DIY Crepe Paper FLOWER

Flowers, you can  never grow tired of them! And I have been wanting to make these lovelies for an event.

Mikaeel's Thomas the train birthday party provided me with a perfect opportunity.

And they turned out amazing, adding that extra ooph to the celebrations!

The technique is simple and material easily available at your local art shop. You can make these well in advance, like I did and fluff them up on the day of the event.

So let's get started!

You will need:

Crepe paper

Scissors

String

Yup, that's it!

You can use any size you want, and create as many layers as you like. The more layers you have, the fluffier the flower. For this tutorial I used six 8"x8.5" pieces and five 6"x6.5" pieces for the center. 

Begin by stacking together six pieces of crepe paper.

Add a contrasting center and scallop cut the edges.

Accordion fold them together.

And tie a string down the middle of the accordion folds and if you wish to hang them up,  leave a long tail of string at  the end.

Using a pair of scissors curve each end of the accordion folds through all layers into petals like so:

Then carefully pull the center petal towards the middle. Crepe paper rips quite easily so be very careful. 

Repeat this for all layers, shaping up your petals as you go along.

Fluff up your petals and you're done! 

Easy peasy! And now you have a gorgeous flower. Use it as part of event decor, or hang it from a wall or simply use it as an embellishment on presents.

Enjoy!

Thomas The Train Party With Free Printables!

Chugga-chugga! Choo-choo!

Hello everyone!
Remember how I'd been working on Mikaeel's second birthday party? Well, it has been more than a month but I am so happy to finally be sharing it (mind you the post has lots of pictures with printable FREEBIES at the end). But hey, you can easily pull off a similar train-themed birthday party for your kiddo's next birthday! :)

My sister wanted to celebrate Mikaeel's 2nd birthday with a train-themed birthday party (we did Sesame Street on his first one!). So we decided on Thomas the train as our theme and settled on blue, red and yellow as our main colors with a bit of green thrown in. 

I started with the invites. I had fun making cookie monster and elmo cards and I felt evelope cards would be great because I wouldn't have to worry about creating separate envelopes. Besides they are super quick and easy to whip up. I got the train images off the internet, changed them somewhat using Photoshop, and then proceeded to design the card.

For a more professional look, I printed some of the text on tracing paper and the rest on white printing paper and then sealed off the envelope with a Thomas image. 

Next came the banner. I wanted it to say, "Happy Birthday Mikaeel" with each word hanging from a different string but brought together at both ends with large crepe paper flowers. I also wanted the wall behind the banner covered in  yellow crepe paper. So for "Happy Birthday" I stuck with red and blue and for "Mikaeel" I went for a train look (my sister's idea!). And I am so glad that I did because it looked really cute! 

I also made a small banner that said "Mikaeel" for the food table. I simply used this template for colored triangles and then pasted them onto 1/4 inch larger triangles cut from black chart paper. Using blue piping, I hand-stitched them together. 

Then I made lots of crepe paper flowers.

Simply love how they turned out! (UPDATE: click here for the tutorial)

No party is complete without a door-sign.

And let's not forget party favors! I got the template for these here, printed it out on blue printing paper and assembled. I created "Thank you for coming" on photoshop and stuck it on all party favors.

For the table, I wanted  to create a cupcake train. But since I was short on time, I decided to go with a simple food train. I made the engine out of thick cardstock, created slits in the front and back wheel and inserted a rectangular piece of cardstock so that the engine could stand on its own!

And made some cute food labels so the guests wouldn't have to ask or skip over a particular food.

I even made a photobooth backdrop for the party! Using UHU patafix I adhered crepe paper to the wall and pasted train cut outs and paper flowers on it. It was an instant hit with the guests!

And now for some free printables.

food label

xx

Young Entrepreneurs Exhibition II

Oooh it's been quite a while since I last posted..and holy shit this post is WAY overdue! I told you guys about the Young Entrepreneurs Exhibition II that I was participating in. Well, I thought I'd share a few pictures and then the views of two participating brands who were sweet enough to respond to my email. 

So getting on with the pictures, don't these labels look neat? They arrived a few days just prior to the exhibition itself, but my god don't they look gorgeous? I was quite dizzy with excitement when I saw these and I love how they arrived all rolled up!

Business cards!

No event is complete without these. Since all the printer walas whom I approached wanted more time for printing and what with the uncertain condition in the city, I decided to go handmade. It took me two days to whip these up but I am glad how the cards turned out.

And of course I needed some artsy-fartsy holder for these, so I fancied up a small box, printed out "take a card!" and mounted it on blue and orange cardstock and using small dowels adhered it to the box.

 (the owl and pennant design was created in Photoshop using the adorable brushes I found at Pumpkins and Posies)

 And now for some event pictures!  The handbags are all handmade by thebloomingorchids and the dresses you see on display are designed by Regenbogen.

Don't these bags look awesome? They are the first of it's kind in Pakistan and totally REVERSIBLE!!! :D

There were some gorgeous stuff on display by other participating brands.

All in all, it was a great learning experience and I got to meet some very talented designers and simply loved hearing feedback from shoppers about my product!

Booth visitor: You made all this?
Me: Yes (big smile)
Booth visitor: Like you sewed all of these?
Me: Uh-huh. 
Booth visitor: I can turn it inside out and carry it? Woooww! You are quite creative.

To everyone that stopped by my booth, thank you so very much! And for those who went ahead and purchased my stuff A BIG WARM HUG!


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Could you tell us something about your brand?

TailorBird by Hareem Ubaid - "We ensure that our customers get to wear the best clothes made up of fine fabrics and stitched with the greatest care possible - all within the constraints of a reasonable budget, allowing you to keep up with the latest fashion trends and styles in vogue. Jaw-dropping designs at jaw-dropping prices"

How was your experience at the Young Entrepreneurs Exhibition II?

"Since this was my first exhibition, it was an experience that taught me a lot. The organizers worked hard (but could have done even better). It was nice to interact with other designers and exchange thoughts with them. It offered a nice opportunity to get in touch with prospective customers and observe consumer behaviour. However, we felt that the event could have been marketed even better, because distributing pamphlets in KU for an exhibition in Zamzama does not make sense. Having the exhibition on Sunday was another major mistake, as hardly anyone came by."


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Could you tell us something about your brand?

Fu9oon by Faeza Fakhar - "We are a creative house of fashion. Fu9oon offers interesting, affordable, original and unique designs. Besides apparel, we design clutches and jewellery too. Our designs are different which makes your personality amazingly different."

How was your experience at the Young Entrepreneurs Exhibition II?

"By the blessings of Allah, the Young Entrepreneur Exhibition II went well. It was not a total disappointment. I would like to thank the organizers for giving us such a platform where we were not only able to exhibit and sell our products but also got a chance to interact with our potential customers and increase our customer base!

Although, the exhibition did not fully satisfy each designer, either due to bad timings (city's condition and second day of the exhibition being on a Sunday) or because of the organizers. Plus something that I was really not accustomed to - many of the visitors seemed a bit standoffish, but nevertheless it was a great start :) "


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Will be sharing REVERSIBLE AWESOMENESS and lots more with you guys SOON! 

Happy Wednesday! xx