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.

Tissue Paper Wreath Finished...Now onto the Fabric Backdrop

I FINALLY finished making the tissue paper wreath. The photo above was taken when I had started. This took about 3 months for me to finish only because I took my time with it. It's an easy project, but I cannot for the life of me do repetitive tasks for long periods of time. I have to always move onto something else. I didn't realize it would end up looking so big, but I think it came out great and it should make some type of an impact at the party. It will be in the welcoming area on the sign-in table. Right now, I'm struggling with trying to make a nice looking black ribbon bow  to add on the top. I failed a couple of times already and they both look wilted, confused (with the ribbon pieces going everywhere) and pathetic. I'll post the photo of the finished wreath after the party in October. Hopefully, I'll have a wonderful looking ribbon bow tie. I'm also adding the letter, "M" to the middle of the wreath.

As for the fabric backdrop for the main table, I purchased the PVC pipes, connectors, and pink and white striped fabric. Instead of working on them right away, I left the pieces scattered in the storage closet, car trunk and in the garage. It has been more than a month now and every time I catch a glimpse of these items, I am immediately reminded that I have to eventually figure out how to successfully build this backdrop together. Let's just hope that I didn't waste my time with this idea.

While I was deciding today when I should actually start putting the PVC pipes together, an idea of adding another piece of fabric over the striped one came to me. I'm thinking of adding black sheer fabric on each end, then tying each side with pink ribbon (curtain tie). So the overall appearance of this fabric backdrop will look somewhat like a window, except you're looking out at pink and white striped design! I will also add a bunting banner that I designed towards the top.

Since I like to stress so much, I also decided to do all of the party decorations AND handle the party set-up on my own. For my son's 1st birthday, I hired a party planner and she was responsible for setting up the main table, balloons, and centerpieces. I am already regretting just a little bit for trying to tackle this without any professional help. Am I crazy? I think so. My daughter's 1st birthday party will be simple and I am hoping it is better this way in terms of bringing down the cost.

UPDATE! (08/31/10) - I went over to Amy Atlas and found this photo she posted of the tied curtain style I tried to explain from above! See photo below:

So I want to still use the pink and white striped fabric as the background and also add black sheer material on each side. The problem is, how do I hang this extra piece on the PVC pipes without it bending? By the way, I tested the weight of the fabric on the pipe and it's already slightly bending! Not only that, the whole stand is sort of swaying back and forth. Now, I'm too lazy to go back to Home Depot to buy thicker pipes, so I'm going to have to think about this more thoroughly.

Fabric Backdrop

I think I may have finally figured out a way to hang a fabric backdrop behind the head table. After searching and searching online, I discovered that using PVC pipes can do the job. I suppose I can always use this set-up for future parties as well. I am no handyman, but I'll check out Home Depot and see how "easy" this can be.

Here are some instructions on setting one up.

Pink and White Striped Background

For the past couple of weeks, I've been going back and forth in my head on whether to put up a pink and white striped or plain light pink fabric piece behind the head table at my daughter's birthday party. After seeing Amy Atlas' blog, she has now convinced me to definitely go for the striped version. It would match my invitation design anyway.

I'm also planning to put up paper bunting banners reading, "Happy Birthday" and "Madeline". I have so much to do!