Robot in Bloom, Sandy Ervin

Sandy is the artsy pile of brains behind Robot in Bloom. Crafter extraordinaire, I met Sandy when she hired me to shoot her wedding in March of 2008. She had these gorgeous paper flower bouquets and decorations that STILL get lots of ooh's and ahh's from prospective clients perusing my album samples. I'm always saying, "She MADE those!" Sandy was using the crazy bright colors before everyone else... here's my blog about her wedding, and the Offbeat Bride (national blog, fancy!) feature.

Well, leave it to Sandy to just be a jack-of-all-trades where the fabulously designed paper crafts go. Not only is she an absolutely wonderful album designer (whose services I use on a regular basis), she's launched a whole other branch *hehe* of business making paper florals!

I know what you're thinking... paper flowers? What-ever! These are absolutely gorgeous, though : ) Forget bouquet preservation, these babies will last without any effort on your behalf! You could use your actual wedding bouquet to shoot bridal portraits with... decorate your home with party flowers. I'm sure they'd translate well as hairpieces or other adornments as well.

I've never actually seen her make them, but I envision her in a state of zen creativity as she fashions each petal and chooses colors and shapes... you know, like those people who make the gorgeous life-like florals from gumpaste for wedding cakes. The possibilities are just endless... they won't poison your children or pets, won't die, they aren't heavy and don't require any sort of watering. BONUS! They don't look like goofy fake silk flowers, either... they're smart and crafty. I'd imagine that you can pretty much go wherever you'd like with color, not having to worry about sticking to Mother Nature's ideas or the season of your event. Transporting these flora would prove much simpler than the fresh-cut alternatives as well (they're much lighter and can be packed in advance). Allergic to pollen? No problemo!

Sandy was participating in an Artisan Fair so we arranged to have her come in for some portraits of the flowers, you know, since she worked so hard and there was a good chance the arrangements would get snatched up by shoppers. We even did a few headshots of Ms. Robot herself, in her cute little Robot shirt.

Check out her latest and greatest creations!