Custom pieces...

It's been a hectic couple of days finishing up small and big orders alike. I finished a large printed order that went along with those 150 cymbidium orchid favors. I also had some custom flower orders that I had to work on.These are a few of my favorite photos. I had a customer request a single stem peony with leaves after she saw a blog post by fellow blogger Citrusandorange. The only difference is she wanted a pink peony with no yellow stamen center. I love how single stem peonies can make a really big statement!The other custom order is for a client via Estilo Weddings. He saw my cherry blossom design a while ago and asked if I could recreate it. While it's very different than the original version, the groom was quite happy.

I'll be busy the next 2 weeks working on 2 wedding orders. Lots to accomplish! I'll share photos as soon as I can.

Clay Cake Flowers

Today has been a day spent catching up on my orders. My last day with Thalia, my student from Saudi Arabia was yesterday. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other and she thoroughly enjoyed learning the techniques of the DECO Clay Craft Academy! She's awaiting her certification, but more about Thalia and her projects later.

I had a peony cake flower order for a bride in Australia. I finally had a chance to paint them and ship them. I wanted to share those photos as well as a photo of a red anemone cake flower. This was actually left over from another client's bouquet, but I had a hard time capturing the right color.

More to come later in the week, but for now, back to work on my August orders!

Citrusandorange + Amy Atlas + DK Designs!

Normally when we think of Mondays, we have the "Monday Blues" - back to work and the monotony of life. Today has to be one of the best Mondays I've had in a LONG time!

As you recall, Susana of the lovely blog Citrusandorange, asked me to create a floral centerpiece for her daughter's birthday party. Her color inspiration was coral, pinks, whites and aqua. We decided on coral peonies, peach poppies and white ranunculus. To give you a little back story, I told Susana I would ship her order via Priority Mail. Well, thinking it would get there super fast, it got stuck in Customs. Thankfully she received the flowers the week prior to her daughter's party. With one issue, one of the peonies had fallen off the stem, due to the postal service/customs handling the flowers once they arrived in Portugal. So leave it to Susana to use that fallen blossom to be used on her daughter's lovely birthday cake!Susana and I agreed to do the flowers on individual stems so she can repurpose them to fit her needs. I think that's why I love Susana so much! She takes what you give her and creates new and refreshing design elements. I totally wish I was a guest at the birthday party. She even had coconut cupcakes with poppies made out of sugar to match the ones I made for her out of clay!

Susana takes lovely photos and she submitted them to Amy Atlas' blog and Amy's team loved it so much they featured Susana's dessert display! I was completely FLOORED! WHO doesn't LOVE Amy Atlas???? I swoon over all her dessert table designs and all the amazing things she creates.
I'm always so blessed to meet so many people around the world and so appreciative of the exposure I receive. :) This is exactly why I LOVE what I do!

For more amazing photos and a little more about the inspiration behind the design and details:
See Susana's blog post recapping her daughter's birthday party here.
See Amy Atlas' blog post on Susana's dessert table design here.
Thank you Susana and Amy for allowing me to be part of your blogs and making this Monday one of the BEST! :)

New Hair Flowers Listed....

It's been a long time coming, posting of new listings on Etsy. The year has been chaotic and busy with custom orders, teaching and being a mom. I haven't had time to create new things or list anything other than what previously sold. Please feel free to click on any of the pictures to take you to the actual listing of these beautiful hair flowers!Several days ago I worked on some new hydrangea hair flowers, some peachy pink, some with rhinestones, etc. I also had 2 hair flowers that I made a long time ago, but just never found the time to reshoot and post.I hope once I get through my August orders that I can focus more time on creating new pieces to offer in my Etsy shop!

Tropical Favors for a Destination Wedding in Maui

Last weekend I received an email from a bride who happened upon my blog or website and saw my lauahala style favor boxes and fell in love. Her wedding is August 2nd and she asked if I could meet her request. Thankfully her order was only 20 favors and I could manage the request!Her invitation colors were a midnight blue and a burgundy purple on metallic white, but she said her bridesmaids dresses were a canary yellow. She wanted her favors to match the dresses. So since most of her flowers are going to be white and yellow orchids, we agreed upon the yellow cymbidium orchid. She asked that I use the script font that she had in her wedding invitations.

Love the colors and I'm happy with the way they turned out. Pandan/lauhala boxes are from Green Weddings (www.greenweddings.biz). They quality of these boxes are wonderful. Even if you can't afford or want a clay flower for your lauhala favor box, Green Weddings can sell you just the boxes themselves.

