Nesting Newbies ™, a behind the scenes peek at a very tweet show and its “how to” companion

(Click on image to enlarge)

As told by Jodi Murphy
Photos courtesy of Natalie Wi of Allure West Studios

It’s time to tweet about two exciting project in the works – Nesting Newbies and The Lea Show. A team of very talented people have been working to produce two internet shows. Nesting Newbies is a cooking, entertaining and decorating show featuring Lea McIntosh who is using her culinary training to teach newlyweds and those newly out on their own how to cook great food and entertain in style…and on a budget.

We always say “Leave it to Lea” when we need to find great resources for, well, anything and we’re showcasing her discoveries in The Lea Show. Experts and interesting talents show Lea how to do what they do on each episode. Lea asks the questions and the audience learns great insights, tips and “how tos” right along with her.

On Sunday April 19th the team – James Burkart of Burkart Video, Lea McIntosh, Natalie Wi of Allure West Studios, David Braddy of Vine-agra, Vanessa Rockey, Pat Campbell and Betsy Rose (best crew ever!) and I – took over the Rutt of Los Altos showroom to re-film the first episode of Nesting Newbies and the second episode of The Lea Show.

Lea and Vanessa arrived bright and early to begin hair and make-up while Pat and Betsy started food prepping and setting up. Natalie Wi was there to photograph the day’s events, including all the behind the scenes pandemonium. I arrived with the items on loan from Bloomingdale’s Stanford so that we could create our featured “Bella Notte Bistro Chic” tabletop. I had challenged David Braddy, a florist extraordinaire, to come up with something magical. I was doing the “happy dance” when he arrived because he had woven curly willow together anchored by two urns to create an arch over the table with a lantern attached in the center. It was beautiful, easy to make, and inexpensive! Perfect, since the goal is to show “newbies” how to stylishly entertain without breaking their budgets.

Diane Phillips of DK Designs dropped by to deliver two of her floral creations for the set of The Lea Show. Diane was the first guest artisan featured on The Lea Show (soon to be aired) and it was great to have her beautiful work decorate this episode’s set.

We learned so much from the first taping of Nesting Newbies that we decided to redo it and asked our first newbies, Lacee and Tejas Naik to come back again. The energy was high and when it was time for “Quiet on the Set” we were all in awe of what we were seeing. The chemistry between Chef Lea and the newbies was fantastic and the interaction, inspirational. Lea invited the Newbies into the cooking process and I think we all learned something new. Personally, I discovered how to properly cut an onion and hold a knife properly…and I’m not a newbie!

Jonathan Murphy dropped by to meet everyone in person as he will be doing the voiceover opening for the shows.

Soon Jung Wi, Natalie’s husband arrived with their three adorable kids who were quickly called into “crew” duties while Jung prepared for his segment on The Lea Show. Jung and Natalie own Allure West Studios and Jung, a master photographer, also teaches people how to get the most out of their digital cameras. He busted so many “megapixel myths” and taught Lea (and us) what to look for when buying a digital camera. With so much valuable information, Lea invited him back for a future episode to teach her (and the audience) how to take better digital shots.

By the time we wrapped it was a long day but one that was fulfilling and fun! James is editing the shows, the opening illustrations are being created and soon we will launch the first episodes of Nesting Newbies and The Lea Show. Sweet! - JM

Red Ginger Wedding Invitations

The last issue of For the Bride magazine featured some of my wedding invitations. One of them had a red ginger on it. Ironically enough, this picture is one I took of a red ginger flower in my very own backyard in Hawaii because I couldn't find a nice image of red ginger that I could use for my invitation. I haven't gotten a request for this particular image in quite some time, but one of my clients found my invitations in the Winter 2008 issue of the magazine and asked me to create her 340 wedding invitations using this particular design but utilizing browns and greens. The color combination is absolutely stunning!

I'm in the home stretch of finishing this order. Anything above 100 invitations is a lot of work when there are multiple components. Thank goodness I now have help with the assembly part of the process! Here are a few snapshots of the invitation.

New and Improved DK Designs Business Cards!

I also spent some time redesigning my business cards with my California address and updating it with my new designs. I really wanted to feature more pictures of my flowers so potential clients ca

n get a sense for what I do! I really like the way they came out. They arrive tomorrow, I'm so EXCITED! :) Of course, I had to tout that I was featured on the Martha Stewart Show! How could I not! :)

Former UH Football Coach Honored at HCCNC Five Star Aloha Award
Every year, the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce of Northern California Chapter asks DK Designs to donate leis for their award recipients. My leis have gone to prestigious indviduals in the Hawaiian community who bridge Hawaii with the mainland US. My lei awards have gone to renound Hawaii Chef, Sam Choy, sports figure, Wally Yonemine, who was the first Asian-American to play for a professional football team in 1947 for the San Francisco 49ers.

