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!

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!

Summer Hydrangeas - Bloom Forever!

Ah, the beauty of summer hydrangea! Love the billowing blossoms and the abundance of colour, even the annabelle/pee gee white snowballs! Hydrangeas are a very popular flower in wedding bouquets and arrangements, but sadly they have a very short life before they wilt.

There are many hydrangea bushes in our neigbourhood and I have been experimenting with a couple of bushes that I have had for a few years. One disappointment in my garden this year is a 3 year old hydrangea that has bloomed in the past, but after moving it, there were no flowers last year and only one, lonely cluster of a vibrant, almost irridescent blue/purple this summer! I photographed it right away and admired it for a couple of days...then couldn't resist snipping it and bringing it inside to enjoy. I know the proper care for stems and water temp, however this beauty started to fade a day later.

I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to do a floral comparison with real flowers and clay flowers made with ClayCraft by DECO. I snipped a couple of blossoms for comparison (see photo) and I was able to match and emulate the shading of this cluster through careful mixing of clay pigments. When I went to shoot it in the light of day, well...you can see what it looks like today. No one can match the beauty of Mother Nature, but with so many brides who desire hydrangeas on their wedding day, the qualities of clay flowers provide an eco-chic alternative!

Wrist Corsages for Weddings

With so many "special guests" at a wedding, it is a very thoughtful gesture to honour them with their own flowers. Clay flower corsages are a perfect gift for the special people in your lives not only on the day of your wedding, but as a keepsake of this special day.

Here are an assortment of wedding corsages, complete with a pearl wristlet (just to make it a bit fancier!). Even the most delicate blossoms like gardenias, peonies, roses and poppies can be transformed into beautiful, everlasting wedding corsages!

Real Wedding Photos - Amy & Rob

The bridesmaid bouquets were a thoughtful gift from Amy - she was so excited to give the everlasting clay flowers to her special attendants. She shared with me that each of them had a favourite flower and I incorporated these special flowers into each of their flower bouquets. The attendants wore dark cherry red coloured dresses, so the white bouquets would be an elegant contrast - the colours looked great together! For the bouquets, I mixed with several shades of white roses were feature flowers that included: white lilies, white gerbera daisies, white tulips, white poppies, white victorian roses. The attendants love their special flowers and will have them for years to come. One commented to me at the wedding yesterday that the clay flowers looked so real that she had to flick a bug off of her bouquet several times!

Real Wedding Photos

I have had the pleasure of working with Amy since meeting her last fall at a bridal show. She has become a real fan of clay flowers and it was a pleasure to design the wedding invitations and clay flowers for her wedding to Rob. The wedding was yesterday and I was delighted to drop by to see the ceremony. It was a lovely afternoon wedding in the country - the wedding party looked gorgeous and there was a lot of love and happiness for this special day! Thank you for allowing me to share in your wedding day.

Congratulations Amy and Rob - may your long life together be full of good health and everlasting happiness!

Clay flowers look so realistic, in person and in photos! I was happy to deliver Amy's entire order of wedding flowers nine days before the wedding...one less (very important) component of a wedding not to worry about for the bride and groom! I was going on vacation and would not be back until moments before the ceremony, so delivering the flowers in advance worked well for everyone - there is no fresh florist that can do that!

Amy's wedding flowers included: Red Poppies, Red Peonies, Red Roses and Stephanotis. She specifically did not want any greenery in her bouquet, so there were challenges for me to keep the design as life-like as possible. One solution is that I mixed the clay to have several shades of red to give it a more realistic look. Amy was thrilled with how it turned out! Robert's boutonniere was designed using a sentimental flower for him - cherry blossoms! So delicate in real life, there is no way fresh blossoms could have been used (let alone found here, this time of year).

I will post some more of the clay flower details so you can see how everlasting flowers made of clay can work into your special event or home decor.