Look What I Found?!

This is one of those things that just make me giggle with delight when I find someone writing about my designs!
I just came across an enjoyable read! mindless musings on my average life She's a First Grade teacher, Grad student at night and bakes a mean delicious looking cupcake!!!!
:P
Of course she is planning a 2009 wedding to her perfect man and I think this is where my designs popped into one of her many planning/shopping posts!
wedding hair/cool etsy shop


I also LOVE the pictures of her cute little students and their projects!
Very fun!!!!!
You ALL know how I have teachers on my HIGH Pedestal!
Teachers help nurture all children's futures!
Check out her blog!
Thanks Ms.Mindless!!!!

"Something Else I MUST Have" Wedding Bee Blog Post

How AWESOME is this?!

One of my favorite Wedding Blogs "Weddingbee" just posted several pictures of my pieces with a nice little title:
"Something Else I MUST Have"

Much Thanks to Miss Lemonade that posted this wonderful shout out to my designs! I am thrilled to find someone enjoys my work enough to write about it! As always I am deeply appreciative.

Thank You also to everyone else that posted a comment that I had the privilege to serve and create beautiful pieces for!
:D

Blog Article on: The Under $2000 Wedding

I just wanted to share the fantastic article showcasing some of my floral designs!

I invite any bride to be to check out the blog
The Under $2000 Wedding.
A great read for anyone planning on getting married!
Tons of tips on everything surrounding getting married.

Here is my article:
A Must do for Your Hair Do!

Thanks Maya!!!

Feathers! Feathers! Feathers!

I have been working on several custom feather pieces lately and wanted to share a few with you.
The challenge is I am still learning as I go and it's A LOT Of trial and error! LOL!
I recently had a client request a set of feathers pieces and it literally took me over 6 pieces and MANY HOURS... to get it right! I can say I was working on the prototypes over 2 weeks! BUT, I LOVE the final design. Which is this set here:

One of the first things I do is find GOOD QUALITY "white" feathers. Believe it or not, high quality "white" feathers are NOT as easy to come by. Many are damaged during the bleaching and cleaning process and become tattered and shredded on the edges. Next, I then try to make sure I cut the feathers all evenly so I can get the diameter that the customer is requesting. I still have a hard time with this for some pieces...like these: Coy Kitten set
When I was originally creating this (Coy Kitten) design I made 5 pieces before I actually listed one. The cone shape was difficult for me to maintain a perfectly round shape and not allow it to get too big...of course my clients wanted something around 3-4" in diameter. ...and these wanted to open up to more like 5-6 when I was first making them!
LOL!

The greatest part about working on new things is when you stumble onto something wonderful. This is where the next two designs came from. I was still working on a specific shape for another client and through simple trial and error of creating different shapes to see how they looked I began the designs for these:
White Starlet
White Lotus


Well, I just wanted to make a short post to let you know I haven't forgotten you all!!!
I REALLY am trying to post more often!
...It's a work in progress too!

HAIR CARE!!!!

Hair Care!!!!

I know...a bit sparse on the posts....well, I just had to share my fantastic find!!!!
You all know how I have the "sensitive" everything and of course that includes my scalp! So, with that said I have ALWAYS been on the look out for hair care. Through out the years I have been allergic to MANY shampoos and conditioners. Let's just say there was a point that I literally had 5 bottles of shampoos and conditioners sitting on the counter that I couldn't use! ...made my scalp ITCH!!!
So, I started looking at the alternative "natural" and "hand made" route.
In my opinion shampoo bars are a fabulous idea and my guy friends love them! I unfortunately am left with an oily scalp and filmy hair...and I have tried several.
Ever since I moved in to my current apartment I started to have dandruff...the water is TERRIBLE! I came across Joyful Girl Naturals fantastic shop! I highly recommend taking a look to see all the wonderful products she makes! I have since purchased several bottles of

SLS Free Shampoo Dandruff Control

I have to confess within a few shampoos I literally no longer had itchy flaky scalp!!! Seriously, I tried A LOT of "dandruff" shampoos and NONE of them helped until I found this one! Plus, I have some processed hair and this didn't dry me out or make my color run. Anyone with a sensitive scalp that suffers from dandruff I TOTALLY RECOMMEND to use this product!!!! Before the end of the bottle you'll forget you ever had dandruff!

