Skating Mania

Photo by Cooper Mountain Photography

My skaters are headed to Nationals, and while it hasn't quite shut down our business as they prepare with extra practice and coaching sessions, it has certainly added a lot more busyness to our schedules. Which has meant that I haven't been blogging as often as I've wanted and intended! Sorry about that!

The photo above is Ellie during a figures event at the Regionals competition last month. In her hair, is a flower clip I made to match her dress. I don't have parental permission (yet!) to run the photo, but I was delighted that another skater also wore one of my flowers, including a custom center featuring Swarovski rhinestones that matched the girl's dress. And Ellie's precision team's 14 skaters will all wear my matching hand-wrapped headbands with flowers when they skate at Nationals next week.

Meanwhile, last weekend, I delivered three small flower clips that will be worn around a bun. Who knows, if I sell enough flower clips to local skaters, who wear them at competitions regionally and nationally, maybe I'll carve out a little market niche for myself! :)


 

Working Wednesday: Fabulous Flowers

Last week, I posted some photos of kanzashi flowers in progress.

They now have their centers and are mounted on brooch pins, ready for next month's Mother's Day themed craft fair!

What do you think?

Meanwhile, I finally got a photo of my flowers that I like well enough to use on an updated business card. I'd hoped to use my kanzashi dragonfly magnets, but they're proving challenging for me to capture in a way I like enough for a business card.

Here's what I'm going with for now:

Meanwhile, here are some more kanzashi brooches I've been working on, featuring a microfiber fabric that feels like super-soft suede:

I'm hoping to get at least some of these lovely brooches listed on Etsy over the next week or so; the rest I will wait to list until after the May 5 craft show. If you want to buy any of them, send me an email and I can put it up on Etsy as a reserved listing for you so you don't miss out if it sells before I list it! :)

Working Wednesday: Kanzashi Flowers in Progress

Last week, I officially committed to a Mother's Day themed craft show (May 5 at the Lakewood Center for the Arts in Lake Oswego for any locals reading this!), and that got me cranking out things to sell. Especially since I signed up for twice the space we had at our Christmas show.

Since the show is aimed at folks buying gifts for Mother's Day, I'm focusing on brooch pins right now. (I also need to increase my dragonfly magnet inventory ...)

Above are small (~2.5-inch) Kanzashi flowers in progress. They still need felt backings, hardware and centers.

Last week, I worked on a whole bunch of organza and crepon flowers:

Wouldn't one (or more!) look great as a corsage, whether for a wedding, prom or just adding a little bling to an outfit?

I'm also playing with beaded centers for some of the flowers. I'm curious to see whether they attract more or less interest than my typical rhinestone or vintage button centers.

Which do you  like better -- the flat beading in the centers (bottom flowers) or the stacked bead centers (top flowers)?

 

Latest Sale: Two Flower Brooches As Game Day Corsages

I just mailed off two flower brooches, one from our Etsy store and one that was custom-ordered, to a Clemson University student who plans to wear them to football games. I hope she starts a trend! I think it would be a lot of fun to make flowers in school colors, or even sorority/fraternity colors.

In honor of the Clemson Tigers, I also made my customer a couple of boxes for her flowers that I'm hoping she will like: