My new website

Sarang and I have been struggling with our website for months. We want to re-do it completely, but at the same time, none of us knew how to achieve what we wanted. We did the the current and the previous websites all by ourselves, but this time we wanted something glam, chic and very me :). The re-do was also a necessity, because most of the flowers in the gallery were pictures of my student work, rather than my professional work. So, it was really important that we had something that showed people what I do NOW, rather than when I started playing with clay :). Also, this is the final stage of the branding exercise that I have been doing for the past several months, very successfully. A lot of people asked me why I haven't put pictures of my creations on my business cards, banners, letterheads, stickers, etc. The trouble is, that everytime I put something, I realized I created something that I liked better. Also, I don't want to keep changing my logo, my colors, etc. - something I learnt in my MBA. For those who don't know, yes I have an MBA degree with specialization in Marketing. Before coming to the US, I worked in the marketing department of several organizations.... my last two focussed on advertising and branding... alright, enough of my bragging! We've digressed from the main topic already :). So anyway, the thing I wanted to say is, I wanted is..... I think its better for me to use an image that is not my work, but in some way represents it.
When Brandy designed my Business Identity for me, I found what I wanted with regards to that. I love the flowing flowers in the designs... The same concept is carried on in the new website too. But, instead of doing it up in white.... (I know what you are thinking.... "There she goes"), we have done it up red (-ish) and pink. The colors are very romantic, the designing very chic and elegant. Most of all, it is simple. And the creator of this template is the lovely Joy - a fellow etsian who is the owner of boxedmemories. I am really amazed by the talent on ETSY. So much so, I have stopped purchasing a lot of things from regular stores. Joy was a great pleasure to work with. She was SO patient (I don't exactly have an idea of what I want, but once I see a finished product in front of me, I definitely know what I don't want.... that can be hard to work with) and creative. I plan to go back to her soon, as and when I start working on my image pages.
Do let me know how you like the new look. Am looking forward to some serious feedback :).

Haku Lei - Quite an accomplishment! :)

If you haven't seen me in blog world for a while, its only because I have been sick :(. I caught a cold from my husband and really didn't want to pass it on to my clients while working on their flowers while I was sick. I am better since yesterday, so I worked on this amazing product - Haku Lei.
I was contacted by this lady from Texas who wanted a headpiece for her daughter's holy communion. And after discussions, we settled on the Haku Lei :). I am not quite fond of making tiny flowers :). They are a lot of work. And for Hakus, you have to make lots and lots of tiny flowers. There are two shades of pink roses, stephanotis, stephanotis buds and tiny little green buds too. Plus, there are lots of pretty fillers, all of which (as also the flowers) had to be individually attached to stems and wrapped... But the final result is just WOW!
I must mention here, that I cannot take all the credit for this beautiful creation. My fellow instructor Chenli helped me a LOT with this, since I hadn't completed a Haku before and I wanted to make sure that I didn't make any mistakes . I had started one, but just got overhwhelmed by the work it required and that haku was half the size of this one! LOL!
I just love what I have accomplished with this one :). Let me know what you think..... As always, that is something I totally look forward to. The pictures aren't nice, since its already evening here. I shall try to post better pictures tomorrow. The actual finished product is so much more beautiful.

Bridal Hair Comb

Ever since I launched my Signature Hair Comb (doesn't that sound posh? LOL!) a few months back, it surprised me by becoming my star seller.
When one of my clients requested a similar comb in ivory, with a little bling, this is what I came up with :). It is pretty much the same comb, with gardenias, stephanotis and pikake (jasmine) buds and pearls. But I have added more pearls to this one and also crystals in the form of rhinestones and the crystals on wire, that are sticking out. I really love the way it looks! Let me know what you think about it.

Calla Lily Bouquet - Final Look

This is how the calla lily bouquet finally looks. I was very apprehensive about the wrap, since I couldn't find a matching ribbon ANYWHERE and I really did look everywhere here :). That is when my friend Eve stepped in and stitched a wrap for me out of the swatch my client had sent me. I then secured it with the pearl pins and embellished it with a platinum organza ribbon and pearl pins.
I think this bouquet looks very natural and elegant. :) Yes, that's a rare thing, me talking nice about my own creations. But I really love the work I have been doing. So much heart goes into it, that my creation truly has a stamp of my own now :). Not bad, considering that I have been only doing this for 6 months now :) (selling my creations, I mean).
Anyway, do let me know how you like this one.

