I made the team!

Yah! I made the PSA Essentials Design team for a second year!

Check out my listing on today's blog and read about some of the other designers:

PSA Stamp Camp

Homemade pasta, that's amore!

I always buy the homemade pasta from the Bluffton Farmer's Market and have been anxious to try making it myself. When I was a kid we would make homemade pasta and it seemed like an exhausting process because we used a hand crank.

I got a pasta roller/cutter attachment for my KitchenAid mixer and have used it a handful of times already. It is surprisingly easy! The hardest part seems to be finding a grocery store that carries semolina flour. It takes me about an hour to make 8 small "nests" of pasta. The end result is totally worth the effort - light, fluffy and flavorful pasta.

The set-up:

Rolled sections and cut sections:

Final product:

Mangia!

All Thank You's are not the same

Luke’s aunts were kind enough to throw me a bridal shower on April 2 in Chicago. My mom flew in from Massachusetts and we had a blast touring around the city with Luke’s Mom and Dad. Check us out at “the bean”:

The shower was tons of fun and included Luke’s family, aunts, cousins and some friends. They certainly showered us with a myriad of gifts. I wanted to do something creative for a thank you card. Since Luke didn’t come along on the trip I thought it would be fun to send custom photo’s with Luke and I, a thank you sign and the gift they gave us. We had a blast going through the list and setting up the shots:

I had all of the pictures printed and then wrote a thank you on the back of each.

Shower the people you love with love

My friends from “Team Hilton Head” and “Team Massachusetts” threw Luke and I an over-the-top, knock your socks off, best ever couples shower. The hostesses put months of work into it and it showed! There were personalized candle holders, flower arrangements, tapas from WiseGuys, a collage with pictures of Luke and I, homemade favors and lots of fun! How do you thank someone for doing so much for you?

I hand-embroidered them each a handkerchief with their monograms. They came out really cute!

And here are the lovely ladies that made it all happen - thank you!!!

All You Need is Love, Actually

By far one of the best wedding scenes in a movie comes from "Love, Actually" when the musicians surprise the bride and groom with the song "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles. I've watched this over and over and was even inspired to play this song when I walked down the aisle because.... all you need is love.

Watch the YouTube clip Here

Say Yes to the Dress

One of the first decisions I made for the wedding, even before the date was set, was that I wanted to wear my mom’s wedding dress. The dress had been preserved and shrink wrapped in a box for almost 40 years - I had only seen it in pictures. My mom barely even remembered what it looked like except that she ripped one of the sleeves a little on her big day.

Last May, when Luke’s mom Anita and my mom were both in town, we opened the box. It’s a beautiful gown with a delicate lace overlay and long train. The dress fit perfectly but their were a few alterations I wanted to make - turtleneck and long sleeves weren’t going to work for me. Fortunately, my Aunt in Massachusetts owns a tailoring shop and volunteered to help.

I fell in love with the final dress and felt beautiful when I wore it. If I was in a store and saw it, I probably would have purchased the same dress!

Before shot:


After shots:

Me and Mom:

Of course we had to do a re-enactment of my parents wedding photo:

The Groom and his Men

From the very beginning of wedding planning Luke and I both knew that we wanted a small and laid back wedding. Since the ceremony and reception were being held at my parents home (the house I grew up in) we wanted it to feel like a cozy, “home sweet home” event.

All of the Groomsmen were traveling quite far to attend so we didn’t want them to have to lug a rented suit around with them. Luke and I decided to purchase the main parts of the outfit. So we went shopping and came back with a nice button down dress shirt, blue striped tie and grey v-neck sweater. All they had to do was wear their own black pants and black shoes.

I wrapped their outfits up in cute little packages using PSA Essential Stamps:They all looked very handsome on the big day! I must say that Groomsmen are KEY elements to a smooth wedding. I didn’t know this ahead of time but these are the people that can get the “man-work” done during the day-of and help with moving chairs/tables during the event. Luke is a lucky man to have these guys in his life, they are all amazing!

Basil Overload

Basil is one of the best smelling, best tasting and low-maintenance herbs out there. I love having a big basil plant that I can always depend on for pesto and salads. Recently I was out of town and when I came back the basil had grown dramatically. Last night I made some pesto and turned it into a dinner!

First, I added almonds, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese and a clove of garlic to the food processor and created a paste:


Next, the basil went in with some salt and pepper:

Voila!

So for dinner I made pesto chicken quesdillas! Yum!

You don't need a Justin Beiber movie to make me scream

What a busy year it has been already! January was insane and I was 100% committed to the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build in Beaufort, SC. The build site was about 45 minutes away and we had to be on site from 8am-8pm everyday. I shouldn't complain though, some people were there for 20+ hours at a time and worked midnight shifts in 20 degree weather. More of that in another blog....

Happy Valentine's Day! My most recent PSA Essentials assignment was to create 3 projects for "Valentine's Entertaining". At first I thought this meant for entertaining friends or having a dinner party but then it occurred to me - who is with their friends on Valentine's Day? I had to get down and dirty with this one! Va Va Voom! Here is what I came up with, it's fun, sexy and still I little classy:

First, temp your special someone with some treats:

Then, follow the trail of hearts to the bedroom:

Then, enjoy a romantic evening with no interruptions:

Checkout the PSA Essentials version of this post on their blog: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/02/sexytime-crafts.html