Bridal Bouquet Gift for My Cousin's Daughter

My cousin's daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks. Danielle asked me if I would be willing to make her bouquet when she gets married and I decided to gift her with it as our wedding present to her and her fiance! Her favorite color is yellow and she's pairing it with grey and vintage country accents. 

Her bridesmaids are each going to have a fresh flower bouquet of all one type of flower, such as a bouquet of all gerberas, all roses, etc. So Danielle asked me if I could incorporate the flowers from their bouquets into hers. So her bouquet is comprised of cabbage roses, gerbera daisies, lisianthus, and hydrangeas. She wanted to incorporate orchids as it's her favorite flower and the flower Dominic gave to her on their first date. 

 So... here's how her bouquet turned out. We added lily of the valley since it would have taken me too long to make baby's breath. I felt it was a nice trade off that adds little blossoms and some lovely movement to the bouquet. Her stems are finished with burlap and lace. 

Congratulations and Best Wishes to Danielle and Dominic. It's been so wonderful seeing your love grow through the years! Many years of wedded bliss to the both of you!  Hopefully I'll be able to snap some photos and share them in a couple of weeks.

Custom Ring Pillow Box for a Destination Wedding

I know it has been a long time since I've blogged. It's been a crazy start to the summer with end of year parties and activities for my son at school and contending with my summer wedding orders. I had to just share these images of a custom ring pillow box I made for my client. It turned out super cute.

 Cami's request was for my turtles as bride & groom turtles, but the groom to have a sailor's hat as her fiance is in the Navy. She also asked for her bouquet to be replicated, but because of how SMALL the bouquet is I could only create the ranunculus, grasses and roses.

They turned out so adorable that I think I just might be offering these in the near future. :)

Also, as part of Cami's order she requested her bridal bouquet, matching hair flower and favors.

Baby Shower Cake Decorations

One of my repeat clients in Australia often asks me to make decorations for cakes her clients ask her for various special events. This time the request was for baby bears, blocks and a blanket. I'm always nervous about having to do figurines, but it did come out super cute!

 I had to find a star cookie cutter small enough to work for the blocks and it just so happened my son and I took a baking class today for Mother's Day and I was able to find one that would work. The lettering is also done by hand!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to take a moment and wish all of you a very Happy Mother's Day!

I made these lovely stemmed flowers for the mothers and women at our church!

French Macarons - Clay Style!

 Who doesn't love French macarons? They are so sweet and so pretty, they are hard to resist! I learned how to make them a couple years ago but haven't had time to make them since. The other day I had to fulfill an order for French macarons of the clay kind for a friend, who is also a wedding stationery designer, Emi Ink.   She wanted to use them for her wedding shows to help compliment her favor box designs and displays. 

I never really tried to make them out of clay as my main passion is flowers, but these were fun to create. Playing with different mediums to embellish them with. My son wanted to eat the shells when I was making them and asked me when I would make ones he could eat.

I love how they turned out. These really do make great props for photo shoots and displays when real ones aren't available or you want to re-use them over and over for various shows.

A Pink Bouquet for In the Pink Events

  I had the pleasure of "working" with Holly Fawcett last year. Her client had bid on my bouquet services via Wish Upon A Wedding's silent auction to raise money for couples with life threatening illnesses so they could have the wedding of their dreams.

Holly has kept in touch with me since then and purchased one of my teapots and asked if I would be willing to make her a pink bouquet to go in her studio at In the Pink Events! She had expressed a desire for fuchsia pink anemones with black centers but she said other than that, I had free reign as to what I wanted to design. Since her company has the word, "pink" in it, varying shades of pink seemed appropriate!

The bouquet contains, anemones, sweet peas, plumerias, peony buds, heirloom roses, ranunculus and cherry blossoms with some green fillers to mix in with the all pink bouquet.

My Clay Florals Now Featured on BRIKA!

I'm so happy to announce that after months of email negotiations that I'm officially selling some of my beautiful clay floral designs on BRIKA.com. I happened upon a fellow artisan who was selling on BRIKA and I decided to contact them to see if what I do and sell might be considered. The creators of BRIKA agreed and they asked me to create some wonderful pieces for Mother's Day! What I love about BRIKA is that it is so different from Etsy. They hand select the handcrafters they want to feature and they don't just sell their products, but the feature the artisans with a full description of who they are and I think that's such a great way to share the artisan's story and buyers can connect with the designer by getting to know them a little more!

Here's also the pieces for sale at BRIKA.com! There is limited inventory so get yours before they're all gone! Definitely share BRIKA with your family and friends. They are offering special discounts when you refer more friends to their wonderful online store! I'm so honored to be included with so many amazingly talented artisans! Thank you Kena for believing that my designs are a fit for BRIKA!

Last Minute Cake Topper....

Last week, I received and inquiry about a cake topper a client had found on my blog. It was everything she wanted. Her lead-time was very short as she has to get her cake topper and all her wedding day items to the event planner at the country club by 4/2. I gave her a bunch of options, none of which she accepted.

Joni called me and was very persistent. She complimented me on my work and how beautiful and perfect she thought that cake topper was. My plate was pretty full and she didn't woo me by just telling me how great my work is. I was actually more touched by the fact that she is 50 years old and this is her first marriage. She has been seeing her fiance for over 15 years and she told him that he should focus on his children and their education first and when they are all grown and on their own, that maybe their time would come. She is so excited and that's what convinced me to do the cake topper for her even though my order capacity was full.

Best Wishes to Joni and her fiance and I'm so happy that your wedding day dreams are about to come true!

