I love making crafts ever since I was a young girl.  At wedding banquets I would collect all the tulle and make a flower puff.  As a teenager I would make paper stars out of computer paper where you pull the sides off - perfect for stars if you ask me.  I then learned to fold roses out of ribbon and dressed them up as though they were real flowers.  I do love working with my hands a lot so I made use to my skills.  I have a family member who is going through some tough time with her daughter and her illness.  It has to do with her kidney which is quite serious at such a young age.  It has affected her and her daughter very much in many ways to eating, being called names at school due to side affects when she takes medicine to not being able to have freedom to be as active like she use to.  It obviously hurts to see and I know I can't do much physically, but I can pray and keep praying for them.  Yesterday her daughter had a Christmas concert and her girl worked hard for it, but unfortunately she was sick and even though she sat through the concert she was not looking well with a fever and chills.  I really wanted to cheer her up somehow so I made her a bouquet.  I know it can't do much, but I hope it shows that people care about her and she can feel the love surrounded by her.  Pray she will be OK. 

K and I have been friends for over 10 years.  We met in our first church where her older brother was friends with me first and later I became good friends with K as well.  Over the years we got along, had our girl dates and included another member to our friendship: J!  After J and I got married, K being the youngest we kind of lost touch after attending a different church and life was different for sure.  It wasn't until last year my friend K announced she was going to get married is when we started to talk again.  It was mostly about her wedding and K confronted me about what happened in between our friendship over the years.  Over the years K was not peaceful about a time I hurt her feelings which I feel badly about, but K was forgiving and forgave me.  True friends in Christ.  I was honored to be able to work on her wedding flowers and here are some of the decorations and set ups she had.  I was quite impressed with the work of her friend's cake pops who don't make them professionally, but it sure turned out that way!  I'm very happy and I'm looking forward to see her wedding photographers photos!  Also thanks for my other friend C & J who just got married in June in Bali who was nice enough to let me use a lot of their decorations from their wedding! God is good!

I can't believe I haven't blogged for so long!  This year I've decided to take it easy and focus on my family, but when a side project comes along I'm thrilled!  J who is a designer himself asked if I could make his wife a bouquet who was graduating from a professional degree.  Kudos to R who stuck to her guns and followed her dreams!  Our God is good!  I was asked to stay away from pink, purples and use Tiffany blue, pastels and a request to have something similar to my succulent bouquet I made for M&G.

I'm all for "bang for your buck" and wanted them to keep as much as they could without having to deal with wilted flowers afterwards.  I made some blue tissue flowers, added bits and bobs like a ceramic mushroom, my acrylic painted poms, a few fresh white parrot tulips, and a few white silk hydrangeas to give contrast and texture.

The most prominent piece were the succulent plants, my absolute favorite!  I find it to be so unfortunate to just cut the stems off and wire them so I put them in silver IKEA tin cans, soil included, and get this - I inserted them individually into the scored cardboard box lid half way through so I'd have a base to work with.  I then used the silk hydrangea stems as my "pillar" to hold everything up so I could work with it as though it was really a hand tied bouquet.

It took a bit of hand muscles since it was top heavy, but I had my little 3 year old helper who very willingly helped me when needed.  It was a very good bonding time with my lovely boy!  Love him to bits!

I used silver tissue to hide any mechanics alongside the box and wrapped the whole bouquet with white and sea foam color tissue paper.  I finished it up with white polka dot cellophane wrap and a Tiffany blue satin ribbon.

I am very pleased with how it turned out and that's what I love about crafting.  Creativity is endless!

"Imagination is the beginning of creation.

You imagine what you desire,
you will what you imagine,
and at last, you create what you will" 

George Bernard Shaw

For more awesome photos visit my Simply Sweet Facebook Page and don't forget to "like" :)

I went shopping couple weeks ago and spotted this awesome owl sitting in a wreath.  I debated long and hard whether or not to get it for a lady who owns a farm out in Vernon, BC.  She supplies us with her 100% certified organic garlic.   Sheesh she even flew out and brought it to us!  

