The Perfect Client

We at Crack of Dawn Crafts take great pride in saying that we have the most awesome customers. It's been almost 2 years since we began and in that time we have built up a client base of over 800 individual customers. Some are business customers who order from us to serve their customers and others of course are end consumers who are looking for something perfect for the special event in their lives. And since this is our second year, we have so many of our wonderful clients coming back for subsequent orders

During the course of all these interactions we had the privilege of working with a truly stellar individual. She is the kind of customer who has a fair idea about what she wants and is able to communicate that clearly. She also understands the effort involved in bringing such creations to life and values this effort. Over the last 14 months, we have worked together on three separate events and each time her vision is super interesting and through our collaborative discussions, we are able to create something truly memorable.

It all began with her daughter's first birthday. The theme was Rainbow and she had a totally original vision in mind. She didn't want the theme to be literal - a rainbow shape - rather an interpretation of the colours. She loved the idea of a pop up card with a pocket style envelope and after a bunch of back and forth, we finalised on a fabulous Rainbow Spiral Pop-up Card which has been a design that we will be perennially proud of!

 

The Rainbow Pop Up Spiral Card has been ordered by numerous clients on our website and we have also been asked to tweak it to a bling balloon theme for another very supportive client. Check out how we played with the design to create a Pink Bling Spiral Pop Up Invitation!!

Our next project together was a wedding anniversary party for her close friends which was to be an elaborate affair spanning 2-3 days. The theme was King and Queen of Hearts and she wanted a gift box as well as an invitation card. We agreed that the colours should be red, black and white and this time around our discussions focussed on the deck of cards concept. After a whole lot of Whatsapp messages, back and forth, we finally froze on the Deck of Cards Box and Deck of Cards Invitation both pictured pictured below!

The Deck of Cards Box was so attractive that we decided to make it one of designs for Diwali. We tweaked the colours a little and created a variety of sizes and voila! we had a brand new Diwali Cards Nigh Box. We have to say that this design was one of our most popular for the festive season!

Now comes our favourite design! With her daughter turning two, this amazing client had another fantastic idea for her little one's big day. This time the theme was Teddybear's Picnic!! How cute is that!! Her idea was simply inspired!! She wanted each invitation to be a picnic basket. Inside the picnic basket would be little shaped cut outs of picnic food items and on the reverse side of each food item, we would add the details of the party text. OH... MY... GOD!!! How we LOVED the idea!! All we had to do was execute!! We found a fabulous file at www.myscrapchick.com and had a blast playing with the colours and prints. Check out the final result - We're super proud of this one - The Teddy Bear Picnic Party Invitation!

What more can we say! She truly is the Perfect Client! She has the best ideas, she is open to all our suggestions, she always gives us PLENTY of time and she values the effort that goes into each creation! Thanks to her we have fabulous designs to add to the Crack of Dawn Crafts catalogue and for that we will be forever indebted!! 

Needless to say, we are so glad she found us back in 2014!

Diwali Cards Night!!!

Woo Hoo, it's almost Diwali weekend and I'm so looking forward to it! Not because I'm going to be lighting diya's or eating yummy food or bursting crackers. Nope! My favourite part about Diwali is Teen Patti or 3 cards or Flash! It's tradition for us in our little group of friends to get together in someone's house for a night of heavy card playing. The stakes are never too high, the food never runs out and the laughter continues to the wee hours of the morning. So when I wanted to make a gift set for our wonderful hosts, the theme was obvious! Diwali Cards Night!!

Here's the card! I've kept it CAS and added a pun the sentiment - Have a 'Flash'y Diwali as the game we play is called Flash. It's also known as Teen Patti or 3 cards and in the US, it's known as Caribbean Stud Poker. But conveniently we call it Flash so 'Have a Flashy Diwali' is a perfect play with words, ideal for Lulupu's Word Play Challenge for which I am entering this card. CASolgy's challenge 68 is also Black, so I'm entering this card for that as well.

On to the gift box. I usually prepare some cupcakes or brownies when we head over for Cards Night. This time I thought I would make a box to present it. I continued the playing cards theme and added some pattern paper, a Cameo Cut Frame, the wonderful card game symbols and a four looped bow! I'm entering this box into The Three Muses Challenge - Black, White and Red

I'm entering the entire set into City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 183 - Game Night. I actually got the entire idea of this project from this Challenge Theme. So glad I came across it! Can't wait to present it!

