DK Designs

Gearing Up for My Son's Angry Birds Theme Party

2012-01-31T10:47:00.000-08:00

My son seems to pick birthday theme parties that are ahead of the party supply stores. He had two themes, Angry Birds or Skylanders. I told him Skylanders was out of the question because nothing exists out there in the way of party supplies and I knew it would be a lot of work for me.

We agreed on Angry Birds. Although there are things out there and several DIY party ideas, almost everything you have to buy online. I decided to make cupcake toppers out of clay and initially I thought I would just place the clay figurine on the cupcake, but I decided to put the cake pop sticks at the base of the figurine so it doesn't touch the cupcake.

These are what I made for his classmates for his class celebration next week. I still have to make 12 more figures for his actual birthday party. I actually think my pigs are better than the red angry birds! I've made his banner, worked on the favor bags/tags, milk bottle tags and a few other things. Still a lot to do, but he's loving all the crafty things I'm doing for his birthday!

Reds and Magenta Pink... Beautiful Valentine's Day Gift!

2012-01-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

When I went to get more vases, I found these I LOVE U ones too. So I decided to do a red and magenta pink trio with garden rose, open peony and tulips. I again did the bud and full flower combination for each. I decided to experiment with my peonies again and I just LOVE how this turned out. Petal unfolding onto petal.

I don't often do tulips, so I decided to work on that as well. Hope you like what you see.

This one is also featured in my Etsy shop. I have a few other ideas on color combinations and flowers so stay tuned for that.

Light Purple Trio of Hyacinth, Lilac and Sweet Peas

2012-01-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ever since I found these cute vases, I've been spinning my creative wheels thinking up some cute trios of flowers to put in them. My inspiration was from my dear friend Susana at citrusandorange blog! She was redesigning the bedroom of her 2 beautiful daughters and she had stated how she loves lilac and sweet peas. The room was filled with love shades of purple and yellows.

I wouldn't say lilac, sweet peas and hyacinth are new flowers for me, however, for the first time I actually made sweet peas complete with buds, vines and leaves. I did a hyacinth stalk before, but this is the first time I did it with leaves. Single stems and stalks of flowers is just so beautiful and simple.This set is also available in my Etsy shop. Of course, my flowers wouldn't be complete without a dessert to pair with it. :) This time I tried a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens via an Etsy friend of mine who raved about this cheesecake. It's blueberry coconut cheesecake. I substituted macadamia nuts for the pecans. What's not to love about blueberries, macadamia nuts and coconut.

Love is in the Air....

2012-01-20T16:32:00.000-08:00

I've been saying I need to work on arrangements for Valentine's Day. Yesterday, I was at the store and just happened to walk down one aisle to see what they had and found these oh-so cute vases with the words. "LIVE", "LOVE", "LAUGH". Instantly I had a great idea and decided to buy them. Now I just need to go back and buy more!

Today, I got my vision of what I wanted to create for these vases, 3 of my favorite flower varieties, roses, peonies and ranunculus! I did a bud and full flower combination with clay leaves. It's such a beautiful statement. Three little words that have a lot of meaning, 3 words we should all live by!

So check out my Etsy shop as I just listed it now. I still need to make the final touches in the accent painting which will happen tomorrow. I hope to list more. If it doesn't sell, I'll happily keep it for myself! :)

New Poppy Cake Flower Trio in Two Shades... Lemon Yellow and Salmon Pink

2012-01-18T09:44:00.001-08:00

After making the poppy hair flowers, I decided to make a trio of the salmon pink poppies as cake flowers. I got to thinking that lemon yellow would be equally as beautiful, so late last night after a business meeting I decided to stay up and complete those flowers as well.

So this morning I finished the accent painting and assembly and decided to list the flowers for sale on my Etsy shop. I feel a lot better about getting things up there for sale for 2012. I've been really bad the last year or so making new things. It's nice to have some new fresh items to share with all of you.

The flower trios have 3 different sizes. The smallest poppy is 3 inches, the medium is 3.5 inches and the large is 4 inches. Obviously I can customize them to the size you need. I could totally see an ombre layered/frosted cake with these flowers complimenting the shades of yellow or salmon pink! Only wish I was good enough to make a cake to go with the flowers to show you what I envision. Maybe one day....

Check out my Etsy shop for these flowers. They are ready to ship, well in a few days when they are completely dry!

New Hair Flower Listings.... Poppies!

2012-01-17T11:37:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to find new things to offer in my Etsy shop. Always being creative is not as easy as one thinks. I think in 2010-2011, I felt drained from being so busy with orders that I felt that creative burn out! It was hard to try to find my bursts of creative energy. For 2012, I intend to focus on being more creative, developing new things and making sure to offer more things in my Etsy shop.

This weekend, I worked on a few orders that I needed to get done, but found some time to make some new hair flowers to offer on my Etsy site. The sunny weather that we're getting makes me excited for Spring and now that we're going to get rain for a week, these bright poppy hair flowers are a reminder that the rain will bring beautiful Spring blooms in a few short months.
I love the look of these 3 shades of salmon pink poppy hair flowers. They are roughly 4 inches in diameter. I love the ombre look of cakes you see gracing so many of the wedding and cake industry blogs, so I thought, why not do it with hair flowers. These would be perfect for a bride who wants to give her bridesmaids something that's the same yet different. I could just imagine bridesmaids dresses in these shades.
I didn't get a chance to make them this weekend, but I loved this combination so much I'm thinking it would be equally as perfect as cake flowers. Kind of like the hibiscus cake flowers I did, but poppies would be great for a Spring wedding! Stay tuned for that.Check out my Etsy site for my latest hair flower listings. Later this week I hope to have some floral arrangements to tell you about as well.

Experimenting with Desserts...

2012-01-15T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've been busy in the studio completing special projects for clients to give as gifts. While I can't reveal until after they give the gift, I thought I'd share with you some other things I've been working on, albeit not technically flower related.

My son's birthday is coming up and although he wants an Angry Birds themed party, I want it to be special. He's seen me make fancy desserts over the last several months and gets to enjoy them. His favorites are panna cotta and these delicate financiers. A kid with expensive taste. This weekend was my first time trying to make financiers and he loved them.
I made a coconut mango financier from a recipe courtesy of Chocolate Chili Mango's blog. So good and yet not too sweet. They are so tiny you can't just have one.

The other one I made was a blueberry macadamia nut financier from a recipe courtesy of Mowielicious' blog.The last dessert is a blood orange and vanilla bean panna cotta via Eat The Love blog.
While taking photos of my desserts that I made this weekend, I thought my flowers paired nicely with the colors in the desserts! It gave me a thought to do a dessert and flower pairing party. Hmm... Maybe in the Spring! Until then, back to fulfilling orders for my clients.

Orange and Pink Wedding Favors for Destination Maui Wedding

2012-01-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

I finally finished some wedding favor samples for my client, Gina. I was fortunate to be hired by her to create her wedding invitations pictured above. She went on to ask me to create her favors as well.

Gina loves white plumerias and she was torn between having the orange hibiscus like on her wedding invitations versus going with the plumeria. I told her I would create a mock-up of each favor so she could decide. They are equally as beautiful and I'm sure it will make her decision more difficult. If she can't decide I gave her the option as well to do half and half so she can have the best of both worlds.

Lots of orders have been coming through the pipeline and inquiries from my new website. I'm super excited about all the new exposure and business. Now if I can just kick this cold and be at 100% I can create some more things to share with you.

New Year = New Flowers... Agapanthus!

2012-01-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

I've decided that my goal for 2012 is to really focus on creating flowers I've always wanted to try but haven't had the time or bandwidth to do because I've been stretched so thin. One flower I decided to experiment with yesterday was agapanthus (lily of the Nile).

I'm very excited to share it with you. There's still some things I want to do to perfect it, but I'm quite happy with my first try at this beautiful flower. I love seeing this flower all over the neighborhood. Hopefully I'll get a chance to photograph them in bloom this year!

Dogwood Flowers Take 2...New Etsy listings

2012-01-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

I get asked now and then to make dogwoods. When I saw them last Spring at a local garden, I realized I made them way too small. They can be quite large in size. Granted I can still make these bigger, but I thought the larger size (between 2-2.5" in diameter) and the lovely veining detail was worthy of posting on my Etsy site as hair flowers and also cake flowers.

I love always trying to find new ways to make my flowers look more realistic. Lots of flowers I want to create in 2012 so back to the studio! Be sure to check out my Etsy site as I'm listing new things each week. Definitely need to stock the shop for Valentine's Day!

DK Designs' New Website is LIVE!!!

2012-01-02T12:39:00.000-08:00

Without further ado, I'm pleased to announce my new website has officially launched! It's been 2 years + in the making but it's finally live. A fresh look and a fresh start for the new year! I hope you like what you see. In the coming weeks I will be adding on the mobile/tablet version so that non-flash based electronics can view the site.

I'll also be updating the watermarks for many of the photos you see as I didn't get a chance to do all of them, but the owners of these images had given me previous permission to use them. I hope to have that accomplished by end of this week.

Please visit the blog as this will be the location where I will post my most recent work. I'm excited about the new website design as it will be easier for me to upload new photos compared to the one I was using in the past.
Above are screen captures of just some of the pages. Lots of photos to see and I've posted general pricing guidelines as well. Happy New Year!

New Year = New Look!

