New Items for an Upcoming Craft Fair

Next Saturday, I will be joining the talents of zenatona once again and we will be showcasing our art at a craft fair in the San Diego area. I've completed 2 arrangements that I really like how they turned out and wanted to share. I hope to get several more completed. My friend and business partner Myrna is creating pieces to represent gofigurette! as well and I'm so excited about her figurine ornaments! They are SO SO cute!
This first piece consists of 2 lovely whitish ivory, full bloom peonies, 4 green cymbidiums and 2 white and green lilac clusters. It's fresh and simple!
The 2nd piece I just finished utilizes this awesome tree trunk like vase that I found and I combined it with ivory roses, deep purple lilacs, light purple sweet peas and white and purple phaleanopsis orchids. Such a rich combination of color!

Back to my studio to create more flowers....

Plum Blossom Favor Boxes

I am going to be busy for the next month and a half working on a big wedding order for my clients, Asuka and Nori. They came to me via my Etsy site and at first it started out as just centerpieces for her bridal shower and then turned into an entire wedding order of centerpieces, bridal party flowers, favors and other specialty items.

I just conceptualized the favor boxes for them and here's a sneak peek. The colors may change slight, but I love the look of this. It's a great departure from my lauhala style boxes that I normally create which is nice. I also tried to change the design a little and not going with hanging the tag and not centering the ribbon.

I will be sharing more pieces from this wedding as I create each element so stay tuned....

Whites, Ivories, Greens and Browns with a Hint of Teal

Sorry for the lack of blog posts of late. I've been super busy with activities for my son and of course Halloween, but also because I've been busy trying to make flowers and elements for this order that is shipping out tomorrow. This is one of my bigger orders that I had with lots of time consuming elements.

My client, Teri had some ideas of what she wanted but she admitted she is not good with flowers so she gave me a few inspiration photos that she liked and one in particular that she loved. As we got closer to the start of her order, we discussed that she no longer wanted pinks and oranges and greens but rather to keep in line with the colors of her wedding - whites, ivories, greens and browns with hints of teal. She originally was going to have the bridesmaids wear teal colored dresses but ended up changing to a caramel color with teal shoes and necklace. So this is how her bridesmaid bouquets turned out. The flowers in the bridesmaids bouquets were green cymbidium orchids, white freesia, callas, gardenias and monkey tails.Teri asked if I could also make bouquets that she intends to present to her mother and mother-in-law to be. She asked that I create smaller bouquets that matched her bouquet and use the lace from her dress. Teri's bouquet as well as the bouquets for their mothers consisted of gardenias, freesia, callas, succulents, scabiosa pods and monkey tails. This was inspired by a bouquet she fell in love with from a fresh florist in Hawaii.I love the fact that we used Teri's lace and some beading that came from her dress and accented with some photo charms she had made of her grandparents. Such a great memory and a way for her to have them close to her heart on her wedding day.I'm moving onto working on some flowers for an upcoming craft fair next week down in Vista, California as well as gearing up to teach some students out that way. Lots to do and I'm trying to prevent myself from getting burned out!

New Line for Joie de Vie and a Giveaway

Friend and Etsy wedding colleague, Blair Schron Britt of Joie de Vie Jewelry, has started up a new Etsy store exclusively for wedding & event stationery and accessories. Blair has some really great wedding jewelry pieces and I've been watching her grow her stationery line and doing event planning in her "free" time. She finally decided to open Joie de Vie Paperie and she's kicking it off with a giveaway for a custom monogram stamp!Visit her blog for details on how to enter your chance to win! Wishing Blair all the best in her new shop and I'm sure it will be as successful as her jewelry line! Contest ends at 11 p.m. PDT on Monday, November 1st!

Images courtesy of Joie de Vie.

Bouquet and Boutonniere for a Destination Wedding in Bali

This is going to be a CRAZY busy week of trying to complete 7 bouquets. I finished 1 bouquet which would make that a total of 8. On top of that I have a large corporate holiday card order to get done as well!

Anna came to me and had asked me to quote her on some bouquets and boutonnieres. She had an idea of what she liked, but over time things changed. First off, my quote was a little out of her price range but she loved the flowers so much she decided to at least get her bouquet and her groom's boutonniere for their destination wedding that will take place in Bali next month.
Initially she liked a myriad of various flowers and then she was torn because her family told her no white flowers. However her colors are like a cerulean blue and creamy yellow. She thought maybe peonies, roses and callas with hints of blue would go. I was a little hesitant but suggested she think about it some more. Her first idea was to have all white/ivory flowers. I told her while I could do flowers with hints of blue, in the end after her wedding is over, is she going to regret having clay flowers that are not realistic looking because they have painted hues of blue? In the end, this is how it turned out and she LOVES it!

This bouquet would look lovely over the beautiful aqua blue waters of Bali! :)

Final C3 project completed!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks trying to juggle being a mom, teaching and getting my work done. I finally had the opportunity to finish the last C3 project from the instructors course with the DECO Clay Craft Academy. The final project was lots of work, but it turned out beautifully.

Something that's very popular in European and Japanese wedding floral design is called an "assist" it's basically a frame that adds a decorative flair but also provides support for the bouquet. My instructor, Yukiko shared with us how to create these lovely bouquets! We learned how to do phaleanopsis orchids using some new techniques, shrub roses and lilacs using some cool peps. Where were these peps when I was making my lilac bouquets for my clients?
I chose to do white orchids with purple centers but I also wanted a touch more purple in the bouquet so I added deep purple orchids into the mix and alternated with light and dark purple lilacs. The shrub roses are in white and peach tones.

Now that this project is done, I have 8 bouquets I have to complete and then start working on things to sell for a craft fair down in San Diego in a few weeks!

Taking Time to Smell the Roses

After a long week of training last week, my dear best friend, Myrna of Petal Chic and I decided to go to the Rose Garden nearby and practice with our cameras. At first I thought I left my memory card at home but realized I had another card in my point and shoot camera. So since she didn't know how to use her settings on her D5000, I decided to share what I learned in my recent photography class. She was so excited to learn how to use her camera a little more.
The roses are so amazing, so many colors, so many varieties. Rows and rows of them. These are some photos I took while we were there. Many of them more of my son and Myrna than the roses.
My son has an awesome smile, but many times when I want to take a photo of him he forces the smile. So this one that I captured I used the word "poop" to get him to laugh. Not something I like to admit, but whatever will make him give me that infectious smile that I love so much!
Love this photo of him with the reddish pink roses in the background.
Being silly near the water fountain.
One of my favorite shots of the day. My son loves his "auntie" Myrna. Even though they are not related, she treats him as if she was his biological auntie. She spoils him rotten. She indulged him when he asked if he could make things out of clay, she built LEGOs with him, colored in his new Dinosaur Train coloring book with him and laughed at all his really bad jokes! We all miss her and wish she didn't live so far away, but we are so happy we got to spend a week with her! Honestly, the love of DECO brought us together and I'm so honored that she's become my best friend, my sister and a truly talented DECO instructor!