Holiday 2010 Collection - Now in the Shop!

I am excited to announce that my holiday invitations and cards are now posted in my Etsy shop! What's even better is that I'm offering  40% off until 11/26th at midnight, PST. Be sure to put, "HOLIDAY10" (without the quotes) as the coupon code.

Be sure to check out the shop next week since I'm still in the process of adding more items.

Follow-Up on Madeline's 1st Birthday Party

The photos of my daughter's first birthday party are now in {courtesy of Min Mi Photography at www.minmiphotography.com}. Read below for details of this party. 

This Parisian-themed party was initially based on the French character from the popular storybook, "Madeline". I thought what a perfect excuse to use a Paris theme because my daughter's name is also Madeline! LOL. I did not want the entire party theme to be centered around this character since I thought it would be too cutesy. So I included other Parisian design elements and styles. The colors I used throughout the party were black, pink, and white. I was hesitant in incorporating black as part of the color theme, but I just held my breath and went ahead with the idea. I have not regretted since because now I find myself drawn to this color combination everywhere I go.

The day of the party was very hectic, but I was so fortunate to have many people helping me out. It was a party that I was planning for about 6 months in advance. As someone who was organizing this type of party for the first time and without any professional help, I realized that no matter how much planning you do, it will never come out exactly the way you imagined in your head. However, by the end of the party, I found myself enjoying the celebration of my daughter’s first year and was relieved that I did not have to stress over the details anymore. 

Party Color Theme: Pink, black and white {with black and white polka dots and pink and white stripes}



Now in my shop!


Decorations: I designed the invitations, which were made to look like a passport. 

Other design projects included tags, signs, and labels.

I also made the tissue wreath for the sign-in table area. The tutorial can be found at Blissful Nest. Instead of using a guestbook or a wishing tree to have guests sign-in, I used an Eiffel Tower, where guests could tie postcards with their written messages. 

The table flower centerpieces were made out of tissue paper and I used spaghetti jars as vases. I filled each jar with pink gems and used scrapbook paper, ribbon and scalloped designed tags to help carry out the Parisian theme. 

The photo op area was very simple to make. I purchased the tri-fold board from an office supply store and the rest of the items were from the 99 Cents store. The little signs had sayings for people to hold while taking pictures. Some had random phrases that read, “Ooh la la”, “Bonjour!”, etc. The back board should have been much bigger, but the photos were still fun to take. I had a good laugh watching some of the dads goof off with the prop items. 

I figured that since the food menu already included some desserts, it wasn’t necessary to buy a cake for the party. So along with the help of a family member, we watched an instructional YouTube video and made a faux fondant cake. Not bad for a couple of first timers!

Many items were purchased from Michaels and some from Home Goods, Target and the 99 Cent store. Most of the printable files are now on sale at my Etsy shop!

Vendors:

Paper Designs - FLIPAWOO

Photography – Min Mi Photography

Macaroons – Sparkles Kitchen

Restaurant – Maggiano’s Little Italy (yes, I know it’s an Italian restaurant, but this place is great!)

Clear containers – www.papermart.com

Black and pink tutu – frillerup

Package Design

I'm loving the designs seen at Lovely Package. It makes me want to grab a glass of wine now and reminisce how I wanted to specialize in package designing and gazing at how pretty the Shiseido boxes were. 

3" Mini Happy Birthday Cards {Free Templates}

Today is my daughter's first year birthday. Although I'm looking forward to seeing her talk and develop into a more beautiful person, there is a sense of sadness that she seems to be growing up too fast. I wish I could hit the pause button and have her stay a baby just a little bit more.

To help celebrate her birthday, I'm giving away another free template of six 3" mini birthday cards. Excuse my poor photography skills. I promise, I'll get better, but they are so darn cute and great for those who don't like writing long messages like myself. You can also set these aside for future use instead of rushing out to the store at the last minute to buy a card.

Print the files on white cardstock paper (try different textures) and for maximum printing results, have your local processing printing company make these for you. I printed mine using my home printer and I rounded the corners using a puncher.

Please note that the templates are for personal use only.

Sneak Peak to "Meet Me in Paris" Collection {Coming Soon to Shop}

I hope you guys are having a good Monday! The new time change has surprisingly allowed me to get more things done this morning. For once, I found myself not rushing to get my son to preschool today.

I'm excited to show you a sneak peak to my "Meet Me in Paris" collection. I'm putting the finishing touches to the files and will post them to my shop soon. The collection will contain a customized invitation (passport greeting card or single card style), bunting banner, labels/tags, and sign cards (not all shown in the photos). These will be ready within the next week or so. I'm also still waiting for professional photos of my daughter's first birthday (or "dohl") celebration to come in so that I can post them to this blog. I can't wait!

A holiday collection will be coming soon as well!

FLIPAWOO Update

Now that my daughter's 1st year birthday party has finished, I'm waiting to receive professional photos taken of the party to come in. It should be another 2-3 weeks. Hopefully by then, I'll be able to open my Etsy shop. I wish I can have the entire weekend to myself to get this shop opened earlier, but as a mother of two, that's asking for a lot! The shop will have a small selection of items to be sold, but in the meantime, I'll try to keep adding free template files for you to download. Look for the "Freebie" link to the right of this page to see what's available.

Find me on Facebook and "like" FLIPAWOO so that you can be updated on when the shop officially opens!

Circus Bunting Banner and Tag Templates {Free Party Templates}

Yesterday, I volunteered at my church's Harvest Festival 2010 event, which had a carnival theme. It was a fun event that had pony rides, games, performances, caramel apples, and so much more (all for free!). I was amazed at how much creative work went into this festival. Many of the other booths looked great and you can tell a lot of hard work went into them.

My community group put together more than 450 caramel apples and I was happy to design the sticker labels and put together the decorations for our booth. Now you can go ahead and download the bunting banner and the tag/label templates for your own use. These templates will allow you to input your own letter or number (to represent the name of the person or age). More photos below. If you have any questions, please email me at flipawoo@gmail.com.


You can print these PDF files at a printing company or use a home printer. These are to be printed on 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper and make sure the page is set to print with no scaling. For higher quality prints, set the printer to the maximum printing level or have your local printing company make the prints for you. Always get a proof first!

Bunting Banner - This file will allow you to print one edited page at a time. I recommend printing these on white card stock sheets of paper.

Tags/Labels - Can be used as stickers, cupcake toppers, and favor tags. I recommend printing these on white card stock sheets of paper (except for the stickers). Please note that this template will only allow you to input one letter or number in for each tag.

Be sure to also "like" FLIPAWOO on Facebook! Thanks!


Update (1/27/11) - New circus designed invitations now available! Coordinating banners, tags, labels, and thank you cards are also available. Contact me for more details!

Blue and White Diagonal Striped Card {Free Template}

Here's a free template for you to download! I made this Father's Day card for my husband this year, but you can use this as a birthday, baby shower or thank you card (shirt and tie are not shown in the file)! The available PDF file will allow you to type in any text, such as "Happy Birthday" or "Thank You". Be sure to print the file on a white card stock sheet and if using a home printer, use the highest quality print setting (no page scaling!). Be as creative as you want by affixing any type of design piece to the card or go to an arts and craft store and purchase those 3-D stickers.

I printed the design on a textured 110lb. sheet. You can also punch out the corners to make them round. Have fun!

By the way, the tutorial for making the folded shirt and tie can be found here.