Channeling the Blues

I have an order for a wreath and I'm slowly getting started on it.  I have enough petals there for 3 flowers, one lily and two sunflowers.  It's funny that's it's taken me this long to get excited about this project.  I'm blaming the after the show blues...or maybe it's after the reorganization blues.  Once I finish a big project like that I go into a minor funk creatively.  This wreath is bringing me out of those blues and into these blues.  I'm excited to see where this wreath will go design wise.

Tonight I have a date with taking R to swim lessons with N in tow.  Then after they go to bed I need to file my taxes.  It's written on my hand so I shouldn't forget!  My folks moved down today so I'm hoping that's going smoothly.  And this weekend we attempt our first travel with N and R.  We head up to Chicago for grandparents and a wedding.

Hope everyone is enjoying this cool and sunny weather.  I'm hoping that tomorrow afternoon I'll get to steal and hour or two on the deck with these flowers.

a case of the blues with some yellow

ahhhhh...fresh flowers!!!

While I took the weekend off I did work my butt off to get you fresh flowers this week.  I was feeling the blues and the teals when I was beading.  It's funny how sometimes the colors just flow and the flowers tend to make themselves.  That was definitely the case with these two new lilies. 

 Beaded Teal Lily purchase info

The first teal lily is really a play on texture and depth within one color.  I used transparent, silverlined, and stain finish beads to get the rich shading in the petals. 

 

Beaded Blue and Lime Lily

Whereas with the blue and lime lily, contrast is really what makes this lily pop. Both have faceted fire polished glass beads on their stamens.

 



Beaded Yellow flower purchase info

 

I think these three flowers would look amazing together.  It didn't really occur to me until I started typing up this post.  I put the yellow flower in because I've decided to join/follow along with Leslie Saeta's blog challenge, 30 Marketing Ideas in 30 days.  She's an amazing painter that Mom has followed for a while.  Her challenge is more geared toward painters, in fact I think I'm the only nonpainter among them.  But marketing is something all artists trying to sell their work need to do.  And a challenge sounds like an excellent way for me to improve my marketing skills.  So here we go! 

Today's challenge was to post an older piece and give it some new light.  Well thanks to this post I'm loving this yellow flower again.  It's bright and sunny, and summer.  Which pairs perfect with tropical water colored lilies above.  Tonight I'll snap a picture of the three flowers together.  Stop by my FaceBook page to see. 

Baby Shower Blues

Sometime in March my friend M in California contacted me about making a flower. She always seems to be throwing her friends showers or parties. And she always comes up with the coolest themes, and unique decorations and amazing food. She ordered a custom flower for a baby shower.

She requested a flower in blues and greys because the shower theme was showers.  I used 4 shades of blue and one transparent grey.  The blues range from satin blue to tiny silverlined size 15 sky blue seed beads.  The center is a glass crystal from a vintage necklace.

I shipped the flower to her and she took it to a professional florist.  Flower's by Myrna in Oakland California, did an amazing job.  She really made the flower the focal point of the bouquet.  The bouquet is looks pretty large and the colors are all coordinated but I don't think the beaded flower gets lost at all.  It seems to sparkle above all the others,

I love how she used real umbrellas on the table for decorations.  And the food looks amazing.  Both fruit and salt water taffy kabobs.  YUM!  All in all she was very happy with how everything turned out.  I think it looks incredible.  And I hope the Mom-to-be is happy as well

This is a great example of how to use one of my beaded flowers in a special event.  When the food is all eaten up and the umbrellas put away.  After the fresh flowers fade and wilt she'll have the beaded flower as a memory of her shower, her friends, and her little one.

pile of petals

This week's sneak peeks are simple and to the point.  I have a pile of petals that I'll be putting together this weekend.  Hopefully I'll have some finished flowers to photograph by midweek and new flowers to show off by the end of next week.

Last Saturday I was on a roll.  Finished up a couple of projects then cranked out two flowers worth of petals.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll find the same flow and finish some of these up. 

Do you like the colors?  I've been in a bright color mode lately.

It's going to be a busy summer

oh my gosh...it's the first warm days of spring.  I'm so excited that it's warm outside.  Usually we have warm days in March, and occasionally in Feb.  This year is already another wacky weather year. 

So what's been going on during this lovely weather?  We have the outdoor work bug.  Last fall we cut down some pear trees that attracted so many bees it made the spring and fall almost impossible to be outside without being stung.  So with those gone we were missing our trees.  This weekend we bought an October Glory Maple tree for our yard and planted it with lots of love.  R found as many worms as he could and put them in the dirt by the tree to help it grow. 

