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5.9.16

Why we love Homecoming Mums!!









I think I was in 7th grade the very first time I saw a Homecoming mum. It was one of the prettiest things I had ever seen. Everyone was standing around this young girl and all you could see were sparkles and glitter. That day nothing else mattered other than the interesting and pretty items each girl had on her homecoming mum. There were no cool kids or nerds that day, everyone just wanted to talk about mums.  It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. In my hometown, 8th graders were allowed to wear homecoming mums for the high school they would be attending the next year. I could not wait to be an 8th grader so I could get my first Homecoming mum. Excuse me for a flashback, Go Manor Rams!! 

Back to why I love this crazy craft. Everything about about homecoming mums is exciting to me. Even the history of its simple beginning to the constant conversation about their new
extreme sizes and details. Be it that I love everything mum it brings out the most creative part of me. Each order I receive I am literally trying to get into the head of the kid I am creating the mum for. Is he an Artist? Is she a dancer or going to A&M in the fall. Is she a polka dot or a chevron girl? Every detail on our mums is all about its wearer. My love for this craft is folded in every single ribbon. After making literally thousands of Homecoming Mums over the years its still a grand adventure every time I get a new order. I treasure each and every memory. This is why our motto is It's more than a mum its a memory!!

Homecoming mums are a long standing Texas tradition. It is synonymous with the spirit of Texas football. For over 60 years homecoming mums have been apart of football as Texans know it. Mums are a strange idea to anyone who isn't from Texas or grew up just waiting for the minute to be old enough to wear one.  I've heard everything from that is so cool to I simply don't get it! However once they see them it doesn't take long  for anyone to be enamored by their beauty and creativity. 

Every single mum we create is a representative of what our customers have accomplished to this point in their life. From Cheerleading, Soccer to  Band and Drama our mums give our kids a way to show their individuality. Its a way to show your individual school spirit! These are memories that last a lifetime and at DK Florals we consider it a gift to be apart of your special occasion.

So why do we love mums, we love them because of what they can become and the young customers they represent. We hope you love our mums as much as we love making them for you. Happy Homecoming everyone! The 2016 season is here. 

3.8.16

Our Homecoming Mums over the Years!

We have been in the Homecoming business for over 14 years. Over the years we have had the opportunity to truly explore our creativity. Take a look and feel free to send us comments. We would love to hear from you.

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28.3.16

New Space = Homecoming Mum Heaven



Those of you who have been following DK Florals Inc. for any period time, know we were originally based in Arlington, Texas for the past 14 years. This past season was our final season in Tarrant County. We have now relocated to Providence Village, Texas which is right outside of Frisco. We now cater to all areas of Denton county including Little Elm, Plano, Mckinney, Allen, Denton, Prosper and other surrounding areas. 

We are super excited to be in our new area. We have stationed our business back in our home with a brand new showroom and workroom. We are so proud that we decided to share the transformation process with our favorite people, our customers. As you can see we have been very busy bees. We have painted the entry way in some of our favorite colors, teal and purple. Next we are going to put in new lighting, rugs, and furniture will top out the design we have in mind. Of course brand new displays that will be available for customer viewing during the season as well.


Also new this year is our super organized work space. Here is a sneak peek of what we have accomplished so far. It has definitely been a labor of love but it is finally coming together nicely. We are happy to share the space that "mums" built with all of our followers and customers. LOL. However, I will admit during mum season it will NOT look this pretty. There will be a splash of ribbon and glitter usually everywhere during the full season. This level of clean only lasts for the start of the season. The cool part is at least it is pretty dirt also known as glitter!

This year we will face new challenges as we explore new opportunities in our new area but we are totally prepared to take in this season with absolute success. Stay tuned for more adventures in Professional crafting from yours truly at DK Florals Inc. 

Till next time,

Kisha Crooks
Owner\Senior Designer
DK Florals Inc.
www.dkflorals.com


16.8.15

Part 3 - Finishing your Mum Design - Headwork



At this point in the design you have reached the end. We are at the defining moment in your Homecoming Mum Design. Creating the head can be
time consuming for us because we put so many touches on each design. However, this is the point when we like to display something special about our customer. The head is the first thing most people notice. So have fun with it, create something that shows who you are.


This customer requested to put an initial of some sort in the flower of the mum. Either for the team mascot or for the young lady's name. We went with the customers initial. Your local craft store has tons of letter variations. Foam, plastic, wood, finished and unfinished. These can be painted, glitter or covered in rhinestones. It's an great way to personalize the flower. For heads of this size we normally glue in the flower and let it dry over night just to make sure it's solid before we start adding decor. Same thing goes for the letter, especially if you paint or glitter them the night before and let it dry overnight.


Since the customer asked for chevron accents we wanted to make sure we used it somehow in the head. We decided to dress the bear in a skirt using the same materials we used in the body of the mum. I am a bit of a stickler for a cohesive look. What we use in the head is used in the skirt. All of this is all decided before we ever cut a single ribbon for the order. Crafting is about expression but expression can have design rules or themes you follow. Every design we create is unique but each on still follow some simple design rules. We want the look to be a statement, look as if it was thought about. We want the wearer to feel like this day is all about her or him. You will see in the photo to the right we used the same holographic ribbon and there is a pattern to the loops in the head. One elegant theme throughout the entire design.


Once the head is dry, we pull out all of the pieces we plan to use. We will do a dry run. This simply means placing everything before actually doing any gluing. Generally, we will go ahead and secure the bear and add in the letter. That way you can make sure that all of your bling and trinkets are not going to get in the way of the major design items. You can arrange flowers, bling and other items to accent the primary design. With time and patience you can see the design come together. Then the two come together. We will cover construction in a whole other blog topic. It will need at least thee separate articles as well. Take a look at the finished product below.





