Thursday, June 30, 2011

{Press and Freebies!} Asian Themed Party!


The wonderful Coryanne from Housewife Bliss contacted me again recently to help her with a few Party Printables for an Asian Themed Birthday Party that she was shooting for Celebrations.com. Her party is full of fabulous ideas and yummy recipes! Definitely take a moment to check it out.

If you decide to throw your own Asian Themed soiree, here are few FREE PRINTABLES to help you set the mood!!

And if you have sec, please stop by the comment section and say "howdy!". I ALWAYS love to hear from you all. (It really makes my day!)

Just click on the images and download them to your desktop. Enjoy!!

p.s. If you use the printables I would LOVE to see your party!! Please shoot me a few pics. (GwynnWassonDesigns {at} gmail {dot} com)

p.p.s And if you haven't already...  don't forget to sign up for our FULL PARTY GIVE AWAY!!



Monday, June 27, 2011

{Give Away} Thanks For All The FB Love!!


Happy Monday!!! Jen from JP CreatiblesBrittany from Edible Details and I have been having SO much fun making new friends on FB that we all decided to have a little celebration!!


We're a group of chicks that doesn't go for those normal give aways... you know the ones where people celebrate reaching a nice round number of fans like 500 or 1000.


Oh no, we're the kind of gals that like to celebrate EVERY FAN even if you liked us after the traditional milestones! Soooo Jen is celebrating 2186 fans, Brittany's celebrating 1190 and I'm celebrating 885!! YAAAAYY for EACH and EVERY one of YOU!


AND to show you how appreciative we are for ALL your AMAZING support, we are GIVING AWAY the following:

From me...

- 1 Full Printable Party Package from ANY COLLECTION in my shop! (That's right, even you just see an invitation you like,  rest assured that all the other items in the collection exist.) Here's what the package includes:

- Invitation
- Happy Birthday Banner
- 2" Party Circles/Cupcake Toppers
- Table Labels
- Water Bottle Labels
- Napkin Wraps
- Treat Cones
- Favor Tags


From Jen at JP Creatibles...

- 2 DOZEN Coordinating Cookies!!


From Brittany at Edible Details...

- 1 DOZEN Toppers!!!


IT'S A COMPLETE PARTY!!! All you'll need to add are the guests!!


So, I bet you're wondering HOW YOU CAN WIN, right??! Here's all you have to do...

- Leave comment ON THIS POST with YOUR NAME and the name of the collection from my shop that you would like to win.

Easy, right?!!


But this isn't the only way to enter, for ADDITIONAL CHANCES TO WIN do the following...

1. LIKE JP CREATIBLES on FB, leave a comment on Jen's Wall AND leave a comment on this post letting me know

2. LIKE EDIBLE DETAILS on FB, leave a comment on Brittany's Wall AND leave a comment on this post letting me know

3. LIKE GWYNN WASSON DESIGNS on FB, leave a comment on my Wall AND leave a comment on this post letting me know

4. Become a FOLLOWER of KARA'S PARTY IDEAS and leave a comment on this post letting me know

5. LIKE KARA'S PARTY IDEAS on FB, leave a comment on Kara's Wall AND leave a comment on this post letting me know

That's SIX potential entries for each of you!! WOW!!

(For each entry, make sure that you leave a comment on this post letting me know what steps you completed. If you win, we will check to make sure that you did it!)

The winner will be chosen via Random.org on Friday, July 8th at 10:30am PST.


GOOD LUCK to everyone!! AND thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!

HUGS!!
Jen, Brittany and Gwynn

{This Give Away has ended.}

Friday, June 24, 2011

{GWD Parties} Kacey and David's Pirates and Fairies Party!


Coming up with a theme for a party which needs to cater to both boys and girls can be rough. Recently I was asked to style a party for Kacey who was turning 3 and her brother, David, who was turning 1. Kacey is currently madly in love with Tinkerbell so the party simply had to have fairies! And, even if she has to share her party with her brother, who can deny a little girl a fairy party?! But, for David's sake, it couldn't all be fairies. (We simply couldn't have him looking back at pictures of his 1st birthday 20 years from now and feeling like he got ripped off!) So we needed to pull a little "boy" into it as well.  After a bit of discussion with Kacey and David's mother, we decided to go with a pirates and fairies theme, very loosely based on Peter Pan. 



