The Rest of the Bridal Order...

Tamara's order is complete. I finished all the final elements today. So happy to have it done and it will be shipped on Friday! The bride totally LOVED her bouquet so hopefully she will LOVE her bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages. Here are a few highlights of my favorite photos I took just a little while ago.
Groom's boutonniere of a deep pink ranunculus with pikake which is the national flower of where he is from. The groomsmen have just pikake blooms with grasses.The bridesmaid bouquets are single large form peonies since the bride was more or less on a budget, each one in the 3 colors she had requested.

Vibrant Bouquet for a Gloomy Day....

Now that the Garden Art Party weekend is past me, I'm feverishly working on catching up on all my bridal orders. Yesterday I spent all day working on this order. I finished all the flowers and there will be more photos to come tomorrow, but I was able to finish the bride's bouquet this morning. Today it's gloomy and wet out and this definitely brightened my day with all it's vibrant colors!

I honestly have to say that I was never good with colors. You probably wouldn't believe it. When I took my classes at the Academy, my colors were always pastels (pink, yellow, peach, and green). Everything I did were in those colors. It was hard for me to go bold. It's a lot of experimentation and even when I think it won't look good, surprisingly it does.

My client Tamara is getting married the day after Mother's Day and she specifically had colors she is using for her wedding, dark pinks, baby pinks, oranges, goldenrod yellow, ice blue and gold. I thought it was a weird combination with the ice blue, but now all put together, it looks SO AMAZING! I think with all the bright colors, the ice blue really softens the otherwise vibrant flowers. Her wedding invitations had illustrations of various colors of dahlias to match her colors for her wedding so she asked for dahlias to be included as well as tuberose, roses and ranunculus.
Well, I just wanted to share a few photos to brighten your day as it has mine on this otherwise very gloomy Tuesday!

Sneak Peek Photos of My Bouquet at Una Bella Sera

I've been getting sneak peek photos and glimpses of Una Bella Sera from my contacts on Facebook and I've seen my bouquet as part of one of the vignettes Crystal and Nicole envisioned! It's amazing. Everything they did looks fabulous and I wish I could have been there, but between all my commitments and my son being sick, I couldn't be there regardless and turns out I got sick last night anyway.

I wanted to however share the photos I received from Stacie Tamaki of the Flirty Blog. She graciously photographed my bouquet next to Jen's Cakes creation! It's simply stunning. It looks even better set against the vignette that was created by all these wonderful and amazing wedding professionals. I'll be sharing more professional photographer photos as I receive them.
Hopefully next year, I'll be able to attend. It looked like so much fun!

Weekend Garden Art Parties a Smashing Success

It's been another crazy weekend between getting my pieces ready for Una Bella Sera and the 2 Garden Art Parties with zenatona, on top of my son coming down with pneumonia. Let's just say it was stressful, but overall Aidan is feeling better and everything turned out great.Our first hosted Garden Art Party was in Martinez, California on Saturday evening. It was a hectic day for many, but several people came to check out what's new with zenatona and DK Designs. We had lots of oohs and aahs because none of those who came knew much about our art, but they all said how well they complimented one another. We both had a great day of sales and enjoyed meeting new people and sharing our love for our art forms.

Sunday we had a small Garden Art Party at my studio and we enjoyed meeting new art collectors. Met some old friends I haven't seen in years too! It was a beautiful weekend and we're looking forward to doing another Garden Art Party outdoors sometime in the summer in San Diego.
I always enjoy spending time with Debbie Friedrich and I'm so honored to call her my friend and colleague. She's always so uplifting and positive! I was so happy to see all the new zenatona collectors eat up her art. She launched her zenatona "bloomies" at the party and they sold out! I'm glad the people are finally seeing what I see in her art. It's simply beautiful, vibrant and speaks to people! We all need a little happiness and beauty in our lives and her art totally makes you feel happy!
I also showcased gofigurette! figurines and gifts at the Garden Art Party on Sunday and while no one purchased anything, many commented on how absolutely adorable the items were. Thank you to my dear friend, Myrna who created some totally cute pieces. She's amazingly talented!
If you missed the Garden Art Party, visit our Etsy sites to see what's still available for Mother's Day and graduations!
zenatona - www.zenatona.etsy.com
DK Designs - www.dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com
gofigurette! - www.gofigurette.etsy.com

A Beautiful Bouquet & Boutonniere for Una Bella Sera

Today I was able to finish my bouquet and boutonniere for the Una Bella Sera show! I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out! I love the colors and the use of velvet leaves, feathers and black birdcage veil netting! I got a chance to try my hand at a new flower. Nicole Ha of Nicole Ha Designs is an amazing florist and I'm always impressed what what she creates. She is one of the visionaries for the vignettes on Sunday's Una Bella Sera bridal event. She asked if I could make "blushing bride" which is a type of flower. To me it looks like a protea but it is from the hibiscus family. At any rate, I still want to try to improve on the techniques, but for the first try, I think it's not too bad an attempt. It definitely gives the bouquet a unique look.

