Look where our flowers turned up!

6.18.2012

Photo Credit: Austin Warnock Photography
I had worked with Maple earlier this year, though we had been talking since the fall of 2011. I did her cake flowers. Maple was very particular about how the flowers should look. (I love when my brides know exactly what they want!) And I tried my best to match the pictures she sent. Today, looking at the pictures, I know that I did pretty well. The clay flowers I made, blended seamlessly with the real flower decor bouquets and decor she had! 
 
Photo Credit: Austin Warnock Photography
So thrilled. And you know what's better? Maple's wedding got featured on Style Me Pretty. How cool is that! So many people will get to see now, that my clay flowers look so similar to real flowers. And, you can keep my flowers forever.... :) 

Photo Credit: Austin Warnock Photography
I really think you should not stop at these photos but check out the rest of the photos and the video posted on Style Me Pretty. You'll know why they are gushing about this wedding and have two posts about it. Maple said that she did a lot of the planning herself. You'll be amazed by what she accomplished.



Becca's Wedding - Burgundy and White Callas

4.17.2012

 

A couple of months back, I did Becca's flowers - Burgundy and White Calla Lilies for her and White Callas for her Bridesmaids. She sent me these photos yesterday, so I thought I'd share them with you. I know, blog posts have been slow in coming.... but there's so much work and I've been traveling too. Hence the gaps between the posts. Please bear with me for some more time :).

Photo Credit: Jasmine Amber Photography
 Becca saw my Clay Flowers at the Bridal Fashion Debut that is held in Phoenix every year. She wanted very petite bouquets for her backyard wedding. I think they really came out nice. The Bridal Bouquet has only 7 flowers and the Bridesmaids' Bouquets have 3 flowers each. Proof that less flowers don't mean less beautiful wedding bouquets.
All photos are courtesy of Jasmine Amber Photography

Photo Credit: Jasmine Amber Photography

Photo Credit: Jasmine Amber Photography
 I hope you like the photos. I think they are beautiful! And Becca looks beautiful in these photos! :) I consider myself honored, to be a part of the most important day in my clients' lives.....



Sage colored hair flowers

3.09.2012
Cindy saw my clay flowers at the Arizona Bridal Fashion Debut in January 2011 and loved them. But she lost my business card. :) She came back to the June 2011 show, just to see if I had a booth there again :). Well, I did and she said she wanted a couple of my clay hibiscus flowers as her wedding flowers.
Recently, she got in touch with me and asked if I could make some hibiscus as a rose for herself in sage green. Well that's the advantage of working with this clay :). I can come up with almost any color.
So here's how the flowers turned out and Cindy was so happy when I delivered these to her yesterday. Made my day! :)

Valentine's Day Arrangement

3.06.2012
I am a little late in posting this on my blog. Sorry about that....I had a last minute order from a loving husband who wanted to get my clay flowers for his wife. He purchased one of the ready-to-ship arrangements in my Etsy shop. But his wife said she wanted different colors and asked me if I could turn it around in the tight time-window that we had. Fortunately, I was able to :). And here's how it turned out.
 
I have been practicing Dahlias for sometime now and am really happy how they've turned out. I love the shades of peachy-pink, greens and off-white.

Champagne Hued Flower :)

3.05.2012
I have always liked this shade but before this, I wasn't able to create this color to my satisfaction. The flower is similar to what I made yesterday, but the color and the jewel style is different.
I have a feeling that I am going to make more champagne colored flowers :). Loooove the shade! And what's more ... It is always an in-style color.

Jeweled Flower with feathers attached


This flower is the same one that I posted yesterday. Only, this has feathers attached.
This can be attached to any kind of clip or comb :).

New Flower

3.04.2012
I am trying blogging using my iPhone. Here's my first post, with a photo of a flower I just created. It'll be available on Etsy soon.
This is about 4 inches across.

Tiffany's Wedding - Red Roses and Stephanotis

1.31.2012

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Tiffany, I met via Etsy. I was looking for writeups for my flowers and I came across her. She offered to write for me and did a great job of it. Then, after a couple of months, she wrote to me saying she loved my flowers and wanted me to create her wedding flowers.