2011-12-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time coming, but it's finally time to launch my new website. I've been putting it off for almost 2 years, but with good reason, the last 2 years have been jam packed with orders, opportunities and projects. The time has finally come, now that I have had some down time to work on the website and launch. Here's a sneak peek of the splash page for the website. It's a flash based website and hopefully by end of January I will have the mobile version completed so that it can be viewed on smartphones and tablets that don't support flash. I will be announcing early next week when the actual site is live.

I really like the clean, simplified look of the website. As I continue to complete more orders and receive more professional images from clients and photographers, I will be posting those at a quicker pace. As always my blog is the best resource for the most current news on what's going on at DK Designs.

2012 will definitely be filled with lots of new opportunities. I'm branching out into more wholesale accounts to spread the reach of my products both in the US and abroad. 2011 proved to be another wonderful year, but at the same time I had to make a difficult choice about my future growth and creativity. I'm very excited about what is to come and thank you for continuing to follow my journey!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been busy getting ready for the holidays. This year we are hosting my family at the house which means lots of cleaning going on. Although I hate to clean, it's time to get organized and focused on ways to grow my business. Hopefully with cleaning out of the way this week, I'll have time next week to focus on my website.

I wanted to wish you all the happiest of holidays and a prosperous and healthy start to 2012! Thank you for all your support, friendships and business throughout 2011! I'm definitely looking forward to what 2012 has in store for DK Designs.

From our family to your's, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Wonderful Day of French Macarons and Panna Cotta

2011-12-14T16:13:00.001-08:00

Some of you may think I am possibly starting a new venture in baking with all my posts about food and desserts. I highly doubt that I'm making a career change, but I'm certainly enjoying my love for baking these days. It's been a nice departure with the slow down of the wedding season to do things that I enjoy outside of work.

Yesterday, my friend and industry colleague, who I have been admiring for a LONG time offered to give me a private class to learn French macarons and panna cotta. While I've already been dabbling in panna cotta recipes, I still wanted to learn from someone who had more experience with it. My friend, Venus Wei of La Vie Douce Design is such a delightful person. She not only creates elaborate and delicious dessert bars for weddings and special events, she also does wedding and event design. She also teaches classes to those who are interested in French and European inspired desserts with an Asian flair. She has started offering classes in between her events and I have to say, she's a great instructor and not only provides a hands-on baking class, but an overall baking experience.

From the time you arrive she greets you with tea and samples of what you'll be making. I got to have some gourmet tea and French macarons. I got to try 3 different varieties, matcha with azuki bean buttercream, rose with rose water buttercream, and an Italian meringue method macaron with strawberry buttercream. So HEAVENLY!
The day started with creme fraiche panna cotta, followed by a decadent coffee panna cotta. We ran out of time so we didn't get to make the top layers of the two panna cottas, but even by themselves they were OH SO DELICIOUS!

The second part of the day was learning to make French meringue vs Italian meringue method macarons.I didn't know an Italian version existed. We made vanilla macarons but using both methods. While I love both, I think I like the chewier and fuller texture of the Italian version better. She showed me both methods and then I got to try the Italian version. While there are not a lot of ingredients, there's a lot of things that have to be perfect if you're going to come out with a perfect macaron. I left with lots of panna cotta and a dozen macarons to share with my family and friends to taste. :)
I think Venus' classes are VERY informative, lots of helpful tips, resources she uses, books she recommends, etc. She provides light refreshments and you get to go home with what you make. It truly is a baking experience and it's not just a 2 hour class. Her classes are at least 5 hours so you really learn a lot. If you are interested in her classes, be sure to check out her Facebook page for he class offerings. If you are interested in her dessert bars or event design services, definitely contact her. Her desserts are DIVINE in my opinion and artfully designed.

Thank you Venus for sharing your knowledge about French macarons and panna cotta. I'm very excited to use all the items I bought today to make these delectable desserts for my family for Christmas. Wish me luck!

Bridal Bouquet Replica - Pinks, Ivories and Whites

2011-12-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

I finished another order today. This is the second to the last of 2 orders for 2011. My client wanted to replicate her bridal bouquet. It was a beautiful bouquet of ivory mums with greenish centers, stephanotis with pearls, light pink peonies, and pink dahlias with whitish green centers. She was so upset she couldn't save her bouquet that she asked me to recreate it for her.

I love the soft shades of pink against the light greens, ivories and whites. It's a really stunning bouquet. The client had a beachside wedding in San Diego and her colors were pinks, white, ivory, and Tiffany blue.
Very excited that I'm almost done with my orders so that next week I can prepare for Christmas with my family and focus some time on my website redesign.

Amazing Transformation - Hair and MUA, Headshot Session with Joli de Jackie!

2011-12-08T09:12:00.001-08:00

In my previous post, I mentioned working with the very talented Joli de Jackie. Since that photoshoot, Jackie and I have been keeping in touch and she offered to do a make over for me and take new headshots. The first picture is that of Jackie. :)

She first did a loose updo with my hair flowers. Part of the reason why I also met with Jackie is she helped me with ideas to make my hair flowers more user-friendly. I really appreciated her feedback and direction and plan to start working on some new designs to make my hair flowers easier for hair stylists to use on their brides.

As I mentioned before, Jackie is well known in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles and has worked on several popular magazine shoots. I got to see her in action at our romantic, vintage inspired bridal fashion shoot that she had envisioned. I have to say to see her transform these already beautiful models was just AMAZING!I am not a make up person at all. I hardly ever wear it unless I am going to a special function and even then, I put as little as I can on.Jackie took before and after shots and I GASPED. Seriously an AMAZING transformation! She did everything from trimming my eyebrows to give me eyes a little lift, airbrushed foundation, false eyelashes and contouring of my features and hiding my pimple. WOW! I was so happy with my photos that she took and I HIGHLY recommend Jackie for your wedding or event. She is SUPER sweet and is an expert at what she does. She is a licensed esthetician as well.
So if you live in California, definitely check out Joli de Jackie, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Video Trailer from a Recent Romantic, Vintage Bridal Shoot

2011-12-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

A Romantic Vintage Inspired Bridal Shoot from Viet Mac on Vimeo.

I had the great pleasure of being asked back in October to be part of a special photoshoot session with some very talented industry professionals. It's one of the first local productions I was able to attend. I was so fortunate that many of my flowers were used in all aspects of this photo shoot.

Here's a video trailer created by the very talented Viet Q. Mac. The photographer did an amazing job and hopefully soon I'll be able to share more of her images. Vivian Sachs is a great commercial, wedding and portrait photographer based in the Bay Area but travels worldwide.

The person who had this amazing idea is none other than Jolie de Jackie. She's such a talented make up artist and hair stylist. Her work is very well known in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles. Her artistry is always featured in M Magazine, Igigi, and more. I had the pleasure of having Jolie de Jackie give me a make over but more on that later. The stationery was created by Karla Randolph of The Card Lady, the beautiful gowns were designed by Sonthai Songi Gi, and many of the pieces used were from Acme Party Box Company. The photo shoot took place at Palacio Restaurant in Los Gatos, CA. Desserts were provided by Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos. Monica Cruz-Hernandez helped Jackie pull this wonderful shoot together and trucked in all the vintage furniture pieces and items provided by Acme Party Box Company.

All the flowers for the most part that you see in this shoot from the accents on the table displays, the centerpieces, hair flowers and bridal bouquets were all made out of clay! I really enjoyed working with these wonderfully talented professionals. Please click on the image and links to view this great video!

Baking makes for great food props...

2011-12-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

I've been busy in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes that I've had my eye on of late. Between Tastespotting.com and Foodgawker.com, I'm in heaven. :) At any rate, as I mentioned before, baking is like relaxation therapy for me. Most of the goodies I make, I have been sharing with friends and family. I think all my friends on Facebook hate seeing my delicious pictures all the time.

I bought these great shooter glasses for a photo shoot and then used them for my friend's daughter's 5th birthday party for candies. I wanted to try panna cotta. My friend's cousin is in town so they tried it out. It gave me the confidence to see if I could do it too. Let's just say I'm in panna cotta heaven at the moment. It's my new favorite dessert.

In the last 2 weeks, I've tried honey panna cotta with coffee gelee, pumpkin panna cotta with cocoa whip, coconut vanilla panna cotta with pomegranate gelee, lychee panna cotta with strawberry gelee. Just those 4 my friend made. I decided to make coconut panna cotta with fresh strawberry gelee as my first attempt, it was so yummy! Although I didn't have the right demitasse spoons for the shooter glasses. I went to Cost Plus yesterday since I had a coupon and bought wider mouthed tasting glasses and tasting spoons! Definitely a good buy. I also made last night honey vanilla panna cotta with strawberry and blackberry gelees. Both were quite delicious!So with the fact that I have food props, I thought it would be a great way to showcase my one-use wooden, handstamped spoons! These would be awesome for holiday or special event parties where dessert bars are featured. I have to say, panna cotta is not difficult at all, just takes time. It's so light and refreshing. So these spoons are not just for ice cream themed parties, but any party where you have tasting type station. SO CUTE!
I'm back in the studio today trying to work on a bridal bouquet replica and I have a couple more items I need to focus on and then the big task for the month besides spending Christmas and New Year's with my family is to get my website done!

If you are interested in these eco-friendly, one-time use, disposable, hand-stamped spoons, visit my Etsy site.

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway at Southern Weddings Magazine!