The bouquet was designed after an inspiration photo that Nicole had sent to me to give me an idea of the type of vignette they were trying to create. I fell in love with the photo she sent me and jumped at the chance to try my hand at using feathers again, birdcage veil netting and velvet leaves. I created my own style and bouquet so it's not exactly a replica of the one she sent for inspiration. I'm bummed I will not get to see the bouquet in the vignette, but I know it will be nothing short of spectacular and can't wait to see the professional photos from the amazing photographers who will be there at the event to capture all the AWESOME details.
Thank you to Crystal Lequang and Nicole Ha for allowing me to be part of this event even though I physically will not be able to attend. To be able to showcase my clay floral art is always an honor, especially because so few people know about what I do.

Again if you are interested in attending, visit www.unabellasera.com to register for free!

Una Bella Sera - Sunday, April 25th 4:00-9:00 PM

I was fortunate to be asked in the fall to be part of the Amazae Special Events and Claudia Akers Photography studios to create some pieces for their back studio/showroom. It was my first time trying to create a more artistic piece with feathers and crystals and punchy, bold colors.

Crystal of Amazae Events and Nicole Ha of Nicole Ha Designs were gracious enough to ask me to be part of the 3rd annual Una Bella Sera extravaganza and so I jumped at the chance to create something beautiful and unique for this show - another first in terms of a flower I've never done before! I'm totally bummed though that I am already booked for that day so I cannot be there to see the event unfold. I know it will be amazing.

I will be creating a special bouquet and boutonniere for the show so definitely check it out. It's an event not to be missed! If you want to meet the hottest, top wedding professionals in the Bay Area, this is your chance. See some truly amazing tabletop designs, exquisite floral creations, bridal fashions and more. It's not your ordinary bridal show by any means.

To register for free visit their website at www.unabellasera.com.
The details:
Sunday, April 25, 2010
4:00 -9:00 p.m.
Cocktail attire
Craneway Pavillion at the Marina Ditsrict of Richmond

A Couple New Pieces for the Garden Art Party and Mother's Day

In between my teaching, I've been making flowers here and there to add to the collection of arrangements I'll be selling at the Garden Art Parties next weekend. I will also be posting whatever doesn't sell on my Etsy site so stay tuned to see what is listed.This first piece is using the lid from the pandan box (from Eco-Friendly Market) of the arrangement I posted about earlier this week. The lid makes a great low profile arrangement. Even together at different height levels the two arrangements go nicely together.
The second arrangement is something I put together this morning before I head into teaching. I decided to try something outside of my comfort zone. Doing a myriad of colors of ranunculus. Kind of like picking an assortment of ranunculus blooms at the flower market. I think it came out quite beautiful. So much color, just makes you want to smile. :)

DK Designs and Eco-Friendly Packaging

Many years ago I had purchased some sinamay and burlap envelopes from a company in Southern California. I had photos from my first professional photo shoot and they asked if they could use the image to promote their favor envelopes and my work. Since that time, I've gotten a few inquiries for my flowers using pandan style boxes.
This year, Eco-Friendly Market (a fair trade compliant company) asked me if I would work with them to create items that would promote their emergence into the wedding favor market. I love their products and the quality of what they produce.One of their big sellers is their 3" pandan our lauhala style favor boxes. These are very popular with my brides whether just to add a ribbon and a place card or favor tag or for those who have a bigger budget and want something unique adding a clay flower to match your wedding day theme is a really nice favor for your guests to take home.
The company has this awesome thin weave pandan box that's hard with a cardboard/stiff core. They are the only company I know of that makes this type of box and the quality is top notch and the fact that they pay their employees fair trade wages is even better. It shows in the quality of their products!

