Before and After

I deliberately try to minimize the amount of personal information on my blog - I am a fairly private person, however I would like to share a before and after photo of myself. I had a milestone birthday earlier this year and it felt like a turning point in many aspects of my life.

I found a 'lifestyle management' program and started a high protein eating program that helps build lean muscle mass at the beginning of July and am happy to share that I have lost just over 50 pounds (by early September), taking me back to my early high school weight. Special Thanks to my Family, Friends and my Coach, Amanda for all of the support! I feel very strong, empowered and healthy and know that I have done good for my body and my future.

Let's Go Shopping!

Invite Me! will be participating in this vendor faire on Tuesday Aug 24! I am thrilled to be a part of this creative group to show my latest clay flowers, accessories and stationery. Get a head start on holiday shopping, great girlfriend and hostess gifts...or treat yourself!

If you can, come out and enjoy a fun evening to support a good cause - Hope to see you there!

Now, back to work for me...I am finishing up some clay hair flowers today (no sneek peek photos...yet - sorry).

Hair Flowers

I love the look of flowers in my hair - whether heading out shopping, out for dinner or going out on the town. What I don't like is...bees! Guess what - not a bee in sight when you wear clay flowers in your hair!

I have honestly worn my gardenia more days than not in the last year - I think it is becoming my signature flower! So delicate and fragrant in nature, but so durable and everlasting in clay! Lilies are also so delicate from Mother Nature - they never last the day let alone a big night out of dancing! Roses are another good choice for hair flowers - so many different colours and combinations. Eco-Chic and Scent-free!

If you are getting married, would like to give a special gift to the bride...or want to treat yourself to a hair flower, please contact me!

What is your favourite summer hair flower?

Happy Canada Day!

Such a beautiful and sunny day here - feeling very patriotic!

Seeing neighbours and friends proudly waving Canadian flags, houses dressed with patriotic flags, wearing red and white - even the Queen of England is in Toronto this week - Happy Birthday Canada! Proud to be Canadian - proud to work with international clients for clay flowers and invitations - what a great time to be Canadian...

Thankful for all of the opportunities this country has available! Enjoy the Day - festive fireworks tonight! Cheers!

(photo courtesy of glennsglobalgames.com)

Lovin' Pink Peonies!

For me, JUNE = PEONIES!!

Love all of the colours, the fragrant scent and the delicate nature of this short-lived beauty every June! I created this bundle of clay peonies for a former wedding client who is giving this as an end of the school year gift...to one of her classroom volunteers! What a thoughtful gesture as most of the gift-giving seems to be for the teachers! (Except we really like our crossing-guards, so we treat them to coffee).

This floral arrangement contains three shades of pink peonies, all in different stages of bloom. Accented with chartreuse and white hydrangeas and a splash of greenery, I like the proportion as it peeks out of the lime green mercury-glass looking cylinder container.

Haven't blogged much lately, but hey, summer is here (and some summer wedding flowers that I will be showcasing). Enjoy!

Feathers with Bling...on your Wedding Bouquet and in your Hair!

This past week has been busy fielding inquiries about the soft pink bouquet and floral hair pieces that I featured at The Indie Meets Couture show last weekend! Seems the super-hot wedding trend of feathers and accents of shiny bling have transended into bouquets and hair accessories! It was a bit of an experiment - but certainly worth the effort!

I connected with some other great wedding professionals - seems a couple of us have the same plume supplier..."hi" Mimi (if you are reading this!) So many great options using feathers and some shiny pieces...never to upstand the bride, but more to showcase her!

Would you consider feathers or shiny baubles in your bouquet? I definintely would!

Destination Brides!

Going somewhere tropical and romantic to get married? Why not carry your lightweight wedding bouquet in your carry-on or safely packed in your luggage?

