party game, get your Superhero guests to save the world by going through an action hero obstacle course. Set up an obstacle course around your yard or inside your home using cardboard boxes, garbage cans, old tires, bicycles, ropes, sports equipment, logs, trampolines, basketball and hula hoops, chairs, pillows or anything you can find to create a challenging course. You can have challenges like ball throwing, long jump, balance beam walking, climbing, crawling through a tube, running faster than a speeding bullet, bouncing a super ball very high, jumping off a chair, leaping over tall buildings (sofas), etc. When the kids complete the course, have a prize ready and even a certificate saying that they have successfully completed Superhero training at one of the coolest Superhero kid birthday parties.

X-ray Vision Game

Put all kinds of items in a box and let the kids (who have something covering their eyes) identify them without sight, only touch or smell. This can get very funny when you put all kinds of silly things in the box, for instance if you put half of a tomato and you stick one of the kid's fingers in it. Be creative, this can be one of the most hilarious kid party game ideas during your party!

Villain Tie-up

For this kid party game, form two groups of kids. Bring in two evil villains (two grownups dressed up as villains) and have the kids catch the villains, sit them in a chair and "tie" them up with toilet paper (don't forget to take pictures!)

Pin the Superhero on the…

There are lots of creative variations you can come up with for this kid party game. For instance, pin the "S" on Superman, pin Spiderman on the Web, pin the bat on Joker, etc.

Superheroes and Villians

Form two groups - Superheroes and Villians. Give the Superheroes cans of silly string spray and send them after the villains. Then switch so everyone has a chance to be the Superheroes.

Transforming Routine

Have and old suit, hat, and tie and form two teams. Then have each member dress and undress themselves the fastest while blindfolded. The team that wins is the one that each team member has finished dressing and undressing.

Kryptonite Toss

Take many buckets and cover them in tinfoil as if they were planets. The "kryptonite" are ping pong balls painted bright green. Have the kids throw the "kryptonite" into the "planets" and see how many they can throw in, every time throwing from a tougher distance.

Building Gotham City Hall

Hand out Superhero cards, give the kids 2-3 minutes and have them build a card tower (Gotham City Hall). The three tallest building-builders move on to the final round.

Joker Hunt

Here's a fun kid party game idea for your Batman birthday party. Towards the end, tell the kids that the Joker has stolen their party favor bags and that they have to find them. Find old Joker playing cards to write the clues on and let the kids find the bags that you have hidden.

Web Hunt

Here's a fun kid party game idea for a Spiderman party. Cut pieces of yarn (about 20-40 ft. long) and attach one end to the favor bag. Designate a Web area or room and hide the favors in drawers, cupboards, under chairs, etc. Slowly stretch each piece of yarn around the room, wrapping it around furniture and intertwining it with other pieces until you have used all the pieces. This will create a massive web!!! Then, attach the name of a guest to the end of each piece of yarn and when the kids find their names they may begin to unravel the spider web and hunt for their prize. (Make sure to prepare extra favors so that no guests are left empty handed).

These games were courtesy of http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com

Enjoy!

Thank you cards for my daughters birthday

I am a real stickler, if that is the word for writing thank you notes.  Yes the first reaction from my children, is Mummy do we have to, but then we discuss the reasons behind my request and I also ensure that it is fun, starting with always designing gorgeous thank you cards for them, or encouraging them to design their own, often a very messy approach, but very exciting.

The thank you messages do have to be thought out, no thank you for my present on all of them, as this I believe is pointless. 

Who would not want a beautiful handwritten thank you card dropping on your doormat, to say thank you for taking the time to choose and give me a present.

Jeffrey Froh, an assistant professor of psychology and the director of the Laboratory for Gratitude in Youth at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York. Says “Grateful kids tend to be much more satisfied with their lives,” says Froh. “They do better in school and are less materialistic, less depressed, and less envious. Their relationships are much stronger and more supportive.” In one study, grateful kids even reported fewer physical symptoms, like headaches, stomachaches, and fevers.

Thank-you notes don’t have to be reserved for physical loot: Your kids can write them in appreciation of awesome outings or good friendship. “My five-year-old borrowed my phone to type a thank-you text to his mom for a special day that they had spent together,” says Froh.

My daughters art party

My oldest daughter turned eight on Monday, she had a lovely birthday with the family, but on Saturday she had an art party, it seemed to be a great success.

We used Totally into art, see their website www.totallyintoart.co.uk, they were fabulous. 

They were very well organised, the amount of boxes they brought with them, full of exciting crafty bits and bobs was amazing. Wynn is just lovely and so was her friend Ruth. I would totally recommend them, they kept 14 children enthralled for 2 hours, what else can you ask for at a party, the children then took all their crafts home in a party bag they had decorated.

Not forgetting my Mum's amazing cake - as ever just wonderful.