We chose a fun palette of blues and greens with purple and gold accents. Partly because blue is Kacey's favorite color and partly because the mix can work for both boys and girls. Besides the typical pirate stripe, we worked to pull in all different types of patterns including many batiks and watercolor prints. These gave the party an islandy, oceany feeling very reminiscent of pirates and the home of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell! 



When the guests first arrived they were met by a treasure map! Because, of course, there's no better way to direct guests at a pirate party!


They were asked to "follow the fairies".  On the ground we  laid out a dotted line which mimicked the line on the treasure map and flying above the guest's heads were a line of paper fairies "leading" them to the party.


The "treasure" which map alluded to was a yard bathed in green, blue and purple!


Over 200 feet of custom fabric bunting helped to created a magical outdoor room. Fairy wings adorn the chairs at the children's table, while pirate ships with custom masts were "docked" at the adult tables.


There was a brunch buffet ("Pirate Grub with Fabulous Fairy Flavoring"!)...


... as well as a dessert table. 


Keeping with our theme, I skirted the dessert table with a watery printed fabric and then topped it with billowing burlap to mimic the rolling dunes of sand which might be found at the "water's edge". 


Beautiful pirate cake pops, from Mom's Killer Cakes, were displayed in a treasure chest. 


Then inspired by Kate Lander's gorgeous Mermaid dessert table, I used raw sugar to represent sand. And pouring it into lanterns, I used it to prop up lovely chocolate covered Oreos, with our fairy printed on them, from Serena's Party Boutique as a call back to Tink getting trapped in the lantern. 


Fairy wands made of Pixy Sticks "wandered" amid a piece of drift wood. 


And wonderful pirate ship cookies, made by Lori's Place, stood up in a sweeping piece of blue fabric and looked as though they were actually sailing the seas of "Cookie Cove"! 


I was also lucky enough to find the absolute perfect cups for the kids at Party City (for only 99 cents!!) and decorated them with drink flags displaying each of the children's names so that no one lost their cup.


Aimee, of the fabulous Strawberrie Rose Couture Collection, made a beautiful tutu for Kacey and even adjusted the colors to match our party perfectly! 


So that David didn't feel left out, I made him a t-shirt declaring him "Captain David" on the front and displaying the party's pirate ship icon on the back.


During the party there were pirate and fairy tattoos and fun cardboard fairy wings which the kids could decorate with markers, stamps and stickers. And, best of all, there was an appearance by a fabulous Tinkerbell. Kacey was in seventh heaven! 


And David, although a bit shell shocked as most one year old's are at their first birthday bash, seemed to have a very fine time too!


Vendors:

Party Styling and Party Printables - Gwynn Wasson Designs
Cake Pops - Mom's Killer Cakes
Pirate Ship Cookies - Lori's Place
Chocolate Covered Oreos - Serena's Party Boutique
Treasure Chest - Michael's
Cardboard Wings - Michael's
Striped Drink Cups - Party City

Monday, June 20, 2011

{Give Away} Free Summer Planning Calendar!


I simply can't believe that it's already summer! Yikes! Well, if you're summers get as crazy ours, and you need a little help organizing them, here's a tip... 

Several weeks ago the wonderful Malia from Yesterday on Tuesday contacted me to create a Summer Planning Calendar for her. And (here's the best part!) she's GIVING IT AWAY, so that you can organize your summer activities too!! Yipee! 



Friday, June 17, 2011

Custom Printables - Taking A Little Of The Scary Out


I get contacted all the time to create custom printables for people. I love it! I adore working with people to bring their ideas to life. I do request that people purchase the item before I begin working on it and sometimes this is a little scary to people. They are not sure what they are purchasing and sometimes they are afraid that they will be stuck with something that they don't like. Just for the record, I would never do that. If we collaborate on something and you end up completely unhappy, I'll refund your money. Trust me. (I haven't had to do it yet, though.)

Collaborating on custom printables is a leap of faith for both me and you.  You have to trust that I can figure out what you see in your head and I have trust that you have an idea of what you would like and that you can help guide me, clearly, toward something that you will be very happy with.

That said, sometimes I've headed down one path with a client....

...and we've ended up somewhere else completely different.

This is fine. It happens and I enjoy the challenge!


And sometimes we go down a few paths as we zero in on where you would like to be...

Other times where we start...
...is close to where we finish.

Also, good!

And sometimes what it takes to make it perfect is just a simple color adjustment...

But regardless, it is a collaboration. We work together, you and me, to arrive at that something special which you imagined and that will help to make your party extra fabulous!