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After an emotion-packed month of suspense, disappointment, relief, pride and excitement, the FINALISTS were announced and my entry "Out of Many, We Are ONE" was voted by our community into the FINALS!
THANK YOU for your votes and support!
It is now in the hands of the Etsy and NASA judges panel. The judging will be done in the end of February.
I was tickled to see my entry next to my dear friend Christen's of copperleafstudios.etsy.com. I couldn't be in better company!
Make sure to check out her incredible shop filled with gorgeous copper artwork and stay tuned to read about the labor of love that she's working on!
I have just been notified that my entry to ETSY's NASA Contest has made it to the Semi-Finals and I'm SO excited!
Please click HERE to VOTE!
It would mean the world to me to get your vote!
The entry piece is called "Out of Many, We Are ONE" and it took weeks to complete.
I hand-punched thousands of brightly colored dots from card stock and arranged each dot, one by one to create a space view of our beautiful Planet Earth from an image taken by a NASA Shuttle mission.
How COOL would it be for that piece now to go to the International Space Station on the Shuttle's final voyage!?
Each member can only vote once and voting ends Monday, December 6, at noon.
The response has been wonderful and I'm very proud of this piece.
To all who have voted, my sincerest thanks (including my family who I held prisoner on Thanksgiving Day after dinner and passed the laptop to, one by one)!...
I am always awed by the cheer leading support from my handmade and online community.
You are truly an inspiration to me.
Please feel free to repost this blog and SHARE!
** Click here to find out how to get a FREE LARGE PHOTO PRINT CARD of this design! **
siempre- dorana
Thank you to Diane Phillips of dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com and dkdesignshawaii.blogspot.com for featuring our Etsy Feature on her blog!
We're so excited to have our wedding featured in the world's largest handmade community! Thank you to all of Etsy Admin and members for helping us have the perfect simple wedding!
siempre- dorana
I smiled to myself this morning as I walked by the guest room and saw my 20-something year old smelly yellow tabby, Merlin, laying curled upside down with a front paw covering his eyes on the bed. No matter how many times I've seen him do that in the past, it never fails to bring a smile to my face.
It must have been the sound of my smile as I stood there watching him that stirred him to instantly follow me as I walked to the kitchen.
It's become my spring morning routine to open the back patio door for him since we moved to our little piece of suburban heaven. Armed with Frontline and his little bell collar with the reflective tag that reads:
MerlinBrunhammer
it has brought me so much joy to watch him go to the same railroad tie and stretchingly pose upon it, desperately attempting to shred it to threads and then stalk the perimeter of the property balancing elegantly on the flower bed boarders, finally settling on the far side of the back deck to soak in the glaring sun until he can no longer stand it, sometime late afternoon, moving under the picnic table for his afternoon nap.
Imagine my surprise when shortly after I finished my bowl of Mult-Grain Cheerios, I heard his murmuring low meow coming from the back door.
I stood and started walking to the kitchen and saw him standing on the little step, his body perked up, tail wagging tall and proud, his ears propped up high and a shocking smile in his eyes and as I blinked in shock, instantly shrilling loudly,
"PUT IT DOWN!"
He was thrilled as I approached the door and dropped the little brown body with golden stripes across its back onto the step.
The little chipmunk and I both stood there frozen in panic - him from being in the clutching gums (Yes GUMS, he's 20 years old! He doesn't have TEETH!), my heart pounding, petrified fear screaming in my head,
"Oh, GOD! Please don't tell me he killed him!"
I grabbed for the stick we use to secure the sliding glass door and moved towards the cat, who still looked at me as the proud hunting warrior.
The chipmunk finally awakened from its daze and BOLTED towards the edge of the deck.
Sheer chaos ensued as I went after the cat screaming;
"LEAVE HIM ALONE! MERLIN! NOOOOOOO!"
waving my stick and trying to grab onto the cat!
Merlin pounced like a young lion after his prey and caught him again as I continued to scream,
"MERLIN! DROP HIM! LET HIM GO!!"
The little body of the chipmunk squirming in this toothless mouth.
Merlin's eyes wild with excitement... And coming back to me with his catch!
The same cat that has never come to me outside in 12 years!
His demeanor completely confused by my erratic behavior as he continued his low murmuring meow. I'm sure if it could be translated would say something like,
"Lady, CHILL!
LOOK!
I got you a present!
Isn't he cute!? Can we keep him!?"
I grabbed the cat, picking him up and shaking him back and forth like a rag doll, all the time yelling, okay it actually sounded more like the sound of cars popping wheelies in a drive-in parking lot,
"MERLIN! LET HIM GO! STOP IT!! STOP IT!"
I dropped him and he once again dropped the chipmunk who made a wild dash back to the same fateful corner where he was previously captured, with Merlin fast on his tail!
"MERLIN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
And for some reason I stood there banging my stick on the deck like a mad woman - not exactly sure what purpose I thought that might have...
And he did it.
The chipmunk.
He made it under the plank.
And for that moment I felt guilty.
There was my Merlin, my mighty hunter, with his little paws and legs halfway under the tiny hole swatting dead air as he looked at me with a sad look that said,
"Mom, I'll get him back for you!"
