Seasons Greetings

I know that it may seem that I have been quite remiss in keeping up with my blogging, but I have a few good excuses! I can thankfully say that I have been busy with holiday decorating, both corporate and residential, which I love! I helped to decorate the Crown Plaza Campbell House Hotel the week of Thanksgiving and just finished up this past Saturday, and the week before that I worked on St. John & Myers Antique & Period Jewelry Salon. The hotel was like nothing I had ever done before. It was a HUGE job and an amazing experience! I will take photos as soon as I have time, maybe next week, but I am not sure, the next 4 days will be filled with holiday decor as well, but I will try. I love sharing projects like that will all of you and hearing your feedback.
In the mean time, I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. This was the first Thanksgiving in 11 years that it was just the 5 of us, no other extended family or friends. It was quiet and sweet and we spent the day (and a couple of others) decorating for Christmas. The girls were very excited and we had a lot of fun, so I thought I would share some photos of different vignettes in our home. I did all close up shots with the exception of the front door because I really wanted you to be able to see the details up close, so come on in.

I truly love using fresh greens whenever possible, and cedar is my favorite to work with. It smells so good and it stays very fresh and does not dry out. I also added some pine cones dusted with white paint and glitter for a snowy effect.This is our dining room table...I will leave the rest to your imagination... I attached these beaded wreaths to the slipcovers on our dining room chairs with different vintage brooches. It is an unexpected and elegant touch.

The dining room buffet above

The pink buffet in the family room was my favorite to decorate this year. It turned out so pretty, it makes me smile each time I walk by it.

The mantle and coffee table....

I hope you all enjoyed this "tour" I did not do the tree becuase the light was not very good today. I am not sure when I will have time to post again because of my schedule, by try to stop an take a peek, or sign up to follow the blog!

Wishing you all peace & love,

Sanya

Romantic Wedding Flowers

I thought I would share some photos with you of the flowers I recently did for a wedding this month. The bride was looking for romance with an antique touch. For her bouquet above I used garden spray roses. They have a ruffled romantic petal and the open up into lots and lots of layers, so they are perfect to use in wedding arrangements an bouquets. I also used a rose called Costa Rica, it is a huge ivory rose with stunning soft pink tips, and I also added Queen Anne's Lace for a finishing touch of laciness and romance.

All of the brides maids in this wedding were thin and pretty tiny, so she wanted to have bouquets that reflected them and their dresses as well. She also wanted each bouquet to have a vintage brooch like hers, so that they could have a gift from her special day. The roses I used for the brides maids had a darker deeper pink on the tips to pull out the color that was inside their dresses.

The altar arrangements were really huge, so hopefully when the photos come back from the photographer you get get a better look at how lovely they truly were. There is a close up below...

These smelled absolutely heavenly and were also used at the wedding reception on the fireplace mantles.

There were two door arrangements on the inside of the church and then they were at the reception as well.

The sweetheart table....

The dining room.....

I just LOVED this idea! Instead of having one large wedding cake, the bride ordered 5 different varieties of cake from my fried Julie of Julia's Desserts. Not only was the table stunning, but the guests LOVED their dessert!!!

I thought this was a sweet touch. The grand piano was covered with a table cloth that the bride's grandmother who had passed away had given her, as well as her grandmothers favorite hat. It was such a sweet and thoughtful touch.

I hope you enjoyed the photos & I will post more as soon as I get them from the wedding photographer.

XO~

Sanya

Fall Fun

Today I was in the kitchen washing out my flower buckets getting ready for the big wedding that I have coming up this weekend and while I was looking out the kitchen window I realized that I really needed to rake the yard, if for no other reason so that the kids could have fun jumping in piles when they got home from school, so that is just what I did....They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will say no more.
Enjoy!
Sanya

Stepping Stones of Love....

My mom was down in my workroom with me the other day and she could not help but rifle through some bags that she thought I had forgotten to unpack thinking that she was going to stumble upon some fantastic treasure when I burst her bubble and told her that they were just full of broken china that I was saving for a project. "What project, and when are you going to do it?" she asked, knowing that I have about a million "projects" swirling around in my head with not a million hours to get them all done. "Why?" I ask, "is there something that you want them for?" well to make a long conversation & story short, she said that she wanted to make me a gift, so of course I let her take them. Above and below are what I have received so far, and I just LOVE them. Mom says that I have 2 more "curing" at her home that she will be bringing over, but I just could not wait to share them with you. They are almost just way to pretty to step on...
I wish that the photos I took showed the color in the china better, but you can just take my word for it that they are to die for & made with some of my most favorite pieces of china that have been broken by accident and that I could not bear to part with.
I just about died when I saw this one! The added touch of the raised cherub is magnificent, and the platter that this stepping stone is made from is a late 1800s Limoges piece that was hand painted and the cherubs are just surreal, so I am beyond delighted that they have been turned into pieces of art that I can treasure for a lifetime and pass down to my girls someday. I told my mom that these could be my Christmas gift because I love them so much, so if any of you out there are artistic and have broken china sitting around, go make someones day!