2011-11-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate to be asked to be part of the Southern Weddings Magazine blog's 12 days of Christmas Giveaway! Marissa asked if I would be willing to give away one of my gardenia hair flowers that was featured in their V2 issue. Of course, I said, "YES!"
So, on Cyber Monday the lovely ladies of SW have launched their 12 days of Christmas giveaway.

Click on the link or the images to hop on over to the SW blog and see what you have to do to win one of my gardenia hair flowers and a personalized monogrammed hankie from Marley Lilly! Good luck!

Thanksgiving Break and New Items on Etsy...

2011-11-26T16:33:00.001-08:00

{Parmesan No Knead Bread}

I took some much needed time off after completing two big print orders just before Thanksgiving. I have been really enjoying the art of baking the last several days. I was also fortunate enough to get my KitchenAid stand mixer back from Hawaii, which I had received as a wedding gift and never opened! Here are just a few of the things I made for friends and family the last few days. I guess I have found that my therapy and relaxation from making flowers and invitations is baking and cooking! It's been fun trying new recipes and sharing it with loved ones near and far.

{Pear and Macadamia Nut Bread}

{Rum Cake}

{Homemade Twix Bars}

{Cranberry, oatmeal cookies with white chocolate}

{Macadamia nut shortbread}Alas, after Thanksgiving it was back to working on my flower orders again. I have another big order to finish for my Australian retailer, but I had a chance to create some more pieces for my Etsy site. One is a floral arrangement using the left over flowers I had from that other Spring inspired arrangement and I paired it with an orange poppy and some orange spotted orchids.
The other listing is of some new wooden spoons with the word "cupcake" in a cute font. A client had asked if I could make it and I loved it so much I decided to add it to the shop.I am very thankful for another wonderful year of so many amazing opportunities, wonderful clients, new and old friendships, and most of all for my loving and supportive family. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner this year with our neighbors who have become like family to us, we ate SO MUCH food that I felt like my 4 months of daily exercise was lost on one night of deliciousness!

Custom Teapot Arrangements

2011-11-19T13:42:00.001-08:00

A past bride and client of mine contacted me recently to see if I could make some special gifts for her to give to her loved ones. It is so nice to hear from my clients well after their wedding and to be asked to create more keepsake items.

Joyce asked if I could make her 4 teapots to give as gifts - 2 small and 2 large ones. The two large ones are for her mother and mother-in-law. The one for her mother consists of stargazer lilies, peonies and phaleanopsis orchids.

The one for her mother-in-law is orange ranunculus, pink roses and green cymbidium orchids.

She also ordered 2 mini teapots. She asked me to recreate one of my Etsy arrangements, but in miniature form. Love how it came out.The 2nd one is pinks and purples with deep pink ranunculus, light pink peonies and purple orchids.
Joyce also asked for a peony hair flower that she could wear out for special occasions.

Pinks, Yellows and Shabby Chic!

2011-11-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

I know it's officially Fall and we are nearing Thanskgiving, but my two favorite seasons are Spring and Summer. Plus today is a dreary and cloudy day, so I needed something bright to cheer me up. I had several flowers left from the photo shoot I worked on last month and I haven't had the time to decide what to do with them, until today.

I found some great buys at a local craft store as they were closing out these wonderful shabby chic style wooden vases that were blush pink/brown with the word "Spring" and a cute bird painted on them. I finally decided to use one of the two boxes I found. I just love how it turned out.

This lovely piece is 12x12x10" overall and it's so bright and cheery. Pinks and yellows, full of peonies, garden roses, English roses, ranunculus and tulips. It just makes me smile when I see this piece.

So click here if you're interested in purchasing this piece!

Custom arrangements to remember loved ones

2011-11-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

Recently a client contacted me to see if I could create some custom arrangements. Initially it was to be put in a vase, but after meeting with her and her sister, we discussed what it was for. They had plans to place the ashes of their father and brother in a niche at the cemetery later this month and wanted 2 arrangements to be used to go on top the beautiful dark wood box style urns.

Although it's always hard for me to make flowers for such a somber thing as death, I thought it was very sweet that they wanted to hire me to make something that would be everlasting and beautiful to remember the lives of their father and brother at the cemetery.One arrangement is full of purples and blues with peonies, roses, some purple blossoms and hydrangeas. The second arrangement was oranges, yellows and purples with peonies, poppies, ranunculus, lilacs and small blossoms.

It's going to be a busy holiday week next week for me as I have a large holiday card and wedding invitation order to complete. Plus I have a custom order of 4 teapots to finish by the weekend. So much for slowing down a bit for the holidays.

Orange and Pink Tropical Wedding Invitations

2011-11-15T15:47:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've worked on wedding invitations as the majority of my orders have been for the clay flowers. It was nice to get back into wedding stationery again.

My client asked initially for favors and then came back to order invitations. Her colors are orange and pink and she liked a previous design I had done. So we worked on it together and this is what we came up with.Because the orange and pink are so vibrant and deep in color I thought that adding a lighter, citrus orange pattern stock would compliment the piece nicely. We modified the label from what is show in the pictures but the bride and groom are quite happy with the end result.

My Thanksgiving holiday will be spent working on this and a corporate Christmas card order to fill.

Featured on Munaluchi Bride Magazine Blog!

2011-11-15T09:04:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I received an inquiry from a potential client via Etsy on a coral rose and cherry blossom bouquet after she saw this inspiration board. Much to my surprise, I clicked on the link and my work was featured in this Coral and Teal inspired inspiration board. The Creative Director at Munaluchi Bride does a weekly series on "Etsy Addiction". I'm so honored to be part of this lovely coral and teal inspired board via this very elegant new bridal magazine targeted towards brides of color. Thank you Munaluchi for the feature!

Orange and Grey Color Combination - Favors and Boutonnieres

2011-11-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

My client Erica, asked me once she saw my work if I'd be willing to do her wedding favors. She was having a ceramic tile made for her wedding favors and she wanted a gift box for her wedding guests. So she decided upon the hibiscus and peony flowers since she wanted the graduated sunset orange hue to her flowers. Her colors are sunset orange and grey. We had a slight miscommunication so her favor colors ended up being all shades of orange, but they still came out very beautiful.

She asked me to create the boutonnieres for her groom and groomsmen. She chose a white cymbidium orchid with hints of orange at the tips of the petals with a sunset orange throat. We paired it with coral orange roses and grass fillers. It was finished off with grey ribbon. The groomsmen had these beautiful, petite orange orchids that really have the sunset orange appeal. Love how these orchids turned out for sure. Again to make sure there was continuity, we used the same roses as was used in the groom's boutonniere.Erica and her fiance are getting married in Mexico so these colors are absolutely perfect for their locale! Best wishes Erica and Rohan! Hope you'll share photos upon your return!

More Items for my retailer...

2011-11-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

As my Australian retailer prepares for the upcoming bridal expo in Melbourne in January, I was feverishly trying to finish all the items for her order. I just wanted to share pictures of the other items. I created everything from centerpieces, bouquet/boutonniere/corsage sets, cake toppers, hair flowers and favors.

This is the cake topper she requested I make for her faux cake she is having made by a local cake artist.

These two images are of the spotted orchid bouquet, boutonniere and corsage set.

Lots of hair flowers from garden roses, peonies, gardenias and orchids.
This is the matching corsage to the white ranunculus bouquet.
Lots of favor and gift box designs to give brides ideas of what is possible.

These are the orchid hair flower sets, but they are not only great as hair flowers, but can also be made as cake flowers too!

Hope you enjoyed the photos. One more blog post to share and then it's off to spend some quality time with my son...

Melissa & Dave Real Wedding Photos

2011-11-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

I LOVE it when I get surprise emails from my former clients with pictures of their wedding day. This morning I received an email from my client, Melissa! She got married back in April and she shared some photos from their professional wedding photographer, Chris & Cami Photography. Melissa and Dave got married at Riverfront Park in North Charleston, SC.

She chose the corals, pinks, peaches, whites and greens with dogwood, peonies, ranunculus, roses, gardenias and hydrangeas with stephanotis accents. The bridesmaid bouquets were a single peony with a teal ribbon treatment to match the bridal party colors.The images are absolutely breathtaking and be sure to check out Chris & Cami's blog as it has a slideshow of Melissa and Dave's photos! I love South Carolina, such a beautiful and historic place to get married.Thank you Melissa for sharing these beautiful images with me and my readers!

Flowers for a Destination Wedding in Mexico

2011-11-02T20:17:00.001-07:00

I just finished part of an order for one of my brides. She is getting married in Mexico towards the later part of this month. Her colors are beautiful hues of orange like a sunset. She asked for some hair flowers and corsages. Her order grew a few days ago to include favors, which I still have to work on.I wanted to share some of the flowers I worked on for her wedding. My absolute favorite that I made from the order is this dahlia! From a yellowy-orange to a deep coral, this is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. A slightly different style of dahlia as she wanted pointy tips to her petals. I couldn't replicate the real flower the way it looked in the picture, but I love how this flower turned out.

We did flowers in shades of orange dark to light.

For the mothers and grandmother she asked for white/ivory flowers with orange accents on pearl wristlets.I'll share the favor boxes when those are done, but thought I would post the photos that I took today of this order.

Products for my retailer in Australia

2011-11-02T20:11:00.001-07:00

I've been pretty busy trying to work on an order for the Australian retailer I'm working with. She's participating in a popular bridal expo in January and wants items to showcase in her booth.

