WINE LABELS

I can't believe how fast time flies!  My daughter and her husband celebrated their one year wedding anniversary on the 28th of September.   I still look back on the photo album fairly regularly, and I have a couple of enlargements throughout my home that I see on a daily basis; it was such a special time for our family.

I knew I wanted to do a little something as a gift for the two of them....nothing too over-the-top, so I opted to make a wine label to commemorate the day.  I used Microsoft publisher since it offers lots of options and I'm just really comfortable with the program since I use it a lot at work.  I developed the design as I went along; I knew I wanted to use one of their wedding photos so I used that as my focal point and worked the other design elements around it.   Since they were married in the fall, I used the fall colors we used as the theme throughout their wedding.
As far as the rest of the project goes, I removed the existing label off the front of the bottle by soaking it really well in water.   I suspended it over a bowl, since I wanted to keep the back label.  It really came off fairly easily; in three large pieces.  I removed the first piece, then re-soaked and pulled off the second piece and one more soak and I was good.

I printed the the label on a buff colored resume' paper so it was a bit more sturdy than your standard copy paper. To adhere my label to the front, I used a glue stick.  I felt it would cause the least amount of rippling, being more of a dry adhesive. It worked like an absolute charm, it went on so smoothly.

I decided to also make a wine bag out of some burlap that I had on hand from another project. I won't share the dimensions since it can vary depending upon the brand of wine you choose (due to the size/shape of the bottle). I serged it on three sides and then stitched a line from the bottom edge to the side in order to eliminate the pointy corners when it was turned right side out. Then, I added some fun embellishments to make it special.

I opted for a dessert wine; I thought it would go well with the wedding cake that has been in my freezer all this time.  Yup! We saved the top of the cake for them, just like my husband and I did when we got married; and we did eat ours (I don't think I've ever met a cake I didn't like)  Happy Anniversary-- Enjoy you two!!

LAPEL PINS

I know I've blogged on this topic before, but I decided to write another....Hey it's my blog right?   Anyway, maybe I can inspire those of you who also love lapel pins to continue your love affair...and possibly convert some of you who have never been a fan to try it out.

These ideas were just waiting to come to life...you see these little beauties were either found in my jewelry box or my Mom's.  Cool huh?  So, out-of-pocket investment was minimal.   The first one is so simple, it's a circa 1980's earring.  You see back then, hand painted ceramic earrings were BIG!! in more than one way---Big as in popular and Big as in Big....anyway, I've gotten more compliments when I wear this as a lapel pin. Just take advantage of the existing hardware and push it through the lapel as if it were the hole in your ear lobe and you're golden.

The next one I made with old clip on earrings of my Mom's.  I was inspired when my daughter and I went digging into Mom's jewelry box for the something "old" for my daughter's wedding.   My daughter opted to take a couple of clip-on earrings and a brooch and give them to the florist to place in her bridal bouquet.  It was so sentimental. So, when we were rooting around, there were other earrings that I thought were cool and decided to do something with them.  I started with the green earrings, then found a few other doo-dads and glued them all together....then, just add either a piece of felt, or in my case I had some suede and glued it to the back and then glued the pin hardware (yep....I got it at Hobby Lobby...my home away from home). There's more fun to be had in the jewelry box, but I moved on to a fabric flower that I wanted to share.

This one is made from three types of fabric remnants that I've used in various projects.  You cut various size circles and then fold them in half and then in half again.....hand stitch them to a piece of felt or interfacing for support and sew the pin hardware to the back.    There are a ton of great tutorials already out there both on blogs or You Tube, so I'm not going to bother you with that.....but look how cute it is!  You never know what treasures you have that you can bring to life with a little imagination!  Go for it!

ELBOW LENGTH BRIDAL VEIL

I had the pleasure of helping a bride with a few items for her wedding day recently.  On the gown that she purchased, she wanted to add some custom touches.  The first item involved the hemline; she was looking for a more pronounced scalloped lace edging around the perimeter.  I was able to find a beautiful wide alencon lace trim at Allyn's Fabrics in Denver which matched beautifully to the gown color.  The second item was to add a rhinestone trim (she had purchased) just underneath the bustline; beautiful touch!
Finally, so that she could dance the night away with ease, I added bustles.  To bustle the gown it took a double bustle with three bustle points in each tier.

