A Weekend Well Spent {green tea & ivy}

....worked hard this weekend to fill the shop with some new things, now that Spring is here!

Even though the hours of hand cutting and stitching pass so quickly, I can saw its worth it when i actually FINISH something.

Would it be silly if I walked around town wearing my own creations? Talk about all dressed up with no place to go. :) 

All available for purchase in my Etsy Shop. 

A cup of Spring

Early in February, my OC pals {a.k.a. Liz's bridesmaids} had a request - enough greentea & ivy pieces to give away as favors at Liz's bridal shower! Considering the special opportunity to bless one of my long time friends, I took a deep breath and agreed - I'm sure I was a little on the crazy side of my brain for thinking I could put together 50+ unique clips and brooches (especially with mike & jen's wedding being right smack in the middle of it). However, thanks to my roommate, Sarah, we finished them all (as well watched an array of movies) in two weeks time! It was a wonderful opportunity to share the love - and I would do it again if I had the chance. :)

Jules also had a special request: purple & gold headbands for the bridesmaids.
Though initially it was a challenge to come up with something lovely yet matching the Lakers theme for their wedding, I was MORE THAN HAPPY to incorporate full love for my favorite team in a greentea & ivy project!

Something special for the bride - a big fluffy peony for Liz.

Some of the other pieces...about half were brooches and half were clips

I had a contest running for facebook fans this past week asking them what their favorite part of getting ready for a wedding was. Out of all the ladies that replied, Yuna Park is our winner. :) Congrats Yuna! Please send me either a facebook message or an email at courtlynn.photography@gmail.com with your address and indicate if you would like to receive a pair of ranuculus hair pins (red, gold, white or pink) or a white peony hair clip.

Lastly, as I mentioned... Happenstance has been lookin' just a little different around here - and that is thanks almost entirely to cathie hong! Ever since she started her new blog, Ampersandity, I have been won over by her craftiness on a daily basis... talk about a quick learner - she's a quickly budding calligrapher/graphic designer/stylist/photographer and I knew she was the perfect person to design the new logo I had in mind.

Her penmenship is gorgeous and easygoing...just a touch of whimsy. I'm hopefully those are
words can also describe courtlynn photo in due time as well. :)

Cathie is also up for other projects if you are interested in hiring her
(which I recommend...I would have her write everything for me, if I could :D)
Check our her blog for more details!

Crafty Inspiration: Happy flowers

Spring is here...and I cannot describe how happy fresh flowers make the part of me that is a little too girly. There is one thing that bums me out about them though - that they eventually die.

Of course there is a happy compromise to that situation. Making paper flowers! It's a trend that regularly circles around the wedding-blog world and I have more than enough tutorials saved on my computer than I have opportunities to use them. Considering its "bridal shower season" I thought I would take a break from blogging my work to compile my favorite tutorials for your non-traditional blossoms! Enjoy!

Intimate Weddings blog shows you how to make flowers from cupcake liners

Normally I'm not a fan of carnations but this Folding trees tissue paper carnations tutorial kind of changed my mind about them.

Button blossoms done as adorably as martha stewart could.

One of my favorite techniques is burning the edges of fabric so that they curl. Reminds me of my favorite ranuculus. Of course a tutorial for it would be on 100 Layer Cake.

DIY-able tissue paper centerpiece from Once Wed.

i could think of a dozen uses for this simple spiral rose. dozi design posted a very easy to follow tutorial. How would you use them?

introducing Green Tea & ivy!

So continuing from yesterday...

i discovered the craft fair at UCSD not long after completing the pieces for Randy & Elaine's wedding. I toyed with the idea of selling fanciful sashes and headbands since it is the beginning of the Christmas season, and well in advance of the wedding season.

Long story short, I was put on a waiting list for the craft fair about 1.5 weeks before it was to take place. Two days before I actually got INTO the craft fair and had to go into a frenzy trying to make as many peices as possible in two days, considering that I didn't have anything already premade. Basically starting off from scratch as I tried to narrow down my ideas, but fully inspired by several hours in Anthropologies, Michaels & Joanns...what else would you expect but an all niter before setting up shop @ 6:30 AM on a wednesday morning?

So what did I actually make?

Oh just some hair clips:

{These goldie clips were the most popular item at the craft fair!}


Malia {modeled by both jules & chelle - this large magenta marigold piece is one of my favorites- just the right amount of island flair. I also made a brooch with pearls piled in the middle. I think I have to make another one for myself!}


"Olivia" headband. :) {Named after you know who. :)}


The Kristen headband {a unique blend of lace and linen. One was snatched up by my sister who decided to pair it with jeans today. I myself paired it with my favorite brown sweater, a golden plaid shirt and my brown boots.}



Penelope Sash {A blush pink peony on a satin gray sash. I LOVE the color combo. Very soft and romantic.}


Midnight Rose Sash {More of a deep magenta in a silk garden rose...but against a navy satin sash, its actually pretty! I'm not a fan of pink but these two colors just seem to balance each other so well.}


Elizabeth Ruffle sash {chiffon, linen ruffles on gray ribbon. Simple but intricately handsewn.}


Lauren Ribbon Sash {A giant magenta flower on a gray satin sash. I couldn't help but picture it with a simple little black dress.}

So it was a great experience that I'm glad I had. Thanks to the support of my roommates who gave me their feedback and encouragement by want to buy like ALL of my sashes and hair clips and Joyce Kaj who turned out to be the perfect assistant to manning my table at the craft fair. While I'm still tossing around the idea of making an Etsy shop, I consider my accessories shop Green Tea & Ivy "off the ground". (Not the most original name but it was something I coined when I first thought I would have a fashion line one day...back in when I used to puffy paint tshirts in 8th grade.)

Contact me if you want to order anything you see here OR if you have something else in mind. :)

Crafty Madness continued

Not long ago (actually the week before my vacation) I participated in my first craft fair @ UCSD...it was pretty exciting!

Well exciting and kind of scary as well. What inspired me to put my handmade pieces out there?
It all started with my birthday present to Olivia (which you might remember me making here)


That first project was really really fun. Little did I know there was more to come.
Since Olivia was going to be a flower girl, Angela (Livy's mom) suggested to the bride (my buddy Elaine) that maybe I could make some head pieces for her flower girls.

So i multiplied my headband efforts by three and made very slightly different variations of silk hydrangea petals handsewn with pearls and gold beads in their centers for Elaine & Randy's cutie flower girls. Though I was running tight on time in delivering them, I had to take some photos documenting project #2. Macbook to the rescue!



Now, not about me but how about those flower girls?

{photos by James Lim}


{photo by orange turtle photography}

so I was really excited about the possibilities of making more pieces like this. Read on tomorrow to see what I actually made for the craft fair and what's currently available!

Feelin' Crafty

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of headbands. Seriously.

I've been saving photos and tutorials like crazy since the fabric flower crazy hit the blogging world. I found this blog that has so many pretty diy projects involving headbands and I finally had time today to try my hand. She's brilliant and the best part... SUPER EASY TO FOLLOW!


Her version was made for her nieces that were to be flower girls.

Here's some fun with my version:

My version upclose. I went with white because that was the color of the material I had lying around that was closest to what was used for heart-of-light's version.


Finally....a model shot.

I was quite pleased with the end product. Which went directly into the hands of Miss Olivia Kim as her 4th birthday present. More crafting to come!

I was super blessed to have a day off from work today (thank you Veterans who have served our country!) and I'm glad to say that it was not a wasted day.

I had a little extra time to prepare for small group tonight, so I got a little crafty. We are going to memorizing verses together - I thought this might be a good start to helping us out with that. It was a soothing afternoon. :)