New piece :: Ring pillow

Posted on | Thursday, August 14, 2008 | No Comments

Just a quick note...
New ring pillow with removeable flower brooch now available in the Pebbles & Paisley shop

Update: This piece sold already today. Thank you Kim!

New piece :: Wedding vest

Posted on | Monday, August 11, 2008 | 6 Comments

One of my favorite pieces! A wedding vest/bolero. So light and airy. It's in my shop right now and a size xs. More like this one to come! Completely handmade.

New piece to be listed later today

1 Comment

Pssst...

I'll be listing a new little something later today, probably in the night. It's unlike anything I have made for the shop to date. Quite lovely and fun! Looking for that last minute finishing touch? The one caveat, I had to use myself for the model form, so this first piece of the new line is a size xs. I'll be creating different sizes soon, so check back...

Ain't I a stinker? You'll see it soon enough! ;)

New piece :: Hippie crown

Posted on | Friday, August 8, 2008 | 2 Comments

Just a quick note that I'll be adding a new piece to our Pebbles & Paisley shop today. It is a little hippie, but totally modern. This piece is perfect for a fall wedding or for everyday wear. Enjoy!

A numbers game :: I like to quantify everything

Posted on | Thursday, August 7, 2008 | 3 Comments

A handful of people know that I really like to quantify things... everything. I don't know why but having logical numeric groupings just works for me.

That said, when I'm building pieces, I have a little time to think and my mind often gravitates to numbers.

While thinking about numbers, I realized that I've been selling on for about 6.5 months, which is about 195 days. During that time, I have created about 700 pieces on Etsy alone, which is about 3-4 pieces a day if you are counting 7 days a week. I just saw that my Etsy convos have topped 1,104 today and for each unique convo, there are anywhere from 3-20+ exchanges (i.e. A client writes and I write back = 1). That is about 11.5 exchanges on average, but let's stay low and say the average is about 8. Multiply that by the 1,104, and that is about 8,832 exchanges (not including a good portion of communication dealt through emailing). That equals about 45 convos a day, 7 days a week since I started. At anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes per convo depending on the amount of details needed or an average of 8 minutes, that would be about 6 hours of convo'ing a day 7 days a week or about 42 hours a week, 168 hours a month, 1092 hours since I started selling on Etsy, or about 45.5 days in the past 6.5 months. That is equivalent to 1.5 months of 24 hour convo'ing! Doesn't it make you dizzy?

Just some random thoughts... I think I need to get out more.
;)

A more simple number to digest... Matt and I will have been married for 1 year in about 1 month. :)

Progress Post Updated :: Today through August 10th only

Posted on | Monday, August 4, 2008 | 5 Comments

So sorry for not updating the "progress post" sooner! It's been a wild wedding season and it's about to getting just a bit more busy before things begin to slow down a tad in November.
Just a reminder, please read the title of the post. These are pieces and orders being worked on from now through August 10th only. It is just a fraction of the total orders list, so please don't panic if you do not see your name on the list and your order is due after August 10th. You are on the master list. :) Also, I am sure I have typos with Etsy usernames and the number of pieces in the "()" might not be updated. I try to make these useful and more of a quick glance type of thing, which is why I don't list everyone's names. If I did, it would probably reach to the bottom of this page and who wants to scroll through all of that? ;) Also, as usual, this list is not in some sort of rigid order and weddings occurring sooner will be shuffled around if needed. Thank you to everyone for being so understanding and wonderfully patient!!!

Currently on deck:
1. mannad11 (1 piece remaining of 5)
2. weddingbliss09 (3)
3. Jetrichey (1)
4. M.C. (2)
5. athena80 (1)
6. dealejob (1)
7. londinium (12)
8. spyseegrl (1)
9. K.W. (2)
10. LoquitaDesigns (1)
11. happychica (1)
12. Roxias (1)
13. ohrow (1)
14. nuclearli (1)
15. achmiel (4)
16. branseen (2)
17. jlrodriguez (1)
18. lw908 (1)
19. AntoinettCappacio (1)
20. kreationsurf (1)
21. smbaumer717 (4)
22. wendyrichman (1)
23. ligeiajulia (1)
24. Jennmacivor (1)
25. ksinglet76 (1)
26. cboyek (1)
27. argoflex (1)
28. Tiffanywilson (3)
29. Rostrov (5)
30. Dovebvi (1)
31. elisevanessa (3)
32. SoonToBeMrsDamiano (finished, need to list 14)
33. aimijay (2)
34. Hjtabor (15, halfway finished)
35. T.M. (9)
36. ponyBeaver (1)
37. misterhoneybunny (2)

Boutique Orders on deck:
1. S.B.