The upper bustle, since it took the majority of the weight of the gown, I used buttons and loops similar to the other bustle I recently shared with you.  The second tier was done with three pairs of ties.

For me....anytime I can design and create, I'm in heaven.  So, the best part was the elbow length veil she wanted me to create.  I used the same scalloped trim from the hemline of the gown for the border of the veil.  I chose to make the width of the veil just a bit wider than shoulder width since we wanted to be sure not to obscure the back of her gown.  The back bodice of the gown was particularly interesting so by minimizing the width, it left the veil very sheer across her back.

Take a look at beautiful Miranda!   What was especially cool was I was able to be a part of Miranda and Lance's special day, since I was honored to second shoot alongside KB Digital Designs.   Congratulations and may the two of you share many, many years of sweet anniversaries together!

BRUSCHETTA

I made these bruschetta this past weekend for hors d'oeuvres before a steak and roast veggie dinner.   It took a bit of prep; toasting the bread, chopping up the tomatoes, etc....but it was definitely worth the time. I'd say the prep was about 20-25 minutes. You'll see there is one step with the tomatoes that requires 30 minutes time; I toasted the bread and mixed up the ricotta during that time.

I can't take the credit, I found it on Sweet Pea's kitchen; it was so yummy I wanted to share.  This gal has a ton of recipes on her blog; there were lots that I thought looked really yummy!!  I'll be visiting her site again, for sure.

I will take credit for one "enhancement" to the bruschetta recipe that I made....I sprinkled a little fresh grated parmesan cheese over the top of each one. :)

Looks good enough to eat, huh?   Enjoy!

CATHEDRAL LENGTH VEIL

I decided it was time to make another cathedral length veil; the last time I made one was in the '80's.  I made the veil along with the bridal gown, bridesmaid dress and the three little flower girl dresses.  It was a real treat to make the entire wedding party for sure.  I just learned that one of the flower girls was a bride herself this year....my how time flies!

Anyway, here is the finished product.  It is made with white illusion and has two different types of laces.

I know....have you ever seen a veil look so sexy??!!  The scalloped lace is a venice lace which goes all the way around the edge of the veil.  The appliques are alencon lace; I added some pearls and sequins after I had sewn the appliques into place to give it a little sparkle.  The sequins will catch the sunlight or reception lighting and shimmer.   Finally, I added some horsehair braid to the bottom edge and sewed a strand of pearls over the top which created a light flounce.  

I took a course on lace when I was in college; can you imagine an entire semester of lace?  It became a bit of a snoozer of a class, but I learned to appreciate the hours of labor and years of tradition that go into laces from various regions around the globe.

A cathedral veil looks so regal paired with the right gown. I hope to find a bride in need of this very one for her special day!  A cathedral veil can also be bustled the same way the hemline of a gown is bustled, that way if the bride wants to, she can wear her veil all night long.   Visit the SheaMarie Designs shop

RECIPES WITH FRUIT

I love fruit!  Veggies on the other hand, I have to work on...but fruit-absolutely love it!  Especially summer fruit; the variety is awesome.  So, I thought I would share some of the things I do with fruit.

First, I love a simple fresh fruit salad. Just slice up a variety of fresh fruit and sprinkle on some cinnamon.  It adds a unique flavor to the fruit and is oh so yummy!  I've been using this technique for years and whenever I make it for guests, they love it and are surprised it's just a little cinnamon that gives it that extra flavor.  This bowl is filled with blackberries, strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe, raspberries, kiwi and mango.  Makes my mouth water just writing about it.

Next, I add fruit to my tuna salad.  For this open faced sandwich I added: low fat miracle whip, grapes, apples, sweet pickles, dried onion bits,black  pepper, dried cranberries and almonds (the packaged kind that you toss on salads). Oh, and of course a side of bing cherries.

Last weekend, I made a chicken salad.  I picked up some shredded chicken in the deli section of King Soopers, added some low fat miracle whip and sliced mangos.  It was so good!  No bread needed for that one.

Another favorite is green salad with fruit.  I've thrown all sorts of fruit on my salads like strawberries, blueberries, pineapple.   But, my all time favorite is blackened salmon, romaine lettuce, dried cranberries and feta cheese. Just top with your favorite dressing and toss on a few almonds and you're good!  (McCormick salmon rub is awesome)

I go crazy during the summer with fruit since the variety becomes very limited in about September/October in Colorado.  Although, I have noticed in the last year or two a bit more to choose from...it seems the grocers are bringing in fruits from other countries.  As Martha would say, "that's a good thing!".

