Handmaker of Things: Inspiration and Editorial

Inspiration and Editorial

08/19/2016

Little Flower Shop Styled Shoot and Maternity Pictures

This post has been moved. Please find it now on my new baby and kid focused blog, Hazel & Ollie. There I'll be sharing all kinds of inspiration from nursery decor, kids fashion, maternity and new born shoots and more!

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01/29/2016

DIY Modern Spring Ceremony Arch | with airplants + succulents

I hope you caught the Modern Spring Decor Inspiration Shoot from earlier this week. Today I'm going to share with you the step by step DIY for creating this lovely ceremony arch (along with a video!). I partnered up with Afloral on this project, and had such a great time doing it. I wanted to create a design that was fresh, modern, and just a bit whimsical. So let's get started!

Vendors - Photo: Jana Marie Photography // Venue and ceremony arch: Ultrapom Event Rental // Floral and decor items: Afloral

Continue reading "DIY Modern Spring Ceremony Arch | with airplants + succulents" »

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01/25/2016

Modern Spring Head Table Decor Inspiration with Afloral

I'm a more is more kind of girl. Meaning I can definitely appreciate simple, un-cluttered design, but for the most part I thrive when I'm surrounded by color, texture, patterns, and lots of layers. I partnered up with afloral.com to create this lovely head table decor, along with some of my favorite local Kansas City wedding vendors. And for this post I'm not just sharing the finishing shots, but also some behind the scenes images of how the table came together.

Vendors- Photography: Jana Marie Photography // floral product, striped runners, gold tassels, gold containers: Afloral // All other decor pieces: Ultrapom Event Rental // Paper pieces: Little Yellow Leaf

Continue reading "Modern Spring Head Table Decor Inspiration with Afloral" »

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08/31/2015

KC Loves: Inspired by Nickel & Suede

When I heard that Kilee, owner of Nickel & Suede was looking for bloggers to work with, I assumed she meant style bloggers. However I started formulating something unique in my head. I love her business, and the simple, beautifully hand made (not to mention feather weight) suede earrings they create. I wanted to work with her, even though Handmaker of Things is not about fashion. I brainstormed and came up with an idea. A series of blog posts and projects inspired by Nickel & Suede's earring of the month.

August's earring of the month was olive green, a total no brainer. Greenery has been a huge trend in floral design in the last few years, much the same as the color olive green has in fashion. This was the perfect opportunity to embrace all things lush and green. I had so much fun styling these images, and playing around with different combinations of succulents and greenery.

Also as a bonus each month I'll not only be sharing these styled images, but also a DIY project or floral recipe that I've created, each inspired by the Nickel & Suede earring of the month.

I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see part two of this lovely collaboration and check out the simple DIY I've got in store (it's one I think everyone should know how to do).

xo - Emily

(this post is created in collaboration with Nickel & Suede)

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08/12/2015

A Beautiful Indian Wedding Inspiration Shoot

I've never done flowers for an Indian wedding here in Kansas City, unfortunately for me. I've always wanted too, but never had the chance, so when Madi of Madison Sanders Events asked me to take part in this inspiration shoot I jumped at the opportunity. When I wrote Middle of the Map Weddings, I got the chance to share a handful of Indian weddings, and I always found them so inspiring. Not only the gorgeous colors and decor, but also the beautiful traditions behind the events that make up a wedding event. We had an amazing team for this one, and I'm so glad that I got to be involved.

Vendors: Floral styling: emmy-ray design studio // Coordination, styling, calligraphy-Madison Sanders Events // Photography- Paper Crane Photo // Hair and Make-up: Be Chic Bride // Venue: Amigoni Urban Winery // Linens and tableware: Ultrapom Event Rentals // Cake: Cake Girl

This was my first time every making a varmala. I wanted to coordinate with the lovely colors of the models green and gold sari. I used gold beads along with white and green mums and carnations. It took a lot more flowers, and was way heavier than I expected.

Madi did all the lovely gold lettering and signage that you see in this shoot. She is a calligraphy master.

This is probably my favorite shot from the day. I just adore all the beautiful colors and textures that Paper Crane Photo captured here.

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05/22/2015

Birds of a Feather Summer Wedding Inspiration Shoot

Sometimes the stars just align, and things fall into place, which is exactly what happened for this shoot. I was lucky enough to work in it with my good friend Jana, for E A Bride Magazine, and it still remains one of my favorites ever. When we were brainstorming the shoot we decided we wanted to do something really different. Tons of color, texture, and lots of flowers that you usually don't see used for weddings. We were able to partner with some amazing vendors, and I'm also probably partial to venue since we shot in my house. Anyway, enough talking, here's some of my favorite shots!