She asked for several things from bouquets, centerpieces, hair flowers and cake toppers. Lots more still to do, but I thought I'd share some pictures of some of the pieces she ordered.She really liked the arrangements I did for the 30 year project that I worked on several months ago, but wanted them in taller vases. She loved the white and green, yellow and ivory, and corals and peaches arrangements the best.
She also asked for some bouquets, here's just one of them.More to come....

3 Custom Floral Arrangements

2011-10-25T20:10:00.001-07:00

A florist in Colorado asked me a while back to make a stephanotis bouquet, she liked it so much she asked if I could make 3 centerpieces for her wedding reception. Although it was short notice on both orders, I was able to pull it off. She loved everything. I got an email earlier this month and she asked if I could created 3 custom arrangements with 3 different color schemes.

She wanted an all white and ivory bouquet of flowers with roses, anemones and hydrangea. I decided since she liked another arrangement I did to add gardenias and sweet peas. It's a clean yet striking arrangement with the black centers of the anemone flowers.The 2nd arrangement she wanted light and dark shades of pink with peonies, roses and ranunculus. This one I decided to put in the aqua blue ball jar.The last arrangement was all shades of purple. Again I decided to make the dark purple anemones, light purple hydrangeas, lilac English roses and a stalk of hyacinth.

I love how all three turned out. I've been busy working on flowers for a photo shoot for Thursday, I'm almost done with those flowers. I am very excited that I will actually be able to attend a portion of the photo shoot before having to get back to my next big order.

Recent Custom Orders and New Etsy Listings...

2011-10-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Trying to catch up once again on custom orders. There's a few more in the pipeline and then I hope to have some much needed down time to focus on my website. :)

One of my Etsy clients asked me if I could create a couple of matching pieces for her. She wanted a blush pink anemone ring pillow and a matching boutonniere. I decided to use ivory velvet vintage leaves to accent the boutonniere since she wanted ivory accents throughout.
The second Etsy client wanted a sample dahlia in a dusty rose color which faded out to creamy ivory on the outer petals with hints of deeper shades of dusty rose and hues of yellow.I also had time to post a couple more arrangements for sale on Etsy. I think both would be beautiful for fall, but any time of the year. The larger one is very bright and cheery since the vase is white and there are white and ivory accents. Poppies, ranunculus, peach hued plum blossoms, and lisianthus.Click on the image to go to the Etsy listing.
Click on the image to go to the Etsy listing.
My mini teapots are making a reappearance as well. They are very popular and it's such a cute and beautiful, petite gift.

More things on the way, but it might be a few more days before I post some new items!

Changing Directions Leads to A New Path...

2011-10-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

As I have alluded to before, the last year has been quite challenging with juggling all my responsibilities as a mom, a wife, and an entrepreneur. I have had to make some difficult decisions regarding my future to find balance in my life. Sorry this is a long email with no pictures.

Effective in September, I gave notice to resign from the DECO Clay Craft Academy as an instructor. The main reason is just because I need to find balance. While I love teaching, it's not what I love to do the most. My biggest love other than my family is to just create flowers. I have accomplished a lot as a DECO Clay Craft Academy student and instructor, and I will forever be grateful to Kazuko and Yukiko Miyai for sharing this art with me and making me realize that I could make a career out of creating beautiful things. I have taught lots of wonderful people in the last 8 or so years and many of whom have become such wonderful friends over the years. I will miss teaching everyone, but I know the friendships will carry on moving forward because after all, we have one mutual love, the love of the art of DECO Clay!

For those of you who are interested in DECO Clay Craft Academy classes and becoming a member, you can go to their website and find instructors who are in your area. If you cannot find a DECO instructor in your area, please feel free to contact the Academy directly. The instructor base continues to grow worldwide so even if there isn't an instructor where you live, there might be one there soon! If you are determined like many of my international and US students, who want to become certified, seek out an instructor who is closest to your country or state and they just may be willing to offer you accelerated classes so you can complete the curriculums and certification process in a shorter time frame.

For my students who wish to continue training with the DECO Clay Craft Academy, definitely seek out one of the certified DECO instructors because there are some really amazing classes once you become a certified instructor to challenge and develop your skill and create some INCREDIBLE flowers and figurines developed by Kazuko and Yukiko.

I have learned a lot in the last 10 years and have had so many wonderful opportunities. I continue to be blessed with new and more challenging opportunities that help me continue to grow. I will still be making flowers and figurines out of DECO Clay as I feel it's one of the most superior air dry clays around. So many applications and the possibilities are endless... You are truly only limited by your imagination.

I am in the process of revamping my website but that will take some time as I'm transitioning to a completely different platform, so even though it still mentions the classes and certification, I am no longer teaching and have officially resigned my position as a DECO Clay Craft Academy instructor.

I wish the DECO Clay Craft Academy family all the best and thank Kazuko and Yukiko for 10 years of a great journey. You will always inspire me to put forth my best and not limit myself as to what I can do. In my mind, there is no end to the possibilities in my future and I'm eager to start creating amazing works of art from this day forward.

Please contact DECO Clay Craft Academy at www.decoclay.com.

Let the new chapter begin....

Fall inspired arrangement

2011-10-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

This past year has been challenging to say the least juggling so many things. I haven't had much time to dedicate to my Etsy site, but I'm starting to get back on track with that. While I love doing wedding flowers, I also miss doing smaller vase arrangements for people to purchase for their home or as gifts for loved ones.With the fall season upon us and the turning of the leaves (although we are experiencing summer like weather still in California), I thought it would be nice to finally work on some arrangements that highlight those flowers that make you think of fall.

This piece is listed on my Etsy site for sale. I have a few more coming later this week. I fell in love wit this wood vase that I found with it's rustic and earthy elements. I paired it with orange and green gerbera daisies, orange and yellow ranunculus, peach garden roses with hues of yellow and dusty rose, red and green hipericum berries and rose leaves.

New Cake Flowers on Etsy - David Austin Inspired Roses!

2011-10-14T19:45:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to find more time to create new pieces and build out my Etsy store with new and fresh items. It's slow going, but I try to go with the creative juices when they hit me. I love the complexity and beauty of David Austin style roses which are rich in petals and colors. I decided to experiment after that last custom cake flower order.

I once had to do Sahara yellow roses and they are so pretty, so I decided to do one in that color with hues of yellows, creams and peaches.
The other one is a light pink rose. So many shades of pink, yet subtle. All contrasted with the rich glossy rose leaves. These will definitely make stunning cake flowers all on their own. A single bloom can have quite a statement, especially when the flower is 5 inches in diameter and from leaf to leave measures 7 inches! Click on the images to go to the links on my Etsy site!

More Etsy listings to come in the next few weeks. Hopefully I can manage to create some fall inspired pieces for the holidays.

Vibrant, Tropical Destination Wedding Bouquet... Oranges, Yellows and Pinks

2011-10-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have a client who is getting married in Jamaica who initially had a blue, turquoise and white color palette, but later changed her colors to pinks, yellows and oranges. We finally nailed down her flowers and this is how her bouquet and the groom's boutonniere turned out.The flowers in the order consisted of cymbidium orchids, callas, ranunculus, Asiatic lilies and roses.

Just so happens their wedding got pushed out a year so she may just order bridal party flowers to match along with centerpieces.Vibrant and definitely has a tropical feel!

Birthday = Taking a Day and Relaxing...

2011-10-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone asked if I was doing something special for my birthday or going somewhere for dinner. Even my husband asked me several times what I would like to do or if there was a gift I wanted. Honestly, this birthday, I didn't want anything. I wanted a home-cooked meal - steak and veggies cooked by my husband. I wanted to try making my own cake. I have found baking as my therapy and relaxation from making flowers. Granted I bake mostly cookies and breads, but I wanted to try those colorful layered cakes with the banner signs. I have a ways to go, but it wasn't bad for my first attempt 6 layers of cake and I did everything from scratch.My kudos to pastry chefs and cake artisans because a lot of work goes into the whole process and I have a new found appreciation for what you do. I won't be quitting my day job of making clay flowers. I had a wonderful birthday not working on anything other than processing a couple of orders that need to ship tomorrow and spent time with my family.

David Austin Inspired Rose - Cake Flowers

2011-10-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

Another Etsy bride asked me if I could make a 4 inch peach rose for her wedding cake. I asked her if she could send me a photo of what she had envisioned. She sent me this beautiful image of one of the David Austin English roses.I've been wanting to work on my David Austin inspired roses more and I got the chance with this order. I still need to work on it, but I love how this turned out, especially with the leaves. The bride specifically asked for some greenery so I made some branches of leaves that are connected to the rose which I think add so much to the cake flower!This would make another great listing on Etsy as a made-to-order item and brides could choose whatever color they wish to match their wedding day colors or theme. The flower measured closer to 4.5 inches and the leaves extended out from there.

New Listing on Etsy... Adjustable Petal Phaleanopsis Orchids!

2011-10-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a LONG time coming since I posted anything new on my Etsy site. That's honestly how busy I have been. I just haven't had enough time to do anything above and beyond just relisting and doing made-to-order items. My hope is that in the coming weeks and months that I will be able to start creating new things to sell via my Etsy shop!

