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

Pink Hibiscus Place Cards and Table Numbers
This particular couple was a referral from Paciic Coast Host on the Big Island! Thank you Stephanie! Stephanie is another wonderful wedding planner extraordinaire on the island of Hawaii. Her clients were from Connecticut/New York area. Very easy to work with which was awesome. They picked a pinkish orange hibiscus as their theme. They ordered the invitations first and decided to carry the hibiscus theme and the punchy fuschia pink and bright orange metallic colors to compliment their wedding reception.



These are just a couple of the pictures from Bob Brown of Eye Expression Photography. The sun had already set when he took these pictures, but they still look fantastic. Thanks Bob for always making my creations look stunning! The reception took place at the Mauna Lani Resort (www.maunalani.com). This is a great location for a beach wedding and outdoor reception on the Big Island. The wedding department staff is great to work with too! If you're looking for a wedding planner, check out Stephanie at www.pacificcoasthost.com and of course Bob for photography at www.eyeexpression.com!

Cherry Blossoms and Crystals...

Cherry blossoms are another theme that continue to be popular among brides and they go great with those who want the pink/brown color palette! This particular client was very particular in what cherry blossom design she wanted, but we finally came up with a design that they liked. We decided to add some crystals to embellish the invitation and make it look a little richer.

We also added a wine/burgandy trim to the invitation because their bridal party will be wearing burgandy dresses.

They also had a lot they wanted in terms of information for their response card so instead of the traditional 3.5x5 response card we went with a 4x5 style which allowed them the space they needed! I also recreated the map we found off the Internet (that was my first one!) and I think it came out pretty well (not pictured here).

If you haven't been to my website since Sunday, you'll have to check it out. I've finally updated the Wedding Stationery, Real Weddings section and more! In the month to come I hope to have all my pages up-to-date!

Orange Cymbidium Returns

Cymbidiums are my FAVORITE orchid of all time. Personally, I used green cymbidium orchids in my wedding. The wonderful thing about cymbidiums is that they withstand the heat and are a pretty strong variety of orchids so it will look nice your entire wedding day! I love it when brides ask to do an orchid theme. If you didn't already know, orchids symbolize luxury, nobility and lust!

This particular bride wanted an orange cymbidium orchid for her invitations. Not to mention she's getting married at the Fairmonth Orchid! So it seems befitting to have an orchid as her theme. For their reception, they want to go with matching favor boxes with both orange and yellow cymbidium orchids and plans to put hard kona candies inside for her guests. She's even looking at table cards!

This bride came to me via the referral of Bob Brown of Eye Expression Photography. Bob has a great eye for catching some really great moments. I love his eye for details. You can view some of Bob's work on my website on the home page and I hope to post some of the weddings we've worked on together in the coming months!

Pineapples - The Icon of "Hospitality"

To me, using pineapples in invitations never gets old! It's one of those timeless pieces that not only brings to mind the image of Hawaii or a tropical destination, but to me it somehow represents the warmth and Aloha you feel when you go to Hawaii.

I know that people have told me that the pineapple is the symbol of "hospitality". I had to look it up on wikipedia.com and this is what they had to say:

In some cultures, the pineapple has become associated with the notion of welcome, an association bespoken by the use of pineapple motifs as carved decorations in woodworking. Many people bring a pineapple as a gift when meeting someone for the first time.

Anyway, I had another client that liked my pineapple charm design and she wanted pinks and greens. I rather like this patterned stock that provides the green element, but it softer and classier than just plain green metallic cardstock. Anyway, the brass pineapple charms really make this invitation look polished and stylish!

DK Designs Website - New Updates

I decided to work on my website again, update it, and get it current. It's still work in progress, but I've done the first round of updates (adding the Blog link to the navigation), updating my Deco Clay Craft Academy course calendar for Feb-Mar 2008) and added a few new pictures and information. The next step is to post new weddings and of course some of the newer designs (flowers and invitations/wedding details).

You can check it out: http://www.dkdesignshawaii.com/!

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.

It's Official - Buy your very own DK Designs' creations at http://www.dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com/!

So, those who know me, know that once I get something in my head and want to do something, I do it... I couldn't resist getting my stuff up on etsy.com so... you can now order some of my clay floral designs on http://www.dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com/. I hope in the not so distant future I will have the time to be able to create my own official online store on my website, but I think for now, this will allow me to sell in a little more controlled environment! I hope you like what you see and will tell your friends that you can now buy my designs online. :) Enjoy and check back regularly as I hope to at least post a new design each week depending on how my wedding orders are stacking up!

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 Goes Corporate?

