Holiday Gift Guide

Its past mid-novemeber and I am full swing into holiday mode. What that means for a maker is not BUYING gifts but MAKING them! Its an exciting time of year but full of late nights and lots of coffee! I have been working hard to create new products for the upcoming shows I will be at such as West Coast Craft and Square Market. (Sneak peaks on my Instagram!) I am so excited to launch the full collection on the site!

With the christmas now just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to make a gift guide for everyone! From the hostess to the gardener, I got you covered. Check out the guide below and let me know what you would purchase for that special someone! 

1. The One-of-a Kind, this Spalted Maple Vase ($75) will make anyone feel special knowing its the only one out there. 2. The Organizer, the Cork Treasure Pots ( $150-$250) helps store anything from desk accessories to flour 3. The DIY…

1. The One-of-a Kind, this Spalted Maple Vase ($75) will make anyone feel special knowing its the only one out there. 2. The Organizer, the Cork Treasure Pots ( $150-$250) helps store anything from desk accessories to flour 3. The DIYer, the Holiday Spoon Carving Set ($85+) is the perfect gift for that someone that likes to make things with their hands! 4. The Collector, Exclusive line of Cork Ornaments ($14) will make any collector excited! 5. The Gardener, These unique indoor/outdoor cork planters ($25-$60) is a gardener must have. 6. The Baker, the beautiful and luxurious Walnut Cake Stand ($199+) will make any chef swoon. 7. The Hostess, anyone will know they are loved with the Cork Bowl with Rope Handles $40), the perfect hostess gift. 8. The Pick-me-up, put a smile on someones face with these shapely Cork Vases ($40-$60) add some fresh flowers when you deliver them too! 9. The Co-Worker, Add a little something extra to your co-workers workspace with this Cork Pencil Holder ($55)

Exclusive Holiday Line for Brika

Around 6 months ago Brika contacted me to do an exclusive line of holiday goods. I am excited to anncouce they have finally launched! (It's the holiday season already?!) We worked together to choose a series of different ornaments and accessories that fit their brand image but also highlighted my work as a designer. Each ornament was designed in mind that they could be grouped together for an overall cohesive arrangement. I created 3 different shapes of cork ornaments and 1 adorable holiday tree for your desk. The cork tree was my favorite, it comes with gold pins that pin onto the tree.  You can pin photos of your loved ones or notes for your desk, the versatility is endless. Cute right?! You can see the photos of the ornaments and tree below! Shop the line of goods here on Brika's website.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hello Everyone! If you didn't know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!

I am  giving a percentage of my sales from my web store to Breast Cancer Awareness Week   to help women and their families affected by breast cancer, and I am asking for your help! This fundraiser is set to take place on Oct. 1, 2014 and you have until Oct. 31, 2014 to help me reach my fundraising goal I created a campaign of some of my newer products that is both fun and educational! I did a photo shoot with pink backgrounds to get your minds on "thinking pink". I will donate a percentage of my profits to every product purchase with a pink background. I also created a page to help with the fundraiser for National Breast Cancer Awareness that talks about what I am doing and the products you can purchase. 

Raising awareness for breast cancer is important to me because my Aunt in the Philippines was diagnosed with breast cancer, she fought strongly and has been cancer free for the past five years. It affected my family like it does with so many and I wanted to support Cancer Awareness Week to help better their outcome. I hope that you will join us in the fight, to bring support to breast cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones. NBCF’s programs provide women help for today and hope for tomorrow. 

Use the hashtag #thinkpinkwithmelanie when you purchase your order for a chance to be featured on my instagram!

Help Now! Shop Pink here on my etsy site or donate on the page


Create + Cultivate LA 2014

These past couple of months have been crazy for me. Between getting holiday orders, markets, events and even workshops. In August I was lucky enough to be apart of the Create and Cultivate event at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA hosted my NoSubject LA and Darling Magazine. It was an awesome event full of inspiring women, "a getaway chock full of creative workshops, seminars and panels hosted by top bloggers, influencers & craftsmen." I made new friends, learned about how to be genuine to my clients and even awesome press tips from Soda Pop!

I was asked by my good friend Eileen to help with the decor for the event and I couldn't have been happier! I took it as an opportunity to create one of a kind pieces for C+C that would embody a more feminine and fun spin on my designs. I made cork planters, vases with accents of copper foil, polka dots and even a fun macrame hanging planter (a collar with eileen!) 

Cork Planter with copper foil 

Cork Planter with copper foil 

Table Set up for the Darling Dinner

Table Set up for the Darling Dinner

Workshops Set up and ready for the day!

Workshops Set up and ready for the day!

New cork cup pencil holder with polka dots!

New cork cup pencil holder with polka dots!

I was also the teacher for the floral hair piece workshop. It was so much fun to set up and teach! Working with my hands, and teaching others to be creative by making things is always so rewarding for me. I think everyone enjoyed taking photos of their beautiful creations as well! 

You can learn more about the Create and Cultivate on their website here! As always, check out my instagram for more pictures on my day to day life :) 

Photos taken by: Little Den Blog and Create Cultivate 

Parachute Market: Ever Present Sept. 20-21

I will be showing at the next Parachute Market this weekend in Los Angeles! I did enjoyed their last show in spring and knew this show wouldn't be an exception! This time they have created a new concept called Market-Market where the products will be displayed more like a pop-up market. I am excited to see how it goes! 

 Please come by on Sept 20-21 and support Melanie Abrantes Designs. I will be debuting a lot of new work to the Los Angeles Area! I will have copper salt bowls, cork bowls with rope handles and of course my cork planters! 

Thanks!

 

Ever Present this weekend!

Ever Present this weekend!

Design Finalist for American Made!

I am so happy to announce that I made it as a design finalist for the American Made Awards! I am delighted to be apart of such a wonderful contest that promotes handmade goods in America. The contest is for $10,000 start (which would help tremendously for my business!), a feature in Martha Stewart, a trip for two to NYC and the list goes on! Please take a look at my profile and vote!! Voting goes on from Sept. 15 to Oct. 13, 2014. Winner will be announced on Oct. 17, 2014!

My American Made profile: http://www.marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/91939/design/melanie-abrantes-designs

Made it as a Finalist! So Awesome!

Made it as a Finalist! So Awesome!

How the American Made Contest Works 

How the American Made Contest Works 

New press page and press!

It has been a busy couple of weeks from christmas orders coming in to new products for the events I've been doing! I also have been getting a little press and finally found the time to make myself a proper page! I was featured on Sightunseen in their weekly Saturday Selects! I was so excited to see my Of a Kind vases on their website! Super cool. Also, this past week Design Sponge added my image to their "30 Photos to Celebrate Summer" Article! Whoo-hoo! I think its been a pretty good month so far :)

Check out more press on my new page here

Sightunseen Blog

Sightunseen Blog

Design Sponge Blog

Design Sponge Blog


Special Edition for Of a Kind

My Petite Cork Vases just launched this past Friday for Of a Kind! It was my largest order yet, being 80 vases, and 40 sets. I collaborated with their team to come up with adorable set of vases on their site. They use a special cork that has larger graduals and even carries a glass vial for fresh flowers (something I haven't done yet until now!)

Purchase this set here. There is only a limited supply! 

Check out my profile on their site as well as the two personal editorials they wrote about. So exciting!! 

Front page on their website, pretty exciting!

Front page on their website, pretty exciting!

The petite cork vase set! 

The petite cork vase set! 

The vials that come with the vase so you can add fresh flowers

The vials that come with the vase so you can add fresh flowers

They would look great anywhere…. especially your own home ;)

They would look great anywhere…. especially your own home ;)