Anyway, they came out with a sample of a 3x3 inch thin weave pandan box and while maybe not cost effective for a budget conscious bride, they make EXCELLENT containers for flowers. I think for florists, if you use a 2x2 inch glass cube to hold the flowers and then use this container around the cube it would be stunning. You could even use the top lid as a lower profile centerpiece. They have a 6x6x5 inch box for those looking for larger containers and some even larger nesting boxes that I think would also be quite suitable for weddings. I've seen the lauhala baskets being used as containers, but I sincerely feel this is a BIG step up from that. Beautiful weaves and some of them come in a deeper brown and even a green color. These would be awesome lined up on a rectangular or square table or on a cocktail round for your cocktail reception. Height can be added with manzanita branches or monkey tail ferns. I have so many ideas of what I can do with these containers I only wish I had time to create them!

On a side note, they are coming out with a more cost effective alternative to the original design. Instead of a pandan inside, it will have canvas so it's another great alternative for brides who want a more upscale look to their wedding favors. Definitely inquire with them if you are interested. They are expecting their first shipment sometime in June!

You can view more of their product offering at www.ecofriendlypackaging.net. They are predominantly a wholesale/distributor company, but are willing to entertain business from brides who are interested in their favor envelopes, boxes and containers. Be sure to mention DK Designs when inquiring.

Real Wedding Photos of Christy & David

I just got an update from Hawaiian Island Wedding Planners with wedding photos from one of Tori's couples who got married this month. I was lucky enough to create their wedding invitations. Another Tiffany blue and orange color palette. Simply GORGEOUS and the couple is STUNNING! The photographs are courtesy of Kai-Photo! You can check out more of the beautiful photos via their blog.

Garden full of Roses

I wish I could say I have a green thumb when it comes to fresh flowers, but oddly enough I don't. Half the time I just forget to water. Probably why I make clay flowers, because I can't kill them!
Anyway, I thought I would share 2 arrangements I put together today for the upcoming Garden Art Party and Mother's Day. My focus this time was roses and lily of the valley. As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband's late mother loved pink roses and lily of the valley. Lily of the valley has sentimental roots as this was her parents' favorite flower and they had it planted in their yard growing up. The original cutting resides with her eldest son. She sent us a lily of the valley plant and it died due to the intense summer sun/heat. She'd be mortified to know that I couldn't keep it alive, but I think she would also find it quite humorous. At any rate, I intend to buy a plant again and try my best to make it flourish. Until then I decided to make a little arrangement of pink tea roses and lily of the valley. If she were still alive, I would give it to her.The next piece is left over roses from various arrangements and projects I've been working on. The large roses in the images are my interpretation of David Austin Tamora variety roses. So gorgeous in real life, I just hope I did them justice in clay. It's definitely fun experimenting with various varieties of roses. So many to choose from. I look at this piece and feel like I stepped out into my rose garden and picked what was blooming and plopped them in a vase for all to enjoy. Just wish I could smell them!

"Couture Clay" - Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine features Estilo Weddings & DK Designs Product Line

I'm so excited to share with you that the June/July issue of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine featured my clay floral designs via Estilo Weddings. Maria asked me to send them samples after the magazine had seen her newsletter about our partnership to provide brides with a unique alternative to fresh flowers for the ceremony, reception and attire!The magazine is finally on newsstands, although I haven't seen it yet here, but hope to make it to the local bookstore sometime this week. They titled the article, "Couture Clay"! I love the sound of that. Never imagined my clay flowers to be considered "couture"!

I'm so honored to be partnered with Estilo Weddings and to get such great features in magazines such as Destination Weddings and Honeymoons. I was fortunate enough to get on their blog from Mae & Jeremy's real wedding a couple years back which was big for me, but to make it in print and the clay flowers be the focus is awesome!

The coverage on clay flowers as an alternative to fresh flowers is huge and I'm so grateful to be able to share my love of this art to more brides worldwide! Plus the fact that the clay flowers are a perfect destination wedding flower alternative that you can take home with you and have as a keepsake!

More new pieces for the Garden Art Party and Mother's Day

It's been a busy day in the flower making studio. I wish I could say I have a factory of people working for me, but it's just little ol' me! I was able to get a lot of flowers done today as well as put together 5 arrangements. The first 2 are my favorites. This first piece is all shades of purples and creams. I love the textures and dimensions of this arrangement. Reminds me a lot of my late mother now that I think of it. She was born in February and her favorite color was purple. Fitting that this was made just in time for Mother's Day. I think I'll make one with lily of the valley and pink roses in honor of my late mother-in-law's favorite flowers.
I couldn't not do hydrangeas. These two pieces were inspired by a custom order from a past client and I thought these would make great little gifts for Mother's Day.
This last piece is my other favorite. It's a different color scheme of the peonies and ranunculus one I did last night with the corals and the pinks. One of my interior design friends told me that white arrangements are considered very "in" in the design community. So even though it's not all white, it's just subtle hints of creamy yellow ranunculus mixed in. Whether you like bright and vibrant colors or subtle hints of color. Both are spectacular. I'm excited to show these at the Garden Art Party weekend. I'm tempted to post on Etsy but I will have to wait to see what sells and what's left over and then post on my site!