So in the last 2 weeks I've received a couple great inquiries from companies who are interested in my clay flowers/packaging to package their items to their end clients. One is a eco-friendly jewelry company, called Palma Collection. The other is a high-end luxury basket company on the East Coast.

It's interesting to see how quickly the clay flowers are really taking off! Part of the reason these companies are finding me is through Virwanti International - a company who sells organic/eco-friendly packaging items. I bought from them over 3 years ago and then I did a photo shoot for my website and they saw what I did with one of their sinamay envelopes and asked if they could use the photo on their website and would promote DK Designs. Little did I know that business would come of it!

I don't know if I'll actually get the business, but it's nice to know that people are finding me and liking what they see! It's just really exciting to see the business grow in ways and directions I never imagined!

Completing the Look and Feel - Wedding Details

I love when clients are able to spend a little extra money on the wedding details that really complete the overall "look and feel" of a wedding. This client actually found me after she had already sent out her invitations. The sweet thing is she said, if she had found me sooner she would have asked me to do her invitations! Her initial idea was to have everything with the Tahitian Ginger flower - Tiare. However, they thought about it some more and decided on green cymbidiums (my FAVORITE flower) and to tie in the burgandy and peach/orange tones from the mouth of the flower. I never really thought about using the colors from that, but as you can see it TOTALLY works! We're going to do the same for the place cards so it looks cohesive.

So if you have the budget, why not spend a little extra money on the table cards to really make your wedding reception look STYLISH! :)

Creating Guest Books that Match your Wedding Theme...

I've been getting more and more requests for guest books. It's something I kind of fell into. My first initial ones were made out of the lauhala mats, but I found that they were really difficult to try and cut without fraying. I finally came upon this basho weave paper (a Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine find). I LOVE IT! It gives that tropical feel but at the same time it allows you to easily cut and mount it onto whatever, because it's like paper!

Anyway, these guest books are a great way to carry a couple's wedding theme all the way through to even items like these. Plus it's slightly different than your typical guest book and most of all, it's personalized!

Out of Town Guest Bags - Kicking off Your Wedding with Style!

Many destination wedding couples want to welcome their guests, who have sometimes come from very far places to be a part of this wonderful occasion. A few of my clients have requested personalized welcome tags, water bottle sleeves and wedding week itineraries. Most wedding coordinators can help the bride/groom with local goodies for a service fee if the couple cannot do it themselves. The bags can be as elaborate as those nice canvas beach bags or even just nice color coordinated paper shopping totes!

This particular client requested oranges and yellows as her color theme and wanted the cymbidium orchid. This is such a nice way to greet and welcome your guests at their hotel room. Especially since they probably just got off a long flight! You definitely want to throw in some great local items (in Hawaii the popular things are macadamia nuts, Maui chips, Kona coffee, shortbread macadamia nut cookies (Big Island Candies or Honolulu Cookie Company are my two favorites!), and of course the local tour/activity guides!

An invitation that embodies a couple's personality!

I recently was asked by a client of Orchid Isle Weddings & Events (http://www.orchidisleweddings.com/) to come up with a wedding invitation for them. Their colors are ivory,pink and brown. These are very popular colors, but what makes this invitation truly special is the motif they chose and how it embodies who they are as a couple.

Kristy's friend searched on Wikipedia the meaning of a magnolia flower - its one of the oldest and strongest flowers around. Its species, which is millions of years old, was around before bees! It has continued to bloom season after season with exquisiteness that looks so delicate but is actually so sturdy it refuses to give up.
Kristy became fascinated with it and a friend of mine looked it up on Wikipedia for me and wrote me this...."Kristy, this flower embodies you in all your beauty and strength. You are so gorgeous, inside and out, with elegance that appears to be fragile but like the magnolia you are strong, unwavering and can endure anything." I really took it to heart and decided that it would perfect to represent the relationship that hector and I have. So this is why I love this flower so much and it would be great if we could carry it throughout the wedding.

This story really touched me and I think it goes to show you that it's important to pick a motif/theme that incorporates your style but more importantly who you are as a couple if it's relevant! :)

Candice & Nathan's Wedding 12/1/08

This was a wedding I got via the Mauna Lani Resort's Wedding Department! Candice wanted flowers that would be flush with her cake, but that would match her wedding colors - wine/burgandy and cantaloupe/peach.

We decided to do cherry blossom cake flowers. The photographer for this wedding is one of my favorite photographers on the Big Island - Bob Brown of Eye Expression Photography! Thanks Bob for the awesome photos! You can see Bob's work at http://www.eyeexpression.com/.