Aren't Amy and Peter the cutest? They're a real married couple, and this ended up being the cover shot for the magazine.

And here's a few behind the scenes shots. The end results are always beautiful, but you never know what's going on behind the scenes to get that perfect shot!

Participating vendors who made this beautiful shoot possible:

Venue, floral, styling, and accessories: emmy-ray design studio // Photography and art direction: Jana Marie Photography // Gowns: Janay A. Eco Bridal // Cake: Classic Cakes // Hair and Make-up: The Hair Parlour // Model:Peter and Amy Kariotis // Linens: Lauren Alison Design

Thank so much to everyone who took part in all the gorgeousness!

xo ~ Emily

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04/01/2015

An Airstream Wedding Inspiration Shoot

I love being a part of people's wedding days. There's something so special about taking part in such an important event. However what I love even more is wedding inspiration shoots. It's when the best professionals in the industry get to run wild with their creativity and make magic. Airstream Lounge KC was looking to capture some images to use for their website, and promotions, and invited me to do some florals. Of course I said yes. The feel was eclectic, in bright, sunny colors. Billy balls, succulents, astilbe, and tons of other beautiful textures. I think the beautiful images by Cornerstone Photography KC perfectly captured the fun vibe we were all going for. Thanks for letting me take part guys!

xo ~ Emily

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12/17/2014

Paris and a Feather Bolero

I started my business way back in 2006, with jewelry and accessory design, and I've always had a love for sewing. As I transitioned into more and more floral design, I had little, or no time to work on my jewelry and accessories, and I missed it, like, a lot. Alea was looking for someone to design a statement making feather bolero for an elopement shoot she was taking in PARIS, and I jumped at the chance to take part (I mean, hello, who doesn't want their work photographed in Paris?).

I have to say it was the creation of this piece that really got me thinking more seriously about getting back into making accessories, and focusing on designing for weddings and brides. It was such an inspiring experience, and the results couldn't have been more beautiful. Thanks so much for letting me take part Alea, I loved every minute of it!

xo ~ Emily

Photography by Alea Lovely // Headpiece by Twigs and Honey // Dress by Claire Pettibone

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08/19/2014

Neon and Neutral Wedding Inspiration

2013 was an incredible year for us with all of our wonderful wedding clients, but I also was lucky enough to participate in a whole bunch of fun inspiration shoots. I feel like a jerk store for not having shared hardly any of them. One of my very favorite parts of these shoots is getting the chance go work with some of my favorite creative people in our industry. For this one we wanted to play around with the neon trend that's been everywhere you look the last couple of years, including fashion, home decor, and more. But how to incorporate it into your day? How about balanced with soft neutrals like cream and white, and just a touch of gold?

Amazing vendors for this shoot - Photography: Cornerstone Photography // Venue: River Market Event Place // Dresses: Altar Bridal // Paper: Sugar Bean Paper // Event Rentals (animals, sequin and chevron runners): Ultrapom

I was just love, love, loving these gold animals from Ultrapom.

Add a touch of neon to your tables with bright twine wrapped around white napkins.

Bud vases wrapped in neon twine, with all white flowers for a fresh simple look.

I loved creating these fun ceremony pieces. I painted bamboo shoots in neon pink, yellow, and gold for a fun modern touch. Simple, but eye catching.

For the bridal styling we wanted to keep things super fun, and flirty, so we went with all short dresses from Altar Bridal. Colorful accessories like bright tights, and accessories added a whimsical touch.

Neutral chevron runners help balance out the bright colorful flowers and table linens.

This might be one of my favorite looks from the shoot. The fun ostritch feather boa around the neck created such a fun 60's glam inspired look.

I'm going to be sharing a little how to for making these fun neon inspired vases this week on the blog. Thanks for checking out our neon and neutral wedding inspiration shoot. I loved taking part!

xo ~ Emily

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03/31/2014

Modern Spring Wedding Inspiration

I was going through all my blog posts and I realized that I didn't share a bunch of the AMAZING inspiration shoots that we took part in in 2013. Say what?!?! These shoots are always a chance for me to stretch my wings, and it's also always amazing to work with a whole team of vendors who are also creatively minded. I thought that this spring shoot would be particularly appropriate to share, seeing as how the temperatures around here are quickly warming. Gold, lots of modern black and white pattern, and beautiful spring blooms all came together to create these lovely images, all of it captured by Cassandra Castaneda Photography (one of my faves).

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Participating Vendors: Photography: Cassandra Castaneda Photography // Floral styling: emmy-ray design studio // Prop styling: rak designs // Venue: River Market Event Place // Black and white linens: Ultrapom Event Rentals // Cake: KC Cake Girl // Snow Cones: Little Freshie // Invitations: Hammerpress // Dress: Altar Bridal //