New Facebook page for The Clever Kitty

I've had a Facebook account for awhile now, but I only just recently started actively using it. I discovered that you make a page for your business, so I thought I'd give it a go:

The Clever Kitty's Facebook Page

I'm just getting it started, so it's definitely still a work in progress, but I think it will be a lot of fun!

Something blue...

I thought it would be fun to show a little bit of what I do at my day job as a florist. As wedding season nears, I am reminded of last year's wedding season, which was full of blue hydrangeas. Nearly every weekend last summer, we had at least one wedding that was blue hydrangeas! So whenever we do a wedding show, we always make sure to include some of this highly sought after bloom. While hydrangeas aren't the most long-lasting flowers (they tend to wilt quickly in the heat), they sure are pretty, and a perfect way to add that "something blue" to your wedding day.

I created this bouquet for a wedding show we did in January, and I must admit it is one of my favorites that I have done with blue hydrangeas. I love the contrast of the dark purple anemones against the pale blue hydrangea and delicate white ranunculus. And of course there's also that little touch of bling!

Details or so important when creating wedding bouquets. Careful attention must be given to every part of the bouquet...even to how the stems of the bouquets are wrapped. It's these little finishing touches that make a wedding bouquet extra special.

Even little things like the boutonnieres can be made with the same attention to detail. I always like to make them coordinate with the bouquets, by incorporating some of the same flowers or other materials into them. Even though there aren't any calla lilies in the bouquet above, this white calla lily boutonniere would be a beautiful companion to it, with the little blue gems on the stem.

The blue hydrangea theme is often also carried through to the reception. A popular look for centerpieces is a bubble bowl style vase with the hydrangeas either just above the vase with sea glass in the bottom, or for them to be submerged in the vase of water.

I'm curious to see if blue hydrangeas will still be the flower of choice this summer, or if we will start to see a new trend. Either way, I'm looking forward to it!

Mandalas continued...

Remember my mandalas from the other day? Well I've been playing around with embroidering them onto felt. I'm really having a lot of fun with this, and so far I'm digging the results!



This black and white one to the left is one that's in progress. As with my drawn mandalas, I start each of these with no plan - nothing is sketched out ahead of time. Each stitch I take leads me to where the next stitch should go, and I just keep working outwards until I feel like the design is complete.




Now to decide what to do with them! I've been thinking they would make pretty cool pendants, so I made a couple to try out:











I've been wearing this one all weekend, and I love it! I'm seriously considering making a bunch more of these for my Etsy shop. I certainly have enough felt & embroidery floss to get started...it's just a matter of finding the time. They are quite time consuming to make, but they're a small project, so they're extremely portable. That means I can take one or two of them with me everywhere to work on at any given moment. Perfect for my lunch break at work, or waiting at the doctor's office. Fun!

Mandalas

I used to draw a lot more, and I recently decided to take it back up again. One of the things I always loved drawing were mandalas. There's something very peaceful & meditative about drawing these concentric patterns. I never have a plan when I start a mandala, so it's always interesting to watch them evolve, and to decide when one is complete. I'm totally hooked on drawing these again, and am debating what to do with them....maybe some hand drawn cards? I think they could also be interesting designs to be screen printed on clothing, but I'm not a screen printer, and have far too many hobbies already to take up a new one. I would love to hear any ideas for what to do with these mandalas, so please feel free to comment below with suggestions! In the meantime, I think I'll try doing one in embroidery. Fun!

A bean and a bun bun!

I've always been a big fan of Lemon Cadet's work, so when I recently got a little extra spending money, I immediately went to buy a shirt for my daughter. I decided on this sweet little bun bun polo tee. When I saw it, I just knew it would look adorable on little g...and it's even cuter on her than I thought it would be! It's still a little big on her yet, but she'll definitely grow into it soon enough, and it could even work as a dress in the meantime.


I couldn't resist also getting a plush bean, too. It's a big hit already...little g loves to tuck it under her arm and carry it around. So cute!!

Both items are not just adorable, but also very well made - the quality is superb! So if you haven't yet checked out Lemon Cadet's Etsy shop, hop on over and shop!

Time....(and my new website design!)

Time is my biggest obstacle in life. There is much I want to do, and so little time to do it. A 36 hour day, or maybe an 8 day week....ah, I can only dream!

One thing I've been intending to do for entirely too long now is work on revamping my website. This weekend I decided it was time. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty pleased with the overall look and feel of it so far, and hopefully you will be too! So without further ado, here it is:

The Clever Kitty's newly designed website


Now, I wonder what of the gazillion other things I want to do will be next...(and there is a gazillion). For the moment, I guess I'll choose sleep. Ah yes, that dreaded need for sleep! If only I could function without sleep, my time dilemmas could be solved!

Good news, and more good news!

After all of the viruses, ear infections, and car problems (not to mention all the stress and worry over the CPSIA) over the past few weeks, it's been a rocky start to the year. But I'm thrilled that I now have some good news to share!

First there's this:
CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products
In plain English, that means that they will not be enforcing the lead testing and certification on products for children 12 & under for another year. So, I still have to make sure my products meet the lead limits, but I can do so by making sure that the supplies I use are lead-free, rather than have to have everything tested. Now I realize that this is by no means the end of this mess, but it is at least a step in the right direction. So I can continue to make these adorable baby shoes, at least for the time being:

Even better CPSIA news, a senator from South Carolina is going to introduce legislation to make some changes to the CPSIA. Here's a link to his blog: Jim DeMint's Blog

So it seems that we are finally being heard, and steps are being taken to straighten this mess of a law out. Hurrah! Let's all make sure to keep up the good work on the CPSIA front...keep making those phone calls, sending those faxes and emails, and blogging!

Ok, now for some more unrelated good news:
As you know, I have a day job working at a florist. Each year the Maine Teleflora Unit (for those of you who don't know, Teleflora is a network of florists that enables you to send flowers world wide) awards a scholarship to one lucky person to take a class at their headquarters in Oaklahoma City, all expenses paid. Well, I just found out that I am this year's scholarship winner! Wow!!

So sometime this year I will being heading to Oaklahoma City to take a floral design class for free, and my whole trip is paid for...plane tickets, hotel room, food, everything! How cool is that?? Now I just have to decide which class I want to take. One of my top choices would be the Wedding Design class, as weddings are my favorite occasion to design flowers for (which reminds me...I have some pictures from a couple of Bridal shows that I need to get off my camera so I can share them here!). Another top contender is one called Creative Edge: East/West Fusion, which takes principles of Ikebana, the Japanese Art of Flowers, and adapts them for contemporary design. Hmm...decisions, decisions! In the meantime, here's some of my floral sushi for you:

Floral Sushi, designed by Shannon Hanley