Tiffany's wedding colors were Red, Black and White. She wanted a small, simple red rose and stephanotis bouquet with black Swarovski inserts. We also added black leaves (thanks to clay, that's possible!) with gloss, to go with the flowers. The wrap was a simple black satin ribbon. I also created the groom's bout and Tiffany's hair flowers - loose stephanotis flowers with Swarovski centers.

Here are Tiffany's thoughts about her Wedding Day and her Wedding Flowers, in her own words:
Hours seemed to turn into minutes, minutes into milliseconds, as we
waited for the sun to set. The second hand on the clock was nearly as
loud as the bumping of my heart, and all I could do was stare at the
aisle through the window of my bridal suite.

Finally, our daughter, the flower girl, was called out. It was almost
time. In just a few more minutes, I would be walking down the
aisle toward my best friend. Growing up, my family was never very
functional, and my brother and I were often left to raise ourselves. He
escorted me to the aisle, where he kissed my cheek, cried, and let me
go.

I took a deep breath, made a mental note not to drop my flowers or
trip on my flip flops (and yes, I so wore flip flops under my gown!
), and began my walk down the aisle to Nine Inch Nails‘ La Mer. The
sun had finally begun to set, and the sky was phenomenally clear. We
lit a unity candle, said our vows, exchanged rings, and handfasted,
a perfect blending of our personal beliefs and the traditions of our
families.

Matt, my new husband, and I had decided to take our first pictures
together before the ceremony. We wanted that special time together
unrushed. Plus, I refused to wear glasses or contacts on my wedding
day, and I wanted to see his face up close the first time he saw me.
The pictures before the ceremony were full of nervous energy and
laughter. After the ceremony, all we could think about was each other,
and in our pictures, you can see all of that.

As we approach our 9 months as a married couple, I can still
remember the day as vividly as if it happened yesterday. My favorite
part? I have more than just pictures to hang and memories to cherish.
My wedding bouquet, hair flowers, and the boutonniere my husband
wore are all as beautiful today as they were on our wedding day.

Instead of dried, fragile, and brown flowers kept away in a box, my
wedding flowers sit vibrantly on my shelf, as elegant and gorgeous
today as they were when I carried them down the aisle.

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Wedding Photos - Gardenia Bouquet

12.29.2011
Sometime back I had posted pictures of a beautiful Gardenia bouquet that I had created for a client. She sent me some pictures from her wedding day.  

Melissa was very nice to work with. No hassles at all. I have to say though, that when I hear stories of bridezillas I realize how lucky I have been! Most of my brides have been exceptionally nice.
 
You know what I saw when I saw this photo of hers? The lovely necklace she's wearing. Though I am not a person who wears jewelry, I fell in love with this piece!

See that blue ribbon? You'd better! :) The shade is called Cobalt Blue. I made trips to a lot of Michaels Craft Stores in the Phoenix-Tempe-Chandler area (since Michaels was where Melissa had bought her other Cobalt Blue ribbons from and I wanted to match hers exactly) before a kind customer service rep told me that she could look up in the system and tell me which store had it in stock. Finally, I found it. And what a beautiful color it is! Totally worth all the running around. Complemented the off-white of the Gardenias beautifully.

 

I can't put a finger on what it is about groom holding his bride's bouquet, but I always love these shots. I hope  you liked the photos :). So much better than what I click, right? :)
Please keep coming back to the KeepsakeBlossoms Blog because more photos from other weddings will be up soon. Also, please take a moment to 'Like' us on Facebook or 'Follow' us on Twitter




Happy New Year!

