New Arrangements for Hawaiian Lei Company

My first set of arrangements that I shipped to Hawaiian Lei Company back in November have been well received. The company already told me that for a shop known only for leis, they sold 6 of my arrangements in 3 weeks which they felt was very good.

They placed another order and they really love the teapots as those have all sold out. So I made a bunch of them that are almost ready to ship. I'm working on a couple more that are almost done (the trio of anemones in the pink mini glass vase with acrylic water).
I'm really enjoying working with the Hawaiian Lei Company again. They have some really wonderful leis and have a really nice retail shop in downtown Honolulu. So if you live on Oahu and need a lei for someone special or want to check out what clay arrangements they have, definitely visit them! If you don't live on the islands but want beautiful leis to surprise your loved one on their special day. visit www.hawaiianleicompany.com.

New Year = New Invitation Designs

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

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

Pink Peonies for a Valentine's Table Display

A past Etsy client from Portugal contacted me recently to ask if I could make 2 frilly pink peonies on individual stems that should could place in a milk glass vase she has. She intends to create a beautiful Valentine's Day table display.

Of course, I was touched that she asked me again to create something for her and she was so thrilled with the outcome. She even ordered something from our gofigurette! site from Myrna as well for the special Valentine's Day display!
I've been busy working on flowers for a wholesale order and then I'll be busy working on flowers for upcoming weddings. More pictures to follow as I get back into the swing of things!

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

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

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

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I know I have been pretty quiet of late on my blog. Honestly, I've been busy teaching another student, visiting me from Texas. She's finishing up class 5 of C2 tomorrow and doing last minute review. I've really enjoy meeting Elizabeth and spending time with her. She's a very good student and I'm very proud of all that she has done in 2 weeks.

Other than that, I've been making lots of custom ornaments for friends and just taking a step back. I can't say that I've been relaxing, but I guess not pushing myself to make things since I don't have orders to complete right now. This coming year, I have decided to cut back on some things so that I can focus more time on my son, hopefully also find some time for "me".

I will be sharing more things in the near future, but I wanted to wish you and your loved ones a Very Merry Christmas and a Healthy & Happy New Year! Thank you for always reading my blog and stopping by!

My Last Big Wedding Order for 2010 - Completed!

(Bride's bouquet)

Today is a day of happiness and relief. I finally finished the last big wedding I had booked for 2010. This order consisted of 60 favors, 9 large centerpieces, 4 small centerpieces, 4 bouquets, 6 boutonnieres, 5 corsages, a cake topper and a ring pillow. My 12/30 couple had booked me to do their entire wedding florals (minus the leis and the arch decor).

(Bridesmaid bouquets)

One of the reasons why Asuka hired me is because she could not get half the flowers she envisioned for her wedding. She had wanted peonies, cherry blossoms, hyacinth, wisteria, Japanese iris and hydrangea. Lots of these flowers are not in season in December.(Brother's boutonniere)

(Groom's boutonniere)
(Groomsmen boutonnieres)
(Ring bearer boutonniere)

I could not have done it without the help of my dear friend and very talented student/instructor, Myrna of Petal Chic and my business partner for gofigurette!. She agreed to help me make the cherry blossoms for the centerpieces as well as the cake topper. She did a phenomenal job on both items I tasked her to do. She literally made hundreds of blossoms and buds for this order.
(Corsages for the mothers and grandmothers)
I also could not have done it without the help of my aunt, who has been a true blessing, helping me roll stems and other elements of my business. For this order I asked her to help me with wiring the hydrangeas for the centerpieces and there were hundreds of them. She also made the mini buds on the cherry blossom branches for the centerpieces. She also cut the styrofoam bases for my centerpieces. Without these two people helping me, I wouldn't have been able to get this order done in 1.5 weeks.It was truly a team effort. Literally hundreds and in total maybe a thousand or so went into building in this entire order. So in a nutshell, you can now see why I haven't been blogging for the last week and a half. I've been swamped every day trying to make flowers, flowers and more flowers.
Now I can breathe a sigh of relief and pack this order to ship out! This week and next I'm teaching accelerated classes to a wonderful woman from Houston. Things are going well, she's a quick learner and we managed to get through 3 of the 10 classes in Curriculum 1 in 5 hours! I'm looking forward to teaching her through the 23rd as well as focusing on some Christmas gifts, some small orders, and samples that need to get done.

Post Wedding Images - Melissa & Jake

I'm so very honored to have been asked by one of my past brides, Melissa, who if you recall asked me to express mail her a gardenia hair flowers 2 days before her wedding, to create a gardenia wedding bouquet for a post wedding photo shoot with none other than Critsey Rowe! Their wedding day was a wet one so they had to bring their planned outdoor wedding indoors. Regardless of the weather conditions the wedding was gorgeous and nothing could spoil the love that these two people share!

Critsey Rowe flew out a couple weeks back out to Florida to do a post-wedding shoot. The forecast said clear skies. Well, it sprinkled and it wasn't sunny, but honestly I think for Melissa & Jake, the rain is a sign of good luck.
These are some amazing photos from the after shoot! One word... AMAZING! Thank you to Critsey Rowe and Melissa for allowing me to share these photos with you. So honored to have worked with a very sweet couple and photographer!
I'll have 3 more blog posts coming up of real wedding photos from my past clients! So stay tuned!