More Custom Arrangements...

My client Melissa, asked me to make several arrangements. The first set was of a lily of the valley arrangement in a silver mint julep cup and French Macarons. In addition to that order she wanted an arrangement of white peonies and bluish purple muscari.

 She wanted the macarons to be embellished with sparkles and iridescent paints in Tiffany blue, pink and purple.

 This was how the peony and muscari arrangement turned out. We decided to use a birchwood style vase for this beautiful home decor piece.

After she saw the first lily of the valley arrangement, she decided to order 2 more to give as gifts. Each lily of the valley arrangement has 300 blossoms and 45 buds.

 Truly blessed to have clients who cherish my work and continue to come back and ask me to create new things for their homes or to give as gifts.

Flowers that have special meaning...

While I don't want to spoil the surprise for my client, who plans to give these flowers to a loved one soon, I just wanted to share the images I took yesterday of the finished flowers. I will share the back story behind it in a few more weeks...

Mini Teapot and Teacup Ensemble

 One of my repeat customers, had purchased a mini teapot and teacup ensemble for her mother for Mother's Day. A friend of her's saw it and fell in love with the idea. So my client asked if I could make another set for her friend to give for Christmas. This time she requested daffodils, purple irises and pink roses.  I just love how they turned out!

Stunning Red and White Bouquet for a Military Couple

One of my brides had originally ordered a bouquet for herself, her bridesmaids and boutonnieres for the guys, however, her fiance is in the military and his orders got pulled in for deployment so instead of a larger October wedding, they were having a small wedding with their families this coming month. 

Shannon wanted vivid red poppies to honor the veterans as they both come from a long line of military. We agreed on vivid red poppies, red ranunculus, hipericum berries and gardenias. I love how dramatic this bouquet looks.

 My best wishes to Shannon and her fiance and we thank you for your service!

An Etsy Purchase Leads to a Custom Order...

Last week an Etsy buyer purchased one of my trio of vases for her friend for her birthday. She asked me if I was going to offer any other ones before Valentine's Day. I told her that I could create a custom piece for her and asked her what she had in mind. She said she wanted light pink peonies, lavender hydrangeas and peach ranunculus.The nice thing about these vases is that they look great together or all on their own. These colors and I believe flowers are the colors from her wedding so it's a special gift to herself.

I'll be busy the next couple of weeks working on orders after I get through my son's birthday party, so stay tuned for new photos of what I've been working on.

Reds and Magenta Pink... Beautiful Valentine's Day Gift!

When I went to get more vases, I found these I LOVE U ones too. So I decided to do a red and magenta pink trio with garden rose, open peony and tulips. I again did the bud and full flower combination for each. I decided to experiment with my peonies again and I just LOVE how this turned out. Petal unfolding onto petal.

I don't often do tulips, so I decided to work on that as well. Hope you like what you see.

This one is also featured in my Etsy shop. I have a few other ideas on color combinations and flowers so stay tuned for that.

Light Purple Trio of Hyacinth, Lilac and Sweet Peas

Ever since I found these cute vases, I've been spinning my creative wheels thinking up some cute trios of flowers to put in them. My inspiration was from my dear friend Susana at citrusandorange blog! She was redesigning the bedroom of her 2 beautiful daughters and she had stated how she loves lilac and sweet peas. The room was filled with love shades of purple and yellows.

I wouldn't say lilac, sweet peas and hyacinth are new flowers for me, however, for the first time I actually made sweet peas complete with buds, vines and leaves. I did a hyacinth stalk before, but this is the first time I did it with leaves. Single stems and stalks of flowers is just so beautiful and simple.This set is also available in my Etsy shop. Of course, my flowers wouldn't be complete without a dessert to pair with it. :) This time I tried a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens via an Etsy friend of mine who raved about this cheesecake. It's blueberry coconut cheesecake. I substituted macadamia nuts for the pecans. What's not to love about blueberries, macadamia nuts and coconut.

A couple of small custom orders...

In between working on this big wedding order I have to finish by Monday, I had to complete a couple custom orders for a coral peony cake flower and hydrangea stems.Just wanted to share a couple of photos of these completed items. Hope you have a great Labor Day Weekend! More to share with you early next week!

Cafe Au Lait Dahlia Cake Flowers

A client came to me by way of my Etsy shop asking if I could create different size dahlias for her wedding cake. She said her colors were creams and peaches and they are getting married in a cottage setting. She sent me pictures of cafe au lait dahlia flowers to see if I could do it.This is how they turned out. They are so dreamy! Soft peaches, creams and pinks. The bud gives a little bit of contrast with the green outer petals. I'm definitely enjoying playing with natural lighting in my studio window and taking advantage of the light that comes through for the majority of the day!