Destination Wedding OOT Welcome Packet

I have a lovely client in Australia who is having a destination wedding on the Big Island. She wanted me to design place cards, menus and these cute welcome itineraries. She had a design idea she found via Envelopments and asked if I could create something similar. The design had to be modified for her destination wedding location. Honestly I'm not a "graphic designer" in the true sense of the word/profession so I was a little worried about creating this piece. Luckily I had a full day to devote to designing her weekend itinerary.The welcome packet will go into the OOT (out of town) bags for her guests to welcome them to the island and let them know about various festivities that are taking place in addition to their wedding day ceremony and reception.

I love how it turned out and so did my client! It's fun and festive! I'm glad when my clients challenge me to design something outside of my comfort zone!

150 Wedding Favors Complete!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks trying to finish my orders. The reason for the lack of blog posts is because I've been tackling 150 wedding favors, where I made 150 fuchsia pink cymbidium orchids as well as favor tags/place cards to attach to them as well. Last night I finished gluing the completed orchids on the boxes and adding the tags. As I glued the last orchid on, I realized that I forgot to make 1! I couldn't believe it. Luckily I had an extra orchid center so all I had to do was make petals, let it dry and paint. As I attached the last card, I realized I missed 2 names.

It felt like a comedy of errors, but this morning I got the order packed and I printed the last 2 names and glued on the last flower! 150 favor is a lot of work. I wish I had taken pictures of every step of the process, but to give you an understanding. Just to paint the orchids themselves, I touched every flower 5 times to paint varying aspects of the flower. It was no small feat! So when I finished the order and have packed it, I feel a huge sense of relief and accomplishment!
(Taken with my iPhone - just so you could see what 149 favors looks like!)

I'll be working on some more wedding details for my clients for their wedding day. I really love when I get to do multiple aspects of a wedding to tie their theme and design all the way through from beginning to end!

Anna and Blue Paperie uses hibiscus cake flowers for Aloha summer themed birthday party!

A month or so before my vacation Stefanie of anna and blue paperie had featured my hibiscus cake flowers on her blog as inspiration for her two daughters' birthday party. She asked if I would be willing to make cake flowers in pink, orange and yellows to match her theme.

If you don't know anna and blue paperie, Stefanie creates super cute printables for various events and celebrations. This is a big market for the busy moms or the moms who just aren't creative, but can DIY a little. Ready made designs that you can customize, buy and print on your own color printer on sticker paper or cardstock, punch, glue and viola.Stefanie created an Aloha inspired theme for her daughters' birthday party. These images are courtesy of Stefanie. Such cute and fun designs! I can't wait to see more images of the cake. You'll be so amazed at what's inside the cake. She's quite talented!Thank you Stefanie and anna and blue paperie for asking me to be part of your daughters' Aloha inspired birthday celebration!

Flowering Branches of Gardenias...

I was able to finish the gardenia branches for my client who plans to use them for her parents' niche at the cemetery where they were laid to rest.I thought it would be nice to put them in one of the vintage aqua blue bottles I got last weekend. I love how the new style of gardenias turned out as well as LOVING the look of branches, leaves and blossoms! Lots of ideas are bubbling in my mind, but I have to focus on those 150 cymbidium orchids!

Reds and Pinks...

I finished another order earlier this week. My client originally wanted pinks, corals and yellows after seeing a bouquet I made for a past bride, but she said that she would let me know before I went on vacation. She definitely wanted peonies and liked ranunculus. Just before my vacation she had made a decision. She asked for red peonies, red anemones, deep pink ranunculus and she wanted raspberries, but I convinced her to do hipericum berries. Granted, trying to make raspberries one day as a filler has peaked my interest!I wish the pictures came out better so that you could get a true appreciation for the different shades of red. I was however quite happy with my anemones. This is the first time I had really ever been asked to do them with white centers on the inside of the petals. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I'm quite happy with the results.
Amy asked me also to incorporate the fabric from her dress that she'll be wearing for the reception. I believe her husband is Chinese and he said the color red is the best, so that is another reason why she changed the colors. During my vacation she also asked for a boutonniere and cake flowers.

Latest Love of Vintage Glass...

I've been perusing blogs and seeing the use of more vintage items such as milk glass and apothecary jars and bottles. I decided to look on Etsy and found some great aqua and purple glass bottles. I think I have fallen in love with these cute bottles. They have so much character.
I also managed to work on a new gardenia style - one with a more open center. I still have little ways to go to perfecting it. A client of mine recently asked me to make her gardenias for her parents' plot at the cemetery as gardenias were one of their favorite flowers. A really random request, but I agreed to do the order. If nothing else, it gave me the opportunity to try a new style. I guess the more I think about it, many cemeteries are banning the use of fresh flowers because of the cost of disposal so you definitely do see more silk flowers. So why not clay, as long as it's protected from the elements, it's a great alternative. :)

Sorry my posts have been few and far between, but I've been in the throws of making 150 cymbidium orchids for favor boxes.