Flavors include Sweet Haven, Leningrad, Persian Star & Asian Tempest.  To be honest what do I know about the different kinds of garlic they sounded fancy enough to eat.  At $8/lb did seem a tad bit pricey, but I have never had such fresh and tasty garlic in my life!  Last year I bought four bags and it lasted me one year, no joke.  I haven't bought any three clove garlic's in a net for a long time. 

Back to the shopping I decided to get the harvest owl wreath since Fall is really next door it was very fitting to give the lady a gift to thank her.  Anyway, I felt a bit crafty and decided to spice things up a bit and decorated the wreath.  I originally had this design, but I didn't like it.


After letting it sit for a week I changed it again and I am much happier with take 2!   If you notice I kept the dried garlic stems that I got from her last year and incorporated it onto the wreath.  Three of which the owl is holding.  I respect people who put so much care, love and time into something others can enjoy so I wanted to make it special for her to show our appreciation and her hard work.  If you have ever been to a farm and see what they do, you will know.  The most amazing thing not only does she manage her farm she has a full-time job as well.  "applaud" for the hard working women out there!


I can't wait to post it to her!!! 

PS: I couldn't help to add a few hand made Simply Sweet Macaroons in there as well:)

Elements added onto the wreath: Ribbon, Yarn, Moss, Felt & Garlic stems

I'm personally fond of owls and that's my owl tea set I use as home decor and who doesn't love innocent Leo Owl Bank :) Not mine, but he's cute!  My son asked me what does a sad owl say?  I said, Boo Whoo Whoo~  Yah lame, I know, but he loved my answer! :)

February 2012 I received a phone call from Lorna inquiring about wedding flowers for her daughter's wedding in August 2012. My consultation with Jessica started with skype and later with a phone call. Jessica was really sweet and I have never met her newly wed husband as he was out of town. It wasn't until I saw photos from LS Photography I saw Russell for the first time. Wow, what a good looking couple! Sadly I didn't get a chance to take any professional photos. All I had was my trusty android, but hope I can share a little bit of my work from Leanne & Susannah's Blog wedding blog :)

I have been loving every episode of Down the Aisle with Chriselle. Back in 2007 when youtube just started I was planning my wedding and wished there was a lot more information about wedding planning as now. I am in love with the process of Chriselle's wedding gown made from scratch. Dying to see the finale!!!

Models to me are all unique and Coco Rocha stands out; she's Canadian, her name is Coco, has a dance background, is married, helped raised charity for Haiti and made a documentary about it, works with Senhoa Jewelry to help women out of human trafficking... she's more than just a model, to some she's a hero.

I love her as a model because she's freakin' awesome and I love her most for her inner beauty.

Please Watch! Couldn't agree more from 18:50 - 19:52

I used to buy these floppy disks at Future Shop and purposely made boxes out of them, gave them as gifts or even popped a candy or love note in there -maybe? Except I used masking tape to bind them together inside and attached a lid that opened and closed. It was awesome and cute! My HiTechSavvy friend surely has a few of these laying around - which leads to this post :) Thanks Mr. JC!

What better way to NOT throw them away, and give yourself a little DIY project this weekend and make them into succulent holders :) Or make them into blocks and have your child build towers out of them - thumbs up! :)

It would also work great with a Super Hero wedding theme, if you're wondering, as table center pieces stacked high and low on top of rustic wooden blocks! (another awesome DIY project might I add)

DIY Floppy Disk

Now I wish I still had some laying around... anyone wanna hook me up?

Looking back at this photo shoot I remember buying a whole box of meringues and wondering what I would do with all that sugar! Like I said in my earlier post I'm not much of a sweet tooth. They were pretty tasty though and so glad they turned out well with the photo shoot!

The meringues gave such a sweet touch for the flowers and without even knowing or really speaking to any of the other vendors except for Nomo Akisawa from Simply Sweet Photography if you look closely at the bodice of the bridal gown to my surprise it matches perfectly with the lines & textures of the meringue! Some things are meant to be :)

However, I probably need to make a easy tutorial on boutonniere pinning 101. I noticed at most weddings and this photo shoot included seems like a bit of a lop sided boutonniere on the lapel~

My bad for not being at the shoot. We all make mistakes and learn from them, right! I just need to clone myself, but until then...enjoy the awesome write up from Story Board Wedding! Super happy someone noticed the little details I incorporated in my work and my goal is to not repeat or make the exact same things twice.

