Clay Flower Workshop Classes March 2nd and 9th

I'm pleased to announce that we'll be offering a series of clay flower workshop classes for interested crafters who want to try their hand at CLAYCRAFT by DECO art, but who may not necessarily want to sign up for the membership classes. These are great discovery classes and will be held at the DK Designs studio in San Jose.

My students, who are now instructors, Candy and Judeanna were interested in trying to grow the awareness of the art of CLAYCRAFT by DECO and want to help teach. So we have been working on some fun workshop classes to give beginners a chance to experiment with this wonderful clay medium.

The first class is will be held on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. We will be creating gardenias and hydrangeas and decorating a simple favor box with the flowers and ribbon. The fee for the class and materials is $48 plus tax. Class size is limited to 15 students so please contact me for details if you' d like to sign up.

The second clay will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. It will focus on making a small vase arrangement with roses and pansies. You'll learn how to make the flowers, painting techniques and how to arrange the flowers in a small vase. The fee is also $48 plus tax and class size is limited to 15 students.

Please contact dk@dkdesignshawaii.com if you wish to sign up and participate. We will be adding more classes each month and will have some new and different projects each class!

Little projects

I've been busy working on little projects for clients here and there the last few days and wanted to share some of what I have been working on before I start diving into my bouquet and invitation orders.

This first piece was for a client who wanted to give his wife a gift of plumerias. They love all things Hawaii, especially plumerias. Not sure how he found me, but he asked for a dozen plumerias that he wanted to stick in a vase for their room. I initially had planned to just give him single stems of plumerias with some greenery, but the more I thought about it and what he was striving for was the clusters of plumerias. So I did 2 sets of clusters so they almost look like they were pulled fresh off a plumeria tree, complete with fragrance!
The 2nd shot is of a vanda orchid I've been playing around with and trying new techniques to get it to look realistic. It's getting closer.... This would make a beautiful hair flower or boutonniere.

The 3rd set of pics is for an Etsy client of mine who has an inspiration photo of a couture hair piece with a birdcage veil. She asked if I could recreate it in clay. She has a specific hibiscus sketch she used in her wedding invitations that she wanted to carry through so this hair piece was something that fit perfectly with her theme. Still waiting for the bride to approve. The flowers are 4 inches and 5.5 inches. They are really big, but I'm sure they will look stunning.

Etsy Wedding Team Pulls Together to Help the People of Haiti

The Etsy Wedding Team has really grown over the last year and with new core committee members and dedicated team members, it's definitely made some really great strides. We've offered several giveaways since September. One great idea our team leader has was for team members to donate items to sell on a team site where all proceeds from the sales will be donated to the American Red Cross for the Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts.

So please show your support of the Etsy Wedding Team and all things handmade and every penny (after transaction and PayPal fees are assessed) will be donated to the ARC Haiti fund from now through February 12, 2010! You'll find a variety of wonderful items wedding and non-wedding related. So buy handmade and in turn it goes to some very special people who really need our help! These are the two items I donated on behalf of DK Designs and gofigurette!
Visit www.etsywedteam.etsy.com

Courtney & Todd - Real Wedding and Trash the Dress Photos

It's hard to believe 4 months have passed since Courtney and Todd got married on the beautiful island of Mau'i. They are a local couple (to the Bay Area that is) who fell in love with Mau'i. It's where Todd proposed and where they tied the knot. Courtney asked me to create her save the dates, wedding invitations, favors, place cards, OOT tags, menus and cake flowers. Such a wonderful couple and so easy to work with. I think they were pretty easy to please and it made my job that much easier.

The photos are amazing. I've never worked with Gordon Nash but it's easy to see why Courtney and Todd like his work. You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! WOW! That's why all who go to the islands fall in love and a piece of our hearts is always left behind. I still feel that way and we've been away for over 2 years now.
Their beautiful florals were done by Della Peacock of Dellables! I know Della comes highly recommended on the island of Maui.
I won't go into too much detail about the photos and let them just speak for themselves. The last 2 photos are some shots from Courtney and Todd's trash the dress session with my dear friend and photographer, Debbie Friedrich. They hired her after seeing our family photos and headshots done and Debbie just so happened to be going out that way for some other work so it worked out perfectly. Two great photographers and tons of wonderful photos!

