The Artisan Group at the GBK Golden Globes Gift Lounge January 2012

This weekend saw artisans from all over the globe glued to their computer screens as we kept track of Founder Valerie and Managing Partner Nikki at the GBK Gift Lounge in honour of Golden Globes nominees held at the Beverley Hills L'Ermitage Hotel.


100 gift bags containing $800 of handmade goodies were gifted to attending celebrities such as Jennifer Love Hewitt, Elizabeth McGovern, Jeremy Irons, Damien Lewis, Chris Noth and many many more.


The press were also gifted mini swag bags with reporters from the The Huffington Post, ABC News, Mingle Media, Hollywood.TV, LA Daily News, LA's The Place, Splash magazines and The Today Show in Australia in attendance.


Artisans participating in the gift bags were BeezKneezDesigns, 13 Black Cats Designs, Sahetah's Jewelery, Piccolo Paradiso, Cherry Tree Soaps, JuditB Jewelery, Blue Scarab Jewelry, Villa Lusso, Barefoot Bath & Body, Jewels For Hope, Java Jane Designs, Dave Dilli Photography, I Am Maryann, Expression Rings of Hope, Alexis Studio Design, Luster Metalworks, TearDrop Paperie, Botjoy, LapisBeach Hand-Knit Wearable Art, Simply Paperie, The Crimson Poppy, Swirly Garden, SariBlue, Caroline G, Kath's Elegant Accessories, The Write Stuff Design, Taradara, Oh Joy! Photography, Wee Bindery, Cloven Rustic Jewelry, Hearts Of Stone Jewelry, Longrunners, Cassia Aromatics


I was a participant at business card level along with a whole heap of other talented artisans.


Everyone's displays were greeted with such enthusiasm and many celebrities have tweeted the artisans thanking them.


Looking forward to hearing all the success stories that come out of this event!!

Downton Abbey Excitement Overload!

Remember I said I was a HUGE fan of Downton Abbey???

Well on Friday at the GBK Gift Lounge for the Golden Globes the lovely Elizabeth McGovern AKA Lady Cora visited the Artisan Group table. The fabulous Valerie and Nikki mentioned to Elizabeth that I was a massive fan and would love to create something especially for her! She was thrilled and replied that she would be happy to receive a gift!

All of this took place while I was fast asleep and when I read the email from Valerie in the morning I had to read it twice to make sure I wasn't still dreaming!!

So the challenge now is to dress a monkey in period clothing!! I don't want to imitate one of Lady Cora's outfits as I don't want the monkey to be a caricature of her........more along the lines of Lady Sock of Monkey!!!

You can be sure I will update with pictures before I post Lady Sock off to Lady Cora :)

Celebrity Tweets!!

I LOVE Downton Abbey - we are talking obsession - I'm a history geek and I read the book in an evening!! So imagine my excitement when I tweeted Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham) about his nomination for a Golden Globe and asked if he would be attending the Gift Lounge. This is what happened next!!

Well I nearly fell off my chair I was so excited!! I went on to wish the Downton cast good luck for their nominations and he replied "Thanks!"

Happy Downton fan :D

Golden Weekend!!!

Yes!! It's finally here!!! My Sock Monkey Emporium business cards will be included in the gift bags being given to celebrities by The Artisan Group at the GBK Golden Globes Gift Lounge held in honour of nominees.

Our lovely leaders Valerie and Nikki have been busy setting up our display at the event and sent this photo all the way from Beverley Hills!!!

The artisans who have sent display items have truly done the group proud!! They include Jewels For Hope, Alexis Studio Design, The Crimson Poppy, Sari Blue Jewelry and many many more.

The fun kicks off at 11am LA time and all the members of the group, whether participants or not, are so excited to see which celebrities get their hands on an Artisan Group bag.

Exciting times ahead!!!!

The monkeys and I have some exciting times coming up!!!

Firstly, I am contributing to a lovely gift bag filled with items handcrafted by Artisan Group members to US actress Jessica Alba as a "Congratulations on your new baby" kinda pressie. I have made 2 pink sock cats, 1 for each of her daughters and personalised them with their names.

Secondly, my business cards will be included in the swag bags gifted to celebrities at GBK Productions Gift Lounges prior to the Golden Globes and The Oscars in early 2012...can you imagine someone like Brangelina thinking "hmmmmm our kids all need a sock monkey!" Hahahahaha, I can dream right???

So the monkeys are planning their takeover bid of the USA - is the USA ready????? :D

The Artisan Group ROCKS the GBK Productions Emmys Gift Lounge!

I've just spent the weekend absolutely glued to my fb and twitter feeds as I followed the Artisan Group at the GBK Productions Emmys Gift Lounges.
The Artisan Group, of which I am a proud member, were gifting handmade swag bags to 100 celebrities containing 30 items made by members. They are currently receiving amazing feedback from the celebrities who were lucky enough to get a swag bag and I hope that the artisans who contributed go on to benefit massively from their involvement.

To see who is saying what, follow @theartisangroup or search #artisangroup on Twitter :)

I can't wait for my turn when my business cards will be at the GBK Productions Oscars Gift Lounge!!