Hibiscus is such a popular tropical flower - yet so delicate to place into a fresh bouquet. Vibrant shades of pink and orange, accented with green and grasses fit in perfectly to the island wedding when hand-created in clay! Every last detail, including some hand-painted highlights and shadows give this bouquet a very realistic look - don't you agree?

Your clay flowers can arrive to your home or business address days...or weeks...before you leave for one of the most memorable days of your life! Take some of the stress from the day of the ceremony...you'll never worry at your destination about the wrong floral order (or flowers that may have been hanging around awhile)...and you get to keep the clay flowers as a memory of the day you married the best guy for you!

Clay Flowers are an Eco-Chic solution for Destination Brides!

Indie Meets Couture Show - May 1st

Just back from the big city of Toronto - the ultra chic Drake Hotel where I exhibited in The Wedding Co. - Indie Meets Couture Spring Show. What a great experience - I truly enjoyed meeting the brides and showing them the clay flowers! I love to hear the reaction from those who have never seen clay blossoms before.

Interesting to see all of the 'wedding bloggers' come out to gather information, snap photos and inquire about clay flowers! If you are a blogger, or happen to see my work posted, PLEASE comment or send me a note at invitemecreative@rogers.com -- I really appreciate it! I look forward to hearing from you!

Catherine, Stephanie and the other Wedding Co. staff are the best! They are so professional and a pleasure to work and be associated with - great job ladies!

More people to thank and introduce you to in the next few posts - off to get some dinner and recount a wonderful spring day at the show!

Open House - Thank You!

A gracious Thank You to all who attended the Mother's Day Open House and Gift Sale yesterday! It wouldn't have been a success without you!

Many have asked me about my inspiration and how I go about creating arrangements, so I wanted to give you a peek as to what the clusters of clay blossoms look like before they are arranged (see photo). I find my inspiration in many places: fashion (apparel), home fashion, all types of magazines, fresh floral and my own garden (as it blooms)!

I gathered a bunch of the arrangements before they were displayed for the sale and thought the burst of colour would make an interesting photo! If you missed the sale, several items will be listed on my etsy site tomorrow. Which one is your favourite?

Such a fun day SCRAPBOXING!

It's taken a couple of days to recover and get down to business thanking Lisa and all of the organizing team behind ScrapFest in Kitchener! Each year gets better and better - great to see so many ScrapFest participants with shopping bags brimming with the latest and the greatest goodies to make their projects and pages look great! Not to mention the talented group of teachers that I was fortunate enough to be alongside!

Special thanks to Bobbi-Lynn and Christine for their assistance in my workshop. With each student bringing their own 5x7 photo, we giggled, encouraged each other and were pleasantly surprised (at the drying rack) how fabulous and unique each cluster of clay hydrangeas turned out! The whole rainbow of colours were tinted to co-ordinate, some even multi-toned to match with the photos. There were good giveaways when the room got too quiet (everyone was concentrating and working at their scrapbox components) and then...the big reveal! The projects looked GREAT - hope you were all pleased with your accomplishment!

Thank you ladies for the opportunity to teach you a new skill, a fun project and to spend the afternoon with you! I hope to see you all again next year at ScrapFest.

Great to also connect with some of my industry colleagues (and as busy as the Marketplace was) missed seeing a few others too. :( The very talented Vicki Boutin was prepping for her class right beside mine - she is one creative gal - always great to see her! A pleasant surprise bumping into Kelli Panacci - always loved her style and colour palette! Good to finally meet Alessandra from Stix2 and see Judy and Sheri from In A Pinch Designs busy selling from their booth too. The Scrapping Turtle was super-busy with make n takes - loved that photo idea!

Well, I am off to finish some flower projects that I have been working on last week - also some corsage photos to come...wedding and prom season are right around the corner!

Love Spring!

Indie Meets Couture- The Spring Wedding Show

I am very excited to be a part of this Spring Wedding Show - showcasing clay floral creations (bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, hair flowers) and wedding stationery (invitations, thank you notes, specialty stationery). If you are getting married and live in southern Ontario, this is a wedding show that you won't want to miss!