I have had the components made for a while, but just now have had the opportunity to put it together, paint and list. I love orchids and I have a new love for phaleanopsis orchids. I am not sure why I'm challenged by this one in particular, but I think I have finally figured it out! Phaleanopsis orchids are so flat and the configuration of them makes it hard in my mind to make them look good. I decided to think outside of what I know and thought about how sugar flower artists construct their flowers. So I decided to handwire each petal individually. This gives great flexibility and movement. I have many clients who ask me if the petals are adjustable. I'm happy to say at least for this flower that the petals are adjustable!I think two of these together would be beautiful in a bridal up-do or low-do. They'd be beautiful as cake flowers too! Click here to go to the listing if you're interested! If you want a specific color, please feel free to contact me. I hope to be adding additional flowers in the weeks and months to come. :)

Yellows, Greens and Whites...

2011-10-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Rebecca isn't getting married until January, but she wanted her bouquet to be delivered early so that she could cross it off her list of things to do. Originally her request was pinks, greens, whites and yellows. Then about a month or two prior to my starting her order she asked if the pinks could be made to yellows.Rebecca's bouquet consists of gardenias, yellow English roses, yellow peonies, as well as green and white cymbidium orchids. I love the citrus colors of this bouquet. The contrasting pinks and kind of purplish magenta hues in the cymbidium orchid throats really look striking against the yellows and greens. Definitely brightened up my studio on a rainy and dreary kind of day.Best wishes to Rebecca on her wedding day even though it's a couple more months off. Off to work on another bouquet order of pinks, oranges and yellows for a destination wedding.

Images from a Recent Industry Event Hosted by The Card Lady, Milk Glass Vintage Rentals and Left Bank at Santana Row

2011-10-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some photos from a recent industry event that I had the pleasure to sponsor with some other very talented wedding/event professionals. Karla Randolph of The Card Lady contacted me to see if I would be interested in participating as a sponsor for an event she was hosting with Milk Glass Vintage Rentals and Left Bank at Santana Row.

Left Bank has this great circus/vintage feel with their bold red and blue striped curtains and French inspired murals. Karla decided to host this event to share some of her wonderful stationery designs that she created for weddings and special occasions. My favorite was one where she used burlap as the base of her invitations and had this beautiful silver, elegant starfish hanging from string at the top of the invite.
She envisioned my mini teapot designs, pinks and yellows to go in this vintage buffet hutch piece from Milk Glass Vintage Rentals, that had couture chocolates, build your own scent perfume bar and of course Karla's invitation designs. PJ from Milk Glass Vintage Rentals has some really awesome vintage pieces and you can rent them from her company instead of trying to search out and buy them yourself.Karla also had sweets of every kind from cupcakes to make your own s'mores! I only wish I could have stayed to enjoy the event, but I had plans that evening.
Best of all Chung Li photographed the entire event! Always love seeing Chung and his wonderful eye for details!

Featured on Style Me Pretty Destination Today!

2011-10-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

I just got a lovely email from one of my Etsy brides who notified me that her wedding was featured today on Style Me Pretty Destination! Tami ordered one of my blush pink anemone cake flowers for her wedding cake.

Her photos are breathtaking and really capture the beauty of Lake Tahoe! I love her colors that she chose and her flowers were gorgeous.Definitely check out the full post and gallery of images. There's even a great video of their wedding day by Rose Street Studio. The images in this post are all courtesy of Aravaggio Photography.
Thank you to Tami and Myles for sharing your wedding day and for asking me to be a part of your wonderful day!

Another special project - Pinks, Yellows and Peaches

2011-09-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

I was asked to sponsor another special project that's happening on Thursday. I hope that in the coming weeks I'll be able to share with you some wonderful professional photographs. Until then, here are the images I shot of the arrangements I made for this event.The request was for some of my mini teapots. The person in charge of this event asked for pinks, yellows and whites, but I also thought peaches would lend itself nicely. I don't want to give away the vignette that this will go in, but I promise it will be good. I'm very excited as this is the 3rd special project I've been asked to collaborate on with local industry professionals. Interestingly enough, even though I'm based in the Bay Area, I rarely do collaborative efforts as I don't go to many networking functions. All of a sudden I have requests left and right. The power of Facebook. :)
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Off to work on a couple more small orders and then spend some quality time with my family and some good friends!

More Little Teapots

2011-09-24T16:59:00.001-07:00

Since I returned from Canada, I've been catching up on some orders that I wasn't able to finish before I had to leave.

This is another order for my Australian retailer. She showed some of my work to her clientele and one person wanted a custom piece. Since her client was ordering she decided to order a few more pieces.Hoping once I get through my upcoming orders I can focus a little more on my Etsy shop and get it ready for the holidays. Pretty frightening that we're almost into October. Definitely looking forward to a little down time so that I can focus on redoing my website! It's been a long time coming - 3 years!

Beyond Sugar Flowers Workshop Classes at Icing Inspirations!

2011-09-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

One word sums up how I feel about the Beyond Sugar Flowers workshop that I taught at Icing Inspirations... AMAZING! Everything about my trip, the workshops, the students and the Icing Inspirations team was AMAZING!

I arrived Friday afternoon into Toronto and Chrissie Boon of Icing Inspirations and Too Nice to Slice picked me up. We stopped by her shop/studio to drop of my supplies for the class and she had everything set up for the class! What a huge help. That's what I love about her and her team, they make it effortless. There were only a few things I had to do which had to be done the morning of. From there we had a nice dinner and I rested up for the evening.
Saturday was the first day of class. I had 11 students, all who for the most part are cake designers. Many of them are local celebrities because they were featured on the new show in Canada called Cake Walk!
Most of the women had exposure to sugar flowers so there was a little bit of a struggle because they had the mindset that everything must be THIN! Once they tried to stop thinking that they were working with "sugar" they were getting the hang of it. I was definitely worried that we wouldn't finish everything they were tasked to do in the 3 days, but they did a phenomenal job!This was their very first exposure to clay and they soon realized the benefits of clay over sugar. Of course I had no understanding of the process of sugar flowers either so I was educated on how long their process takes and how fragile it is compared to clay. Many of the techniques of DECO Clay Craft Academy were very different from what they know of making sugar flowers, but they quickly saw how wonderful a medium the clay is to making flowers just as beautiful as they are with sugar, but in less time. Everyone commented about how clean the clay is, how quick the process is to construct the flower, how durable they were and how lifelike they can be.The first day we focused on more traditional flowers, but ones they would enjoy - peonies, ranunculus, lily of the valley, hydrangeas and lilac. The second day focused on various tropical flowers. They were probably all sick of teardrops by the end but they felt the amount of repetition was very helpful with trying to get a good understanding of the techniques in such a short amount of time. I let everyone decide what colors they wanted to make their flowers and I love the variety and differences in each of their masterpieces!
I have a new found appreciation (granted I already had one before this) of the work that goes into sugar art! I really had an AMAZING time in the 5 short days that I was there. I made some new friends and I learned a lot as well. It's been a long time since I've taught more than just a handful of students at a time so it was a great lesson on how to help keep the class moving and making sure everyone finishes in the time allotted. Surprisingly they all told me this was the only class where they actually finished early! Chrissie's husband and business partner also loved the fact that clean up was a SNAP! Hardly any mess. He just had to sweep the floor! LOL.If you're in the Ontario area and looking for a great line of products for cake/cookie decorating needs, definitely check out Icing Inspirations. Chrissie and Justin have a great line of products to sell. I even bought some sugar art tools to try out myself. I am very excited to see if I can use some of the items I bought. They even offer free shipping Tuesdays!
I am so very honored to have had this opportunity to share the art of DECO Clay Craft Academy to Canadian sugar/cake artists! I can't wait to see what they create in the coming year out of clay! I know they will wow their clients with their clay flower creations.
Thank you also to Tracey Paul of Invite Me Creative who came a distance to assist me with the classes and keep them moving along.
I'm happy to be home again with my family, but I do miss my new cake artist friends that I've made over the last few days! I'm always in awe of their work as well because while they couldn't believe what I can do out of clay, I also couldn't believe what they could do with cake and sugar! I have lots of wonderful memories of the last 5 days and as a keepsake, Chrissie gives each student an Icing Inspirations apron to have the instructor sign, however, I asked all my students to sign my apron so I have a lasting keepsake of my AMAZING experience with some truly talented artists!
Thank you Chrissie and Justin for believing in what I do and knowing that your community of cake artists would love the art of clay flowers! You two are unbelievably talented, kind, and just down right AMAZING! For those of you in the cake world, definitely check out who will be teaching at Icing Inspirations because they have a FABULOUS line up of FANTASTIC guest and local instructors. They book quickly so don't delay if you see a class you want to take.

And another special project...

2011-09-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was asked by Eileen Chiu of Enchanting Events if I could create a floral centerpiece and some individual peony blooms that would be for the individual place settings to be placed in designer cupcake wrappers. The table design is going to be featured at the Stuart Rental showroom.The colors are a light mauve pink and wine with accents of silver. Eileen envisioned peonies and cymbidium orchids. This is how the centerpiece turned out. I added silver accents in the ribbon to the vase and using Dusty Miller style leaves.

I can't wait to see the finished table design. I hope to share the photos soon.

Summer Giveaway via Anna and Blue Paperie!

2011-09-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Remember that fabulous Aloha Summer birthday party that I told you about that showcased my colorful hibiscus cake flowers? Well, Stefanie of Anna and Blue Paperie along with many of the talented artisans involved with the party are doing a giveaway via Stefanie's blog!

