Custom Clay Hair Flowers

A couple of brides contacted me to make them custom hair flowers. One client just so happens to be getting married on February 8th and she contacted me late last week. She's having her wedding in Florida and her honeymoon in Hawaii and asked for either a lily or a plumeria. She wasn't sure which one she would like so I told her if she had the budget for it, why not try both and she can wear one for the wedding and the other on her honeymoon. These are the photos that I took of her hair flowers.
I had another client who ordered cymbidium orchid cake flowers but she also wanted a hair flower. Originally we talked about a peony, but based on what she was doing with her hair for the wedding day I suggested maybe doing a ranunculus instead as it wouldn't look so large. She has ranunculus in her bouquet so it works out great! This is how that turned out.

Well, back to work on my orders and samples....

Fall Colors - Part II

Last night I finished making the chocolate brown proteas and the remaining flowers for the corsages.. This morning I painted the protea and decided to work on the bride's bouquet... This is the end result!

I added some red bud like berries to tie more of the red color palette in without adding another flower and decided to use some grass like leaves as the green filler accent. It's got a hint of tropical with the protea, tuberose flowers and the grasses and very earthy and fall like with the reds and oranges. The protea was another first for me on this bouquet order... They are on the smaller side because I didn't want it to overpower the bouquet. All in all, the colors balance each other and definitely is rich in color. Up next, the MOH bouquet and then tomorrow will be finishing off the boutonnieres and corsages.

After I complete the MOH bouquet, I'll be focusing my attention on the next order - centerpieces.. another fall like arrangement to share by end of this week! More pictures to come, promise!

Fall Colors - Reds, Oranges, Greens and Browns

The last couple of days I've been working on the next order in line. Kirsten found me via Etsy and asked me if I would create her fall-like bouquets for her wedding. We're doing 2 bouquets, 8 wrist corsages and 9 boutonnieres. Her inspiration bouquet was dark chocolate almost purplish proteas, pin cushion proteas, two tone orange roses and bells of Ireland. She wanted cranberry red, pumpkin orange mossy green and browns.

Last week when I touched bases with her she asked if we could instead do succulents versus the original plan of green cymbidium orchids. I said, "sure, no problem." Honestly not knowing if I could do it, but voila.... I think they came out pretty good! I am still in the process of making her proteas, but tried to make a small one for her groom's boutonniere. So far so good. Just need accent painting of a chocolate purple or chocolate red and we're good to go! So what is going to be the final product is the chocolate brown proteas, green succulents, red and pumpkin orange ranunculus, ivory tuberose and two-tone orange roses. Definitely a vast difference from my previous pastel and soft color palettes I've been doing of late.

Tomorrow I hope to start work on another order.... This week is my crunch week. 3 orders have to get out the door hopefully by Saturday since Monday is a holiday...

Miss Pineapple's Wedding Clay Flower Order - Day 2

I feel like I'm writing a diary of my flower making process for Miss Pineapple! LOL... Actually it's fun... So Day 2, this is what I accomplished: 60 stephanotis flowers, a creamy white peony with a gold-tone center for Miss Pineapple's cake topper, peonies, champagne peach roses and creamy whitish green ranunculus.

Most florists I believe use the pearl pin for the stephanotis centers. I've never been much of a fan, probably because I usually poke myself with the pin when I put it in the flowers. So, I use flat back pearls instead. I was going to use the traditional white, but I had ivory pearls and they seem to have the champagne/peachy/copper tones to it so I thought it would be perfect for Miss Pineapple's floral elements.

The stephanotis flowers went a lot faster than the tuberose. I managed to make 60 in 2 hours! The rest of the day was spent making peonies, ranunculus and roses. Miss Pineapple's bouquet is actually almost complete in terms of the flowers. I just need to finish making her copper colored roses. Instead of putting pictures of 60 stephanotis flowers, I decided to start building what Miss Pineapple's bouquuet will actually look like to give you an idea of the pieces put together.

Today's plan will be to make those roses, clay stems (yes... even the stems are made of clay), and begin all the flowers for her bridal party's bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages.

Back to working on the flowers...

Clay Bouquets in Yellow, White and Green... and an Idea on How to Display your Bouquets!

It's been a very busy week of making flowers for fundraisers and wedding orders. First off.... the fundraiser. It didn't go as well as I had wanted it to, but I got my name out there, showed my flower arrangements and hair flowers, and did a demonstration. I sold a few hair flowers and raffled off one of my larger arrangements that once existed on my Etsy site. I decided based on what I sold that I would just donate the entire amount that I brought in back to Nordstrom Elementary Home & School Club. Education for our little ones is so important so I know it's going to a good cause! The good news for those of you who love my work, the items that didn't sell at the fundraiser are now available for purchase on my Etsy site! I'll be adding the hair flowers soon, but for now, you can purchase the flower arrangements.

My client Sandra asked me to make bouquets for her wedding and wanted the colors: yellow, white, green and brown. She said she wasn't too much into traditional and was pretty open to what I had to suggest. So I decided upon yellow cymbidium orchids, yellow tulips, white ranunculus with the green centers, green viburnum and white and also yellow freesia stems. Her maid of honor bouquet is slight different, instead of freesia, I used stephanotis clusters. I wrapped her stems in chocolate brown satin ribbon and criss-crossed the ivory iridescent ribbon to contrast the chocolate. All in all, I think it came out beautifully.

We also did boutonnieres for her fiance and the best man as well. For those we did yellow cymbidium orchids, white ranunculus and green fillers to match Sandra's and the MOH bouquet. The ushers will have boutonnieres with a single tulip and some greens.

As I was finding a container to keep the flowers upright to dry, I realized something.... Given the right container, your bridal bouquets can be a great centerpiece as well! Just check out how lovely the bride's bouquet and MOH bouquet look in these white, square pillar vases! STUNNING! So, consider your wedding bouquets a decorative piece if not for your head table, what about for your cake table or reception table? The best part about it is that these will also look stunning in Sandra's home well after the wedding is over. Congratulations Sandra!