Next to be on deck:
1. bonefolder (1)
2. diazbastin (1)
3. kaitlinking (1)
4. clairemiller (4)
5. emilyyeager16 (1)
6. lilmonkey24 (1)
7. waipio2 (2)
8. jradams (11, halfway finished)
9. carrielk (1)
10. H. (1)
11. thefairmontbride (1)
12. Erte (4)
13. Mochamooncafe (1)
14. P.T. (1)
15. debbiebruce (9)
16. jananshakur (1)
17. aja27785 (2)
18. itsadatedesign (3)
19. jonaandida (1)
20. mikomiao (5)
21. hudsonh (1)

New Venture! :: Pebbles & Paisley

Posted on | Saturday, August 2, 2008 | 9 Comments

My wheels are always turning and for a long time, Matt & I have discussed opening a second Etsy shop that would feature more ready made pieces. It's my guilty pleasure and also a great way for Matt & I to collaborate and spend time together. The new shop is named Pebbles & Paisley (http://pebblesandpaisley.etsy.com) and will feature luxury wedding finds including ring pillows, corsages, and anything else we can think up. I'm not sure about when I'll have time to list items, but there are many in line to be listed and shared with everyone and I can't wait to further develop this line come fall and winter. For now, here's a taste of what's to come:

Lotus

Lovely new piece to be listed in 1 minute!

Posted on | Thursday, July 31, 2008 | 4 Comments

This is a quick note to say I'm about to list a new piece in my Etsy shop. I will be listing some other custom pieces too late night. Thank you for your patience!

This new piece is made of all handmade petals and a lovely vintage brooch. The petals are from a lovely coral colored vintage jacket - recycled! Thank you Holly!

New pieces :: On their way to the English Dept. tomorrow

Posted on | Tuesday, July 29, 2008 | 5 Comments

Just posting some pictures of pieces I'll be delivering to The English Dept. in Portland, OR tomorrow.

This one is my favorite.

The Bite of Salem AND celebrating 6 years!

Posted on | Monday, July 28, 2008 | 2 Comments

This past friday marked 6 years together for Matt and I! Okay, so call us dorks since we are now married, but we still like to keep track of when we became bf & gf. We live a pretty short distance from the Waterfront Park of Salem, OR and since I was insanely busy, we decided to make it a more casual night and headed to The Bite of Salem for dinner. I like food so this was great!

Great gift idea for your special guy :: Bespoke made easy by 9tailors

1 Comment

When Samantha of 9tailors got in touch with me last month, I was excited! My hubby, Matt, is always having the most difficult time finding a well fitting shirt. Does your guy experience this? One of the problems for Matt is that he is tall and lean and any shirt long enough is generally too big in the sides. Anyhow, the brilliant force behind 9tailors would like to help your guy get the right fit with their customizeable shirts. 9tailors makes getting the most practical and thoughtful gift for your guy so easy!!! Rather than butcher the company's description, here is what Samantha had to say:

"History - I was in China last year doing graduate school and I probably made about 60 pieces of clothing. And, I thought what a great service to bring to the U.S. because I know A) a lot of people can't buy clothing off the rack (I'm 5'0" and curvy) and have to get things altered; B) it's difficult to find places in the U.S. to purchase affordable custom made clothing; and C) it's also very difficult to find clothing companies where the end user has a hand in the creative process.

Process - It's fairly simple. Step 1) Register onto the site. Step 2) Get measured. Step 3) Design a shirt. Step 4) Wait 3-6 weeks for your shirt to arrive.

Products - All our products are made-to-measure. There are many possibilities for our shirts (over 300,000 unique shirts can be created). We do not mass produce our shirts at all. Our products are great for work, play and special occasion. They make great groomsmen gifts too as we can monogram each shirt."

How exciting, yes??? Well, I am excited. This would make a perfect wedding gift for your special guy or anniversary gift and seeing that Matt and I have our 1 year anniversary coming up, I'd better get a move on with this!

Thank you Samantha for sharing all the fabulousness of 9tailors with the rest of us! By the way, Samantha always told me, "At some point, we will be moving to women's products..." YES!