Click here to check out what you have to do to win all of these amazing items! The winner will randomly be selected via random.org next Monday, September 19th! Good luck!

Butter Yellow, Ivory and Blues...

2011-09-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

My client, Kim contacted me a while back and asked if I could create her wedding flowers. She wanted to tie in the colors of her wedding and the inspiration was this wonderful oriental vase lid that tied in their blue color palette as well as their ethnic background of French and Vietnamese. They did these lovely wooden, Asian inspired wedding invitations which also highlighted the blues and yellows.

Kim chose butter yellow and ivory ranunculus, light blue forget me nots which I colored to match the light blue in this vase lid and royal blue African violets.The bridesmaid bouquets are smaller versions of the bride's bouquet but with more yellow than ivory.
The groom, man of honor and groomsmen boutonnieres mimic that of the bouquets. The father's also have the same boutonnieres as the groomsmen.Kim asked me last minute if I could also create 2 additional boutonnieres and a corsage for other family members or friends who she wanted to include. For these we decided on ivory ranunculus with forget me nots and light yellow hyacinth blossoms.
The groom asked that his mother's corsage match his dad's boutonniere. While Kim asked me to create something to match her mother's dress colors. So we opted for ivory ranunculus with lilac colored hyacinth and a violet on a wristlet. Kim's grandmother is wearing pink so we created the same flowers but in the pink and ivory color palette.This order took some time because every ranunculus had so many petals! I'm already working on the next special project that's due on Tuesday as well as a few more items I need to finish before I hop on the plane for my workshop classes at Icing Inspirations!

Plum, Brown, Green and White Wedding

2011-09-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

I'm finally done with my big wedding order today! This bride's colors are a plum purple and a hint of orange with greens and browns. She opted for her bouquet to have spotted white and plum phaleanopsis orchids with whitish ivory roses, fern curls and hipericum berries. To add a bit more plum she requested lilacs to be added.Amanda has 1 maid of honor and 4 bridesmaids. She asked that the MOH bouquet be larger than the bridesmaid bouquets. Their bouquets consisted of plum phaleanopsis orchids with an orangey-yellow center, lilac purple roses, fern curls and hipericum berries.

The groom and groomsmen flowers mimicked the flowers in the women's bouquets.Amanda also wanted flowers for her fathers/brother and mothers/grandmother.The final piece that Amanda added were her cake flowers. While there are no anemones in her bouquets, she requested to have ivory anemones with a plum center.
This was no small order and lots of individual petals that all had to be taped together. I'm happy the order is complete and now I can move onto the next wedding order before completing some more special projects and orders.

Still time to sign up for my workshops at Icing Inspirations (Sept 17-19th)!

2011-09-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

I'm officially into countdown mode for my trip to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada to teach my 3 day workshops at Icing Inspirations! The workshops are September 17th-19th! VERY EXCITED!

There are still a few slots available so if you're still interested in joining the 3-day workshop and learn lots of clay flower techniques, you definitely should sign up!

Details and registration can be found on the Icing Inspirations website! Don't miss out!!! Looking forward to meeting those who have signed up and sharing the wonderful art of the DECO Clay Craft Academy!

Peony Hair Flower for a Special Project

2011-09-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

This peony hair flower is larger than what I normally make and has a bigger rhinestone button center and more feathers. This was also created for this special project that I'm working on with other wonderful industry colleagues.

A couple of small custom orders...

2011-09-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

In between working on this big wedding order I have to finish by Monday, I had to complete a couple custom orders for a coral peony cake flower and hydrangea stems.Just wanted to share a couple of photos of these completed items. Hope you have a great Labor Day Weekend! More to share with you early next week!

Featured on Amy Atlas' Sweet Designs Blog Again!

2011-09-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

This morning after my early morning work out, I opened up my Facebook account to see that the Aloha Summer themed birthday party that I had the opportunity to create cake flowers for made it on Amy Atlas' Sweet Designs Blog!

This is my third time to be featured in less than 2 months! What an honor! I never get tired of seeing Stefanie's (of Anna and Blue Paperie) wonderful birthday party display and all the wonderful things she created or had made for this very special birthday party for her two sweet daughters!For the complete featured submission, visit Amy Atlas' blog!
All images courtesy of Amy Atlas and Anna and Blue Paperie.

Another Special Project Bouquet...

2011-08-29T10:31:00.001-07:00

The phaleanopsis orchid bouquet is for a special project as is this beautiful peony and rose bouquet. This was also inspired by a fresh flower bouquet, but with my own twist. I love the soft pinks and peaches with rhinestone button embellishments, vintage velvet leaves and ostrich feathers.Back to the studio to work on some small orders so I can make way for my next BIG wedding order...

Sneak Peek at One Special Project

2011-08-28T21:01:00.001-07:00

I've been busy of late not only working on orders, but special projects. While many of these special projects I don't get paid for, the exposure in various industries is what drives me to take the opportunity. I am always honored when people contact me to work on a project with them. I can't tell you what this bouquet is for just yet, but I wanted to share a few photos of how the bouquet turned out.My colleague sent me an image of what she envisioned and this is my version of what she sent me. I have not been happy with my phaleanopsis orchids and I decided to try another way of giving the flowers texture and more movement. I'm very happy with the way they turned out. I decided to add some vintage velvet leaves and feathers to accent the fullness of the bouquet. To finish it off, I used this large but gorgeous rhinestone buckle!

Something Blue Bouquet ... A Few Adjustments...

2011-08-28T20:56:00.001-07:00

My client via Etsy asked if I could create a 10" bouquet for her wedding. She wanted whites and blues. Her flowers of choice were antique blue hydrangeas and white roses.

Initially when I worked on the bouquet, there were a lot of gaps between the flowers. So I filled in with some greenery and light blue fillers as well as plain stephanotis. The bride asked if we could make some changes. Of course, I want my client to be happy so we agreed to try some white rose buds, a little more hydrangea clusters, less greenery and no blue fillers.In the end the bride was happy and I'm glad we were able to achieve what she wanted.

Custom Floral Arrangements

2011-08-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm a bit behind in blog posts as you can tell. It's been very hectic the last several weeks with orders, special projects and the first week of school for my son.

This first back blog post is about several custom floral arrangements that I worked on for a client overseas. I'm very excited about this business opportunity as my flowers would be marketed to customers in this fabulous country! I can't yet tell you where, but I'm very happy to see my business growing.
My client asked for 2 of each size arrangement as well as a sample bridal bouquet to show some potential customers at a big meeting later this week.

She searched my thousands of images that I have online and found several bouquets she really liked and asked if I could recreate them or something close to it. These are a sampling of what I sent out last week.

Hopefully in the not so distant future, lovely clay floral arrangements might be sitting in the homes of people in far off places!

Cafe Au Lait Dahlia Cake Flowers

2011-08-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

A client came to me by way of my Etsy shop asking if I could create different size dahlias for her wedding cake. She said her colors were creams and peaches and they are getting married in a cottage setting. She sent me pictures of cafe au lait dahlia flowers to see if I could do it.This is how they turned out. They are so dreamy! Soft peaches, creams and pinks. The bud gives a little bit of contrast with the green outer petals. I'm definitely enjoying playing with natural lighting in my studio window and taking advantage of the light that comes through for the majority of the day!

Hibiscus cake flowers featured on Hostess with the Mostess Blog!

2011-08-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

I had to keep another big project under wraps until it was launched, but today I got a great surprise on my Facebook wall! Hostess with the Mostess featured Anna and Blue Paperie's Aloha themed birthday party on their blog today!Stefanie of Anna and Blue Paperie had contacted me to see if I could make hibiscus flowers in yellow, orange and pink to match her two daughters' birthday party theme. Funny thing is that my flowers inspired her daughter's party. :) Stefanie creates super cute printables on Etsy. Of course, I agreed!
This party is TO DIE FOR! I wish I had a little girl so I could recreate something like this. SUPER CUTE. I LOVED the candy kabobs!Click here to read the full post. I'm so excited to be featured on HWTM and Amy Atlas within weeks of each other! SO AWESOME! Thank you HWTM and Stefanie of Anna and Blue Paperie! All photography courtesy of Stefanie of Anna and Blue Paperie.

Corsages and Wedding Thank You Gifts

2011-08-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

My client Nicole, wanted open pink peony wrist corsages for the moms and sisters of the bride and groom. Initially I had made them closed peonies, but she liked the look of the open peonies better so I had to remake the flowers.

The last set of photos are the thank you gifts Nicole intends to give to both sets of parents as a thank you and to honor them at the wedding. I think it's a beautiful sentiment and something they will always treasure. She liked the teapot design, so we did them in larger teapots.

Pink Peonies and Green Spider Mums...

2011-08-13T20:23:00.001-07:00

I've been busy working on a large order for my client who is getting married in Canada in November. She wanted to get her flowers in plenty of time. It was a good thing she planned so far ahead because as the end of her order was approaching, she asked if she could add a couple of things.

