The Catch My Party Blog

SkinnyScoop – Your Cheatsheet to Everything

I had the pleasure of talking with Eden Godsoe , founder of SkinnyScoop. When she told me about her “list making” platform and site, I knew she had to share it with our readers. Come on, what woman doesn’t love a good list!

How many of you get your best information from your go-to girlfriend or that mom maven who shares her knowledge and recommendations with the rest of us? Well, it just got a lot easier.

Meet SkinnyScoop, a place where women come to create, discover, and share all of the things they know and love.

Whether you’re planning a birthday party for one of your kids, or thinking about of all the graduation gifts you need to buy, the SkinnyScoop platform makes it easy and fun to keep track of everything you need by creating lists.

Moms use SkinnyScoop lists to catalogue their favorite iPhone apps, put together travel tips and stockpile family friendly recipes.

Hungry for some inspiration? Check out this fun list from Jessica M, who lives in North Carolina. She used her list to organize all of the things she wanted to buy for her son’s pirate-themed birthday party:

After you’ve created your list, you can e-mail or post it to Facebook with one click. The bonus to putting your collection of items into a SkinnyScoop list is that your research and favorites live on long after an e-mail is deleted or a Facebook post is buried. You can find or update your list on SkinnyScoop.com anytime you get a new idea.

Not a natural list maker? That’s OK – you can visit and see what other moms have shared if you’re just looking for expertise. From the best green baby toys to maternity must-haves, new lists from those in the know are popping up daily. SkinnyScoop is your virtual cheat sheet to everything.

So what are you waiting for? Come “unleash your inner Oprah” and be recognized for your knowledge and influence.

Women use SkinnyScoop’s social curation platform, including collaborative list building tools, to share and discover parenting tips, product recommendations, travel advice, go-to books and apps, and much more. The SkinnyScoop network reaches more than 300,000 women each month and includes SkinnyScoop.com alongside 400 blogs and content partners.

Thanks, Eden. If you could see the lists on my desk right now, you’d know how much I need SkinnyScoop!

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Jillian posted on May 3rd, 2012
Filed under Party Themes, The business of the Internet.
Tags: SkinnyScoop

{DIY} How to Make a Paper Flower Backdrop

I had to share this paper flower backdrop tutorial created by Ellinée because I think it is so beautiful and original. I love the 3D nature of it. How amazing would this look behind a dessert table!

The tutorial comes with the paper flower garland templates and instructions. You just need to download the templates, cut out the flowers, attach the flowers to baker’s twine using an embroidery needle, and tie the twine to a pretty branch.

Head to Ellinée to see the whole tutorial, and while you’re there, check out their other incredible paper crafts like the Mother’s Day paper bouquet.

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Jillian posted on May 2nd, 2012
Filed under Decor, Dessert tables, DIY Tutorial From A Catch My Party Member.
Tags: flowers, paper garland

FREE Mother’s Day Party Printables from MJ Paperie

The banner for this new Mother’s Day collection says, “Mama’s Love.” As a mom myself, what could be more everlasting and true.

This sweet set of Pink and Yellow printables were designed by Meredith at MJ Paperie.

The collection includes: 2″ party circles, drink flags, tented cards, and of course that banner!

DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION COLLECTION HERE

Thank you, Meredith, I know your collection will make a lot of moms happy! To learn more about Meredith and check out her designs, take a look at her shop, MJ Paperie.

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Jillian posted on May 1st, 2012
Filed under Mother's Day, Printables (Free Mother's Day).
Tags: banner, Catch My Party - the site

Cinco de Mayo Inspirations from Catch My Party

If you are thinking of throwing a Cinco de Mayo party, take a look at these amazing ideas I pulled together from our site. (Click on the image to see where each photo is from.)

First, check out the free Cinco de Mayo party printables we have. The collection includes: a 5×7 invitation, party circles, drink flags, water/beer bottle labels, and a “Cinco de Mayo” banner. Wouldn’t they look great dressing up your party…

Here’s a taco cupcake (seriously)…

Mexican soda is a must…

For an activity, even for adults, pin the tail on the donkey is always fun…

Bunting banner made out of taco shells… great idea!

Tacos served in metal tins looks cool…

Sombreros made of spongecake and Twinkies…

Colorful Mexican decor with a pinata (of course)…

Margarita cupcakes… yum!

How great would the lucha libre masks be for your photo booth…

For more Cinco de Mayo inspiration, check out these great parties from our site.

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Jillian posted on April 30th, 2012
Filed under Party Themes, TRENDS on Catch My Party.
Tags: Cinco de Mayo, fiesta, Mexican

{DESIGN CHALLENGE} Design a Birthday Card and Win $100 from Amazon and an HP Officejet 7500A Printer

We’ve come up with a new Design Challenge… We’re giving away $300 in Amazon gift certificates and an HP Officejet 7500A printer. Plus your design could end up on the HP Facebook page and in the HP Newsgram newsletter!

We’d like you to design the front of a BIRTHDAY CARD — an all-purpose card that someone would download, print out, and send to their friend or relative on their birthday!

All you need to enter is a little creativity and a photograph. That’s right, the birthday card you create must include at least one photo. It can be a photo of a birthday hat, a cake, a foot… anything. We want to see how creative you can be with a photo.

Here’s an example…

And wait, I didn’t even tell you the coolest part… The most popular design will be featured as a free download on the HP Facebook page and in the HP Newsgram. If any company understands printing and printables, it’s HP, so they’re excited to see what our creative community can come up with!