New piece! :: DewDrop birdcage veil with handmade blooms

Posted on | Friday, July 25, 2008 | 5 Comments

Just a super fast note...

I have been having to turn away a ton of wonderful brides because I truly cannot take on any more rush orders from now through the first week of September. I feel very guilty and so sorry, but I am pulling about 18-20 hour workdays and it will be like this straight through September, 7 days a week and no holidays. My last rough tally shows I have 660+ custom pieces to make from now until October and this isn't including special projects and boutique orders. I just want to personally say that if I could squeeze more into a day, I would very much love to work with everyone interested! From the bottom of my heart, thank you SO much for your support and kind words about twigs & honey!

I am going to try to throw up pieces from time to time and today is one of those days! I call this the "4am piece". hahaha! In the middle of the night, I was chipping away at convos and I just felt so bad having to turn away so many sweet ladies so I decided to make a lovely veil/flower piece open to the public. I will be listing it within a couple hours. It is white and ivory, silk chiffon, completely handmade and with a couple sleek goose feathers. Check it out in my Etsy shop.

Ruby & Crickette :: New twigs & honey vendor

Posted on | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

I'm excited to announce that Ruby & Crickette will soon be carrying my pieces in their online boutique based out of Australia. You can view all the pieces in their Indy Bridal Collection. This is a great opportunity for brides and other stylish ladies to snatch up a ready made piece now, with no wait time besides shipping. This is also great for all the Australian brides and ladies! Thank you so much Deb! While you are checking out the pieces, take a look around. The shop also offers other lovely gems and the owner creates jewelry too!

On a side note, sorry for the sparse blogging lately! Can you tell that it has gotten exponentially busy? Busy is good, but due to the building schedule, blog posts might be a little skimpy and I'll be doing only light convo'ing/emailing until August. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding!

Congrats to Leanne of Leanimal!

Posted on | Friday, July 18, 2008 | 2 Comments

Hey everyone! Leanne of Leanimal is a contestant on this season's Project Runway! I cannot say I'm surprised. T'was only a matter of time before more people took notice. She is a wonderfully gifted designer in Portland, OR. I splurged on a few of her dresses earlier in the year and I just gush about them all the time. I'm excited to tune in! I generally don't watch shows on tv/cable, but how could I miss this? Yay Leanne!

Photo Credits: Bravo

Random Thursday ;)

Posted on | Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 5 Comments

What the heck is this mess, you ask yourself? No laughing as I invested a bit of time into it, but it is a supposed to be a frog's sanctuary. Okay, I'm a dork, I know! So a few weeks ago while driving, my hubby found a pond with a ton of tadpoles on the side of the road and he brought one home. You can see it in a previous post in a glass vase. Well, the time came to let "Frogger 2" go. I know, super creative name, yes? I got Matt a little itty bitty frog for our aquarium last year, aptly named Frogger... so the new one became "2". I actually tried to keep him longer and tried feeding him nightcrawlers, but he was more freaked out by them than anything else. I had a brilliant idea to make a little pond with a rock to perch on and a little house so that he would stick around and eat bugs for us - organic bug killer! I had read somewhere that pots turned over make great houses for frogs and if you speckle them around your yard, they'll live in them during the day. I had Matt punch out a hole in one of our pots to complete our frog's sanctuary. We had him in the makeshift pond with a lid over it overnight so he'd get acquainted with it and his new surroundings. The next morning we popped the lid off and let him be. After I finished shipments and went out for a look-see, he was gone. Actually, it's as if he couldn't get away faster. Hahaha! Oh well. *sigh* I thought his "home" was pretty wicked.

And a few pictures of the garden:

New piece just listed :: Simple bouquet

Posted on | Monday, July 14, 2008 | 10 Comments

I just thought I'd whip this up after lunch today - a simple bridal bouquet. I have been meaning to do a bouquet for a long time now, but it got so busy I never got the chance! There is a super sweet bride that I've been working with for a few months now and who has waited the longest - thank you so much for waiting!! I'm working on her bridal bouquet at the moment and it will be more elaborate than this single bloom bouquet. I can't wait to finish it! I'll have to post about it when I finally finish this, going on several months, piece. Thank you "mannad"!!!

UPDATE July 15th :: Sold out this morning to a wonderfully sweet bride. Thank you!