Estilo Weddings Announces Partnership with DK Designs

Are you ready for some amazing wedding products that give you a unique and stylish look to your wedding? Well, without further ado, Estilo Weddings announced today their official reopening of their online store! This is what I have been working on for the last couple of months. Maria Ryan is an amazing woman, entrepreneur and now working mother. She took a break last year to make time for the arrival of her son. I have to imagine it must have been one of the hardest decisions to make, but I think overall, a good one. Now she's back and Estilo Weddings is better than ever!
Maria contacted me in October and gave me a LONG laundry list of what she had envisioned for the new line - ring pillows, favors, hair flowers, single flower bouquets, boutonnieres, cake flowers and more. While we have launched about 85% of the product line, there will be more to come in the coming weeks and months. As some of you know, Estilo Weddings didn't make public who's clay flowers they were selling, but those of you who know me know that it was my work. This year because the line is SO extensive and crosses so many categories, Maria thought it would be the perfect time to announce the partnership since many of the designs are exclusive to Estilo Weddings. Meaning if you're looking for many of these items on my Etsy shop will not find them. You will only be able to purchase many of these items through Estilo Weddings! Below is just one of the beautiful clay flower products you'll find in her online store - single flower bouquets!
2010 is proving to be a great year and although it got off to a slow start, I suspect that it's going to be crazier than ever and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. I'm very thankful for Maria believing in me and my products and seeing that clay flowers are a great eco-friendly alternative to fresh There are some amazing products so don't wait, go check out here site!

Definitely bookmark these pages and share with all the brides you know out there! Maria also has a great blog that keeps up with the latest trends and all things that inspire her that are stylish and unique!

Estilo Weddings website - www.estiloweddings.com
Estilo Weddings Blog - www.estiloweddings.com/blog

More Items Using Eco-Friendly Market's Packaging

I've been working on some more samples for my client, Eco-Friendly Market. It's been fun playing around with their packaging and see how great the flowers work with their various boxes, favor packaging and containers. The eco-friendly flowers and boxes are a perfect match.

A lot of the larger sinamay and seagrass boxes would make great gift boxes for tea samplers, spa products, candies or cookies, etc.
The pandan favor boxes are my most popular item ordered from my destination wedding brides who want a tropical look and feel. These boxes are very sturdy and durable! Even when you think sinamay, one would think maybe it will only work for tropical type flowers, but so not the case as you can see in these images.
In the coming weeks there will be a few more samples to share, but for now, I need to refocus my attention on my brides and their orders!If you're interested in just the packaging itself, please visit Eco-Friendly Market's website. If you are interested in the flowers with the boxes, please feel free to contact me directly!

Valentine's Day Special - FREE SHIPPING!

I've been trying to figure out what to do for Valentine's Day with my Etsy shop and I decided that I would offer free shipping to US destinations with purchases of $50 or more. So although my hair flowers don't qualify, if you bought 2 hair flowers then it would! I thought it would be nice since saving any little bit counts these days. The shop is filling up and there is a lot to choose from and more to be added in the coming days. Here are a few items that I had posted in the last week or so.

You can probably hint to your husband or boyfriend that you've been dying to have one of my original creations and let him know that it's free shipping! :)
The dates for the free shipping are effective from 1/18/10 - 2/10/10! Happy Shopping!

Eco-Friendly Market and DK Designs Clay Floral Artistry

Years ago, I found Eco-Friendly Market when I was looking for sinamay envelopes. We've kept in touch over the years and we've always talked about working together, but it never quite seemed to be the right time. But now they have asked me to revisit working with them to create samples as many of their end clients have asked about the clay flowers. So for 2010, I'm working closely with Eco-Friendly Market to create clay floral artistry for their favors, gift baskets and more. They have a wonderful selection of favor type boxes, envelopes and other items perfect for brides planning a wedding and want something more unique than a little cardboard favor box. These are reusable and very beautiful. The other nice thing is that the company focuses on providing environmentally friendly alternatives to packaging and follows the fair trade practices.