He sat back after awhile looking at the hole and back at me as I picked him up, my heart still racing and rubbing his head the way I know he loves and literally flung him through the door onto the kitchen floor!
Throwing my door stick onto the floor and reaching for some baby aspirin, just in case I really was having a heart attack!
And as I called my mom frantically telling her about the gift Merlin had brought me in hysterics, he jumped on the couch,
meowed,
headbutted the computer screen on my lap,
drooled his smelliness on my arm
and curled up on the side of my leg;
purring, with his tail flickering behind him, settling into a nap at his second favorite spot.
After all, finding the perfect gift for someone you love at that age, is exhausting work!
(Our Wedding Day featuring custom made gown by Etsy's cybersewingfairy.etsy.com, flowers by dkdesignshawaii.etsy.com, bouquet crystal jewels by 4classydesigns.etsy.com.)
I was thrilled to find a great Etsy Shop to make special personalized handkerchiefs as gifts for our parents and a special present for my new husband on our wedding day!
Linda from Etsy's EmbroiderybyLinda.etsy.com offered the PERFECT sentiments, fast shipping and the best customer service!
My mother cried at my personal message and proudly shared the story to the ladies at the spa during our pampering that morning
"Mom, thank you for teaching me the importance of corn, Uncle Buck, laughter and love. Love, Dani 12-26-2009"
Linda's handkerchiefs were a perfect way to put into words what I have known since me and Yoda's first vacation!
Shortly after Yoda and I started seeing each other, we went on a mini vacation to Disney's Epcot Center. It's one of my favorite places as traveling has been such a big part of my life; imagine going around the world in a short afternoon!
In Morocco as we giggled over the silly genie lamps in the gift shop, a woman held one up and asked Yoda,
"What would YOU wish for!?"
He looked over at me across the way and said,
"... To spend the rest of my life with that girl over there!"
I didn't think I could love him more than at that moment...
Waking up everyday in the beautiful house that we're making into our home in this dreamy historic town, hoping to start a family soon, I know that a wish was granted that day...
But it is EVERYDAY that he makes all of my dreams come true and I love him even more!
After all, isn't always about THE DRESS!?
Everyone knows that I've been fantasizing about a Autumn wedding ever since that last scene in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves where Marianne walks with her white dress floating around her while gorgeous leaves fall down upon them with the incredible colors of gold and reds creating that amazing backdrop!
We didn't do too bad ourselves with this incredible backdrop off of 72nd and Broadway! This picture was taken after the snow storm right before Christmas as I did a trial run of my makeup, hair and unmentionables! (And yes, I promise, I AM wearing shoes - strappy red-satin knotted heels!)
I absolutely fell in love with the off-the-shoulder, simple gown that Mary Jane wore in the Spiderman 2 movie in 2005! I learned that the dress was basically glued onto her body to create that off-the-shoulder, form-fitting bodice and that we would have to do quite a bit of creative design and sewing to pull it off with my ample bosom!
Another favorite dress of mine had a beautiful empire, straight skirt with beautiful embellishments.
I, of course turned to the amazing talented artists on Etsy to find a seamstress that could combine my favorite dresses into my perfect wedding dress!
I could not have been more blessed to have found a more patient, miracle-working seamstress in all of the world; Linda Mampalao of Etsy's cybersewingfairy.etsy.com ! Aside from having less than 6 weeks to make my custom designed gown with both Thanksgiving and Christmas in the mix, she helped me pick out the fabrics and added her own special touches tying the two dresses together!
I wore my great aunt's vintage yellow topaz and gold calla lily earrings, the pearl and diamond necklace that my mother gave me on my 21st birthday that my father had given to her the Christmas after I was born, and amazing red satin strappy heels!
The weather didn't quite cooperate on our wedding day, but nothing could have darkened my day wearing this breathtakingly gorgeous gown!
We are hoping to take the dress with us on our honeymoon to have the opportunity to take more pictures of the two of us together in the sun!
Thank you Linda!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach.
As I worked with my fabulous Etsy seamstress to create my dream wedding dress, I commissioned this gorgeous Andean Silk Yarn winter wedding wrap with a ruffled edge from the talented Maryum Karim of Etsy's yarncoture.etsy.com!
What an incredibly special work of wearable art!
SO soft and luxurious, I was thrilled with the quality and craftsmanship of the gorgeous wrap Maryum made for me.
It was the perfect compliment to my wedding gown.
I have been so blessed with all the love and support from my Etsy family in helping me create our dreamy Etsy Handmade Wedding!
Do you know what you get when you throw two Alpha-type personalities in a kitchen renovation after buying a new house, hand them a couple of power tools they've never used before, demolish the floors throughout the entire house forcing them to move into a windowless dungeon for three months with two smelly cats and a 14 year old, 90lb yellow lab, that can't walk up and down the stairs on his own, sprinkle in a four-week engagement and Christmas wedding - all in less than 6 months:
Yoda and Chewbacca!