Custom Floral Arrangement = Magnolias and Plum Blossoms

I'm so fortunate to have clients who have become repeat clients, who ask me to create custom pieces for them. This particular client hired me when I first got on Etsy to create a large gardenia floral arrangement with hints of blue. Since then she's ordered gifts for special people in her life for various occasions.Recently she asked if I could create a low lying arrangement with magnolia flowers and cherry blossoms. I love how plum blossoms look more than cherry blossoms so I decided to use them instead. My client asked that I not use any greenery. Luckily the buds of the plum blossoms have a light shade of green and the hint of the branches adds some contrast.I love doing custom floral arrangements where my clients give me flexibility of design. :) Now that this arrangement is done, I'm focusing on a small favor box and ring pillow order using yellow cymbidium orchids and working on hundreds of small flowers for a jewelry designer who uses my flowers to decorate the beautiful wooden boxes she puts her custom jewelry in. Lots left to do in the next two weeks and then a much needed break!

A Special Gift...

One of my former brides and fellow Etsy artisans, asked me if I could help her create a wonderful floral arrangement for some relatives who are helping her father-in-law through his illness. They've done so much for my client and her husband to care for their dad so she wanted to give them something to show them just how much they appreciated their help and support.My client really liked the bouquet I did for my client Jessie. Granted I try not to make any of my bouquets or arrangements exactly alike so there's a few modifications, but ever so slight. My client told me the couple's room is blue and white and she asked if I thought this would go with their room. I told her blues and purples are very complimentary in color so it would be a great pop of color in their bedroom.

I have another arrangement I have to work on for another one of my repeat clients this week, magnolias and plum blossoms! Stay tuned for that.

Nothing but Gardenias...

There's definitely a pattern going on with my flower making. I switched from making nothing but peonies to nothing but gardenias. My next order is all about plumerias. :)This particular client fell in love with an invitation I did for my client, Kristy way back but wanted a gardenia instead of a magnolia motif but loved the pink and brown combination. She ordered invitations, a guest book, favor boxes and hair flowers. I just finished her order yesterday and it's all packed and ready to ship.It just so happened yesterday, when I went to the floral supply store they had some extra FRESH gardenias they were giving away and I got to take home 2! They smell so delicate and sweet! I took a couple of photos. My goal is to one day master the gardenia so you really can't tell if it's real or fake. :)Seriously a lot of plumerias being made for my next client's wedding. Will post as soon as I'm done with that order.

Peonies, Peonies and More Peonies...

It's been a busy week. Last week my son fell ill, thinking he for sure had strep throat we had him go in for a strep test, the test results were negative. He didn't get any better so we scheduled him to see his doctor and he has pneumonia. He's on the road to recovery, but it makes me sad that he is now prone to getting recurring cases of pneumonia any time he catches a cold or flu. He's a trooper. He's feeling much better = he's driving me crazy! :)

I've been trying to keep up with all my orders and the last few have been time consuming. Lots of hair flower orders. I have one client who wanted 5 fuchsia pink peonies and 1 smaller one for her flower girl. She wanted an ivory-white peony with pearl beading for herself.Another bride wanted several peonies for her bridal party, the mothers and friends who were helping at the wedding. Each wanted one to match their dresses.The last photo is that of some new textures that I'm playing around with on my peony petals. I'm very excited about it. They make the flowers look more realistic and less uniform. They are quite subtle. Looking forward to experimenting more in the coming months when I have a little more time to design and create. For now, I have to stay focused on my June orders that I need to finish and then a well deserved VACATION! :)

30 year project continued... Fleuri

We finally decided on a title for our collaboration piece. We have titled it - Fleuri - a breathtaking collection of flora & fauna!I am happy to say that the 5 floral boxes I had to design for the 30 year collaboration project that Myrna and I are working on is finally done!
The shades of pink box consisted of fuchsia pink peonies, light pink peonies with hints of peach, camelias, plum blossoms, nerine, and gloriosa lilies. I am not 100% happy with my nerine blossoms, but I thought it would go along nicely with the gloriosa lilies since they have a similar structure and they are whimsical. I can't take credit for the plum blossoms. These are the ones Myrna made for me that were left over from my order back in December. I love the gloriosa lilies. Granted structurally they are not 100% correct, but their beauty of the flame like petals is pretty close. For the purpose of this project, I think they look great.
Myrna is still working on her pieces. Here are pictures of her fall inspired box with an apple blossom tree, an owl and some raccoons in a little garden scene. She used coral dupioni silk as a backdrop to tie in the coral floral box I created.
Myrna also did a summer inspired box with lilacs similar to the ones she remembered in her backyard growing up with a cute nest of birds on the branch! She has the winter and spring boxes to finish but she plans to share that by Sunday!

Sometime next week I will have the completed piece all put together of our 9 boxes! Can't wait to share!

Pink Peonies for a Valentine's Table Display

A past Etsy client from Portugal contacted me recently to ask if I could make 2 frilly pink peonies on individual stems that should could place in a milk glass vase she has. She intends to create a beautiful Valentine's Day table display.

Of course, I was touched that she asked me again to create something for her and she was so thrilled with the outcome. She even ordered something from our gofigurette! site from Myrna as well for the special Valentine's Day display!
I've been busy working on flowers for a wholesale order and then I'll be busy working on flowers for upcoming weddings. More pictures to follow as I get back into the swing of things!