Thursday, April 28, 2011

Centerpieces in Honor of a Very Special Person

I was asked several years ago by my best friend's friend if I could make gardenia corsages for her dearly departed boss, who lost his life to cancer. They were having a "celebration of life" event to honor his memory. Yoriko lost her battle to breast cancer earlier this year. She was and still is such a special person to so many. She was this sweet Japanese woman who had a great sense of humor and no matter how much pain she was in, she always tried to muster up a smile and to make life seem like it was okay. Funny, now that I look back on those times with Yoriko, I realize she was like my mom in many ways in the way she handled cancer as well.Yoriko's dying wish was to have a celebration of life in honor of her. Her husband, mother-in-law and best friend are helping with the arrangements. Yoriko loved my flowers and asked if I could make corsages for all the attendees. Because of the change in prices since the time she asked me, we decided that maybe doing a smaller number of corsages for close family and friends was more ideal and to create larger centerpieces that her daughter could keep and one to give to her family who resides in Japan. The flowers requested were 3 different types and shades of orchids, green hydrangeas, white gardenias, roses, and pikake. I also decide to add purple sweet peas as these were also a favorite of Yoriko's.
These arrangements took a lot of time, more so because they asked for orchids I never made before and had to figure out. I love the color combination of green, purple and white/cream. I don't know why I struggled with this order so much, but I did. I am so happy to almost be done as it was a lot of hard work. My hope is that these arrangements and corsages will help to lift the spirits of those who mourn the loss of a very special woman. :) We miss you Yoriko!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Yellow and Aqua Blue = GORGEOUS!

A florist in Colorado asked me recently if I had time to create a stephanotis bouquet for a client of hers. It was very short notice, but I was able to pull it off. She later asked me if I would be able to create centerpieces for her own wedding that's fast approaching. Initially I said, "no" because I was swamped with orders, but I looked at my schedule again and decided to squeeze it in. Her request was simple, peonies, roses and ranunculus in shades of yellow.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this color combination! It definitely makes me think of Spring and warm weather and the aqua blue ocean! I ultimately am happy I decided to take this order even though I had a tight schedule as I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

Hibiscus with a little bit of bling...

A client asked me to make hair flowers for her destination wedding in Spain. She had requested ivory hibiscus for herself and fuchsia and yellow hibiscus for her maid of honor. The ivory hibiscus she said to use my best judgment on how to embellish. I decided to accent the stamen with glass ivory seed beads hand wired to look like peps and dusted the fringe part of the stamen and the inner petals with a sheer gold acrylic paint. I think it gives is a simple yet stylish component to the flowers.

Cherry Blossom Cake Flowers

A client recently contacted me and asked if I could create cherry blossom branches for her 3 tier cake. She had purchased a custom bird cake topper that she wanted a circle of cherry blossoms to surround the birds & base as well as branches to go up the sides of each tier. She asked me for a rough sketch and a quote.
She was very interested in having me create her cake flowers. Since my faux cake has only one position for the flowers to go in, I wasn't able to show you how it looks completed, but this gives you some ideas on what it could look like and other design ideas. I love how the branches make the cake 3 dimensional and adds lots of movement!
It's been a busy Easter weekend. No Easter egg hunts or brunch, my son got strep throat again so I was busy taking care of him and trying to get caught up on my work. Another year, my son didn't get to celebrate Easter with everyone. I think that's now 4 of 6 that he has missed out on!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Happy Easter... a little early!

While I've been swamped with working on multiple orders and trying to stay motivated, I worked on some little gifts to give to our dear friends' children for our Easter celebration tomorrow night. Every week we have "game" night for the kids and each of the families makes something to share with everyone. Granted game night often becomes no game night, but we always have a good time.
Since tomorrow, game night has been replaced with coloring Easter eggs for the kids, I decided to make some gifts for the little ones. Well, Easter, you think of bunnies and chicks. Um... well, my friends' kids each have their favorite stuffed animal that they take everywhere and I decided to make these cute little cups with a replica of their stuff animal in a Easter theme. Of course Easter is not complete with loads of candy. Loved how these turned out. Now I have to find time to make Sid the Sloth or Curious George for my son as he was not too happy that I didn't make him one too.Wishing you all a Happy Easter filled with lots of sweet treats and eggs! I'm very thankful this year that my son is healthy and can enjoy the festivities with our friends and family!

Monday, April 18, 2011

More Orange, Green Ivory and Brown...

My client Priscilla also asked me to make a centerpiece for her reception table. She gave me a list of the flowers that her fresh florist is using. She mentioned orange and white orchids, green anthuriums, green hydrangeas and lilies.
I decided to stay true to those flowers and came up with this design. I decided to add the monkey tail fern curls since she has a hint of brown in her wedding colors. The order is almost complete, I've got a few menus, a guest book sign and escort cards to make and the order will be done.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Some more new hair flower designs...

I've been working on a few more hair flower designs today. There are more to share, but for now, I thought I'd share these 3 that I did and listed on my website.

I'm loving my new rhinestone buttons. I decided to make a large form shrub rose (dog rose) with these pave rhinestone buttons. I did one in a pale yellow with black velvet leaves. I have seen a lot of weddings on various blogs using yellow and black. It's such a striking combination and it works well with this hair flower.
Of course I did a more traditional one with ivory and off white velvet leaves. Both are beautiful.
The other flower I decided to was a large form gardenia with elongated petals and green leaves. This is for the bride that wants a bit of greenery with her gardenia.

