Entries on Martha Stewart Weddings

Hello all!

Martha Stewart and Etsy are currently sponsoring a DIY Wedding craft contest! The winning craft will be featured on "The Martha Stewart Show".

I have entered a few different bouquets and boutonnieres as I have created numerous designs over the past year. I would really appreciate your votes, views and comments!

Here are my entries:

1. Periwinkle and Daisy Button Bouquet (this is my favorite piece I have created)

2. Ivory Bride Button Bouquet (A piece that coordinated with Ivory and Lilac Bridesmaid Bouquets)

3. Boutonnieres and Corsages (Pieces from a mixed silk and button order)

4. Tracy and Paul's Wedding (Photos by Otto Schultze)

This would be an amazing opportunity and I really appreciate your support!

**To vote, you need to complete a short registration. Then under my photos there are stars to give a rating! Comments would also be great. Thank you so much!

WhereWaterComesDown Soap Giveaway!

You are all in luck! Nicki from WhereWaterComesDown has offered some of her amazing soap to giveaway to one lucky reader! I have the Orange Peel and Cranberry soap, and it is awesome! Continue reading to find out how she got her shop name! It is so cute!

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Interview with Nicki:

Hi, My name is Nicki. I have been a self proclaimed DIY-er since I can remember.

When I was a child my family built two different homes. Now that I am older I realize just how much that influenced my desire/need to create. I remember scavenging for the snipped wires the phone man let behind to make my own jewelry and was recently reminded by my father that "you were the one who wanted me to build you a wooden purse when you were little".

The moment he said that I knew without a doubt what that purse was intended to look like. I still don't have my wooden purse but I'm sure that will come with time.

As one of 8 children my parents raised us to be self sufficient and inventive. I don't remember learning to sew or cook, I think I was born with those natural instincts. I guess that makes sense why I studied Apparel Design & Production in college.

I love to create. My "real life" job is working for a major craft retailer developing product. I'm grateful for this job because it allows me the means to pursue my soap making. Being self sufficient I like taking a step back from where we are to see "how it's made". I don't just knit or crochet, I spin and dye my own yarn. I don't just use soap... I make it myself!

Back to being one of 8 kids. Yes, I loved it... I always have a best friend around. Being from such a large family it was common to have the little kids take their evening bath together. Mom would send us off and shortly after you would most likely hear "I get the end where the water comes down" ...our version of "shot gun" to claim the warm end of the tub.

Those fond memories are what Where Water Comes Down is based on. Memories of Mr. Bubble bubble bath, strawberry shampoo and Irish Spring soap....feel good memories.

Right now I would have to say that my favorite scent of soap is Eucalyptus Ginger because it is so refreshing and really wakes me up in the morning.

When I am not making soap I am most likely working on the North Dallas Etsy Team, dyeing wool, spinning fiber, serving in church, watching Disney Channel or doing other crafts. I hope to some day have my soaps in local boutiques and spas.

Where I can be found online:

soap shop-

www.WhereWaterComesDown.etsy.com

www.WhereWaterComesDown.blogspot.com

fiber shop-

www.nikobee.etsy.com

www.nikobee.blogspot.com

www.northdallasetsy.com

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Up for Grabs: 2 bars of soap (your choice of scents listed in shop)

How to Enter: Go to WhereWaterComesDown take a look around, come back and let us know your favorite scent from her shop! Also leave your email address in the message so we can contact you if you win!

Earn Extra Entries:

1.Follow this blog (Enter another comment once you have done so)

2. Follow Nicki's blogs, Both Nikobee and WhereWaterComesDown (Another comment)

3. Blog about this giveaway (Another comment with a link to the blog write up)

4. Tweeting about the giveaway (Another comment)

That is 5 chances to win some great soap!

The winner will be picked on August 12th, 10pm CST. The winner will be notified by email. It will also be posted on this blog. Please make sure your email address is accurate. If no email address is provided I will draw another name. The winner will have 48 hours to provide us with their choice of item and shipping information or another name will be pulled.

Flower Girl Basket

I was asked to do a flower girl basket about two weeks ago. I wasn't sure how to go about it or what to all put on it. I didn't want to do too much and make it look tacky and at the same time I wanted to do enough to make it worth it.

I sat with the ivory basket in front of me for 2 hours before I even started on it.

This is what I came up with, and the best part, the client loved it!

All of the buttons are hand sewn on. The stem and the leaf of the flower is a hand embroidered chain stitch.

There is a line of buttons sewn along the bottom of the basket. I thought it needed something else.

The best part...it matches the bouquet she also ordered! There is also a matching boutonniere to go with this order, but silly me forgot to take a picture of it before it got shipped off.