12.28.2011

Hi Everyone!
I have been notoriously out of touch blog-wise. Sorry about that. Just so many things to do. And it just seems that either me or my husband is falling sick by turns. Hopefully, we are over it by now :).
I hope you had a great Christmas! I am so looking forward to the New Year. I have been working and working to get some things in order. Hopefully, they will all fall into place soon.
This year, in January and June I participated in the Bridal Fashion Debut Show in Phoenix. It is the biggest bridal show in the country with thousands and thousands of brides attending it every year. It was such a pleasant surprise for me when Shannon from the Bridal Show contacted me first to do a custom arrangement for her newborn daughter's room and then for a photoshoot for the purpose of advertising the Wedding MBA which she also organizes. Of course, I said yes! :) And guess where I was when I got that call in a remote location in the Glacier National Park, Montana driving through the beautiful fall foliage of the Rockies. Lucky I had phone reception! :)


So anyway.... Shannon said she wanted a couple of bouquets and it could be anything I wanted. The design was upto me and it would be nice if one of the bouquets had fall colors - but didn't too autumn-y.

For that I created a Modern, Pageant Style Bouquet with Orange Dahlias, Succulents (for the Southwest Feel) and Off-White Chrysanthemums. The dried branches accentuated the modern feel and the brooch on the handle gave it a little bling and complemented it beautifully. 


The second bouquet I made was a more traditional all-white bouquet with Lily of the Valley, Ranunculus and Peonies. I gave it a platinum colored ribbon and again, added a brooch :). I so love this shot where it appears that the beautiful model can't resist smelling the flowers :).

The photos were shot by the fantastic Roy Bracamonte of Roy Bracamonte Photography. He was so easy to work with.... Not that I had much to contribute in the photography part of the photoshoot :), but he made us feel so much at ease with his effervescent personality! He even visited us at home and showed me a few tricks to get better photos. You can visit Roy's website here to look at some more shots that he took of my flowers.


Guest Blog by 'Inspired Occasions' : Trends in Wedding Cakes

11.01.2011



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I love cake! I should because I create them for a living, (it would just be weird if I didn’t, right?).  It’s a lot of fun to see the trends in cakes from year to year too. I am always excited to see the new styles each season brings.

The cupcake tower is still going strong. They are kind of non-traditional and different, if that’s important. They are also less messy as far as having someone cut the cake and serve it. It also often saves the couple the cutting fee they would be charged by their venue, which is sometimes the same cost as the cake itself. Plus they are just so cute! You can do so much with those little bits of sweetness! Usually the bride and groom chose a 6 inch cake to place on the top tier of the stand as well. This way they still have an actual cake to use for the cutting ceremony.
Some trends have to do with colors. Color trends often follow home décor’ and fashion trends. Shades of purple seem to be making a comeback, black and white is always popular and the all-white cake is a classic. I personally love the vintage feel that I am seeing lately.  You can find cream with black, muted yellows and garden pinks. So pretty!  Speaking of fashion, have you noticed its influence in the cake world in more than just colors?  Ruffles are huge right now as are flowers that resemble wrapped fabric. You can also find many the damask patterns on wedding cakes among other fabric inspired designs. An entire cake can be designed just by picking elements from the brides wedding dress.
Now let’s talk about frosting. I have seen a huge push back to buttercream iced cakes in the last year. Six or so years ago everyone was really into fondant and there are those that still want the look that fondant gives. There are others though that are going simpler with their designs and definitely want buttercream iced cakes. For most of them the texture of fondant is a turn off. There is something about a buttercream cake too that makes folks reminisce and think of times gone by. Sometimes we just need a little old fashion, yummy frosting! Buttercream can be iced smooth and it can be more rustic and rough. If you are copying a cake that was your parents or grandparents then chances are its buttercream and has all kinds of wonderful piping. Even if the design you choose requires fondant for some of the decorations you can usually still have the cake iced in buttercream.

Cake flavors are something fun to play with. Yes you might like the traditional white cake and that is completely fine, (my most popular flavor is white almond), but many couples are choosing things out of the ordinary. Yes you can serve chocolate cake at your wedding. You could also choose a red velvet, peanut butter/chocolate combo or lemon. Couples often choose to have a different flavor for each tier also. If you do that though you might want a little extra cake, some people may want to try all the flavors.
I would love to hear about and see pictures of your favorite wedding cakes. Please share!
God Bless!