WEDDING GOWN BUSTLE

I wanted to share my technique on this wedding gown bustle, since frankly I was stumped for a bit trying to come up with the solution.  I figure, if I can help someone else after losing some sleep over it....then I should share right? After all, why should we both have insomnia over this?  ;)

When I look at a gown, the type of bustle usually comes to me very easily; meaning under bustle or over bustle.... the gown design itself generally dictates which bustle version it should be based upon the silhouette of the gown and/or the design features on the back of the dress.

A good example, was the gown bustle I did last year that I wrote a blog post about.  This bride's gown had a beautiful beaded border around the bottom of the gown with a delicate ribbon and bow that absolutely needed to be seen when the gown was bustled.  Knowing that, it was simple....it needed an over bustle!

The gown I made my daughter, on the other hand had many design elements higher up on the skirt (1800's style bustle, rose fabric flowers, shirring) that needed to be shown off, so an under bustle was in order.

The last two gowns I've worked on have been lace overlay gowns both of which had very form fitted bodices all the way to the hip; to me the silhouette called for an under bustle.  Show off the beading and lace, and create some design flair at the hemline.  The unique thing about this most recent gown was the embroidered tulle overlay extended a good 10 inches beyond the taffeta gown underneath.  That meant a double under bustle; the first bustle to get the majority of the gown up off the floor, the second to pull the tulle up and show off the embroidered border at the hemline.

I actually, pinned it two different ways at the fitting and let the bride decide which look she preferred.   Once the decision was made, I needed to figure out what I was going to use to hold the second set of bustles securely in place.  The challenge was the tulle was extremely delicate and the embroidery was very subtle.   What could I use that wouldn't be seen through the tulle when the train was extended?  I actually shared that with my bride; I told her "I'll get it done....I'm not sure how yet...but, I'll figure it out"..and we both chuckled. The bride suggested clear snaps, which I've used on gowns before....good thought....my reservations were a) the number of snaps I would need, b) the fact that they are so hard to see/find (I didn't want this to be a chore for the bridesmaids) and c) will they hold? in my experience, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.  I hadn't ruled them out...but, I decided to walk away and give it some thought.

So, as I was working along, pinning and fluffing, pinning and fluffing....I finally had a revelation! Tulle....use tulle ties!  They'll blend in underneath the tulle overlay, right?  So, I sewed a pair into the gown, one tie sewn to the wrong side of the tulle overlay; the other to the right side of the taffeta gown.  I tied them into place to see if they would do the trick...Yes! and then I extended the train to see if they were hidden...Yes!
This particular gown has a total of 13 bustle points; it definitely takes the record in my books so far! The upper bustle has three bustle points; one at the center back and another at each princess seam.
Since this bustle carries the majority of the weight I chose to use buttons and loops.  I make my loops with double fold seam binding. I re-fold the binding and sew it by machine to make them extra strong like a belt loop. The loops are sewn to the wrong side of the train and the buttons are sewn to the lining.
Bustling the tulle was the challenge (that's the "G" rated term)!   The tulle overlay was actually a double layer, and was not stitched together at any point below the heavily beaded area which ended at the bottom of the zipper; so the two layers weren't always playing nice together...aarrrgghhh.   Anyway, I got through it, and I think it looked so pretty!   There are 10 bustle points (pairs of ties) to create this look.  I especially like the way the tulle poufs at the top and then falls into folds to the hemline.

To make things a bit easier on the bridesmaids I wanted to somehow offer a "road map" as to which pair of ties went together.  You know;  #1 ties to #1, #2 ties to #2 and so on....  But, you can't successfully write on tulle, and I couldn't color code because of it showing through the tulle.  Hhhmmmmm...what to do?  Again, this solution came to me after a 2.5 mile walk around the lake after dinner one night.....scotch tape.  Secure the tape to the end of the tulle and then use a pencil to write the numbers on the tape!

So there you have it.  I apologize for the saga.  I thought it worthy of sharing.  I'm sure there are other solutions, and I may look back and think...why didn't I think of that?, but I'll stand by this one for now.   The tulle ties will definitely withstand a night of dancing and I know the tape will do the trick to at least get the gown bustled; if they come off while the girls are tying them-no worries at that point, they've served their purpose.