Now that I had my scalp in order I was looking for new conditioner and I found
Swan Mountain Soaps.
I decided to try Calming Creme Rinse for Hair - Pineapple Crush scent It was a gamble for me to try something with scent but I decided to try it! The scent was delicious but not too strong. My hair was SILKY smooth and NO greasy feeling by the end of the day! I didn't currently see this scent in her shop but I am sure if you convo her she can make one of these scents for you! It smells WONDERFUL!!!
Finally, after using the Joyful Girl shampoo for a while I was looking for something else to use as an alternative since I was no longer suffering from dandruff. Certainly I will still use my Joyful Girl shampoo every few weeks to keep my scalp in check since I still live with the hard water...but LOOK AT THIS!
Gudonya Too
Amazing products! I HAD to try

Gudonya Salty DAWG Creme Shampoo (tm)

and

Gudonya INTENSE Hair Conditioner (tm) - Tahitian Vanilla Scent

This shampoo is like nothing I have EVER used before! They use Natural Sea Salt! It's a bit different when you first squeeze it in to your hand but I LOVE the wonderful scent and the lather is magnificent! Best of all was MY scalp felt CLEAN and my hair was shiny and my scalp didn't get greasy at all!!!! Just a small amount will lather and clean my thick long hair! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE This product and HIGHLY RECOMMEND everyone to try it!!!!
I was also just as pleased with the conditioner. It has a wonderful clean scent! My hair felt so amazingly soft and silky and no greasy film! My scalp never got oily and my hair was tangle free.
The packaging is unique and the squeeze tube is easy to get the product out of.

All of the products I have written about today are products I use and VERY MUCH recommend you to try!
With the thousands of hair care products lining the shelves at every hair salon and beauty supply shop or section in your local shopping spots, I just wanted to offer my point of view on alternative products that I personally believe are far more superior to anything you will find at those locations!!! I have used these and if I get the results I have shared I know you will LOVE them TOO! Especially if you are sensitive like I am. I personally appreciate all the conversations I have had with ALL the vendors of the products I write about. Being a consumer that in the past has literally spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on beauty products I couldn't use with fancy promises and loaded with so many chemicals that I couldn't even pronounce them all it is refreshing for me to find such excellence in a "hand made" market!!!
ALL the vendors above have been SO helpful and open to sharing and understand my sensitive skin. Any of them I am sure would be open to helping you as well!
Even if you are lucky enough not to have sensitivity issues, ALL THE MORE I recommend trying the products I have written about! I think everyone will be delightfully surprised!

TROJAN worm Virus...is BAD NEWS!!!!

It was either Tuesday or Wednesday of last week that my computer got the SCARIEST Trojan worm virus! It was THE BAD one! The one that literally will FRY your computer and leave you with an expensive paperweight kinda one! I couldn't figure out why my computer was acting up for the first 2 days...I had loaded the new FireFox browser and thought that was the reason. As anyone that knows me knows, I am NOT computer savvy AT ALL. I have really good security and I regularly run my scans...against adware, spyware and all that other garbage...then I decided to run an extra scan since my computer was acting up! Not knowing the severity I see a few things pop up and then call the BF to take a look and "fix" them. LOL!
He was NOT happy...and by the look of his face I knew it wasn't good.
However, I had NO IDEA just HOW BAD it REALLY was though.
I of course believing in his computer genious wasn't phased...then after 2 days I started to get nervous...by Friday night when he had been up for many hours for days trying to fix my computer and saying,"...I REALLY don't think I can fix this...you might lose everything....This is the most advanced virus I have EVER seen! This is impossible to remove..."
Yeah, I started to freak out.
Sure, I back up and save my info...but to be honest I don't do it enough and he does get after me about it.
The thought of this thing going through my files and eating them and erasing them was freaking me out!

Anyway, late Saturday afternoon he FINALLY comes to me and says," It's FIXED!!!"
I was THRILLED!!!

That was SCARY!
I mean, my computer is old and idealy I would like to buy a new one at the end of the year or so...but to be forced in this way was NOT how I intended to get a new computer!

I am SOOO LUCKY!
So, TO EVERYONE out there!
PLEASE back up your information JUST IN CASE...these aweful viruses can get in to your computer NO MATTER HOW HIGH your security is!
They are JUST THAT GOOD and it truly is the luck of the draw! I mean, I am the only one on my computer and I don't go to the "questionable" sights that I always thought were "the ones" that could infect your computer. He says these are so good that they can hide in a jpeg picture and when you click it to see it automatically gets into your computer just like THAT!
My number just randomly came up and it got on my computer!
I was lucky!
You KNOW I will be backing up my info much more regularly NOW!