Her order consisted of a bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 9 boutonnieres, 4 corsages and 2 custom arrangements which are thank you gifts to the parents of the bride and groom.
Nicole came to me by way of one of my previous Canadian brides. I always love referrals. It's the highest compliment when a bride refers her newly engaged friends to me. Nicole's colors are pink and green. She specifically wanted deep pink peonies, green spider mums, and stephanotis flowers with pearl centers for her bouquet with a matching boutonniere for her groom.
To contrast her bouquet with her bridal party, she requested the bridesmaids bouquets to be light pink peonies with green spider mums in silver plated tussie mussie holders. She plans to have someone handstamp each bridesmaid's initials on the keepsake charm that is attached to the tussie mussie. A very sweet gesture and personal touch.
The groomsmen have a green spider mum with a pink ribbon.The fathers and brothers of the bride and groom will be wearing a light pink peony bud with green filler. The little boys and ring bearers will be wearing a light pink ranunculus with stephanotis flower.
I will have more pictures later with the corsages and the custom teapot arrangements, but for now I wanted to share these photos with you.

There's a lot going on in the studio with multiple orders going on at the same time. Lots of exciting things for me on the horizon and I'm super excited at what the future holds for DK Designs!

Featured today on Amy Atlas' Sweet Designs Blog!

2011-08-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to share a DIY tutorial feature today on Amy Atlas' Sweet Designs blog! Clay cherry blossoms can be used as table decor, favors and accenting your favorite desserts. Thank you to DECO Clay Craft Academy for allowing me to share this wonderful art form with dessert design blog readers!
Sorry this post is short, but please check out the wonderful tutorial and Amy Atlas' wonderful blog! I will share more about the photoshoot and the people who helped me soon. For now, I'm off to the beach to enjoy some quality time with my family and friends.

Handstamped Wooden Ice Cream Spoons!

2011-08-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I helped my best friend with her daughter's 5th birthday party. It was a Bubble Guppies theme, swim party and ice cream bar rolled into one. My best friend is great in the kitchen but not so creative when it comes to the other stuff so she asked me if I could help. I thought it would be cute to do hand-stamped wooden ice cream spoons to go with the take-home strawberry sorbet cups.This is how they looked. Then it dawned on me that I could make these for people to use at their own party! I've got some other concepts in mind, but I decided to list these first.

Super cute whether you want "yum!" or "enjoy!" Depending on how they do, other words might become available in the near future. :)This is a little bit of a departure from always doing clay, but I love details and this kind of goes with my wedding details and printed line! Click here to visit my Etsy shop if you'd like to learn more and purchase a set!

Pink and Green Bridal Bouquet and Boutonniere

2011-08-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

I finally finished this stunning bridal bouquet and matching boutonniere. My client lives in Australia. She wanted a pink and green bouquet. Her bouquet is 14" in diameter and contains peonies, David Austin roses, calla lilies, hydrangea, viburnum, hyacinth, parrot tulips and ranunculus. Even though the bride wanted all pink and green, I thought the callas would be better in white with a green edge since the bouquet is predominantly shades of pink. I think it breaks it up a little and makes everything come together nicely. This order is traveling all the way to Australia!Lots of exciting stuff on the horizon, but I cannot share at the moment. Believe me, as soon as I can I will let you know! For now, I have to get back to my wedding orders.

Custom pieces...

2011-07-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a hectic couple of days finishing up small and big orders alike. I finished a large printed order that went along with those 150 cymbidium orchid favors. I also had some custom flower orders that I had to work on.These are a few of my favorite photos. I had a customer request a single stem peony with leaves after she saw a blog post by fellow blogger Citrusandorange. The only difference is she wanted a pink peony with no yellow stamen center. I love how single stem peonies can make a really big statement!The other custom order is for a client via Estilo Weddings. He saw my cherry blossom design a while ago and asked if I could recreate it. While it's very different than the original version, the groom was quite happy.

I'll be busy the next 2 weeks working on 2 wedding orders. Lots to accomplish! I'll share photos as soon as I can.

Clay Cake Flowers

2011-07-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today has been a day spent catching up on my orders. My last day with Thalia, my student from Saudi Arabia was yesterday. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other and she thoroughly enjoyed learning the techniques of the DECO Clay Craft Academy! She's awaiting her certification, but more about Thalia and her projects later.

I had a peony cake flower order for a bride in Australia. I finally had a chance to paint them and ship them. I wanted to share those photos as well as a photo of a red anemone cake flower. This was actually left over from another client's bouquet, but I had a hard time capturing the right color.

More to come later in the week, but for now, back to work on my August orders!

Citrusandorange + Amy Atlas + DK Designs!

2011-07-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Normally when we think of Mondays, we have the "Monday Blues" - back to work and the monotony of life. Today has to be one of the best Mondays I've had in a LONG time!

As you recall, Susana of the lovely blog Citrusandorange, asked me to create a floral centerpiece for her daughter's birthday party. Her color inspiration was coral, pinks, whites and aqua. We decided on coral peonies, peach poppies and white ranunculus. To give you a little back story, I told Susana I would ship her order via Priority Mail. Well, thinking it would get there super fast, it got stuck in Customs. Thankfully she received the flowers the week prior to her daughter's party. With one issue, one of the peonies had fallen off the stem, due to the postal service/customs handling the flowers once they arrived in Portugal. So leave it to Susana to use that fallen blossom to be used on her daughter's lovely birthday cake!Susana and I agreed to do the flowers on individual stems so she can repurpose them to fit her needs. I think that's why I love Susana so much! She takes what you give her and creates new and refreshing design elements. I totally wish I was a guest at the birthday party. She even had coconut cupcakes with poppies made out of sugar to match the ones I made for her out of clay!

Susana takes lovely photos and she submitted them to Amy Atlas' blog and Amy's team loved it so much they featured Susana's dessert display! I was completely FLOORED! WHO doesn't LOVE Amy Atlas???? I swoon over all her dessert table designs and all the amazing things she creates.
I'm always so blessed to meet so many people around the world and so appreciative of the exposure I receive. :) This is exactly why I LOVE what I do!

For more amazing photos and a little more about the inspiration behind the design and details:
See Susana's blog post recapping her daughter's birthday party here.
See Amy Atlas' blog post on Susana's dessert table design here.
Thank you Susana and Amy for allowing me to be part of your blogs and making this Monday one of the BEST! :)

New Hair Flowers Listed....

2011-07-23T18:19:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time coming, posting of new listings on Etsy. The year has been chaotic and busy with custom orders, teaching and being a mom. I haven't had time to create new things or list anything other than what previously sold. Please feel free to click on any of the pictures to take you to the actual listing of these beautiful hair flowers!Several days ago I worked on some new hydrangea hair flowers, some peachy pink, some with rhinestones, etc. I also had 2 hair flowers that I made a long time ago, but just never found the time to reshoot and post.I hope once I get through my August orders that I can focus more time on creating new pieces to offer in my Etsy shop!

Tropical Favors for a Destination Wedding in Maui

2011-07-20T20:35:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I received an email from a bride who happened upon my blog or website and saw my lauahala style favor boxes and fell in love. Her wedding is August 2nd and she asked if I could meet her request. Thankfully her order was only 20 favors and I could manage the request!Her invitation colors were a midnight blue and a burgundy purple on metallic white, but she said her bridesmaids dresses were a canary yellow. She wanted her favors to match the dresses. So since most of her flowers are going to be white and yellow orchids, we agreed upon the yellow cymbidium orchid. She asked that I use the script font that she had in her wedding invitations.

Love the colors and I'm happy with the way they turned out. Pandan/lauhala boxes are from Green Weddings (www.greenweddings.biz). They quality of these boxes are wonderful. Even if you can't afford or want a clay flower for your lauhala favor box, Green Weddings can sell you just the boxes themselves.

Destination Wedding OOT Welcome Packet

2011-07-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

I have a lovely client in Australia who is having a destination wedding on the Big Island. She wanted me to design place cards, menus and these cute welcome itineraries. She had a design idea she found via Envelopments and asked if I could create something similar. The design had to be modified for her destination wedding location. Honestly I'm not a "graphic designer" in the true sense of the word/profession so I was a little worried about creating this piece. Luckily I had a full day to devote to designing her weekend itinerary.The welcome packet will go into the OOT (out of town) bags for her guests to welcome them to the island and let them know about various festivities that are taking place in addition to their wedding day ceremony and reception.

I love how it turned out and so did my client! It's fun and festive! I'm glad when my clients challenge me to design something outside of my comfort zone!

150 Wedding Favors Complete!

2011-07-14T11:44:00.001-07:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks trying to finish my orders. The reason for the lack of blog posts is because I've been tackling 150 wedding favors, where I made 150 fuchsia pink cymbidium orchids as well as favor tags/place cards to attach to them as well. Last night I finished gluing the completed orchids on the boxes and adding the tags. As I glued the last orchid on, I realized that I forgot to make 1! I couldn't believe it. Luckily I had an extra orchid center so all I had to do was make petals, let it dry and paint. As I attached the last card, I realized I missed 2 names.

It felt like a comedy of errors, but this morning I got the order packed and I printed the last 2 names and glued on the last flower! 150 favor is a lot of work. I wish I had taken pictures of every step of the process, but to give you an understanding. Just to paint the orchids themselves, I touched every flower 5 times to paint varying aspects of the flower. It was no small feat! So when I finished the order and have packed it, I feel a huge sense of relief and accomplishment!
(Taken with my iPhone - just so you could see what 149 favors looks like!)

I'll be working on some more wedding details for my clients for their wedding day. I really love when I get to do multiple aspects of a wedding to tie their theme and design all the way through from beginning to end!

Anna and Blue Paperie uses hibiscus cake flowers for Aloha summer themed birthday party!

