Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Pink Gerbera Daisies on This Stormy Day...

The weather has been dreary and more rain is coming. Today the sky is dark and it's about to pour. You'd never know it by these photos I just took. :) Just thought I'd share these beautiful pink and green gerbera daisies. A good friend and client of mine asked me to make them for a special family member who loves these particular flowers. Definitely brightens my day looking at these when it's dark and cold out.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Ivory, White and Green Bouquet for a Destination Wedding...

A client of mine contacted me via Etsy asking about an ivory dahlia hair flower, which led to a discussion about her bridal bouquet to match. She had a bouquet she liked but had wanted the main flower to be dahlias. Her fiance won at the craps table in Vegas that weekend so they agreed she could use part of the money to buy her bouquet and hair flower. :)The original photograph she sent me was of lots of ivory roses, lisianthus, phaleanopsis orchids, stephanotis and some white pom-pom type filler. The bouquet is all ivory and white so it really needed something to bring out the monochromatic color. The greenery was key in this bouquet to bring out the shades of ivory and white. The pink and yellow in the phaleanopsis orchids also helps. I decided not to use any plastic fillers in this bouquet and instead made clay leaves. I really like how this bouquet turned out.


Thursday, March 22, 2012

New Rose Style...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've been busy trying to work on orders, photo shoot requests and being a mom all at the same time. While I can't share with you just yet what I have been working on, I did want to share with you a photo that I took of a new rose style I worked on. It's a heirloom David Austin rose. The designer I worked with on a shoot earlier this week asked me to make those roses. I hadn't had much success in the past trying this flower, but I tried again and I'm happy that it came out the way I had wanted. A busy few days coming up with 2 orders I have to get done, can't wait to share later on!

Friday, March 16, 2012

A Couple New Hair Flower Designs

Ever since I made the lily of the valley hair comb a few weeks back, I've had ideas swirling around in my head of other hair accessories I could make.
The first one I created this past week was this sweet and delicate plum blossom hair comb with handwired glass seed beads in a rosaline pink and rhinestone accents. I handpainted the petals with a blush pink and hints of green. The buds of the comb are rhinestones enveloped in clay calyx.
I also have a client who requested a custom gardenia hair flower. Her lavish engagement party is fast approaching and she loves my gardenias but wanted something with a little bit of gold and some bling. I received my shipment of rhinestones today. I really like how this gardenia turned out. I can also do it in silver settings as well.Lots more ideas in my head, but they will have to wait as I have a big project to work on, invitations to finish and 2 big flower orders to fulfill. More teapot designs on the way too, promise!

Monday, March 12, 2012

A New Collection of Mini Teapot Designs

I've been working on several teapot designs to list on Etsy since I had a weekend where I had some free time to create. I realize I'm always behind on getting floral arrangements in my shop for special holidays. Mother's Day is only 2 months away, but I have a lot going on with wedding flowers and invitations. My trio vase arrangements might make another appearance if I get a chance to create some new pieces. Until then, I wanted to share the teapot designs I came up with.

The first one is shades of purple and white consisting of sweet peas, lilac, hyacinth, garden roses and ranunculus.
The 2nd one is mini daffodils, peachy pink garden roses, lily of the valley and viburnum.The 3rd teapot is styled with pink peonies, fuchsia ranunculus and white-pink plum blossoms and buds.The last arrangement is made up of white ranunculus, yellow garden roses, light blue hydrangea and green viburnum.Check out my Etsy shop before they are all gone. They are attractively priced at $40/each which makes it the perfect and affordable Mother's Day gift!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Spring....

It was a beautiful couple of days here where I live, Friday was gorgeous - nice and warm! I finished some flowers for a potential client in Singapore who plans to have a destination wedding in Australia. She found my website and asked me if I might be able to do her centerpieces, bouquets and boutonnieres. Since her wedding is over a year away, she wanted to start with samples. So the flowers she asked for were cherry/plum blossoms that were white with pink tips and hints of green, light pink peonies, light pink roses and peach ranunculus.The flowers ship to her next week, but she saw the pictures and was very excited to receive them. We're going to be getting a week straight of rain showers, which we definitely need, but I will miss the abundant sunshine we had.Been busy baking this weekend, but tomorrow it's back to working on some new things and focus on an upcoming wedding as well. Hmm, maybe I should start a foodie blog too. LOL.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Lily of the Valley Hair Comb

I have been wanting to work on a hair accessory for quite some time. I recently was asked to do a vintage inspired headpiece for a photo shoot and as I was creating it, I used some lily of the valley, rhinestones and seed beads. I was loving the way it was turning out and it gave me some great ideas for other hair accessories. I just listed this item on Etsy.I love the movement of this piece. It's delicate, whimsical and just beautiful. I envision seeing it on a bride's up-do near her ear or tucked in an up-do on the side.I used to hate to make lily of the valley when I used to think it was too much work. However, in recent years, I've come to love this delicate and fragrant flower. It has some sentimental value as well. It was a favorite of my late mother-in-law. Which reminds me, I want to try and buy a plant and successfully grow it in the yard. We'll see how that goes. :) Those who know me, know that I have a hard time keeping real plants and flowers alive for very long. LOL. I'm focusing on getting some new things up in the shop before I get busy again with orders and projects. So stay tuned.

I'm really close to 1000 sales on Etsy, only about 92 sales to go. I have decided that when I reach 1000 sales, I am going to do a giveaway or a sale. What say you? I'm open to your thoughts. :) I'm also about 250 away from hitting 1000 fans on Facebook and will do a giveaway when that happens. So please follow me and spread the word!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Another Purple Trio...

One of my Etsy clients purchased 2 sets of my trio vases. One was the purple set that had lilacs, sweet peas and hyacinth and the other she had customized with purple hydrangeas, peach ranunculus and pink peonies. Everyone loved the flowers so much that she decided to order a 3rd set that her mother wanted to give to her good friend.So thankful for repeat business. Here's just a few pics that I took of the purple trio that I recreated.

A Special Bouquet....

LinkLast year I was asked by the Liz Guthrie of Wish Upon A Wedding if I would be willing to provide my services or flowers as a silent auction item for their online fundraiser last year. Wish Upon A Wedding provides weddings and vow renewals for couples facing life-threatening illnesses or life-altering circumstances. Since I hadn't been able to help in the past, I agreed. A bride actually bid on my services and won!

Sarah is having a Spring wedding and she loves daffodils. She wanted yellows, greens and pinks. We tried to coordinate some of the flowers that her fresh florist is going to use in the decor. Sarah's most important request was daffodils. To be honest, I never liked making daffodils. I guess because I had never really sat down to try and make it look realistic and make an effort to modify how I was taught to make them. The pressure was on, I even had my friend snag me a daffodil from her neighbor's garden so I had something real to look at. I'm happy to say, I got pretty close! There's still some minor tweaking I'd like to eventually do, but I'm happy with the center trumpet and the petal texture and placement.
We decided to add some green leaves to add some richness to the otherwise pastel bouquet. I think it really completed the look. Sarah wanted a dark green bouquet ribbon wrap. This bouquet definitely makes you think of Spring - sweet peas, lily of the valley, garden roses, hydrangeas, daffodils, magnolias and peonies.Thank you Sarah for bidding on the bouquet and for supporting the wonderful efforts of Wish Upon a Wedding!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Another Custom Mini Teapot Design

One of my clients in Greece asked if I could create a gift for her maid of honor who will be visiting her later this month. She really liked one of the bouquets I had done for a photo shoot several months back with the addition of some plum blossoms.Here's how the cute teapot turned out. Miniature English roses and peonies, with mini plum blossoms and buds.