 Till next time,
 Kisha Crooks
 Owner\Senior Designer
 DK Florals Inc.
 www.dkflorals.com






22.7.15

Homecoming Mum Professionals



I wanted to take a moment to talk about a brand new organization in the Homecoming industry called Mums Inc. Mums Inc. was founded in 2012 to promote the growth and unity within the Homecoming Mum business. I personally have been making homecoming mums for over 20 years and as a business for the last 13. During this time I encountered a lot of struggles trying to find vendors, supplies and figure my way through the trials of starting a business. 

It became important to me as a small business to have and create valuable business relationships with other members of this industry. From this need Mums Inc. was born. In the beginning I started out by looking for any mum maker I could find on the internet. I emailed them, sent them messages on Facebook and low and behold, they responded. Now we have over 110 members on the roster. This includes some of the largest mum makers in Texas.

Together we are becoming a positive force in this industry. We have a very unique and exciting business. Our season runs generally from August to November and then its over. Everyone understands seasonal business but this business is not only seasonal its rooted in lots of long term tradition as well. We spend our time coming together for group purchases, educational events and just good ole fashion support from one another. I am proud to have founded this group and we are very excited about the path that we are on.

So with that said; Are you in the Homecoming Mum business? Are you looking to grow your business or learn new ideas? Please check out our website at www.mums-inc.com or email info@mums-inc.com for more information. 


Thanks,
Kisha Crooks
Owner\Senior Designer
DK Florals Inc
www.dkflorals.com


15.6.15

Part 2 - Designing a Mum with DK Florals Inc.


Now to the fun part....


At this stage in my design, the vision starts to take shape. We start to add the sparkle that makes the mum special. Below you will see where we left off in the last part of our story. The body has shape, we have added a layer of fullness with our boas. From here we will begin to add our decorated ribbons, braids and final touches. You can see below side by side as the skirt begins to take it form.


                                
 

Building the skirt in layers enables us to make give the customer various levels of surprises. There is always something special and new to find every time they look or an admirer peaks into the ribbons in the design.

Our goal when we build a mum is to make sure we capture each detail the customer requested. Each of our decorated ribbons focuses on the cheer aspect of the design. Hints of chevron touch several of the decorated ribbons you see in the pictures above. When making your Homecoming mum focus on the fun. 

In previous articles, I have mentioned that anything can be used to decorate a homecoming mum and that is true. The majority of what makes a DK Florals mum special is the time and effort we put into finding those items. Some of our favorite items to decorate with are craft items used in hair bows, trim from the sewing section and even miniature toys.

Elegance is the name of the game and that means everything has limits. Soft touches of bling and lace and sparkle go a long way. So use them to bring highlights to your favorite ribbons or trinkets in your design. For our designs the goal is to spread to pretty so each object is noticed. It is true there can never be too much bling or glitter but we also believe it has to be well placed and even. 



And the next level........







The photos above show the progression of the layers we discussed. Each layer bring new volume to the entire picture. Once this is complete we are done with the skirt. It is set aside to work on the next focus, The Head!

We have finally come to the place in the design where we work on the crowning achievement. Stay tuned for the next and final installment in Designing a Homecoming Mum with DK Florals Inc.

Thanks for stopping by, till next time...
Kisha Crooks
Owner\Senior Designer 
DK Florals Inc.
www.dkflorals.com

20.3.15

Designing a Homecoming Mum by DK Florals Inc.

I have been racking my mind for years trying to decide how to write a valuable series on design for Homecoming Mums. Our process for making mums is different than most and I didn't want to just come up with the same type of staple here and clip there type of story. Believe it or not I think of my mums the same way a fashion designer thinks about designing a dress. You try to get into the head of the wearer, sometimes you have more information than others. I wanted to bring something different. Something that made you really think about the process of creating a custom design you can be proud of. 

I am not your traditional designer, I believe it what the idea of a homecoming mum means should first represent the young lady or young man that is going to wear it. Mums over the past few years have truly become about self expression. I have put everything from glittering pigs to NASA items on a Homecoming Mum. But for that young lady it was everything she had ever imagined that moment to be. That's how I work during my creative process. It starts with the order form. The form itself is much more detailed but I shortened it for the purpose of the blog.

Order form notes:

Single Mega Homecoming Mum
Colors: Green\White\Black\Silver
Themes: Football and Cheerleading
Additions: Chevron Accents, MEGA Bling Package, Lights


The first thing I take note of is the specialty items that the customer asks for. She requested Chevron Accents, and she wanted a lot of bling.  For every mum I go and stand in front of my ribbon racks and decide who which ones I am going to use. The ribbon provides an identity to the mum. This is where my design starts to take shape. The bottom half of my mums I refer to as the skirt. I refer to the top as the head. Just FYI as we go along.





My mum design is based on layers. When I was in high school Homecoming mums were all about the beauty and finding even more beauty between the layers. My work is designed the same way. Every sparkling moving part moves aside to find another sparkling trinket or decorated ribbon. At this point we start to think about the layers of ribbon. Building your skirt is about finding a way to balance width and even layers of ribbon. Also making sure you don't incidentally hide some of the more pretty ribbon that you want to make sure is seen.



You can see above that it takes a few layers to build the base body of the mum. We build our boas into the body to provide a fuller effect to our designs. At this point the design really starts to take shape. Stay tuned for the next post where we will add decor ribbons, braids and more. 

Till next time crafters,
Kisha Crooks
Owner\Senior Designer
DK Florals Inc
www.dkflorals.com


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