Renegade's Holiday Craft Fair - December 18 & 19.

Not too long ago I thought I lost my camera, but it turns out my lost camera was under the seat in my car this whole time!  Pretty typical of me.  So now I have a huge back log of photos from the past few months.  The first is from the LA Renegade Craft Fair back in July.  I'll be doing the Renegade's SF Holiday Fair this year on December 18th & 19th and am super excited about it.  There's always such a good turnout, and despite the fact that I keep doubling my inventory I manage to sell out of everything in the first day (so get yours quick!).  Hopefully this year I'll get it right with 400 terrariums.  Woah that's gonna be a lot of work.  Oh, and a side note to SF'ers: This year the Fair will be at the Concourse Exhibition Center, not Fort Mason.  Here's the link if you'd like more info.

Reinventing the Wheelbarrow.

From Chandra Abel Designs

These photos are from a wedding last year where the bride wanted to be as sustainable as possible, but not at the expense of an opportunity to be creative. She was SO wonderful and gave me a lot of freedom to come up with decor on site. The wedding was held at the Tourist Club in Muir Woods, a hidden little gem of a place for hikers who like to camp with comfort. The location was an obvious choice for the couple who belonged to the members-only venue, and with the expansive views and brand-new extended deck, I could see why. Anyway... back to my point... when I saw these overturned wheelbarrows lying around (the construction on the deck had literally just finished) I decided to use them as something to be displayed instead of a tool to be hidden. I had brought some succulents with me, so those were an obvious choice... but Muir Woods has so much natural beauty to offer that it was easy to find additions to the carts. Moss grew over everything, so my wonderful assistant Leah helped me gently pull some of it off of the hidden brickwork. We also found lichen-covered branches, bay leaves (a favorite of the bride's -- which I made sure to include in her bouquet), and a couple of fallen wild flowers. We finished them off with some extra gardenias left over from the cocktail pieces, and Voila! The wheelbarrows become something to stop and enjoy instead of something you hope your guests don't notice.

From Chandra Abel Designs

Becky's Bouquet

A few months ago a good friend of my man's got married, and she asked me to do her personal flowers and a few other floral related things for their big day. Here's a couple photos of her bouquet, which was MASSIVE, as you can tell by the poor flower girl who's trying to hold the darn thing up. I did love this bouquet though, despite its mountainous proportions. The combination of the feathery peonies and the hardy succulents is a pretty tough one to beat in my book. I'll do a more detailed photo story of this wedding later on this week. Photos by Melissa Slater of Slater Studios.

Terrariums, oh how I love them.

From Chandra Abel Designs

Here's another shot of a few terrariums. Photo credit: Melissa Fuller