You might all be wondering why my blog posts have been a little sparse lately. Well, business has been a little bit slow, but that's pretty normal for this time of year. So, I decided to start another company. For those of you who know me well, you are thinking to yourself, "What on earth is she thinking? She's already crazy busy with her business." Well, I've been wanting to work with one of my student/instructors for a long time and I couldn't figure out how we could work together because she lives on the East Coast and I live on the West Coast. Myrna's company is called Petal Chic. She asked if I could help her create her look for her website, blog, Etsy, etc. Myrna has become my long distance BFF (LDBFF). She and I have become so close that she's become like family to me.
I have many talented students/instructors, but Myrna and I are like two peas in a pod when it comes to clay, it's an obsession and we have to touch it almost every day. She had created these cute penguin votives for Christmas and they were so cute that I had to buy one. 
The back story is that Myrna when she first came to take class HATED figurines, they actually creeped her out. Yet when she went back home she started making cute angels. I too don't necessarily care for figurines. At any rate, I ordered the votives for my son's teachers for Christmas and then decided that I would try my hand at making Santa Penguins for his classmates. They were actually kind of fun. Go figure that she and I would like to make figurines when we protested how so not fun they were. So I asked a dear friend, Lea McIntosh, to help us find a name that suits us and defines what we do, and she came up with "gofigurette!" Go figure (that we like to make figurines and find them fun) and "ette" comes from coquette meaning cute. I instantly fell in love with the name and then created the logo based on what she started me off with. She suggested adding a cherry blossom and so I replaced the "o" with the cherry blossom and put 2 birds on the ends which represents two of us and one on each coast!
We've been having fun the last few days trying to come up with cute figurines. It's totally addicting and we feed off each other's creativity. It's been a creative outlet for me and I enjoy the departure from always doing weddings. Granted I will still continue to do weddings, but I'm diversifying my reach with the clay. So our focus is handcrafted clay figurines for cakes, cupcakes and decor. These figurines can be used as cupcake toppers and then if you add a little hook pin and ribbon with a favor bag you get a gift for your guests to take home. Baby showers, bridal showers, kid's parties. The possibilities are endless. So in the coming weeks we will be adding items and doing our grand opening. For now we're updating our items via our blog! I'm so happy to finally be able to work with someone I respect and trust! More importantly it's been fun to collaborate with someone as equally as crazy about clay as I am!
You can visit us at:Etsy site:www.gofigurette.etsy.comBlog:www.gofigurette.blogspot.comTwitter:www.twitter.com/gofigurette
From our family to yours, we wish you a Very Merry Christmas! We hope you enjoy your time with family and loved ones! I'm looking forward to sharing with you some new and exciting things to come in 2010! But for now, I'm taking the day off from clay and invitations at least for 1 day anyway, oh wait, I promised my sister-in-law to help her finish her cascade bouquet when I see her tonight at dinner!
Two weeks ago when we hosted the Garden Art Party, one of my friends asked if I could make her something that could be worn as a brooch pin and a hair flower. So this is what I came up with. She wanted something with color and she liked the mum that I had shown, but she wanted it in orange. So this is how it turned out.
She was also searching for something for her Chinese grandmother and so we came up with something that would work. What color? What flower? In many Asian cultures color and flowers have meaning. So I suggested the red peony since red is a lucky color and peony I believe symbolizes prosperity. So this is what I came up with. I had this vase for quite some time and never used it, but it is perfect for the peonies. The red is so striking against the black frame.
This will probably not be my last post for 2009, but I was busy making some little gifts for my nieces and nephews for Christmas since I didn't want them to go without a gift from their auntie even though this year, we stuck to the agreement of not giving every child a gift. So I made some more Santa Penguin ornaments for the kiddies.I had to make some more penguins for other friends and loved ones and since some of them I won't see until after Christmas, I thought, hmmm.. "Maybe I should make New Year's Penguins!" So I made a party hat complete with glitter and bling and a noise maker too! If only I could rig the noise to come out of the noise maker! LOL.
So with that, my son learned the "We wish you a Merry Christmas song, so I thought I would do the same."We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!" May you all have a wonderful holiday season and a safe and prosperous new year! It's been a great 2009 and we're looking forward to an even better 2010!