Bonnie owns Inspired Occasions Designer Cakes  in Arizona. She has been decorating professionally for almost 9 years and loves her job. When’s not elbow deep in icing she is taking cake or her three munchkins and hubby of 13 years. You can call Bonnie and order her delicious cakes (the keylime flavor is my personal favorite!) at 480-251-9880.
                                                  
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New Website

9.28.2011



Landing Page
I had been working on a new Website for a long time. However, it took a long time and the right person to get the designs on track :). While I am still working on the improvements, and there is some way to go, I like the general feel of it all. The design is crisp and clean :).

Portfolio Page
 Let me know what you think of the new design and what can I change to make it even better :).

KeepsakeBlossoms : Handcrafted Clay Flowers' Wedding MBA Experience

9.19.2011
Photo Credit:Krystal Muellenberg Photography

I spent the past week absorbing all the knowledge I could absorb, at the Wedding MBA convention that was being held in Las Vegas. I have been in the wedding business for over 3 years now, with my alternative to fresh flowers - my CLAY flowers - but there's a lot of things I could learn about the business. My experience so far, had been try, miss, try, succeed :). The Wedding MBA convention gave me a lot of useful stuff to ponder and act upon. There were a lot of industry leaders as speakers. There were Timothy Chi and Sonny Ganguly - the CEO and CMO respectively of 'WeddingWire', there Carley Roney - the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of 'The Knot', Shannon Underwood and Will Hegarty (both of the 'Bridal Fashion Debut'), Erin Brukhard (of 'Be in Love Designs'),  Kathy Ireland (Kathy Ireland Worldwide), Susan Southerland, Sasha Souza, Julia Markel (Association of Wedding Professionals International), Andy Ebon (of the Wedding Marketing Network), Laura Cave (Director of Marketing Intelligence of 'The Knot') among a host of other wonderful and knowledgeable people. 
My New Clay Hair Flowers : Soon to be offered on my ETSY store (sorry for the bad pic. Blame my iPhone 3GS)
Being who I am - a very reticent person who wants to go hide somewhere when she sees a lot of people - I was planning on spending a lot of time by myself. But thanks to my friend Jo Ann Grant of Apropos Creations, that was not to be :). She made sure that I spoke with people and I was glad I did. I met so many wonderful wedding vendors - all experts in their fields. I hope to share their work with all of you on this platform. Coming back to Jo Ann, I have never met anyone like her. If you need something, she will most likely have it in her purse :). She is friendly, resourceful and extremely organized. No wonder she's a wedding planner! Here she is, with Kathy Ireland.
Photo: Jo Ann Grant and Kathy Ireland
(I wish I had a chance to show her my clay flowers :), that would have been fun right?) We had a fun time driving to Vegas together. At one point, we were so busy talking and laughing that we missed the exit and had to keep going for more than 20 miles before we could turn back :). If you are in the Phoenix area and looking for someone to take care of your Wedding Day, do check out Apropos Creations. I truly believe (and I don't say this because she's my friend) she will take all the stress out of your Wedding Day and put you at ease so you can enjoy your Wedding the way you are supposed to.
The simple floral arrangement that I made for Jo Ann's association's booth at the Wedding MBA  Convention
Coming back to the Wedding MBA experience, it was wonderful. I cannot wait to do it again :). People who saw my flowers there, could not believe that they were made out of clay. Clay Flowers, I realize is a still a very new concept for most people and I am glad that I am able to introduce people to the beautiful world of realistic, lightweight and longlasting DECO Clay Flowers :).

Gardenia Bouquet

8.30.2011
I have been missing in action - again :). Sorry about that. But the good news is, that I am doing a lot of interesting things and you will see the results soon. There are so many things that I am doing right now, that posting photos sometimes becomes difficult. But this bouquet I totally fell in love with. So, I am taking time to post these pics for you :).
 Most of you folks know by now, that I am not a great photographer :), so please forgive the badly focused pics..... and please wait for the next post which only has pics by professionals. It was supposed to be before this, but then I got busy with the wedding season that 'apparently' ended in April! :) I am not complaining though... I am loving every bit of it.
Enjoy these photos and I'll see you soon :).