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Box for Khushi

Now here's another project with a cute story. This past Saturday, my building played host to a Republic Day Carnival. Residents were invited to put up stalls to sell food/ products or anything they chose. I had such a stash of cards and crafts that I decided to put up a handmade cards stall. 

I was interested to find that my market consisted largely of young girls, ranging from age 5 to 14. The younger ones brought their mama's to buy them something while the older ones dug into their pockets for money for their purchases. One little 5 year old called Saanvi came by and got her mom to buy her a card which came with a decorated box. She was delighted with her purchase and ran off to show her friends. 

One of Saanvi's friends was little Khushi. Khushi brought her mom by and carefully scanned all the items on offer. Sadly she turned to her mother and said, 'All the boxes are over, Mama. I  want a box like Saanvi" . Her mom replied, "It's alright Khushi, why don't you take this pretty card, it has a box envelope. That's just like a box." Khushi reluctantly accepted the compromise and took the alternative. 

A few moments later, Khushi and mom returned. Khushi had tears in her eyes and was clinging to her mother's hands. Her mother told me, "Sunehra, Khushi really really wants a box, she's so sad she's crying. Would it be possible for you to make a box especially for her?"

I looked at sad little Khushi, all teary-eyed and said, 'Of course Khushi, don't be sad. I'll get you your box on Monday'. Khushi immediately ran off to tell her friends.

So this is the box for Khushi. All pinky, frilly and girly - not exactly my taste but clearly what the little ones want. As I created this box, crafting till the crack of dawn, I was struck by how early the stress of 'Keeping up with the Joneses' begins.

Have a great week folks!

Linking to: Whoopsidaisy Challenges - For a Child

A Goodie Box for Christmas

One of the things I love most about Christmas is baking yummy goodies and presenting them on Christmas Day to neighbors, friends and of course loved ones. This year I decided to make some gift boxes for my goodies and here's what I made.

I thought about adding some ribbon, lace trim, pattern paper and other crafty touches but then I decided to hold back, which is something I find really difficult to do. The box was in fact so elegant by itself, so I forced myself to stop with this and in retrospect I'm so glad I did. What do you think?

I also made a complementary tag for the inside, in which I could write a short message or note to the recipients. I saw once Indira of Arty-Sorts using the die cut negatives to make a box, so I decided to try that. Given that the outside was full of the 3d poinsettia, I made the inside the exact opposite. I was lucky enough to have some forest green napkins, which perfectly complemented the whole look. 

And finally here's what I tucked inside each box. Everything is baked right in my kitchen so the house has a rich aroma of cake, cookies and chocolates. 

Oh and I have to thank my buddy Aliena of What's Cooking Today for sharing this wonderful site called www.picmonkey.com - it allowed me to do the most fabulous editing of my photos. Try it sometime!

Linking to:
Tuesday Alchemy #45 - Anything But a Card
Craft Us Crazy # 33 - Merry Christmas
Top Tip Tuesday
Here Come the Boys #42
The Squirrel and the Fox # 33

A Carousel box and card

I finally got down to making my own craft blog. I've been thinking about it for AGES but I could never find the time. So this little space is dedicated to sharing my own creations and interacting with all you, my crafting buddies!

Here's my first post for this blog - a carousel box and card. For most of us, the idea of a carousel or merry-go-round brings back fond memories from our childhood so I really had a wonderful time creating these two pieces. The round box is a gift box, about 5 inches in diameter, intended to present small meaningful gifts and the matching card is a 6" by 6" square. If you look closely, you will see a little flag popping out of the top of the card. 

I've kept the card simple since the box was so elaborate. The only flair I added was the little white shadow for the horses.The supplies used on this creation are just stripy white card stock and crimson red card stock both from ItsyBitsy. 

Ultimately what I was going for was a Christmas Carnival feel. What do you think? Did I hit the spot? 

Linking to
The Crafters' Corner Make a Set Challenge,
Cameo Creations White Christmas Challenge,
C.R.A.F.T Challenge 184 - Christmas
Unstampabelles - #18 - Christmas
Charsimacardz - Challenge 48- Christmas
Hooked on Craft - Challenge 27

UPDATE 13.12.12: I won the C.R.A.F.T challenge - Yippee!!!! So so so so so kicked!!!