Destination Maui Wedding OOT Bag Inserts

Kathryn contacted me a couple weeks ago and asked if I could create the OOT bag inserts that I created for another client that she had seen on my blog. Her colors are magenta and orange. She didn't have as many wedding activities as other clients have had in the past so she opted to have a nice thank you and welcome message on the second page. 

She was so grateful that I was able to turn the order so quickly and in time for her wedding. Best wishes Kathryn and Jake!

Cherry Blossom Inspired Wedding...

Last year, I was approached by a bride who lives in Singapore, but who is getting married in September in Australia. She had asked for samples of cherry blossoms, peonies, ranunculus and roses. Once she received the samples she booked a large order with me. While her wedding is in September, she and her fiance are going to be in Australia in April and asked me to have all of their items shipped to them in time for their arrival.

The order consisted of 100 favors, 1 bridal bouquet and 4 centerpieces. The favors were a 3.5 inch square white pearl favor box with pink and silver ribbons, a small cherry blossom branch and a favor tag. 

The bride requested 4 teapot centerpieces for the bridal table and for gifts for the parents of the bride and groom, consisting of pink peonies, whitish pink cherry blossoms, white roses and peach ranunculus. 

The bridal bouquet also had the same flowers but I also included some pink English roses to the mix. The bride is very excited as she has her pre-wedding photo shoot when she returns to Australia and she'll be able to use her bridal bouquet then! Best wishes to Krystle and Ondrej!

Spring Inspired Bouquet

A bride via Etsy asked me to create a bridal bouquet for her. Being from the South she wanted some Southern flowers to be incorporated. Alexis' dress is champagne in color and wanted some hints of champagne. While her bouquet is predominantly white, there are pops of color with the vibrant pink centers of the stargazer lilies and magnolias. I incorporated champagne colored ranunculus since she wasn't too fond of roses. 

She said she also loves periwinkle and light blue so we did periwinkle blue hydrangeas. Towards the end she mentioned they also have lavender and teal in their wedding colors so I decided to add the lavender stock flowers as well. I love how this bouquet turned out. Pretty pastels and whites with pops of vibrant colors.

Alexis loved her bouquet so much that she decided yesterday to add on 3 magnolia corsages for the mothers and grandmother. So very grateful and blessed to have wonderful clients like Alexis!

Rustic Themed Wedding....

During my first Etsy sale back during the holidays, a bride contacted me and asked if I could create her wedding flowers. She wanted my white and black anemones, white tulips, purple violets, lily of the valley, snowdrops, blue delphiniums, and forget me nots. She also wanted more of a rustic look so we went with a twine rope finish for the stems and boutonnieres.

I wasn't sure how the bouquet would turn out but I love the contrast between the otherwise monochromatic white flowers against the black in the anemones and the purple violets. I love the twine finish.

The boutonnieres were a bit different. She wanted more of a wildflower look so we went with the blue delphiniums, forget me nots, snowdrops and purple violets. 

The bride wanted the corsages to mirror her bouquet, but didn't want the twine finish but rather white ribbon so I added loops of twine to tie the twine look in which I thought was a nice touch.

Wishing Melissa and her fiance a wonderful wedding day!

Corals, Peaches and PInks....

Since I've been making wedding bouquets, I had a few clients tell me their wedding was called off. It saddens me when I hear that, but do understand that maybe it was for the best. The wonderful thing though with most of my clients who have told me their wedding was called off, later down the road inform me they have set a new date. Jill is one of those clients and she told me several months ago that they rescheduled their wedding (2 years later). She still wanted the same bouquets, but she has one less bridesmaid.

I love corals, peaches and pinks. Her bouquets consist of peonies, ranunculus, tuberose buds, hyacinth, tulips and Dusty Miller leaves. Jill's order was inspired by the "Yuanita" bouquet I had made when I first started making bouquets for weddings. Obviously my style and techniques have changed through the years.

I wish Jill and her fiance all the best on their wedding day!

All White Bouquet with Yellow and Green Accents...

 My client, Stacey isn't getting married until the Spring, but she has bridal portraits coming up and she wanted to have her bouquet ready for the photo shoot. She had asked for three main flowers: lotus, calla lilies and white Casablanca lilies. Her wedding colors are a silver, yellow and an azure blue. Her main flowers are obviously larger flowers so I decided to make lotus buds, plum blossoms and stephanotis with rhinestone centers to complete the bouquet.  I think it came out beautifully. Fresh and clean but with lots of texture. The bits of yellow and green really give some added dimension and break up all the white in the bouquet.

Cherry/Plum Blossom Hair Accessories...

 I had a little bit of time last week and a spurt of creativity, so I worked on 2 new hairpin styles. They are cherry or plum blossoms and buds mixed with handwired rhinestone sprays. I love how delicate they look. They are great for a wedding day do. Click here to check them out in my Etsy shop.

I also had a custom order for this blush pink cherry blossom gold hair comb with rosaline blush seed beads for a flower girl. Love how the gold just sparkles.

New Arrangements on Etsy for Valentine's Day Gifts

I've been trying to create some pieces to sell in my Etsy shop as Valentine's Day is fast approaching. I had posted one last week and it sold the same day I listed it!  So for the last 2 days I've been making flowers, assembling and painting so that I could list 4 new arrangements on my site.

Some arrangements are in my signature mini teapot design, I have one more of the mini heart teacup and saucer arrangement and I decided to put one arrangement in the small white cup vases I used years ago. So much vibrant color in these small little arrangements! Click here to visit my Etsy shop!