If you've ever went out and saw someone wearing the same outfit as you, you'd know what I mean. Same goes for wedding flowers for Simply Sweet Floral Designs!!

PS: Thanks again Nomo for the awesome photos! Really enjoyed working with you :)

Since I'm a florist I truly haven't received flowers that many times - enough I can keep count, but occasionally I have received flowers from my boyfriend (husband now) on Valentines Day or "maybe" another special occasion. Don't worry I didn't need to arrange them as he got them from another florist. He's more into getting me gadgets and techi stuff which is pretty nifty :)

There was one time at a gas station a man handed me some pink roses he picked from a garden and said, "here, I said I'd give this to the first lady I saw." I said, "OK, thanks." Perhaps not a reaction most women would give.

Whereas I was a grocery store a lady in queue with her massive cart of items ahead of me saw I only had one item which in fact were a bouquet of roses. I kindly asked if I could go ahead of her, if she wouldn't mind and she sort of mumbled something like, "OK...." (with a sigh..)

It felt like a lifetime to get to the cashier since I only had 1 item and while I was waiting I thought I'd give the lady who let me go ahead of her a flower! Her face lite up any dull room and said, "oh, you're so sweet :)". As corny as I am my first instinct was, Yes, it's Simply Sweet :), but I'm not that arrogant to say that to her and I just simply told her it's because she was such a sweetheart for letting me go first. Not only did it make her feel giving up her spot was worth it, it made my day to see a nice lady's smile and face light up :) The magic in flowers will allow you to see a beautiful smile from within. I love flowers!!

Feels pretty awesome to see our floral designs featured in one of the most popular wedding blogs Tutu&Fru! The styled wedding theme was called Sweet Simplicity with a fun & bright vintage twist collaborated with
Simply Sweet Photography!

























The photoshoot took place in beautiful Como Lake, BC and I remember it was a perfect day, knowing how unpredictable BC weather is. A nice little set up before the models appearance.



























The colors used in the florals were mainly hues of pinks, white, blue, and the bright pop of yellow!



































Flowers used for this styled shoot included garden roses, ranunculus, yarrow, craspedia, cellosia, gloriosa, peony, dusty miller, viburnum and special touches of edible meringues, and fuzzy pom poms - gotta have the Simply Sweet flowers touch!

It was so much fun and great to work with all the vendors!


Story continues....









OK, so let's go back in time about Simply Sweet Floral Designs. More than five years ago when I first started my business I knew it had to be sweet and that's what I wanted my clients to feel each time they received my flowers. I went by instinct and made flowers for them according to their personality, character and liking. What gave me the passion to start my business was what I saw in peoples eyes when they received flowers I made. Most cried in tears of joy, but I saw how loved they felt inside and because I'm not good with words flowers was the best way to express how I cared for them. I'm a simple person and not trying to complicate matters I said let's call it "Simply Sweet Floral Designs"! I love this name because it portrays who I am and how I want others to feel when they see or receive my flowers.

When I first discovered Simply Sweet Photography through looking at a friends family photos I was a little surprised. I thought, did my husband start his own business in photography and decided to name it after mine? (yes the funny things I think of...) and realized there IS a Simply Sweet Photography! Then I thought how cool - great minds think alike and I liked her photos too:)

It was after the Ulitmate Shootouts VancouverIII event where I participated in the flower department I met Nomo Akisawa, unofficially on facebook. She later asked if I wanted to do some collab work for a styled photoshoot and the details were pretty "sweet". The photoshoot turned out to be a success and I gained a friend in the wedding industry! She's a sweet girl and her work is quite mezmorizing. You will agree when you see her photos of the portraits of others in her work. Even more awesome is Nomo is the Ultimate Shooter III Winner! The softness in the models eyes let's me know she makes people feel comfortable around her.






























Nomo it was great to working with you!! Looking forward to more collab work in the future!

Don't forget to "like" us on facebook!

Simply Sweet Floral Designs

Simply Sweet Photography by Nomo Akisawa

Got this as a wedding shower gift last year for a friend and I seriously love the geeky and nerdiness in Minnie & Mickey! Hmm...When do I get to go to Disneyland?~~ Notice Minnie's hand on top of Mickey's!