Sashuh. made with LOVE

Romantic Rustic Wedding Bouquet

I have to two reasons to be extremely happy about last week’s class. First, I finally had the chance to design and create a wedding bouquet that suits my style, and second, I passed my first assessment with flying colours!

My peg for this design is a countryside wedding-an intimate one. The darker tones of violets and reds exude so much romance and intimacy, which will complement an intimate autumn wedding. I imagined the wedding to celebrate nature and the landscape of the countryside so I wanted the bouquet to have a natural, organic and abundant feel to it. The flowers I used are a mix of “something nice”, “something playful”, and “something beautiful.” I decided to put very natural-looking foliage that looks “unstructured” and has a very natural movement to it.  One of my favourite features of this bouquet is the binding. I used a vintage cotton doily to wrap the stems then finished it off with an elegant ribbon (just to make it look a bit more sentimental!).

POPpy. Its name says it all. They are full of life. I’m not sure if it’s just me but poppies have a child-like look that makes me giggle every time I see them. They are so cute!

Radiating dahlia in glorious deep red.

I love wide-open roses like this one. I think they are gorgeous. It’s always good to give them time to open up (with proper care!) so you can appreciate its full beauty.

Who would of thought chrysanthemums can look this good? When I saw them in this colour my heart melted. Maybe they should come in violet more often!

I hope you enjoyed this. Have a lovely week!

xx, Sasha

Pop(pies) of Colour

Please forgive the title of this post (I couldn’t get any more creative with words than that!), but I was feeling so delightful about the poppies I got from the flower market last Friday. I’ve been looking forward to buy a bunch or two  for sooo long but it was only until the other day that I FINALLY found these playful flowers at the market. I was there to shop for my assessment day flowers when my eyes quicky noticed a very attractive bucket of…poppies! I was so happy to have brought home a bunch. Who could resist the soft and playful beauty of these blooms? They are simply wonderful to look at.

I hope you enjoyed this quick post.  xx, Sasha

Homegrown

I woke up to a cold, drizzly morning yetserday and had a scrumptious breakfast shared with my younger sister and our little nephew. This week is such big week for me and my husband. We finally sold the house and we are now moving to a new place soon. I feel anxious about moving on from our simple bungalow. I do feel that I somehow took some features of our house for granted-such as our “garden.” I never really paid attention to it since I never found anything that interests me, but, at this time when we are about to turn over the house, the garden suddenly decided to produce something very beautiful—camellias! Glorious, beautiful camellias! I was determined to make something beautiful out of the beautiful blooms right outside our bedroom window. I spent most of my morning cutting stems of of flowers and foliage at our own garden to create a beautiful floral arrangement. This is my little and personal way of celebrating how God has been faithful to my family by providing all things that we need. He has been truly very generous.

Moving to a new apartment unit is a big change for me but it sure is very exciting!

I remember when I was a little girl, I would always daydream about my future house. I never really wanted a mansion. I’ve always imagined a modest house with a beautiful, sprawling garden full of flowering plants. I’d like to have a garden where I can pick flowers from, just like what I used to do as a kid at my grandparents’ tropical garden.

These are some of the “humble plants” we have around the house.

My favourite spot at my family’s tropical garden in the Philippines. This place is special to me because I’ve spent countless precious times with my family here. We’ve shared so much memories together. This was the biggest “playground” for me and my cousins and enjoyed every bit of our summer days spent together.

“You visit the earth and saturate it with water; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide then with gain when You have so prepared the earth.” -Psalm 65:9

Have a BLESSED and an amazing week ahead!

xx, Sasha

*styling, photography and floral arrangement by Sashuh

*Please like Sashuh on Facebook for quick updates and inspirations!