KeepsakeBlossoms featured in the 'Bridal Buzz' Blog of 'Bridal Guide Magazine'

7.20.2011
Yesterday, I was going through my emails when I found one from the Bridal Guide Magazine. They said they would love to feature my work - my DECO Clay Flowers - on their 'Bridal Buzz' blog :). They had conducted a poll to see if brides thought that faux flowers were a 'DO' or 'DON'T'. One of my Facebook Fans told them about my clay wedding flowers (Thanks Becca! You rock!) :).
I sent in some photos and some information that they asked for and here's the blog :). I have been working at this DECO Clay flower art so hard for all these years. Finally, it seems, that recognition is trickling in. I am so honored and grateful (and may I also say, totally elated!Yippee!). This is the first time a National level major bridal publication has featured my work.
Click on the photos or click here to read what the blog says about the flowers that I handcraft from Claycraft by DECO.  I must thank the photographers who helped me get here. I was always doing good work, but my photos sucked and people maybe thought my flowers sucked too. LOL! Well, I was lucky to find these ladies who took lovely shots of my flowers and made them look as pretty as they are in real-life: Angela Simpson of Angelina Rose Photography, Amanda Fales of Amanda Fales Photography, Wendy Loped of Abstract Mind by WLo and Marnie McCown of Crescendo Photography. Thanks Ladies!

PS: While you take this in, also look out for my next post. Tons of EYE CANDY, I promise! :)

Bridal Fashion Debut - June 2011

6.21.2011
I have been promising photos for long now :). Well, here are some from my recent participation at the Bridal Fashion Debut in Phoenix.

 Am I allowed to have favourites amongst my own creations? LOL! Because these two above qualify. The left has peonies in three different shaped vases. The vases weren't sold as a set.... I literally had to hunt for matching vases. But they go so well together and give the arrangement such elegance. I love the simplicity of the design. It is so modern and striking. 
The yellow ranunculus and freesia arrangement on the right took a long time to make. I was experimenting with colors and textures. Eventually, I decided on different shades of yellow, with hints of green as accent. The vase is actually a very very pretty candle holder, with a teal and light-gold print on it. I keep buying containers that catch my eye, to use in future arrangements. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't :). This one did. Big time. 

This is how my booth looked this time :). A big change from how it looked in January :). I even hung photographs that I received from photographers who were kind enough to take pictures of my flowers. I credited them on the frames. The photos generate a lot of interest in my booth and people even asked for information on the photographers who clicked the pics. So glad the idea worked out well.

Here's some more eye candy :).

 The pics came out nice, eh? Just goes to show how professionally taken photos can make a big difference and make my flowers look as beautiful as they are in-person. For these pics, I have to thank my friend Angela Simpson of Angelina Rose Photography. She not just did a great job of taking photos of my flowers, she also helped me design the booth and even came down to help me set it up. 
Another person was a big help (and has been, since I first met her at the Bridal Fashion Debut in January this year): Jo Ann Grant of Apropos Creations . Jo Ann is immensely encouraging and helpful. She not just advised me on where I could get my tables and linens from, she also shared some of her own decorations with me :). Now I know why she is such a fantastic wedding planner. She really goes out of her way to make people happy. Thank you you Jo Ann :). 
Andrea Jeckering of Dolli Bee.Com designed my new and improved Business Card. (Just email me if you want one.) What a difference she made! She delivered exactly what I wanted and in record time! My new business card is SO beautiful, I am going a little silly over it. I keep looking at it all the time :).  Andrea is a wedding and event stationery designer (she is also on ETSY!) whom I met very recently. And I am so thankful that I did :). 

This little arrangement that you see in this picture was designed by my husband. It turned out amazingly pretty! :) I didn't know there was a hidden designer in my engineer husband. 
All the arrangements that you see here are already available in my ETSY store for purchase, or are in the process of being available there :). I am also working on exciting new products to be made available on ETSY soon. And yes, as always more beautiful photos to share. So .... keep reading.