Join me on Saturday May 1st at The Drake Hotel from 10am - 4pm. Invite Me! Creative Announcements will have a booth in The Underground Lounge. Hosted by The Wedding Co., this "Indie Meets Couture" wedding show is for you if you are looking to infuse your wedding with some thing unconventional, chic or edgy...like clay flowers!

Local artisans and finest wedding businesses will be showcasing their talents in downtown Toronto. The Drake Hotel is a very chic venue for this event and will be giving away a bridal shower (valued at $500) to one lucky bride - why not let that be you?!

Hope to see you there!

Happy Easter!

We're Waving Goodbye to Winter and Hello to Spring here in southern Ontario! WOW - unbelievably warm, sunny temperatures in the past few days - no one is complaining! Looks like the Easter Bunny will have lots of 'snow-free' spaces to hide the eggs and the kids will enjoy the festivities!

I made some gift tags using Claycraft by DECO for some special Easter gifts - this clay is so versatile for so many gift-giving projects! I also included a photo of the scrumptious Easter Bunny cake that my mom made and served at our Easter dinner - yummy! As you can see, Mom is very creative too!

Get outside - turn off the computer - and enjoy this fine Easter day!

PS - just a reminder that ScrapFest is two weeks away - still a few spots in my class! We will create a keepsake shadowbox and learn how to make clay flower hydrangeas - great gift idea! (But you'll probably want to keep it for yourself!) Please join me in Kitchener - http://www.scrapfest.ca

March Break

Proud Canadian Moments...standing at The Parliament Buildings in Ottawa last week. I found this copper maple leaf embedded into some concrete - thought it made a nice shot. The weather was surprisingly spring-like and very enjoyable.

I have also been working on lots of small clay flower projects, but have either not photo'd them yet, or not uploaded the camera full of shots (bit of both, sorry!).

More clay flower photos next time...promise!

Happy Birthday Weekend!

(photo courtesy of belvedereflowers.com)

Just a quick post to say Happy Birthday to my Sister, my Brother-in-law...and to ME! It is a busy weekend ahead and the month of March is FULL of birthdays around here! A quiet celebration, a few yummy treats and unexpected telephone calls/emails are sure to come our way!

If your birthday is in March - Happy Birthday to You too - enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

RED ROSES made of DecoClay - the colour of the day! The language of LOVE...

Spend a moment with someone you care about today and let them know how much you love them!

Starting the day sprinkled with little Lindt chocolates, egg in the whole (shaped in a heart) with the cut-out heart toast on the side is a fun way to start the day. Hand-crafted or store bought, a greeting card to express you love (humour, serious, hand-written sentiments) also goes along way!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Register for ScrapFest today!

Registration for ScrapFest is now open - WOW! Such a great response to all of the workshops, crops and VIP passes. The ScrapFest team has been working very hard to make this event bigger and better than ever before (and the bar was already set high from past years!).

Here is another sneak peek on the Blossoming Hydrangea Shadow Box - the 'blue' colourway. See with the Claycraft by Deco, you can hand-tint the white clay to any hue or shade that co-ordinates with your photos. Scent-free, lightweight and everlasting -- very eco-chic! The shadowbox protects your photos and your clay flowers - a lovely keepsake that you have made yourself! Also a great gift for a Wedding, Shower or New Baby...and all the other reasons we scrapbook!

Start searching for (or taking) your best photograph (5x7 will work best) and sign up today!

Getting Ready for ScrapFest

OK, loyal blog readers...the countdown is on to the opening of the ScrapFest registration! Sunday Feb 7th (that's tomorrow) at 2pm EST the online registration starts.

This exciting event takes place in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada on the weekend of April 16/17th. Not only have they lined up great workshop classes (if I do say so!) there is a fabulous marketplace of the latest products and crops for all of the scrapbookers! Lots of prizes - tons of fun and learning! If you're not a traditional scrapbooker, that's OK too - there are still lots of interesting things to see and do (taking a class is a sure way to learn something new!).