I have a couple more anemones in blush pink and deep purple that I'll share tomorrow. My ivory and black one sold in less than an hour after listing it! Visit my Etsy site if you'd like to see more!

Couture Clay - Rhinestone Anemone Hair Flower with Velvet Leaves

Last night I got my order of new rhinestones and I was anxious to create something new. This is one of my first designs using these really beautiful rhinestone buttons. Love the contrast between the light ivory petals and the subtle black sparkles on the fringe and the black vintage velvet leaves.
This is now available in my Etsy shop. Once it sells it will be a made-to-order item. It is a large flower measuring 4.5 inches petal to petal and with the leaves is 6 inches in diameter. I think this would look stunning with a low-do towards the nape of the neck. I hope to create more pieces soon, but I must focus yet again on my current orders.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Orange, green, brown and ivory color palette for a Key West destination wedding

My client Priscilla, contacted me a few months ago and asked if I could make favors, escort cards and table cards for her destination wedding in Key West. Her colors are ivory, orange, green and brown. We went back and forth about flowers and exact colors, but she finally decided that she wanted orange cattleya orchids for the favor boxes for the women and cute turtles for the men. We agreed to print on ivory stock and mount on metallic greens and oranges.
Down the road she asked me to work on various signage for the wedding and I was excited at the chance to work on signs for the chairs which to date, I have not been asked to do. Priscilla asked for a bit of bling on the signs for the bride and groom so we put crystals on the corners and used a rhinestone buckle at the base. I really like how it turned out.
I have a few more items to work on for Priscilla's big day - a reception centerpiece, escort cards and menu cards, but I thought I'd share these photos with you now. Lots of small orders to work on next as I continue to wade through my busy Spring wedding season.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

More Pink and Yellow Flowers...

I finally finished the rest of Tanya and Cory's flowers. She had asked for 3 of each of the flowers I was making for her bouquet to be also added to her cake so here are some snapshots of just a cluster. There will be 3 clusters to cascade down their cake. The pinks and yellows definitely make you think of Spring, especially on a gloomy day like today!
For the mothers, Tanya's mom requested a pink rose corsage and Cory's mom wanted a yellow rose corsage. So instead of doing an English style rose, I opted on the dog roses as I felt they would sit nicer on the wristlet and there's lots of dimension and texture to these compared to the English rose.I hope later I will have photos from their wedding to share with you!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Pink and Yellow Wedding Bouquet for a Southern Wedding

I worked all day yesterday to get the flowers done for our nephew's wedding coming up. They are getting married in Georgia early next month and as our wedding gift to them I told them I would make the wedding bouquet. Tanya's favorite color is pink and she loves pink roses. Cory's favorite color is yellow. So we incorporated the two. She also wanted a bit of the South incorporated by using pink dogwood flowers.We unfortunately cannot make it to their wedding but we wanted to help make their wedding special. I also made cake flowers, hair flowers, and corsages. I can't wait to see the photos after the wedding.
Wishing Cory and Tanya all the best on their wedding day, lots of love, laughter, and a lifetime of happiness!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Judo for Japan -Raising money for the tsunami and earthquake victims of Japan

This is a personal post, but one I thought necessary to talk about. Today, my son's judo club had a Judo for Japan Throw-a-thon at the Campbell Farmer's Market. It was a GORGEOUS day and many of the judo members were there to help support this very important fundraiser. From ages 3 to adults in the 60s, were out there throwing each other all to get to the goal of 1000 throws in 2 hours.

My son was starting to get picked on and we saw his self-esteem take a dive. We've always taught him to be a polite and courteous child and not to be mean to anyone. It made us very upset and sad to see that other kids find it fun to pick and tease other kids who are different from them. My brother had told us about Silicon Valley Judo and it just so happens we know the owners because one of the sensei's is my former eye doctor! So we tried it out and my son enjoyed it! If nothing else, it teaches him a discipline, builds his self-esteem and he learns a little self defense. We definitely saw a difference that the kids all got along even though many of them don't know each other.

He's been going to Judo for a month and I wasn't sure if he'd do the throw-a-thon knowing that he had to do it in front of complete strangers.He did an awesome job, much to my surprise. He took it very seriously (we often wonder because he goofs off in class) and did the throws the way he was taught. The wonderful thing is that he knows he was doing it to help the people of Japan!

The initial count of the donations received just from kind and caring citizens who came to the Farmer's Market brought in $1959.00, which will be donated to the Red Cross of Japan. The judo club has yet to calculate the pledges received from it's judo members so that donation amount will only continue to go up.

If you live in the San Jose area and are interested in Judo for yourself or your little one, I highly recommend Silicon Valley Judo. Even if your child is 3 years old, they teach them the basics so they have the foundation to work their way up. The sensei's are super nice yet strict and teach the kids the fundamentals in a fun environment!On our way home we got to see these double petal cherry blossoms or they could be plum blossoms in bloom! Makes one think of spring, but also about the beauty that Japan holds even in the face of all the destruction they've experienced in the last few weeks. They continue to move forward and rebuild their lives!