I also sent off my applications for two local art shows.  I've already heard back from the Mackinaw Valley Vineyard, where I'll be selling my flowers and wine charms on July 21.  The other is at our local botanic gardens and that is a juried show.  Not sure when I'll find out about that....but I'll let you know.  Then today I received the application information for an art Fridays event which is also local.  Every 4th Friday from May to August there is an Art on the Boardwalk event.  It's a small boardwalk area next to some lovely local shops.  It draws quite a crowd and I actually think I'd do really well here.  So I plan to apply for all 4 Fridays!  It's a juried show, so if I get in I'll be super busy.  And that means my first show would be in less than two months.  ACK!

I'm super excited, and the creative fire is glowing.  Tonight I set up my little table and get to work.  My to-do list is pages long, but first I need to make stuff.  I'm thinking more wreaths for sure.  Any other suggestions?  I know I need more of everything but what's your favorite thing to see? 

For this week I have new wine charms in the shop.  I had a blast with colors this time around.  I went bright and fun and summery.  We're starting with bright pink then onto an amazing blue. The blue one has those satin beads that make glass look like, well satin. It's too delicious to get the full affect in a photograph.

 Bright Pink wine charm purchase information

Fun Blue wine charm purchase information

French Beaded Blue Lily Wreath

 Back in 2009 I made myself a french beaded flower wreath and I love it.  I hang it on our front door every spring and summer and when fall hits I bring it in and it hangs in our guest bedroom.  It's fun to have something unique and welcoming on my front door. 

About a month ago I got the urge to make another wreath.  I've been thinking about broadening my price range in Crymson Flower.  Right now everything in there is on the low side of the price scale.  Bouquet of beaded flowers are the obvious way to increase the selection but when I had the urge for another wreath I was very excited.  It took me a couple weeks to get up the nerve to try a bigger project.  Then one day I sat down and just made a lily, then a star flower (the cream w/ copper center), and then some leaves to accent.  In hours I had the beginnings of this wreath.

I really enjoyed adding the greens even though that is typically what I dread most making.  The pop of sparkly green looks amazing next to the natural grape vine.  I love using the rustic copper and grape vine with the bright sparkly beads in the flowers.  I think the contrast is stunning. 

 

The wreaths take a bit longer to make, so they might be slow coming.  I have tons of ideas and the second wreath already half completed.  Next week Mom is coming to visit and we are going to go on an adventure to see if we can find any willow or dog wood so that I could maybe make my own wreaths.  Using different woods will let me give different textures and feeling to the actual wreath.  More on that adventure in a couple weeks...if we find what we need.

click here for purchase information

sneak peak friday

It was a bit of a slow week on the blog this week.  I've been hemming and hawing about some behind the scenes business decisions.  Nothing big, well kinda, but I like to make them bigger than they really are.  Things like whether or not I should make Crymson Flower my official business name, and if not should I change up my internet presence name.  I'm looking into shows and how to legally be a business in different cities and counties other than my own.  I also added pages to my blog.  If you want to know about how to take care of your flowers, or a little bit about me, or how to contact me check out the pages at the top.

But really what would affect you is what I'm thinking about with my shop.  I've decided to take the plunge into my higher priced items.  Right now the most expensive piece in my shop is $30.  Yep you can get an amazing flower for only $30.  I know I'm capable of more though.  I have plans to make a line of wedding flowers, I'm still in the designing process for these.  What's happening more quickly and what I've really been excited about the last couple weeks are wreaths.  They take a bit longer to make so I won't have a ton of them in the shop all at once.  But boy oh boy do I have ideas for different wreaths.  Here's the first sneak peak of what this wreath looked like a week ago.  Today it looks just about done.  Expect it in the shop next week.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.  Enjoy warmer weather and the feeling of spring in the air.

Introducing Wine Bottle Pendants

Lately I've been brainstorming ideas for fun new wine accessories. Yes, I love my wine and I love it even more when it's blinged up with some beads.
That's when I came up with this idea for a wine bottle pendant.  A fun hand beaded, wire wrapped, pendant hung around the bottle of wine you choose to bring to that fancy dinner party or housewarming party.  It's a little piece of art that doesn't take away from the wonderful wine but will still be there after the wine is long gone.
What do you think?  Would you use it to decorate your next bottle at your dinner party?  Or give it away with a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon?

Click here for purchase information