This year's recipient of the Kulia I Ka Nu'u ("Strive for the Summit") went to June Jones, former head coach of the UH Warrior Football Team! June Jones did amazing things not only for the Warriors Football team, but also for the athletic department as a whole. Those with Hawaii ties love seeing UH play against SJSU and Fresno State.

I've never gotten a chance to meet any of these individuals because for some reason I'm always out of town. The wonderful part about it is how honored the recipients are when they receive the award. I remember 3 years ago when Sam Choy was playing golf with the HCCNC board members the day after the black tie fundraiser event, he had told Kurt Osaki (one of the HCCNC board members), that it was truly the nicest award he had ever received! That really meant a lot to me because he has so many awards that he receives in the food industry!

The Five Star of Aloha raises money for students who are either attending UH from Northern California or a Hawaii native moving to Northern California to pursue their education at the universities here. Obviously there is a selection committee, but I really think it's great to see associations who give back to the community and keep the ties between Hawaii and California going strong! For more information on HCCNC, visit: www.hccnc.com.

DK Designs Clay Flower Favors Featured in Summer 2008 Issue of For the Bride Magazine!

I finally was able to pick up the Summer 2008 Issue of For the Bride Magazine. I couldn't find it anywhere in Hawaii. I was so bummed because the editor of the magazine told me my clay flowers were featured in the magazine. I went to Barnes & Nobles today and found my copy! My favor boxes were featured in the Table of Contents and on Page 78 of the magazine. The article was more about special touches, but my clay flower favors were the featured photograph and there are credits inside the binding.

This is huge for DK Designs. The last time I got featured in the magazine for my invitations, I got a 330 wedding invitation order! So it goes to show you that people do read the magazines and even when the credits are in the binding, brides will search you out! I'm hoping that I'll get new inquiries once more brides see the favor boxes! :)

DK Designs gets Plugged on Etsy News... New Arrangements Posted to Etsy.com
I just found out that the people who write news articles for Etsy wrote about me and my little segment on Martha Stewart! It was a really nice little write up and so many people have commented that they saw the show and loved it! You can read the article at http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/etsyNews/article/dkdesignshawaii-on-the-martha-stewart-show/1547/

I also have spent a couple of days creating some new arrangements for my http://www.dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com/ storefront. I hope to continue to keep posting more items for sale week to week. There is a lot of interest and it's really amazing how many people really like my stuff! I've gotten so many glowing compliments and it's really an honor to be able to do what I do for a living! To be able to do something I enjoy and share it with others day in and day out! Here are a couple of pictures of the new items that were posted. You can now buy the arrangements I made for the Martha Stewart Show!

DK Designs Selected to be on the Martha Stewart Show!!!

I got an amazing call on Tuesday! We were driving down to Disneyland and I got a call with a 917 area code. I didn't recognize it so I let it go to VM. It was a call I NEVER expected in a million years! It was the production assistant from the Martha Stewart Show! She said the producers saw my pieces that I was selling on etsy.com and they would like to see samples. I immediately called her back and we discussed what they wanted. Initially I was going to come back and make new things and send them, but she called me back on Thursday and said they needed the samples on their desk on Monday. She said they were considering it for a 4/1 show if they felt it was as good as what they saw on my etsy.com storefront!

Monday, I got the GREAT news! They met with Martha herself and they decided they want me on the show to teach Martha how to make the flowers! So I'm travelling to NYC to be on her show. The show I believe is supposed to air live on 4/1, so check your local listings! I'm a bit nervous, but I just need to focus on what we're doing and do my best!

This is the HIGHEST compliment to me, to be selected by Martha Stewart and her show producers. Who would have ever thought they peruse the etsy.com site, granted it makes a lot of sense! So you crafters out there, never know who's looking at your stuff!

This will also not to mention be huge for the Deco Clay Craft Academy - more students and interest in the CLAYCRAFT by DECO soft clay and the Clay for All Seasons Book. Besides, if I wasn't given the opportunity to learn this AWESOME craft/art from the Academy, I would have never come across an opportunity like this!

Sorry I haven't been blogging much, but I'm actually teaching a student from Indiana an accelerated Deco Clay Craft Academy curriculum course. It's amazing how far people will come to take the Academy courses, but then again, I did it! This is truly an amazing craft and I enjoy teaching others and expanding the craft on behalf of the Deco Clay Craft Academy!

Thank you Martha Stewart and the Martha Stewart Show producers for giving me the opportuntity to share this with your audience and for finding me in the millions and millions of amazing crafters out there!

