How do custom orders work?

It's hard for most people to understand flowers in terms of felt. I like to think that the possibilities are endless with felt flowers. You can mimic the shape of real flowers, or create your own. Design a wonderfully wild and whimsical bouquet or create a classic, perfectly symmetrical bunch of flowers.

I recently had a bride contact me about doing flowers for her wedding via Instagram. We briefly talked about her wedding date, colors and location, then decided to get coffee. At this meeting I showed her several hues of blues, grey and silver felt, a few size options of bouquets and we looked at her wedding Pinterest board.

After our initial meeting, I created an inspiration board that looked like this:

From here, the bride was able to narrow down what she liked (and didn't) as far as colors and flower types. She liked the idea of combining Option C and Option D - pretty and elegant! So onto the next steps: finding the foliage and crafting a few sample flowers. Stay tuned for more updates coming soon!

Wedding Flowers

Back in March I showed off the beginnings of these beauties, but now they're finished. The total amount of flowers? Too many to count! 

The final order included one bride bouquet, five bridesmaids bouquets, 11 boutonnières and five corsage/brooches. 

You can see the details of the listing, or even create a custom order for yourself here.

Wedding Trials

How many flowers does it take to make up five bridesmaid bouquets? Approximately 55!

Working on a wedding for this fall. I think we're getting right with the types of flowers...now how about those colors? 

Charlotte's Bouquet

It's pretty fantastic what you can accomplish in a few text messages!

A dear friend was hosting a brunch for the arrival of her friend's third child (yes, third ;). She sent me the invite via text and asked what I could come up with to dress up the tables. Luckily for her I had some foliage in the mint and dark turquoise already crafted up. I also just received a rather large shipment of felt in all the pinks and blushes to match perfectly.

  

Within a few days, I finished up four bouquets and gathered these vintage vases (leftover from our wedding) for baby sprinkle/shower/brunch centerpieces. Mom is going to put them in the nursery and what a nice little welcome for baby Charlotte! 

Felt Flower Inspiration

Most people don't realize that so many of my flowers and bouquets are inspired by real flowers and photos. I love flipping through the pages of my wedding magazine stash and bringing those images to life - through felt. Sometimes it's the specific type of flowers, the combination of colors or the positioning, but it is already stunning, why recreate the wheel. I suppose I'm already doing that by handcrafting the flowers.

One of the headpieces in a recent post was inspired by an absolutely remarkable blog called botanical brouhaha. If you love flowers, or just anything pretty, this is a must-bookmark blog. Additionally, the remembrance bouquet from my wedding (made from my grandmother's wedding dress, above) was inspired from an arrangement I found on Pinterest and immediately fell in love with. One time at a craft show, I had a had a woman ask me if I could recreate her bridal bouquet from a photograph. Then added "that'd be a great anniversary gift from my husband!" BINGO! Nothing would make me happier than to preserve memories of weddings, childhood moments or special events through felt flowers.

#3 Inspiration Photos

I'm participating in the 92 Days of Summer challenge. Click here to see my 92 To-Do's for this Summer - and to see the brave souls tackling their own lists!

Wedding Wednesdays: My Grandmother's Dress

My Grandma Barb is on the right. My Grandpa is on the right and her sister, Alice, is on the left. 

When we were cleaning out my grandmother's house a few years back, we came across her wedding dress. In a plastic shopping bag. In the bottom of her linen closet. I imagine in 1947, most women didn't pay to preserve their wedding dresses. In my grandmother's case her sister made her dress (by hand, then made herself a matching one) and probably didn't see the need.

Fast forward 67 years when my Mom brings the dress to me the weekend we go shopping for my own wedding dress. Obligatory photo in Grandma's wedding dress:

It actually fit! And the peplum style is totally in right now. But with the yellowing, stains, rips and button-up turtleneck look, it just wasn't the dress for me. I knew I wanted to make use of it either in my bouquet or some special piece in the wedding. I found this arrangement and it served as my inspiration for the project.

I researched the best way to clean yellowed silk, turns out Woolite was the best option. I took a deep breath and cut the dress into several different sections. I soaked each piece for 10-15 minutes, then hand-washed them and hung (throughout) the house to dry.

I didn't realize just how much material was actually used in the dress, so this process took days! I tried different flower techniques, new shapes of petals, tried incorporating my Mom's lace from her veil, but Martha and a little tweaking to my own styles won in the end. Once I got into the groove, the flowers came along quickly. I found the pine cone and Dusty Miller sprigs at Michael's and decided two use just two colors from my wedding bouquet as a pop of color. The last issue I had to deal with was the vase. We decided these flowers would be with the remembrance candles the mothers light at the beginning of the ceremony, so it had to be bigger in size and quite a statement. Three weeks before we wedding, we were visiting friends in Charlotte and I was told to check out Old Time Pottery. Thank goodness I did, because I found this stunning Mercury glass jug for only $20!

It was hard to imagine our wedding day without my Grandmother there. We shared so many wonderful memories together, and she would have loved every second of the day. With this arrangement, I felt like she was a part of the entire evening. Not to mention, I think she would have been impressed that I took her trashed heirloom and made into something we can cherish forever.

Toss Bouquet

My sweet friend Sarah and her handsome groom got married on October 25, 2014. I was more than thrilled do design their wedding invitations and signage, but I was so honored when she asked me to make her toss bouquet for the wedding. Her colors were coral and navy so I perused the artificial flower lanes at the craft store and found these perfect little Carnation minis for the filler.

Turns out, coral felt (the pretty, soft coral color) is really hard to come by. It's either red, dark red, or approximately 15 shades of pink. I ended up with "grapefruit" and got to work. A typical toss bouquet will come with 4 flowers and filler for $20-$25. It can match the wedding bouquet flowers perfectly (in a smaller fashion), or it can be something completely different that your lucky guest will be able to cherish for many years to come.

As for the rest of the evening, the wedding couldn't have been more splendid. The Attic at Waterman's is such a hidden gem! The venue over looks the Atlantic Ocean and is stunning as the afternoon and evening sun starts to set. The food was fantastic - and lots of it, plus the ice luge (which brought fond memories of a friend's 21st birthday) was a more-than-appropriate touch! Many congrats to my two wonderful friends!