XO~
Sanya

New Creations

I organized the basement this past weekend as well as my work/storage space there and I realized that I had quite a few items that needed painting before the weather becomes too cold for this type of thing and I came across a gold vintage vanity tray. I knew that I did not just want to paint it, but at the same time I was not sure what I wanted to do with it. In my process of organization that I have been doing these past few weeks, I have come across a lot of treasures from my old jewelry designing days and I thought of some of the aqua Swarovski flowers that I have. I always have loved them because they remind me of the ocean & that is when it hit me~I needed to embellish this piece with sea shells and crystals. I really love the way that it turned out and I hope that you will too. I will be posting this piece in the "In the Pink Exclusives" category of the website this evening sometime. Below is a close up....
I also decided that this vintage Italian made frame could use a bit of sparkle as well so I added baby blue Swarovski flowers to it & it is to die for! This piece will be available this evening in the "Flea Market Finds" category of the website along with some other gorgeous treasures.

Well, I have truly enjoyed these past two days of creating, and now I am off to do some more, I hope you enjoy the photos!



Ciao,
Sanya

It's the Simple Things in Life.....

With so much chaos going on in the financial world right now, it is the most important things in life that I love to focus on and cling to, my family. Their love is free and the best gift that I have, so I wanted to share our latest goings on with all of you. Jacqueline, our youngest, is now in kindergarten, gone all day like her big sisters. She just had her first field trip to the apple orchard, and we had a lot of fun! That is her "In The Pink" of course! being shy...

Picking apples.....

and showing them off....later that day, we all left for a 3 day weekend to my sisters in St. Louis, Mo. for a visit......

Here are our fabulous kids, minus one nephew who was still in school.....
Aren't they so sweet!
Here is Mason, my oldest nephew. He just got done scoring a touchdown and two extra points. His team won, of course!
I thought I would also share some fall decor that I have put out around the house. I love that it makes our girls so happy. I polished my silver & I have to tell you, I forgot how pretty it looks when it is done. I always use the excuse that I love the look of old silver with a patina, but nothing beats the shine of freshly polished old silver! I think my Mom will be happy when she comes over.....
This is the buffet in the dining room. Most of our furniture is white, and I really love this old antique piece and the depth that it adds to the room. It is the perfect piece for a fall vignette.

I hope that you are all enjoying the simple splendor of fall and all of its gifts. Cooler nights and mornings, crisp breezes, the low sun, beautiful rich colors surrounding us, and laughter coming from playing children rolling in falling leaves and running from spooky Halloween decorations.

XO~

Sanya

Being Busy Feeds My Creativity

I have to tell you that I have not been very good about blogging for the past two months because I have been so blessed with being busy in all areas of my diverse business. I was hired in the beginning of August by four separate clients for 5 completely different events in September, and 4 of them were within 3 days of each other and they were large events as well. It was wonderfully fun and I felt honored to be hired by these amazing people to trust me with their events. I have a few photos below of the events. The phtos are not that great or detailed, but I was so busy making sure that the events were going on smoothly since I had coordinated everything from the invitations to the food to the flowers that I didn't have time for good photography! The first 3 photos below are from the grand opening of St. John & Myers Antique & Period Jewelry here in Lexington. Their jewelry took my breath away, and working with Olivia and Louis Scholz, the owners of this magnificent establishment, delightful as well as educational, I just love jewels! If you would like to see more photos of this event, you can go to http://www.topsinlex.com/

The photo below is from the Miller home in Nicholasville, KY. The night after the St. John & Myers grand opening, the Miller's hosted a political fundraiser for one of our state Senators and they hired me to bring it all together. It was fantastic and any time that I can be around Clay and April is a pure joy and honor as well!

Eastern Kentucky University has become an incredible client recently, hiring me weekly for large events. The day after the Miller event, EKU needed 30 of the flower arrangements below.
The photo below is an arrangement I did for a wedding table setting for EKU. I love these color combinations!!!
The photo below is of a silk arrangement that I did for a client who has a very large home and a grand entry with a spiral staircase. They wanted something really pretty for fall, and I just loved the way that it turned out, and thankfully, so did they!
The trio of flower arrangements below I made for a client last week who placed her home for sale and she wanted fresh flowers for her dining room, kitchen & powder room. She has a more modern style of decorating so I had a lot of fun with her arrangements & she was thrilled with the way they turned out.

I wanted to show you one of the arrangements that I made this past Friday, I loved it so much. It was a gift for a clients mother and he wanted something that she could take back home with her to Indiana and enjoy for a while. I loved the container that I found, and the flowers looked stunning and soft spilling out of it. The next time I see her ( she hired me for her daughters wedding in November), I am going to ask her what she is using the container for...
In between all of the flowers and event planning, I have also been making jewelry. I started making jewelry about 13 years ago and I sold to Nordstrom as well as other stores around the country and some overseas as well, but when our second child was born, it just got to be too much and our girls have always come first with me, so I turned my energy in other directions. I have had a lot of fun lately playing with these pieces and I have listed some on my website, so be sure to take a peek when you have time. Below, are a couple of photos of my latest designs...


So, now I am off to meet with a client and then go & pick up some more sterling wire so I can finish up a couple of more necklaces, and then I have to pack orders and take them to the post office....I must say, I am enjoying being busy, it is a joy & when the girls get home from school, I am all theirs. It does not get much better than this.

I wish you all joy, peace & love,

Sanya