From the Heart -ies!

Now you can make your friends walk the plank for a very good cause! Amy from Giggleberry creations let us know she is auctioning off a fab collection of Pirate Party goodies to raise money for the `Running the marathon for Autism' team . Autism is also close to our hearts - a dear friend does an amazing job of raising two out of her three young sons with the condition and while her energy and finances are challenged daily, the results of undertaking intense therapy from an early age with her boys has been remarkable.

We have added a couple of pirate cuties from our store to Amy's collection - a dozen red and white stripe cupcake wrappers, a set of three pirate-theme cookie cutters and a dozen food/cupcake flags in red and black - making this the odds-on cutest Pirate party you will see in town. Worth it alone for the fab Giggleberry bunting, I reckon. Make it yours by bidding right here. Auction ends Sunday night May 16.

Real Hip Hooray: Pretty Vintage Circus

Having just stepped away from the pages of Sweet Paul magazine with visions of fairy floss and circus elephants dancing in my head, I find the prettiest vintage circus party. The unconventional colour palette reminds me of pink lemonade and takes this theme to a whole new level of girlie gorgeous. We adore every detail - the soft circus tent graphic tying everything together, little tubs of fairy floss, a refrigerator-box ticket booth, colour co-ordinated carnival-style games and a sweet matching dress for the Birthday Girl!

(images via The TomKat Studio )

Kim of the adorable TomKatstudio worked her magic on the paper goods and a very clever and creative mum has pulled this all together for a lucky little girl. You can find more details and pictures of this beauty over at Kim's blog.

Consider yourself warned, though - Kim's beautiful blog will keep you entertained for hours so make sure the dinner doesn't burn and that the littlies are able to bath themselves before you get started (wink!).

Hip Inspiration: Sweet Paul Magazine

From the pages of fashion catalogues to backyard parties all around the country, Circus inspired creativity is taking the world by storm.

With such a whimsical combination of fabric `details' and simple, creative food ideas, these party pages from the first edition of Sweet Paul Magazine go to the top of our list for inspiration.

Sweet Paul is a New-York based stylist and writer of one of our favourite blogs. Here you will find beautiful food and creative craftiness all styled up with an incredible eye and fab photography - ready for you to devour, dream about and recreate. The new online magazine is a very exciting extension to the amazing work of Sweet Paul and feeds our addiction quite nicely, thank you.

FREE Printable: Celebrating Mum

Oh, how I cannot wait for a sleep-in and breakfast-in-bed this Sunday. We have already spent the week in a flurry of Mother's Day activities at school and kindergarten and the girls are excitedly hiding secret gifts around every corner. Hope they can remember where they stashed them. The cutest part is that they will likely have upcycled something (that was already mine!) or crafted something lovely with supplies they know they are not supposed to get into. I promise to act completely surprised and forgive them for using my new delivery of favourite fabric, because their heart is in exactly the right place and that simply makes me proud and, of course, besotted.

If you're getting together with family this weekend and sharing a meal in honour of the Mums, we have a sweet download for you to help style it up into something a little special. Thanks again to the talented Sarah at Style Me Gorgeous for a vintage-inspired printable suite in a colour palette of soft coral and sage green. Download your copy and create your own pretty table setting with designs to suit menus, placecards and even paper flags to dress up cupcakes or drinking straws.

And if time or inspiration for gift-buying is short, trim up a few pages of this versatile set and tie with ribbon to make a delightful package of notes, gift cards and labels.

Over at the Style Me Gorgeous blog you can also find a cute colour-in to keep the kids busy while Dad sees to the bacon and eggs - they will love dressing up the Breakfast-in-Bed tray for you.

Happy Mother's Day from Hip Hooray - we hope you like our little gift. Celebrate in style.

And enjoy the sleep-in - you deserve it!