Here are some other basic rules:

Each person may enter up to three birthday card designs
Card designs must be entered by 11:59pm (PDT) May 13th
We ask that you submit a JPG, PNG, or GIF of the front design of your card, and there will be space to type in any text for the inside of the card
The semi-final round will occur on the Catch My Party site from May 14th – May 20th, where our readers will vote for their favorite three designs
The three finalists will each receive $100 Amazon gift certificates
The final round of voting will be held on the HP Facebook page and in the HP Newsgram
The designer who creates the winning design will also receive an HP Officejet 7500A worth $199.99 provided by us, and will have their design be featured as a free download in the HP Newsgram and on the HP Facebook page
The winner will be notified by email and be required to sign a release for their design
All entrants must own the rights to the photo(s) they use
Entrants must be at least 18 years of age
This design challenge is sponsored and administered solely by Catch My Party

Happy designing!! We can’t wait to see your cards!!

GO HERE TO UPLOAD YOUR CARD DESIGN

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Jillian posted on April 30th, 2012
Filed under Design challenge, Kid's Birthdays.
Tags: birthday card, hp

FREE Kentucky Derby Party Printables from Wanessa Carolina Creations

I’ve been wanting to give away a set of Kentucky Derby printables, and finally I get my chance thanks to Wanessa from Wanessa Carolina Creations who designed this terrifically fun collection! Now on May 5th, you can serve up your mint juleps, put on your fancy hats, and watch “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” in style!

The collection includes: drink wraps, mini party logos (with the names of all the horses), favor tags, patterned paper, invitations, cupcake wrappers, tented cards, and a “138th Derby” banner. Just perfect!!

DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING HERE

If you use these printables at your Kentucky Derby party, please add your party to our site. I’d love to show off what you do!

Thank you, Wanessa. I always love your bold and vibrant designs!

To learn more about Wanessa and see more of her designs, please visit her blog, Facebook page, and Etsy shop.

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Jillian posted on April 26th, 2012
Filed under Decor, Invitations, Party Planning and Ideas, Printables (Free Miscellaneous).
Tags: banner, free Kentucky Derby printables, mint juleps, party decorations

{TRENDS} Cute Animal Cake Pops on Catch My Party

Thinking of throwing an animal party? Check out these adorable animal cake pops we’ve seen on our site. The only problem is they’re just too cute to eat…

To see the party they’re from, click on the photo.

If you want to see more beautiful cake pops from our site, check out our cake pop pinboard on Pinterest.

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Jillian posted on April 25th, 2012
Filed under Cake, Cupcakes, and Desserts.
Tags: animals, cake pops

{DIY} How to Make Colored Paper Spheres

Here’s the latest DIY Wanessa from Wanessa Carolina Creations

came up with and it’s incredible! Instead of pom poms or paper lanterns, how about dressing up your party with some of these paper spheres?

Take it away, Wanessa, and show us how…

Back in the day, one of my stores in Brazil had a spherical lamp shade made out of plastic module pieces like this.

The original design, called an IQ Light, was done over 30 years ago by Holger Strom and what is amazing about this design is you can make up to 22 diferent shapes using the same module pieces.

I wanted to use the same design to make paper spheres.

Since I wanted to use bold and trendy colors, first I thought of making them with colored cardstock, but then realized that would be expensive. So here what I did…

First I attached wrapping paper to brown paper with spray adhesive. Then I traced the module pieces using a module template and cut them out. At first it seemed like a lot of work but I can tell you it was worth it!

I bought the roll of brown paper at Walmart for $6.50 and the wrapping paper for $5.00. With the length of the wrapping paper I could trace up to 100 modules!

But here is what I figured out. This method just works for the round shapes, to make the oval, diamond, and the other shapes you will need the module to be colored on both sides, so you might want to try cardstock.

Materials:

Brown paper
Colored wrapping paper (about 8 feet)
Spray adhesive
Scissors
Damp cloth

*If you don’t want to do this process, just use colored cardstock

Instructions:

Lay down the brown paper and spray the adhesive covering about 12″ (it is better to do this little by little)
Lay the back of the wrapping paper on the brown paper over the spray adhesive, and rub the surface using a damp cloth to attach (using a damp cloth will avoid scratching the paper)
Spray more adhesive and continue the process of adhering the wrapping paper to the brown craft paper
Once both papers are attached, trace out 30 modules and cut them out. Download the module template here.

As you start putting the pieces together, you will make something looking like a flower at the bottom, using 5 module pieces to start. Here you can see the beginning of the process of putting them together.

Here’s the middle of the process.

Here’s the end of the process.

To hang the sphere I cut out some circles (cereal box cardboard) using a scrapbook punch, made a hole in the middle of the circle and the module using a needle, passed through the holes a fish line (made a triple knot an burned the end).

These are the different shapes you can make using the same module.

Here’s the finished product again!

Thank you, Wanessa, these are incredible!!

If you end up making paper spheres, please email me a photo at jillian(at)catchmyparty(dot)com. I’d love to show off what you did.

To learn more about Wanessa and see more of her designs, please visit her blog, Facebook page, and Etsy shop.

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Jillian posted on April 24th, 2012
Filed under Decor, DIY Tutorial From A Catch My Party Member.
Tags: paper, pom pom

FREE Mother’s Day Party Printables from Love Party Printables

The little children are back and they’re here to help you celebrate Mother’s Day! Thank you Ana, from Love Party Printables for another sweet and precious collection!

This collection includes: 2″ party circles, two “Happy Mother’s Day” banners (one girl and one boy), straw flags, napkin rings, party labels, favor tags, water bottle labels, blank tented cards, invitations, Mother’s Day cards, and cake toppers.

DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION FILES FOR PRINTING HERE