Credit Card Fraud

Nothing like getting a call first thing in the morning yesterday about possible credit card fraud!
UGH!
Apparently somehow someone got my ATM/Credit card info!
They had my pin number and everything!!!!
They totally took my rent money!!!!
Cleaned out my checking and were about to clean me out completely!!!!
Not that there was much to take but STILL!!!!!!
What JERKS!!!!
Thank goodness Citibank called me and asked if I was making withdraws from Vegas!!!!
Um, I was still in bed in California so...uh, NOT ME!!!!
o.O
They made 4 transactions from ATM's~!
I HOPE they all had cameras!!!!!
I feel SO violated!
So, now I have to WAIT and don't have my rent money to pay my Landlord!
NOT COOL!!!!
Hopefully everything is suppose to get resolved within the next few weeks!
Apparently an0ther gentleman behind me in the bank just had the same thing happen to him and the person was sitting there in the parking lot receiving all his info from the actual ATM that they fitted with a special device that reads OUR card info and relays it to the thief!!! Luckily the Citibank ATM read that there was information being transferred after the machine read his card info and shut the ATM down so it wasn't able to send all HIS info to the thief!!! They get EVERYTHING! Your pin number...bank info, card number et cetera!
Know what?!
I used my Citibank ATM only days before this happened too!
I RARELY ever use an ATM!!!!

This is SUCH a drag!

New Designs!!!!

Here are some new designs.
I have been swamped with Custom pieces lately.
By no means am I complaining!
I just wanted to share some pictures of some pieces that I had completed but never got to list or post.
I am going to try and list these soon!

Here is a beautiful little matching set. I just LOVE the little mint light green stamen mixed with the Swarovski crystals! I really adore a splash of color with all the white or ivory!

A while ago I Copyrighted this design which was why I hadn't listed it before. I just LOVE this mixture of the vintage inspired Brass leaves and wire work with Swarovski crystals and Freshwater pearls! So, if you see this anywhere else you KNOW I had it first!!!! And they better NOT or I have no problem seeking legal action! *cough cough* Copycat's and you know who you are!!!
LOL!!!


I have been getting A LOT of requests for 2 piece sets so I started making a few. I had to Copyright all of these too! I really was surprised how much I adore these! This particular flower looks and feels like real petals and appears SO velvety silky looking. SO PRETTY! Of course I had to add my signature jeweled cluster swirl center! Oh yeah, and my personal feather or two!



This was originally an idea that was developed but eventually changed into something completely different that I was working on with a Bride. I liked the idea I had in my head so much that I decided to make one anyway with my own added style. I just loved the idea of adding hand made petals and creating new flowers like little buds on the side. This looks SO feminine and something I would wear!
Here is a piece similar to my Morning Mist piece. This one had the gold center verses Silver.


Well, break time is over and I am back to work!
I will be out all morning and afternoon tomorrow working a wedding. LOL!
I am doing makeup for a friend of a client of mine...her Bridesmaids and of course the Bride.
:P
There will be NO staying up until 5:00 a.m. tonight! I have to be up at 5:00 to get ready to leave!!!
Hope all is well for everyone out there!

Here are some photos with my designs in her hair.
The only problem I have is that when I was searching for mannequin heads I had looked at SO MANY I forgot to check the exact dimensions of this one before I purchased it...I was too busy looking for aesthetics! LOL! Unfortunately, this one is NOT life size and is only 21cm around.
Basically, I'm guessing the size of a 10-12 year old.
So, the flowers will look SMALLER on a real person.
*sigh*
I think this is still fine for display purposes and I make sure to put on ALL listings that have the mannequin head that it is not life size.
LOVE HER!

NEW MODEL!!!!

I finally invested in a nice quality mannequin head and wig to use for my pictures.
Now I don't have to model!
LOL!!!
Plus, I can now get pictures of side and back views EASILY!
I think the lighter hair works A LOT better then my naturally black hair too.
Many of the pieces were lost in my dark hair.
I definitely like the way the pieces look against this hair color.
I also LOVE the way the veil photographed too!
I am still working on getting her lit right but as everything it's a work in progress.
Here's a few new pics of my Birdcage veils.