So, now I guess I can add Flower Girl Baskets to the list of items available. Once I got started it was a lot of fun to make. It was just the process of getting there that wasn't as enjoyable :)

A mix of Buttons and Flowers

I received an email last week for a custom order. The bride liked the Secret Garden bouquet but wanted the purple to be periwinkle and to add daisies. I am never sure how mixing different mediums will end up in the end. I didn't know how this one would work.

My first challenge, before mixing the daisies, was to figure out what color periwinkle actually is. I had a small 12 stem bouquet order awhile back that consisted of orange flowers and periwinkle buttons. I ended up finding a few buttons that kind of worked. It wasn't the best match but I was able to mix in some other colors to cancel out my lack of periwinkle buttons.

This time around I thought I would dye my own, using a paint sample I found to match the color. I threw in one button and it turned out the right color. I was shocked! So I put in a bag full of assorted size buttons. I stir, stir, mix, mix and pull them out. They turned out PURPLE! Not sure how that happened when the first one was a periwinkle blue.

So, I tried again. This time I got pretty close. I ended up just going with it to avoid wasting buttons. I sent some pictures to the client and she really liked how they turned out.

I put the bouquet together, daisies and all and it went a lot smoother than expected. Check out the pictures.

I sent pictures for approval before I started working on the other pieces for the order...and...She LOVED it! It was a big relief to hear that she loves it and it is exactly what she wanted! It really made my day!

Beautiful Buttons = Flowers

One of my favorite types of buttons to use are ones shaped like flowers. I think they look really cool and give it a flower feel amongst a whole bunch of round buttons. Here are a few of my favorites that I have used in bouquets before.

The bow is great as well in this bouquet but I love the two flowers used on the stem below it.

These boutonnieres and corsages have a ton of flower buttons on them!

Inspiration

I love when I see something and it translates into a bouquet. I saw a group of paint samples the other day and just had to make a bouquet. The colors were called Paradise Valley, Seashore, Lilac Rose and Cottage Orchid. It turned out to be beautiful. Reminds me of a garden, so I named it The Secret Garden Bouquet.

The original paint chips I found.

Close up of the bouquet. I think I was able to match the buttons pretty well. Took awhile but it was worth it in the end.

Where do you get inspiration from?

Buttons - The Good, The Bad and The Down right Ugly

So, as most of you know...I love buttons. I have so many and in all shapes, sizes and colors. In my studio, I have quite a few pounds (I don't even have a guess at how many pounds it is, lets just say too many!)

Over the past year I have come across some really pretty buttons as well as some that are very ugly. There have also been some "misfits" that must have struggled during creation.

I thought I would create a new blog series about my finds in the button world. Feel free to comment and tell me if you think these are good, bad or ugly. Beautiful or what were they thinking!

Have some buttons of your own that you think would fit into these categories? Send me an email and I can put up some pictures on my blog. rbkcreations@gmail.com

In a variety box of buttons I received I founds some HUGE buttons. They made me laugh so I created one stem of them. I like to call them buttons on steroids!

They ended up being some good colors to put together. It is a nice addition to the studio decor.

The stem on the left is the big buttons while the one on the right is the average size button stem to show the difference. It makes the other stems look so tiny.

And this is the big button stem next to a 30 stemmed bouquet. It is about 1/3 of the whole bouquet!

Adventures with Felt

I don't usually make felt bouquets. In fact before July 1st, I didn't even know how to do the fancy embroidery stitches. I had a customer email me and ask if I could create these for her.

She contacted me on July 1st and her wedding is on July 24th...in the United Kingdom. So that meant I had to teach myself (fast) how to do the stitches and get going on this order. With caffeine in hand, I was able to do all the stitching and get them done! We tried to do a cascade on the bride's bouquet, after four attempts it just wasn't working.

We decided that it would be best to keep the bride's bouquet in the original round shape, like the bridesmaids. The professional pictures will turn out better and it will just look better in general.

The order consisted of one bride bouquet, four bridesmaid bouquets, one groom boutonniere (Button Hole), six additional boutonnieres and three pin on corsages. The color scheme is cream and a dark navy blue.

Enjoy the pictures! :)

One of the Button Holes

Close up of the Bridesmaid Bouquet

1 of 4 Bridesmaid Bouquets


Closeup of the Bride's Bouquet


The bride's bouquet, without the cascade.

Black and Champagne Custom Bridal Order Completed!

This was a custom order for a bride who is having her wedding in a garden. She wanted something suble yet stunning. She figured she couldn't do real flowers since she was surrounded by such great flowers in the garden.

The Bride's side of the wedding party will have white, ivory and black arrangements while the groom's side will have some yellow splashed in (his favorite color).

Boutonnieres

Flower Girl Bouquet

Bridesmaid's Bouquets

The Bride's Bouquet