Etsy Wedding Blog Talks about DK Designs Creations!

So I've been getting a bunch of emails and leads through my www.dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com store which is awesome. Today I got a direct email from a potential client and I asked her how she found out about me. She told me she saw my etsy store front, but found out about it through the http://etsyweddings.blogspot.com blog! I didn't know one existed but I decided to search for it and I got front and center coverage on this blog on Sunday! How cool is that! Whoever created this blog did so as she was helping her sister plan her wedding and was looking for unique and different but cool things for weddings. I guess she searches through the Etsy.com weddings section for all the things she finds are unique and different that brides should seriously check out! Thanks Etsy Weddings! :)

It's always nice to hear what others think of my stuff and so far all of it has been positive! I really appreciate all the nice things people have to say! It just reinforces in my mind that I am doing what I love and keep doing what I'm doing! It's so cool to see another blog site talking about my stuff! This year keeps getting better and better!

DK Designs can be found on MyWedding.com!

After much deliberation, I decided to advertise on http://www.mywedding.com/. They were offering a great rate for 1 year of advertising and for a GREAT price compared to most online website advertising rates. Since I couldn't really be in more than one location on the Oahu guide without paying more, I decided to put myself under the Invitations Section. Although the representative from mywedding.com told me she loved my favor boxes and said she had never seen anything like it.

This is a great little website/local resource guide for brides across the country. It's not as complex and busy as http://www.theknot.com/ because it focuses on giving couples their own wedding website for free but also it serves as a resource guide for many states across the U.S. I decided to advertise under Oahu since that is where my business really began to grown and because clients associate me with Hawaii. The other nice thing is that I actually found my information on their website before I even decided to advertise. It was just a short description of my services and my phone number and website address. I thought that was really cool that they did that for free.

So DK Designs is going NATIONAL!!! I'm hopeful that brides will find me and like what they see and the orders start rolling in. This year has definitely been a really exciting one and we're only 3 months into it! I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for the company! You can view the advertisement at: http://www.mywedding.com/oahu/wedding_invitations/index.html

DK Designs Website Updates - Online Store Available!

So I thought a little bit more about Etsy.com and I will continue to leave my pieces up there for now, but I realized that I can basically do the same thing on my website. So.... you can purchase my clay flower designs on the DK Designs website. It's not a TRUE online store, but this way I can keep control of what I sell so it doesn't get too too crazy. This way I can still service my brides and clients who are my top priority! I hope to update once a week with new designs for sale.

DK Designs Clay Flowers on Etsy.com?

So, as many of my friends & family want to know.... When am I ever going to get my online store going??? Well, I finally decided to do something about it. I decided to work towards selling my items on Etsy.com. It's a website for everything handmade where people buy and sell. It's not Ebay as you don't bid for a price. It's just a cost-effective way for those who want to sell their handmade goods online without having to pay for all the set-up fees of creating your own online store!

These are just a few of the arrangements I'm planning to sell on the website. The vase arrangements will range from $40-150 to start. Remember, these are all handmade flowers, each petal made by ME! :)

I'm looking forward to this new adventure and I'm hoping it will give me an opportunity to share my love for ClayCraft by Deco with others. I'll update my website and blog when my creations are available for sale!

I hope you'll tell your friends and family where they can buy my clay floral designs. I will be posting new arrangements with new flowers as I build up inventory. There will be different vase styles, floral color combinations and more on the way... So... stay tuned.... :)

DK Designs Invitations in the Winter 2008 Issue of For the Bride Magazine!

I was fortunate to get another feature of my invitations in the latest issue of For the Bride Magazine! It's on newsstands now!

The article itself is about the "Write Stuff" and what you need to know when deciding on your invitations. There's no mention of DK Designs in the article because it's more about guidelines and tips, but next to the binding it says,
"Invitations: www.dkdesignshawaii.com".

I'm hoping that in the near future, they will feature my clay flowers! :) There is even a great article about the Big Island in this issue.

1/27/2008 - DK Designs' Official Blog!

Who would have ever thought that I would do something like this, but I guess it's the next logical step in further expanding my business! 2007 was a great year for DK Designs and I know that 2008 is going to be even better!

This arrangement is one that I made for the Macy's Exhibit I participated in with the Deco Clay Craft Academy as an instructor. This is a piece that I made to sell as this was the first year we could sell our finished products. It was fun making the tulips, peonies, and dahlias! I call this one "Tropical Punch"... I almost wish it didn't sell because I wanted to keep it!

I hope you enjoy this blog... I hope once I get past some of my orders this week I'll be able to add more pictures and commentary... There's lots to show...so stay tuned!