Easter Egg Decoration

A little early for Easter but saw the idea to sew pieces of fabric together and couldn't resist!

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

I'm a Model you know what I mean, and I do my little dance on the catwalk...

Ha! Not quite a model and not quite a catwalk!

Lucas and I were asked by the folks at the Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance & Motoring Festival to pose for a few pictures at their event. They are looking to reach out to a new market of 25-36 year olds to come to their motoring festival. We had a blast running around the gorgeous festival grounds at Honey Horn Plantation. Here are a few shots:

Christmas is Over!

The Christmas season has come to end but I still have another Christmas post I need to make. I heard Christmas music on the radio this morning so I guess I can still show you my homemade Christmas ornaments, right?

Here is a sampling of the ornaments I made for the PSA Essentials design team project:

Life has been totally hectic lately. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has chosen our area for the next build and the company I work for has been selected to do all of the local PR/Marketing. It has been quite the whirlwind and I hope to update all of you at some point. The build will start on January 12. If you're in the area and want to get involved go to www.ExtremeMakeoverBeaufortCounty.com or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Extreme-Makeover-Home-Edition-Beaufort-County/132669823461136

Another Year, Another Birthday

My birthday has yet again come and gone. Another year older and hopefully another year wiser. In the past year I've really started to get my craft on and some of my birthday gifts reflected my new found hobby. Luke's mom, Anita (my future mother-in-law!), got me a gift certificate to Michael's craft store which might be the best gift ever! I've already used half of it on materials for my February PSA Essentials assignment. Another really thoughtful set of gifts came from Libby, who is the PSA Essentials Design Team Manager and an awesome friend. She got me a circle punch, scalloped scissors and rollout adhesive. Check out how excited I was when I opened it:

So excited to get to work on my crafts!

The Nail Polish Project

Two fridays ago, on November 19th, I went out to get a manicure with my girlfriends Ashley and Libby. Libby and I both decided to the new gel nail polish that is guaranteed to last 2 weeks. The manicure cost $10 more than a regular manicure and was a very different experience! After each nail polish coat we had to put our nails under the black light (UV?) for 2 minutes. After the final coat had set for 2 minutes, they wiped down your nails and they were 100% dry - no more leaving the nail salon with wet nails!

I was suspicious about how long the polish would stay on without chipping so I decided to document it. Overall, the polish is similar to having cement on your nails and feels very strong. Here is the progress (nail color is "Linkin Park After Dark" and I used the PSA Essentials Stamps for documenting):

I was really impressed with how these held up. They took a good beating during Thanksgiving and with some yardwork. Definitely recommend trying it out for yourself! Only downsides - your nails grow out fairly quickly in 2 weeks and you have to go back to the nail salon to get the polish removed.

2011 Calendar by Pinhole Press (Discount Code!)

My sister Kate was in town last week for Thanksgiving from upstate New York. We celebrated turkey day at our friends house and had a blast! The weather was just perfect at about 80 degrees which was a nice treat for Kate since it's starting to get chilly up north.

Anyway, while Kate was here she told me about this great company that she works for called Pinhole Press and all of their "beautifully simple photo products". I ordered a 2011 photo calendar and it comes on a high-end uncoated heavy paper stock. The cover is brown with the title of the calendar "2011 THE DELANOS" in white ink. I've always thought that glossy paper looked cheap and love the idea of having it with a matte finish instead.

Their other products would make perfect Christmas gifts. Everything from Brag Books to Photo Journals to Feed/Health Logs for new babies. Head over to the Pinhole Press website to look around. They have offered a discount of 10% off for any of your orders, just use the code PINHOLEPRESSVIP.

Pinhole Press - www.PinholePress.com

10% Off Code - PINHOLEPRESSVIP