A Few New Pieces....

It's been a very busy couple of weeks of catching up on orders, tending to a sick child, entertaining out-of-town guests and taxes! There's definitely no shortage of work in my world these days. Right now I'm preparing for the upcoming Garden Art Party weekend with zenatona next Saturday and Sunday. I wanted to share a few of the pieces I've completed that would make delightful Mother's Day gifts! This first piece is my modified version of my original Passionate About Peonies design. I love peonies, but I thought I would introduce my other favorite flower, ranunculus. The corals and the pinks are just lovely together. This would actually also make a great ready made cake topper if these are the colors for your wedding. What's even better is they make wonderful home decor pieces after the wedding! Money well spent!This second piece is another coral inspired arrangement. This time focusing on coral and peach tones. I love the combination of sweet peas, ranunculus, English roses and hyacinth.
The last piece that I have to share (don't worry, more photos to come as more arrangements are completed) is a delightful combination of blues, yellows creams and white. It's so rich yet so delicate in all the colors. The blue hyacinth and deep yellow roses really makes this arrangement pop!

More to come but for now, I need to get back to making more flowers!

Peonies, Ranunculus, Lilac and Lily of the Valley Cake Topper

I've been busy trying to finish up a few orders over the weekend and this is one I just finished this evening. The couldn't decide on her cake flowers so she opted to get a latte cup full of pink and ivory peonies, ranunculus, pink lilac and lily of the valley. This is a gift for her mother for the wedding. However if it works as a topper for the wedding cake, she may ask her mom if she can use it. Sasha also got a large 5.5" raspberry pink peony cake flower with leaves which I hope to share later this week.
This particular arrangement was a lot of work with all the little individual components of the lilac and the lily of the valley. It's beautiful nonetheless! Another busy week of fulfilling orders and getting ready for 2 big events at the end of the month.

A Heart Full of Roses!

One of my instructor/students asked me if I could do a custom order for her friend who is going back to China this month and wanted to give a gift to the temple where she worships. She asked for a heart shape form full of nothing but pink roses and white filler flowers. There was a strict rule of no green color or fillers. The last time I did a wreath project was back when I was doing my certification years ago. The client was very specific about the size/shape so I had to look online to find the heart shape form that would do the job. When I got it I had to shave it down because it was too high.I think it has about 60 medium size roses, 100 mini rose buds and about 60 clusters of filler flowers. It's still not completely done as I ran out of flowers and had to make more to complete the project, but hopefully it will be completed tomorrow morning. It is STUNNING to say the least and gives me lots of ideas on what I can do for other applications.This would have made a great Valentine's Day gift for someone special, maybe add a ribbon and hang it on the wall or the back of a door. Or mount it onto canvas and it could be an art and home decor piece for a girl's room, but if your focus is weddings, it would make a great ring pillow assuming your ring bearer is gentle with this beautiful piece.

Final Pieces of Mythi's Order

I finally finished the rest of Mythi's bridesmaid bouquets, groom and groomsmen boutonnieres. Mythi is very happy with her bouquets although I think she LOVES the vibrant colors of her bridesmaid bouquets so I told her maybe she can get visitation rights to her BM bouquets for 6 months out of the year!

Best wishes to Mythi and her fiance on their wedding day!

Bridesmaid bouquets, Corsages and Boutonnieres

I'm in the home stretch of Mythi's order. Just finishing up the bridesmaid bouquets, groom and groomsmen boutonnieres. I wanted to share a few photos of her bridesmaid bouquets and family boutonnieres and corsages.I love the reddish pink peonies against the grape hyacinth and blue hyacinth with just pops of greenery. Mythi's bridesmaids could choose the color of their blue dress. We decided to go with navy blue ribbon wraps.
Her family's boutonnieres and corsages have a white peony, blue hyacinth and reddish green hipericum berries. The red ties in their Asian culture. I'll be so happy to get this order off in the mail. Lots of work, but again, I'm quite pleased with how it all turned out. Always love a good challenge. :)