2011-07-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

A month or so before my vacation Stefanie of anna and blue paperie had featured my hibiscus cake flowers on her blog as inspiration for her two daughters' birthday party. She asked if I would be willing to make cake flowers in pink, orange and yellows to match her theme.

If you don't know anna and blue paperie, Stefanie creates super cute printables for various events and celebrations. This is a big market for the busy moms or the moms who just aren't creative, but can DIY a little. Ready made designs that you can customize, buy and print on your own color printer on sticker paper or cardstock, punch, glue and viola.Stefanie created an Aloha inspired theme for her daughters' birthday party. These images are courtesy of Stefanie. Such cute and fun designs! I can't wait to see more images of the cake. You'll be so amazed at what's inside the cake. She's quite talented!Thank you Stefanie and anna and blue paperie for asking me to be part of your daughters' Aloha inspired birthday celebration!

Flowering Branches of Gardenias...

2011-07-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

I was able to finish the gardenia branches for my client who plans to use them for her parents' niche at the cemetery where they were laid to rest.I thought it would be nice to put them in one of the vintage aqua blue bottles I got last weekend. I love how the new style of gardenias turned out as well as LOVING the look of branches, leaves and blossoms! Lots of ideas are bubbling in my mind, but I have to focus on those 150 cymbidium orchids!

Reds and Pinks...

2011-07-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

I finished another order earlier this week. My client originally wanted pinks, corals and yellows after seeing a bouquet I made for a past bride, but she said that she would let me know before I went on vacation. She definitely wanted peonies and liked ranunculus. Just before my vacation she had made a decision. She asked for red peonies, red anemones, deep pink ranunculus and she wanted raspberries, but I convinced her to do hipericum berries. Granted, trying to make raspberries one day as a filler has peaked my interest!I wish the pictures came out better so that you could get a true appreciation for the different shades of red. I was however quite happy with my anemones. This is the first time I had really ever been asked to do them with white centers on the inside of the petals. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I'm quite happy with the results.
Amy asked me also to incorporate the fabric from her dress that she'll be wearing for the reception. I believe her husband is Chinese and he said the color red is the best, so that is another reason why she changed the colors. During my vacation she also asked for a boutonniere and cake flowers.

Latest Love of Vintage Glass...

2011-07-07T17:19:00.000-07:00

I've been perusing blogs and seeing the use of more vintage items such as milk glass and apothecary jars and bottles. I decided to look on Etsy and found some great aqua and purple glass bottles. I think I have fallen in love with these cute bottles. They have so much character.
I also managed to work on a new gardenia style - one with a more open center. I still have little ways to go to perfecting it. A client of mine recently asked me to make her gardenias for her parents' plot at the cemetery as gardenias were one of their favorite flowers. A really random request, but I agreed to do the order. If nothing else, it gave me the opportunity to try a new style. I guess the more I think about it, many cemeteries are banning the use of fresh flowers because of the cost of disposal so you definitely do see more silk flowers. So why not clay, as long as it's protected from the elements, it's a great alternative. :)

Sorry my posts have been few and far between, but I've been in the throws of making 150 cymbidium orchids for favor boxes.

Love Fresh Peonies.... A Gift on My Front Doorstep Today!

2011-06-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today, I had to take my son to get his annual check-up so that his paperwork is in order for school in the fall. When we returned home there was a bouquet of gorgeous pink peonies lying on the front doorstep. I didn't know who they were from, so I texted my friend who I know shops a lot at Trader Joe's and asked if she had brought them by. She said that she was out shopping and thought of me. She knows how much I love peonies and TJ's has them every year at a fraction of the price.I hope to take more pictures later, but here are a couple that I liked most from the 40 that I took. LOL. Fresh flowers always provide great inspiration on how to get my clay flowers looking more realistic. This gift of fresh peonies was perfect timing since I had to work on some custom peony hair flowers for another bride this evening.

Thank you Ashlee for gifting me with these beautiful peony blooms!

Custom Birthday Centerpiece for a Fellow Design Blogger's Daughter

2011-06-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

I have been really bad about sharing with you another blog that I love to follow. The blog is called Citrus and Orange (www.citrusandorange.blogspot.com). Susana is the blogger of this wonderful design blog of all things pretty, wonderful dessert displays and design inspiration. Her blog is in Portuguese and English as she writes from Portugal.Susana approached me about purchasing a few of my ready made items on Etsy for her birthday earlier this year. She then asked if I would be willing to make some custom pieces such as individual stem peonies. What I love about Susana is she re-purposes the pieces I make for her just by putting them in a different vase.

A couple of weeks ago she asked me if I could create a centerpiece with coral peonies, peach poppies and white ranunculus in an aqua blue Ball mason jar for her daughter's upcoming birthday. This is the final piece. I cannot wait to see what she creates for her daughter's birthday.
If you have not checked out Susana's blog, it's definitely worth looking at and following! One of her images was selected on Apartment Therapy's website this week and it included my pink peony flower!All images are courtesy of www.citrusandorange.blogspot.com. You can also find her on Facebook! I am always touched and honored that I have clients who continually ask me to create more beautiful things for their home and special occasions. This is why I love doing what I do! Thank you Susana for being such a wonderful client and blogosphere friend!

Custom Floral Arrangement - Phaleanopsis Orchids, Lilac, Lily of the Valley, Roses and Sweet Peas

2011-06-27T18:33:00.001-07:00

One of my friends and past clients asked me if I could create a custom piece for her sister who just graduated with her PhD in Nursing. We had discussed maybe created a gift for her a couple of years ago for Christmas, but she decided to wait and gift her sister for this momentous occasion.

She saw one of my previous arrangements I did for another client but asked me to include magenta and a little bit of tropical. I gave her some ideas and she decided to go with phaleanopsis orchids. I think it came out beautifully and so does my friend. :)
Another custom floral arrangement to share tomorrow with you for another repeat client and fellow blogger, for her daughter's special birthday all the way in Portugal! More about that later...

Custom Cake Flowers - Peony, Ranunculus, Hydrangea, Sweet Pea and Lily of the Valley

2011-06-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

A repeat customer via Etsy contacted me shortly before I went on vacation to ask if I could create her cake flowers. She wanted peonies, ranunculus, hydrangea and small fillers. I suggested sweet peas and lily of the valley as the fillers.The flowers will cascade down her 3-tier cake. This is less than 1/3 of the overall flowers I created for her. She specifically wanted pinks, whites and greens.

Where have I been?

2011-06-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. My family and I took some much needed time off as a family and vacationed on the Big Island of Hawaii for a week. The week went by way too fast and we didn't get in as much beach time as we had planned, but we enjoyed ourselves and I didn't work.Here are some photos I took while we were on our trip that I wanted to share.It's already back to my chaotic work schedule. I've been cranking out the flowers for several orders since my return on Thursday and I just started teaching a new student who came all the way from Saudi Arabia just to take classes with me. I always feel honored that people will travel around the world to take classes and learn the art of DECO Clay Craft Academy.

Special Wedding...

2011-06-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week last week with my son finishing his last week of school and helping plan my Dad's wedding. Sunday, my Dad got married. They had asked me to work on the invitations and part of the gift to them was his wife's bridal bouquet. However, they were concerned about the growing costs of the wedding and wanted to have my brother and I photograph the wedding. I knew that was going to be a recipe for disaster so I asked my friend and industry colleague if he was available. Amazingly enough, he was open that day to shoot the wedding! We only needed 2 hours to photograph the ceremony and portraits.
I knew that my dad would be impressed by Chung Li's work. They were floored when they saw his past work. So my brothers and I agreed to pitch in and hire Chung to photograph the wedding ceremony and important bridal and family portraits.I was roped in at the last minute to be the wedding coordinator/planner to make sure the wedding went according to plan. I have had experience in the past with coordinating/planning weddings, but it's not something I particularly enjoy. It's a lot of work and I give a lot of credit to those who make wedding planning and coordination their full time profession. It's definitely a must to have someone help you with this process.At any rate, I received some sneak peek photos from Chung yesterday from my Dad's wedding. Words do not accurately describe what he and his second shooter captured that day. It was nice to see my dad happy for the first time in a very long time. They turned an ordinary hotel venue backdrop into images that we will all treasure, most of all my Dad and his wife. If you love these photos, check out more of Chung's work at www.chungliphotography.com. He also offers really great beginner photography classes (I took this class last spring) as well as 1:1 mentoring classes. He's a top notch photographer, professional and friendly. He travels worldwide. I highly recommend him for your special event!

A Very Special Thank You Gift

2011-06-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

My son is in his last week of school. It is hard to believe that he is going to be a 1st grader in August! He has grown and developed so much in the last year. It amazes me constantly where he started at the beginning of Kindergarten and where he is today. He is now reading books!Although I spend a lot of time with my son to help him with his school work and making sure he's grasping all facets of his kindergarten education, we owe a lot to his wonderful teacher. She's such a wonderful and loving person and gives so much to all the kids. I am so happy that she is my son's teacher and has made learning fun.As part of the gift we're giving to her, I decided to make her a special arrangement. I've given her things in the past, but this is the largest piece I've made for her. She often would comment about how beautiful my flowers are and how she just enjoys looking at them. So I knew I could not disappoint! My son's teacher will be someone we will always remember, respect and hope we will keep in touch with her throughout Aidan's childhood! Thank you to all teachers for what you do for our children - your patience, your knowledge and for encouraging our children to be the best!