On The Wild Side

(tiger orchids, leucadendrons, song of India, succulent, strangle vine)

Finally, I’ve created a bouquet that is different from my personality. One of the best things about being in floristry school is the opportunities given to us to play with different flowers and foliage that are not common to my personal style and taste. It’s not a bad thing at all! This bouquet definitely deviated from the usual me. The colour and texture of the flowers brings so much depth to the design. I am now starting to fall in love with more exotic and tropical looking posies.

If you look really closely, the tiger orchid has a pearl embellishment on its apex. I got excited when I saw how pearls and orchids worked well together!

I also constructed one of the most tiring flower arrangement known to man (lol…but it left bruises on my fingers…rookie alert!) but the colors and the texture of the flowers were so beautiful. They reminded me so much of my beautiful Philippines.

I hope you enjoyed this. I’ll be posting more photos and stories about my beautiful new world of flowers!

xx, Sasha

Wedding In Wonderland

Exactly one month ago, I received an unexpected call from a bride-to-be, asking me if I could make her wedding invitations. I got really excited when I found out that her wedding theme is Alice In Wonderland. Oh, the things you can design and create with that very whimsical theme! On the other hand, I realized my challenge of not making the design too Tim Burton-ish. I still want the design to be classic and beautiful without losing the whimsical charm of the theme.

My customer brief was to create something a bit quirky, vintage-looking but minding that the occasion is still a black tie event. I have to be honest—red, black and white would not be the initial colour choice for a very dainty girl like me. I thought about it long and hard. It was very challenging. I had several drafts which I deleted straight away because I wasn’t at all pleased with them. It was very frustrating at first but finally one idea finally came to me like a revelation. I have a peg!!! A classic illustrated Alice In Wonderland storybook! I actually had to make a design pitch before I got the job and my design was chosen against two others *proud moment* hahaha

I had to come up with three kinds of cards. The main invitation, rsvp and “wishing well” card (for those who are unfamiliar, it’s just a lovely card saying that the couple would prefer money for a present instead). On each card, I put some iconic items associated with the Alice In Wonderland but keeping the text layout/design simple but a bit playful.

One of the unique things about Alice In Wonderland is the fact that there are many design elements to it. With the palette I was working with, it was quite obvious that the “red queen” should set the mood of the invitation, yet I don’t like her to be the star of my design.

 Each bright red envelope was made from A4 paper. Yes, I had to make each envelope myself as the size that the couple wanted wasn’t a standard Australian size! Well, I was geared with an appropriate cutter and scoring board so they turned out clean with a professional finish. Then, after a gazillion hours making the envelopes, I lined each one with a black and white checkered paper to resemble a chessboard.

This project was no piece of cake, at least for me.  I worked day in and day out for one whole month but I am very proud to say that these one hundred pieces of wedding invitations are almost 100% handmade (that’s because I didn’t make the paper and used a printer lol)

All packed up and ready to go. The packaging was my only chance to make a more Tim Burton-ish Alice In Wonderland! These colours melted my heart. I think they are so enchanting and magical! That’s a real flower right there and its color is divine!

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Let me leave you with my favorite line from Alice In Wonderland

The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?

Alice: I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret: ALL THE BEST PEOPLE ARE.

Have a good Easter weekend everyone. God bless you all.

xx,

Sasha

Take Me To a Place Where Wild Flowers Grow

I woke up to a beautiful morning knowing that I have a very busy week ahead. I should of felt a sense of urgency but I chose to calm down and not stress out—-savor moments of rest. My house was still filled with leftover flowers from last weekend’s event. Their beautiful scent called me to work with them.

So, here’s two little somethings from one fine morning. It reminded me of childhood memories when my family spent every summer at my grandparents’ hill-garden. My cousins and I would pick wild rainforest flowers and make little posies to give to our  mothers. It wasn’t the most refined posy but I loved how it just looked heartfelt and sincere. Maybe, that’s the reason I still love flowers looking wild and unrestricted. I find beauty in their randomness because it feels genuine and unpretentious. After all, everyone loves at least one thing that is wild and free!

Just sharing a thought. Have a blessed day.

xx,

Sasha