When my friend Diana approached me about doing some items for her baby shower, I never expected what would come out of our first meeting. At that point, I had mostly only made photo booth props, and was itching for someone to request items I’d never made before to start building a portfolio of my work, and in turn, feel a little more empowered when asked if I could do something. Saying “yes I can” is cool and all, but saying “yes, I have!” has a very different ring to it, and it can really influence the outcome of the conversation.

So here I am, expecting Diana to ask for some photo booth props… And that turned into a two and a half hour meeting! Truth is, when she started naming each item, I didn’t have the slightest idea of what it would even cost to make them, or what price they went for because she gave me no insight prior to the meeting so I couldn’t research them, but I was still so excited to do this!

After that meeting, I did the research, shopped around for prices and options, did a digital design, created my first official quote and invoice templates… It basically legitimized my process for custom orders and gave me a lot of perspective on working for all future orders, especially custom ones. She requested:

1. Superman Style Banner
2. Cupcake Toppers
3. Candy Bar Signs
4. Veggie/Fruit Station Signs
5. 8 x 10 art
6. Centerpiece Accents
   1. Comic Book Thought Bubbles
   2. Superhero Babies
   3. Baby Oliver Stars
7. Photo Booth Props
8. Superhero Logos

And a few other things we went back and forth on but due to the event location restrictions we weren’t able to do. Like I said, I got to work right away investigating every item (commonly used materials, price points, production time, etc.) and once Diana approved, I started the assembly. I had a few challenges, especially with some of the digital stuff (I usually work a lot with my Cricut machine to design, cut, and layer items. When it came time to print stuff, it was hard to figure out/find items with good resolution, and I had to come up with ways to fix them once printed), but thankfully, it all worked out!

Here’s the gallery with all the items in their final look 🙂

 

And for the moment of the delivery, I added a little something to my standard Thank You sticker, you know, for the super occasion 😉