Until now, Eco-Friendly Market has only sold wholesale and to distributors, but if you're interested in their favor boxes, envelopes, etc for your wedding. Just let them know that DK Designs referred you and they will be able to assist you! If you're a wedding retailer or business, just let them know that DK Designs referred you for wholesale pricing

All their products are very high quality. I can see many of these being used to put spa products, jewelry or even a gift card. I know many say gift cards are kind of a cop out, but packaged in one of these beautiful boxes or purses with a clay flower makes it a little more unique!
I'm continuing to build more samples for them to use on their website, but wanted to give you a sneak peek of some things I've been working on. The below purse would be great to give to your bridesmaids with lip gloss, spa products and adorn with maybe a hair flower on the outside for them to wear on your wedding day. For those who don't want to give hair flowers, you can also put a corsage in the button loop and your loved ones can wear these on that special day.Lots more to talk about in the coming weeks so stay tuned, but wanted to share with you some exciting things I've been working on over the last several weeks!

Visit Eco-Friendly Market's website to see what exciting eco-friendly packaging alternatives are out there and create a stylish look for your wedding. If you would like these packaging concepts with my clay flowers, please let me know and I'd be happy to create something beautiful and unique for your wedding day or special occasion.

DK Designs Clay Flower Featured on the Kate Aspen Blog

I'm so fortunate to be contacted by fellow wedding industry professionals who want to feature my work. Shortly before Christmas I was contacted by Kate Aspen's Online Brand Relations Manager to see if I wouldn't mind them featuring me on their blog. I LOVE Kate Aspen's favor and wedding gifts line of products! I only wish I could get married again so I could buy some of these wonderful items she creates every year. Kate Aspen is strictly a wholesaler, but her line is offered to brides and anyone wanting unique party favors through various online retailers.
They are featuring on their blog, "Green Weddings January". They did a really sweet post and I'm so thrilled. Hopefully it brings more interest level for 2010 weddings. If you don't follow Kate Aspen's blog already, definitely take a look and add it to your bookmarks! Thank you to the team at Kate Aspen for featuring my love for clay floral art and sharing it with your blog readers!

A custom order - Passionate about Peonies

A client on Etsy asked if I could ship to Canada and she was very much interested in the green roses with white and yellow mums arrangement I had listed. She was also interested in a couple other designs, but she asked if I could recreate the Passionate about Peonies arrangement I had done a year or so ago which happened to be my 100th sale on Etsy. So since the way I was taught how to do peonies has changed and it's evolved more over time, I was excited to see how the arrangement would turn out and I'm quite happy with it. I might just actually list this piece on my Etsy site again! Who doesn't love pink peonies???Your sweetheart would definitely love a piece like this to enjoy for many years to come. I'm thinking I might create this piece in several different color combinations and i with Chinese New Year being on the same day, I can imagine this would be popular for those who celebrate it as well!

Cherry Blossoms and Roses

I had a couple of my pink and orange English roses left and I have been working on some other projects that used cherry blossoms so I thought these two worked well together. I decided to make several cherry blossoms so that I could finish this piece today and post on Etsy.

So pink and so pretty!

Sharon & Ryan's Wedding Featured in Pacific Rim Weddings Magaine

I have been dying to get a copy of the Winter/Spring 2010 issue of Pacific Weddings magazine. It came out a week or so ago, but has not hit the mainland stores just yet. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek from the Mauna Lani's director of Weddings and then my bride told me it was also featured on Toby Hoogs' blog. Thank you Toby for allowing me to use your copy of the images from the magazine.
The above image is of the phaleanopsis cake flowers and bamboo I created out of clay for Sharon and Ryan. This was a recreation of an inspiration photo that Toby himself took of another wedding that Sharon fell in love with. The Mauna Lani pastry chefs did a great job recreating the cake and look.
The above image of the starfish place card is another element I helped Sharon with. I did her wedding invitations, table cards, place cards and wedding programs for her beautiful Hawaiian wedding. Her brother officiated the ceremony. Their story was very touching and you could feel the love they share not only from the words but also from the beautiful images Toby captured.

I'm so blessed that my work has yet again been highlighted in another magazine. Sharon and Ryan are such a wonderful couple. They were fun to work with and it was nice to create what they had envisioned for their wedding day details.It's a true pleasure to work with wonderfully talented wedding professionals and equally wonderful clients. I'm truly honored to have my work featured in such a wonderful destination wedding magazine!