Monday, January 31, 2011

Enjoying the nice weather

The weather the last couple of weeks has been amazing. Although Saturday and Sunday we got another dose of rain. During our winter heat wave we experienced, our niece and her husband came to visit us from the East Coast. They couldn't have asked for better weather.
We were able to spend time in Monterey, Carmel, San Francisco and Half Moon Bay during their short visit. Just thought I'd share some photos of the beautiful scenery we got to enjoy a couple weeks ago.I'm in the middle of a couple of things right now but more photos to surface of what I'm working on in a few more days!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Something Blue....Bouquet, Boutonniere & A Special Gift

A month ago, my client contacted me via my Etsy site and told me about her sister getting married next month and asked if I could create a wedding bouquet, centerpiece and boutonniere modeled after a photo her sister fell in love with. She had a budget she wanted to work within because this was a gift to her sister.The bouquet consists of champagne ivory roses, ivory callas, ivory tulips, tuberose, with light blue hydrangeas, as well as light and dark blue hyacinth. There is absolutely no greenery filler in this bouquet!The bride wanted to gift a dear family friend who manages the reception venue where they will have their wedding dinner once they return from their destination wedding. Since this was designed to be a gift that the recipient could keep well after the wedding, I chose a dark brown bamboo vase which I thought added a rich element to the ivories and various shades of blue.
The groom's boutonniere compliments the bride's flowers nicely. Very simple.
I'll be switching gears for the next day or so to concentrate on favors for my son's birthday coming up. After that I am working on bouquets inspired by my bride's kimono wedding dress! I'm excited about this next order. Pictures to follow next week!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Coral and Ivory Flowers for a Grand Cayman Wedding

It's been gorgeous in sunny California this past week! Loving the 65-70 degree weather we've been having. We were fortunate to spend time with my husband's niece and her husband visiting us from the East Coast and so I took a few days off and we did some sightseeing.I just finished this order that is shipping tomorrow. It's for a bride having a destination wedding in the Grand Caymans! I definitely fell in love with the flowers for this order. Lovely shades of coral/guava and ivories and greens. The bride loved flowers from a couple different weddings I worked on so we incorporated some of those ideas into these final pieces.
I made peonies, ranunculus, tuberose, hydrangeas, pikake, and tuberose. The bridesmaid dresses are a guava, kind of coral pink color which in different light can look either more coral or more pink. The groom is wearing an aqua colored Tommy Bahama dress shirt.
I'll be blogging later in the week with more things I've been working on, but for now I need to get back to working on my orders!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

New Arrangements for Hawaiian Lei Company

My first set of arrangements that I shipped to Hawaiian Lei Company back in November have been well received. The company already told me that for a shop known only for leis, they sold 6 of my arrangements in 3 weeks which they felt was very good.
They placed another order and they really love the teapots as those have all sold out. So I made a bunch of them that are almost ready to ship. I'm working on a couple more that are almost done (the trio of anemones in the pink mini glass vase with acrylic water).
I'm really enjoying working with the Hawaiian Lei Company again. They have some really wonderful leis and have a really nice retail shop in downtown Honolulu. So if you live on Oahu and need a lei for someone special or want to check out what clay arrangements they have, definitely visit them! If you don't live on the islands but want beautiful leis to surprise your loved one on their special day. visit www.hawaiianleicompany.com.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Year = New Invitation Designs

It's been a busy week thus far. I've been working on flowers for a big wholesale order as well as invitation samples for upcoming 2011 weddings. I thought I would share two designs that I created today.The first one is for our nephew's wedding. Since I work in weddings we agreed that we'd help them with their wedding invitations and flowers. Weddings are expensive and a young couple both getting their degrees can be tough. So every penny counts.

Our nephew's fiance asked for pinks and yellows and this is how they turned out. I'm actually really liking this invitation. It's so pretty yet not to conservative, with pops of yellow. We are sad that we cannot attend the wedding, but our nephew and his wife-to-be knows how much we love them and will be there with them in spirit.
The second invitation is for a local couple getting married on Oahu. We had a really great consultation last week and this is what I created for them. Their colors are navy, plum, fuchsia and silver. Sounds like a lot of colors, but I think I did a pretty good job of incorporating all of them into one invitation. I love the rich colors, the softness of the silver swirl motif behind the orchids.
I'll be sharing more photos of my big wholesale order soon. Back to the studio as I have a lot of flowers to catch up on!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Pink Peonies for a Valentine's Table Display

A past Etsy client from Portugal contacted me recently to ask if I could make 2 frilly pink peonies on individual stems that should could place in a milk glass vase she has. She intends to create a beautiful Valentine's Day table display.
Of course, I was touched that she asked me again to create something for her and she was so thrilled with the outcome. She even ordered something from our gofigurette! site from Myrna as well for the special Valentine's Day display!
I've been busy working on flowers for a wholesale order and then I'll be busy working on flowers for upcoming weddings. More pictures to follow as I get back into the swing of things!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Destination Wedding in the Dominican Republic = Hibiscus cake flowers + favors

Happy New Year! I hope your start to 2011 is off to a good one. I've been quite busy with trying to find balance and focusing on orders for January which is why I have not had much time to blog.

I wanted to share a destination wedding order that I just finished working on. My client is having a small wedding in the Dominican Republic next month and asked me to create her favors. She loved the fuchsia pink hibiscus with orange highlights and asked me to make some for her wedding. They are so bright and cheery and definitely makes you want to be on a tropical island somewhere. With the cold and wet weather we've been having, I definitely wish I was on an tropical island.A week after I sent my client the favors, she asked me if I could create cake flowers for her since her hotel venue could not supply her with cake flowers. Since her colors are a tangerine orange and fuchsia pink we agreed to incorporate pink and orange hibiscus. There are 15 in total to cover her cake's top tier and a cluster of 2 on 3 layers. this is just how a cluster of 3 looks. If you're interested in something like this for your wedding cake, I listed it on my Etsy site as a made-to-order item! Click here to see the details.
I have a lot to share in the coming weeks, but for now, I must get back to my orders. 2011 is off to a great start thus far!