New York Bride's Bouquet ready!

These are pictures of two of the 6 bouquets for my New York bride's wedding order. A bridesmaid's bouquet is teamed with the bridal bouquet in the second picture. Let me know how you like them. I shall be back soon with more, but I have to run now.

Calla Lily Bouquet Update

Here's how the bouquet looks with the crystal branches and the grass leaves added in. The callas are now painted too :). I am getting some help with the wrap :). My friend Eve, whom I had written about a few months ago, is helping me with it. She is sewing the wrap for me! Yay! :) Once I have that, I will finish off this bouquet in style. I can't wait. I already love it :). Let me know how you like it.

Calla Lily Bouquet

This is a bouquet I am doing for a bride from Maui, who's having a destination wedding at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Her colors are midnight blue and platinum and she wanted white callas for her bouquet. I have planned to wrap her bouquet in midnight blue and platinum colors, while adding some crystal accents.
This was a last minute order, but I really wanted to do this wedding because the colors are so elegant and I think the callas will really go well with the color scheme. I received this order via the DECO Clay Craft Academy and I am so grateful that they trusted me with it.
I got some help from Chen Li - one of our wonderful DECO Clay instructors here in Honolulu - in putting this bouquet together, because I hadn't done round-ish bouquet with callas before, and I didn't want to go wrong (even the slightest bit!). But I decided to do it all over again, when I came back home :), so I could put to use what I learnt from her. And here's how it looks. Of course, this is just the first draft. I still have to paint the flowers, wrap the bouquet, add fillers and accents. There is so much more to do! But I was so excited, I thought I'd share this with you anyway :). More pics coming up soon!

Flowers for a Valentine's Day Wedding

These are my latest creations for a New York wedding on Valentine's Day this year. The bridal bouquet colors are different shades of lavender/mauve/pink blended in together. The flowers for the bridal bouquet are roses, orchids and ranunculus. I have also added some green and lavender fillers. The bridesmaids have pink roses with green orchids and the Maid of Honor has pink roses with green hydrangeas.

Here are some pictures of the bridal bouquet and the bridesmaids' bouquets. I shall be back with more soon. :) These bouquets still have a lot of work left and I am trying to ship them out later this week. So, I really have to get going :). Let me know how you like these pictures. As soon as I finish the painting and the bouquet wraps, I shall post more photos. So stay tuned!

Film Festival and More....

I am sure you are wondering what I have been up to, all this time. Well, I have been working hard. And not just on my flowers :). I was part of organizing an Indian Film Festival in Honolulu (Well, the name of the festival was 'Bollywood Film Festival', but I hate the term Bollywood so, I prefer calling it an Indian Film Festival). I was a film consultant there. This year, we had something for everyone. And that I think is the beauty of Indian cinema. We believe and our films prove that good cinema doesn't have to be boring. Nor do entertaining films mean bad cinema. We had some really great stuff throughout the festival. This year we included a lot of films that people did not expect to see - films that don't conform to the 'Bollywood' image :). And people were awed! And in today's movie 'Taare Zameen Par' (a heart warming story about a dyslexic child overcoming his disability), I could hear sniffles all around. People waited to see the end credits roll. There was not a single dry-eyed person after the film! Cinematically, the film is not perfect, but its heart is in the right place and sometimes that is what matters the most.... especially when we have ridiculous movies being churned out day-in, day-out (both here and in India). Coming to movies that have their heart in the right place, I can't help but mention.... yes.... SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.
I saw the film a few weeks back and took some time to recover from it. That is one film, I wished was made by an Indian. One film, that I would have thought that an Indian made, if I hadn't known better :). Danny Boyle does such a marvellous job of showcasing my country and its people! Dev Patel's 'Jamaal' just takes your heart away. And there's another thing Sarang and I were discussing... Danny Boyle comes from the UK and makes a film on India..... and .... he chooses AR Rehman (Composer) and Gulzaar (Lyrics)! Can't go wrong with that combination! :) And when Sukhwinder Singh sings 'Jai Ho', its pure Nirvana! SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is one movie that's made straight from the heart... 'Dil Se'.
Anyway.... the film festival was very successful and it just finished today. So, I now have a wee bit of time on my hands to blog :). So, watch out for more posts!