Herman's Creations Review & Giveaway

Herman's Creations is a lovely online shop hosted on Etsy that offers original and custom products!  Herman's Creations offers beautiful hand-painted tiles and platters that are suitable for pretty much any occassion, including Mother's Day, Birthdays, Babies, Christmas, Weddings, as well as gifts for teachers, family members, and friends.  Each order from Herman's Creations can be personalized upon request with names, dates, etc.  The images and text you see each product is added using special porcelain paints and paint markers.  These images are meant for display purposes only.

The owner of Herman's Creations is a creative working mother of two little boys.  One of her boys has been diagnosed with Autism and she hopes to spread awareness of this disorder and help other individuals with the condition by committing to donate 10% of the money from sales in her shop to the Autism Speaks organization. 

The owner of Herman's Creations describes herself as creative, a lover of colors, and she seems to truly enjoy making the personalized keepsakes that will remain in families for years to come.  Here is a few tidbits about the owner from her Etsy profile: "I have always been interested in the arts and anything artistic just fascinates me and it is my passion and first true love. (besides my kids and husband, of course).  I also just adore children and [I] love to help them expand their creative sides...That is why my plaques are so colorful and whimsical - anything I can do to contribute to children's creative expansion (and adult's as well) makes me very happy.

Herman's Creations is very happy to work with you on custom orders: "Please feel free to reach out to me if you have an idea for a plaque (or ornament) that I do not have listed on my site. Would love to work with you to create something that you will cherish for years to come."

ReviewAfter oohhing and aahhing over all of the beautiful items in Herman's Creations, I was extremely happy when she agreed to send me a few customized items to review for the Wonderful Wedding Wishes event.  I received one (1) Newlywed Keepsake Plaque and one (1) Personalized Wedding Memory Platter.

The Newlywed Keepsake Plaque is a great option for a wedding gift or to purchase for your own wedding to commemorate your special day.  This 6x6 inch porcelain tile plaque is customized with the bride and groom's name and their wedding date (month, day, and year).  This tile can be easily hung by the tulle bow attached to the top portion of the tile. 

When I received the plaque, I was very happy with both the design and the overall quality.  I love the customization option and the basic whimsical image on the plaque.  I like that the plaque is made from a sturdy porcelain tile and that enough tulle is used for the bow to make it easy to hang.  Plus, the size of the plaque is perfect for my use.  I only have one little suggestion for improvement on my plaque - one of the hearts (bottom left) was quite a bit lighter than all the others.  Although this isn't huge and it doesn't effect my love for the plaque, if there was one thing I could change, it would be that.  I currently have the Newlywed Keepsake Plaque hanging up in my bedroom.  It allows me to wake up and go to sleep each day looking forward to our special day - August 28, 2010. :)

In terms of future newlywed plaques, I'd love to suggest the following:
-customizable wedding colors (e.g. flowers, bow-tie, boutonniere, shoes, etc.)
-different hair, dress, and tuxedo/suit styles
-alternate plaque (tile) colors
-although I love the tulle used for my bow, it might be nice to order the bow in different colors and made from different materials (e.g. satin ribbon)

Now, for my review of the platter... When coming up with the design, I had sent the owner of Herman's Creations a number of pictures of my wedding flowers that will be used in my bouquet.  I left that with her and allowed her to work her magic.  When I received the personalized platter, I was extremely happy.  I received for an 11 x 17 rectangular porcelain platter personalized with a beautiful poem and mock-up of my wedding bouquet.  My platter reads, "May your love grow greater with every year, as you laugh and work and show your fears.  When life gets hard may you pull as one, building upon the legacy you've just begun. Ilissa & Jay"  Although I didn't choose the poem, I thought it couldn't of been a better choice.  Everytime I look at the platter, I'm filled with joy and become a 'tad bit' sentimental (lovey dovey, gushy, or whatever you'd like to call it).  :)  The only thing I would suggest is the option to order a complimentary display stand for the platters.  I had assumed it came with one but when it was shipped, I found out it was not.  I would suggest that future listings mention that a stand is or isn't included in the listing to avoid confusion.

Note: The platter I was sent is for decorative purposes only.  The platters sold in Herman's Creations should not be used to serve food.

Overall, I absolutely love both items I received.  They were both customized to my exact preferences and I am looking forward to enjoying them in my home for years to come!  The custom work I received for my review shows the level of commitment and passion that the owner of Herman's Creations has for painting and working with customers to design custom keepsakes (Masterpieces)!  I am very impressed with the quality of workmanship demonstrated in both the platter and plaque.  Whether you are looking for a special keepsake for yourself, or a gift for a family member or a friend, I would highly suggest Herman's Creations.

Another item that caught my eye (and I absolutely love) from Herman's Creations that I didn't have a chance to review is the Favorite Little Farmer Plaque (shown below).  Isn't it super cute?

How many winners will there be? Two (2).

What can you win? Each winner will receive their choice of ANY one item from Herman's Creations' Etsy Shop.

To enter, Visit Herman's Creations' shop.  Then, come back here and tell me the name of, or leave a link to your favorite item.  This question must be answered to gain an entry in the giveaway.

Each of the following will give you one extra entry in the giveaway (unless stated otherwise). Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do:

- Entering one other giveaway on Everything Up Close, then leaving me a comment hear indicating the name of the other giveaway you entered.
- Subscribing to my blog via email or RSS feed (Maximum of 1 entry - please tell me how you subscribe in your comment).

- Adding my main button to your blog sidebar.
- Adding my 'Wonderful Wedding Wishes' event button to your blog sidebar.

- Following me on Twitter (@ihchicky). Please leave your Twitter name.

- Following me on Blogger / Google Friends Connect (publicly).
- Friending Everything Up Close on Facebook. Please leave your name that is shown on Facebook for verification.

- Tweeting about this giveaway with a link to this page. Please leave a link to your tweet or your twitter name. You can do this once a day.

- Blogging about this giveaway on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog post in your comment. 2 ENTRIES! Please leave 2 separate comments if you blog about this giveaway.

- Talking about and linking to this giveaway in any public forum or on Facebook. If you do this, please leave your user-name and a link to the post. 2 ENTRIES! Please leave 3 separate comments if you blog about this giveaway.

Important Entry Details: The above entries (main and bonus) can only be submitted once per person (except for the tweet entry, which can be done daily). Please do not use more than one blogger account or add additional anonymous comments to gain extra entries. This is not fair to everyone else and this practice is strictly prohibited. If a person is found to be using more than one account to enter the same giveaway, they will be disqualified from that particular giveaway, as well as all future giveaways.

This giveaway will end on Monday, May 31st at 11:59pm (Central Standard Time). After the giveaway has ended, the winner will be picked randomly using random.org. EMAIL RULES: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email only. Please make sure your blog profile includes your email address and make sure that it is visible. If you do not have a blogger account, please make sure you have included your email address in your post. If there is no email address provided, to contact the winner, another person will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email notification with their complete mailing address (I will be forwarding all this information to the sponsor), If this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.  
 

This giveaway is open to residents
of Canada and the US!

Good Luck!

**Disclaimer** To complete this review and post this giveaway, I was sent a free review package from Herman's Creations containing a customized platter and a newlywed keepsake plaque.  Receiving these products did not in anyway alter the information which I discussed in this article; this review is 100% my own opinion.  I did not receive any other type of compensation for this review/giveaway.