For the Love of Flowers: Shanna and Michael, May 2012

I met Shanna when I was setting up another wedding at Californos last year.  It's a common occurance, and I love Californos just for that reason (and many other reasons).  When we met for our consult she brought along a posse, including her sweet daughter.  From the start she was so open to ideas, and I absolutely LOVED the custom grey and white linens we created for their tables.  The set-up was a decor-a-thon, including a backdrop for their outdoor ceremony, sheer curtains for the entry way, and tons of white lanterns, lights, and hanging flowers over the dance floor.  A fun little tid bit: Shanna set her bridal bouquet down before the ceremony and someone placed it behind the bar for safe keeping, but failed to tell the bride.  When it came time for the ceremony no one could find it, so Shanna rolled with it, and subbed in a bridesmaids bouquet.  Now that's a laid back bride.  Thanks for letting us be part of your day Shanna and Michael, and also thanks to Melissa Lin Ellis for her lovely pics of the couple!

xo ~ Em

Inspiration: Cynthia Rowley Bouquet Recipe

Fashion Week was last week, and it inspired me to finally use this amazing Cynthia Rowley ribbon to create a bouquet.  As soon as I saw it at Jo-ann Fabric and Crafts, and I just had to have it.  The colorful confetti look makes me want to drop everything and party!  The natural choice for flowers was a mix of lots of bright fun colors, and being a texture lover I grabbed lots of fun novelty stems like green trick, thistle, and celosia!  Hope everyone had a fabulous fashion week, I love living vicariously through all your style pics and runway shows!

xo ~ Em

Inspiration: Bohemian Wedding Styled Shoot

I've was lucky enough, this summer, to work with an amazing team of women on a few different inspiration shoots.  When Cassandra and Kristen contacted me about taking part, I was super excited.  I live for these types of projects, it's always so much fun to collaborate with other creatively minded people.  They sent me an inspiration board, and told me what they had in mind, and I ran with the flowers from there.  The results were so lovely, and our models (a real married couple) were such troopers in the ridiculous heat.  Plus we were lucky enough to be published on one of my favorite wedding blogs, Ruffled.  Thanks so Cassandra Castaneda Photography, Rak Designs, and Porello Girls for including me!

xo ~ Em

 

For the Love of Flowers: Katie and Chris, May 2012

The summer heat wave pretty much started the day of Katie and Chris' wedding, or at least it seemed like it did.  However the lovely flowers we got in screamed spring, yellow and white tulips, pink peonies, and fun textural succulents.  Plus Katie and her mom gave me a bunch of beautiful vintage hat pins, and brooches that belonged to her grandmother to add to her bouquet.  All in all a super fun wedding, and one of the craziest (and quickest) room flips we've ever done!  Thanks to Katie and Chris for having us, and to Heather Brulez Photography for the lovely images!

xo ~ Em

About

Hi I'm Emily, blog enthusiast, floral designer, and small business owner.  

Handmaker of Things is a blog where I share the latest work from my floral and event design business, emmy-ray, as well as my other passions including design, DIY projects, cooking, as well as tid bits of my life, and projects and things that I find inspiring.  I don't just do one thing, but rather am a lover of all things creative, which is where the name of the blog came from (it's also the tagline of my business).

I started my businesse back in 2006 after graduating from college with a degree in metalsmithing and printmaking.  Originally the focus of my business was creating and selling jewelry.  In 2008 I did my own wedding flowers, and began getting referrals from friends and family to do other peoples weddings.  I continued to work a full-time job, and did floral design on the weekends, and in 2010 I was able to quit my day job and start working on running emmy-ray full time. 

My mom, Maureen, is my partner in crime.  She's my design assistant, and helps in creating beautiful pieces for every wedding and event we work on, as well as setting up events with me from start to finish.  When she's not working with me in the studio she spends her time being an amazing mom, volunteers, loves reading, and exploring new local spots in Kansas City.  I definitely inherited my creative talent from her!

My hope with Handmaker of Things is not only to share the latest news from my business, but also hopefully to inspire lots of people to also live a beautiful, hand made life!