My dear friend and student from Petal Chic, stayed with us when we did the C3 instructor workshops. She got a chance to bond with our Boston Terrier, Brig - our overly hyper, lovable dog!A month or so ago, we got Brig an elf hat at the store and it was a little small and he didn't much care for it. LOL. We still shot these pictures of him. He was so not amused by our humor. I sent the pictures to Myrna since she didn't get a chance to snap any while she was here (read - too busy making flowers 24/7 to keep up with our classes).Anyway, today I got a little present in the mail for Christmas and I couldn't wait to open it. This is one of the gifts that was in the box. OMG!!!! I knew Myrna was talented and gifted when it comes to figurines but this blew me away. It's so perfect. He's coming out of the box. The ultimate gift.... BRIG! :)
So I had to just share her talents because I was so impressed and that she took the time to make something that means a lot to us, our lovable, licking dog! :) Thank you Myrna for the best handmade gift ever! :)
Saturday was forecasted to be stormy for our Garden Art Party, but I'm so happy to say that the weather didn't deter people from coming and shopping. Granted there weren't as many people there as we had planned, but for those who did come, they were so impressed by all the art to pick. So many of them said it was so hard to choose which one they wanted because they were all so beautiful.
We had offered light refreshments for our shoppers to enjoy. Since I was so busy trying to make all the flowers and get the studio ready i didn't have time to make anything homemade, but I put a personal touch to the drinks, tea selection, etc.
The above picture is of the center table that had some of our art, the publications we were recently featured in, a guest book and a chance to enter a drawing.
I made signs for the tea and put them in these really cute bamboo wooden boxes. I used zenatona's logo image with my orchid logo!
Using our two logos I covered the Italian Soda bottles with our own custom labels!
Signs with special Garden Art Party pricing and my single flowers just to help beautify the signage. Turns out people wanted to buy the flowers that weren't for sale!
This is one of zenatona's new pieces - "ember". This is my latest of the LONG list of favorites of her work!
We had a table for gifts $20 and under with my notecards, and zenatona's 8x10 prints and magnetic bursts of color. 
It was an awesome day, even though it was dreary outside, the studio was bright and so vibrant with color inside! Lots of interest in people hosting their own garden art parties for us to come and share/sell our items in the spring, interest in family portraits and custom pieces!We hope to do this again in the spring or summer time and share with you again all the new prints and clay floral art we've created between now and then!
Thank you to all who came and purchased our art. We sincerely appreciate your business and hope that you or the one you purchased for enjoys the art we've created! We're looking forward to the next Garden Art Party, rain or shine!
If you missed out and would like to see our work or purchase one of our works of art, please visit us at:
zenatona - www.zenatona.etsy.com
DK Designs - www.dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com
A week or so ago, Barnaby Draper Studios contacted me to see if I could provide him with a DIY video of me in action making clay flowers. I sent him over the recording of when I did the Martha Stewart Show. You may ask why Barnaby Draper Studios wanted a video since he's a famed lifestyle/wedding/celebrity photographer. Well, BDS not only does amazing photography, but videography as well!. Together their company provides clientele with the best of the best photography and videography worldwide!The BDS team decided to join forces with Los Angeles based, Leila and Kellee Khalil of Be Inspired PR (who's clientele and portfolio is also TOP NOTCH) to create a website on the "who", the "what" the "wear" and the "d i why" of weddings. I love the play on words. So cute. :) They launched during fashion week in NYC where all the top wedding gown designers showed their 2010 line of amazing dresses. They interviewed top gown designers, wedding bloggers, bridal magazine publishers and more. I was honored to say the least that they felt I was worthy to be part of their "d i why" section of the website! I love watching the video interviews with the top wedding professionals in the industry. It's an ingenious concept to pool the talents of some amazing professionals to create a website that has a pulse of all the latest, hottest inside scoop on all things weddings!
I had the privilege of Barnaby Draper Studios to photograph one of my cake toppers I did for my bride. I honestly didn't know who he was since I don't know any NYC photographers. When I researched him I was so blown away because he photographs the likes of Dave Matthews and John Mayer. I think the thing I was more impressed with was how down to earth, genuinely nice he and his other business partner, Nicole Steakley were. So professional and just downright nice! The above photo is just one of the images BDS took of my cake topper!Definitely check out WhoWhatWeddings.com and bookmark their site so you can read and watch about all the greatest and latest things the wedding industry has to offer brides & grooms!
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I normally don't cater to the holidays (more so because I'm always swamped with wedding orders and can't service both clientele), but I have been realizing since Mother's Day that I need to start creating some new designs for the various holidays throughout the year. I sold a bunch right before Christmas which was awesome and so even though we just barely made it through Christmas, I'm already creating items in my shop for Valentine's Day gifts.
What better way to show your loved one how much you care about them than with a handcrafted, one of a kind clay flower arrangement that will bring them everlasting joy. Think about how much you spend on a dozen red roses on Valentine's Day and instead of spending money on that, what about spending it on a beautiful piece that will bring them many more years of joy and happiness than just 2 weeks of fresh flowers.
It feels good to get back into the swing of flowers since it's been a little while since I've touched them. I made all these flowers today and was able to arrange and accent paint and post! Love how quick I can create and make these beautiful works of art!