I am thrilled to be teaching a 'technique-style' workshop - Above is a sneak peek of the "Blossoming Hydrangea Shadowbox" that you can make. I will teach you how to make these pretty little flowers (Mother Nature makes them fussy and delicate) but using Claycraft by Deco, they are tinted to the colour of your choice and everlasting! Start thinking of the fabulous 5X7 photo that you'll want to bring - it will be encased in a white shadowbox, surrounded by blossoms of clay flower hydrangeas and ribbon - a terrific 3-D embellishment to showcase your work!

Hope to see you there - you can preview the ScrapFest catalogue at http://www.scrapfest.ca/ to see all of the teachers, classes, times and events - you won't want to miss out!

Daisy Arrangement

SO thrilled with how this 'early spring' arrangement turned out! Daisies, tuberose buds, peonies, roses and hydrangeas - they're all there in this square vase arrangement!

I tried several graduated colours of clay on a few flowers and I am very pleased with the colour combination (such fresh and clean huses) and texures of the flowers used. I have been arranging blossoms that I have made over the past couple of weeks and there are LOTS to choose from on this worktable. I listed this one into my Etsy shop - take a peek!

I have also found a new source for containers - I can hardly wait to fill them with lots of clay flowers - what is your fave colour combination these days?

The Wedding Co. Show in Toronto

I am so delighted to be a part of The Wedding Co. Show taking place in downtown Toronto this weekend! This is a fantastic show for any bride-to-be who wants to meet with upscale, unique vendors. I am very impressed with all of the booth presentations and the friendly vendors. So many unique and stunningly beautiful ideas for your all aspects of your wedding.

Great to also reconnect with a classmate from my days at Ryerson University. Catherine Langlois designs the most beautiful contemporary and romantic wedding gowns from her studio in Toronto http://www.catherinelanglois.com/

New this year was an area of the show called Handmade Stand. It spotlights Etsy Artisans, many from the Toronto area - some of the most talented! It is a great idea and attracted lots of attention from the brides. I featured a white hair gardenia that fit in well right along side other Etsy Artisans. I had lots of lovely compliments on the clay flowers and following the show, these items will be given away through draws - follow http://www.theweddingco.com/events/ for details. If you would like to see more hair gardenias and other examples of my clay flowers, please visit http://www.invitemecreative.etsy.com/

Back to designing - I have so many little sketches, swatches and colour combinations floating around in my head and in my sketch book - I hope you will like them!

Lovin' a Sunny Thursday!

I working on some Valentine clay flower projects and some cute Valentine greeting cards. I thought that thought this photo would be uplifting today! It is sunny (and cold!) and I have had a challenging couple of days with my vehicle! Ugghh!

After 2 boosts this week and a flatbed tow to the dealership today, the conclusion is...the back wiper motor had seized up and was draining the battery - thankfully, under warranty and I can get it back today. Just little wrinkles like this that can put your day behind. Hope your day is going well!

Resolution - 2010 - It's Going to be a Great Year!

So, what has taken me 10 days to wish all of my loyal friends and readers a Happy New Year?!! Seems I have been pondering and trying to carefully consider what to write. Many of the blogs I read have such inspirational and motivating words these days - I have been busy!

Starting with "My Word for this Year"...a great idea for everyone, whether you own your own business or not. From Ali there is a superb list of words - my friend Vicki chose CHANGE and my pal Julie is going with EDUCATE. I chose mine before reading through Ali's list. My word for this year is FOCUS - there are so many positive applications of this word for me to achieve!

I have been busy in the studio working on some wedding items, valentine's day treats and uplifting home decor pieces - all out of clay!

I hope you will follow along this journey - leave me a message with YOUR word for this year. I forecast that 2010 is going to be a Great Year - let's make it happen!