If you've ever experienced any of these things, then you're probably at least a little familiar with the conflict that can arise from such chaos; kinks in the budget, hot dogs cooked by hand-held plumber's torch 'cause you forgot to refill the propane tank and there's no stove, the occasional electrocution, and arguments... lots of arguments...
Arguments between two Alpha's who are NEVER WRONG.
It was during one of those arguments on day one million and 82 of drilling cement screws into cement backer-boards, preparing the hallway and kitchen floors for the 1500lbs of Kale Multi-colored Travertine that I yelled back at my now husband, for what exactly, I can't say,
"OKAY YODA! Whatever you say, MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE!"
"What!?" he replied.
"Don't call me that!
And Yoda wasn't Master of the Universe - that's HE-MAN!"
I raised my sword-like power drill up in the air, clenched with both hands pointing straight up and yelled:
"I HAAAAAAAAAAVE THE POOOOOOOOOOOOWER!"
collapsing in a fit of laughter!
And thus, "Yoda and Chewbacca" were born...
My rolling eyes now had a verbal partner: "OKAY YODA!"
"OKAY CHEWIE!" he always responds hoping to get the same rise out of me that he gets out of my Yoda-ing.
Now, to me, that sounded perfectly logical! I mean, have you seen my hairy Chewbaccaness!?
Yoda, wasn't a new nickname in our family... We've been calling my little sister Yoda ever since her little pointed ears coined the nickname as a baby!
Over the summer a fellow More Meaningful Gifts threadmate had ordered fondant little Yodas for her son's birthday cupcakes as toppers from fellow Etsian The Lil Details.etsy.com and I had bookmarked them for my little sister's birthday!
My brilliant idea was vetoed by my mother, but when I started planning our wedding, I KNEW I had to order her fondant Yodas for our wedding cake!
Even better, I wrote to Jenn and asked her if she could make a matching Chewbacca!
When I opened up those adorable little cake toppers I couldn't help but squeal in delight! I knew Yoda would pee his pants when he saw them!
They were absolutely PERFECT!
Jenn even covered them in a sparkling finish- the perfect embellishment for a wedding Yoda and Chewie!
And after our ceremony when I brought my new husband to see the beautiful cake that my little sister had lovingly made for us on Christmas day and put together just hours earlier, adorned with the beautiful clay roses from Diane Phillips of dkdesigns.etsy.com and our special Yoda and Chewie Cake Toppers, the moment was just as I had imagined; filled with joy and laughter and even some magical powers with my new Master of the Universe!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach.
I have been fantasizing about my Aunt's Brandy-Almond Wedding Cake with cream cheese icing for the last 17 years!
After consulting with 14 - yes, fourteen local bakeries and driving my family insane, we decided that there would be no wedding cake - we'd have pies instead!
It seems that even though there are bakeries that can make a cake in the shape of The Eiffel Tower, not one was willing to make a cake that wasn't just white, yellow, or chocolate cake with some kind of filling in the middle!
So pies it would be!
Really.
We just wanted a couple of the amazing pies from the local pub...But my sister just wouldn't hear it!
"You can't have a wedding PIE! I'll make you a brandy-almond cake with cream cheese icing!"
No.
We wanted PIES!
Did I mention that my wedding was the day after CHRISTMAS!?
Who on Earth would want to be baking a cake during the holidays!?
That Christmas Eve, my little sister came over with a sampling tray of variations of brandy-almond cake with cream cheese icing... JUST like the professional cake shows!
There were brandy-soaked cakes, brandy baked in cakes, some with chocolate fudge fillings, some with vanilla pudding fillings, some with vanilla pudding and fudge filling... You name it, my little sister prepared it!
We sampled, okay we devoured the entire tray of delicious mini cakes!
We chose the Lindt chocolate and vanilla pudding filling and ironically, the almond cake without the brandy!
It's funny how once you get what you think you want, it turns out that it's not what you want at all!
On the morning of our wedding as my sister, mother and I enjoyed our pampering pedicures, she sat back to tell us the tale of how she and her fiance stayed up all night baking our cake...
"We ran out of cake batter and it was too late to start making another batch, so I sent Rumon out to get a box of yellow cake mix...
But it's almost ten o'clock at night on Christmas Day and everything was closed...""He walked up to a Hispanic man closing a Bodega (Spanish convenience store that has everything,) in Paterson (not exactly Disney) and says desperately,
"Sir WAIT! I just need a box of cake mix!"
"We're closed - it's Christmas!"
"Sir, PLEASE, it's my sister-in-law's wedding tomorrow and we're baking her wedding cake and
I JUST NEED A BOX OF CAKE MIX PLEASE!
Don't make me go home without cake mix!"
See...
Exactly why we wanted: PIES.
From the PUB.
Down the Street.
We laughed hysterically as she painted the picture of her fiance practically mugging a poor convenience store worker on Christmas desperate for a box of cake mix!
Our Almond and Lindt Chocolate with Vanilla Pudding Cake with cream cheese icing was absolutely delicious and beautiful!
THANK YOU PIANCA AND RUMON for making us the most incredible wedding cake - the thing that I'll be fantasizing of for the next 17 years!
I never imagined that I'd ever be a Christmas Bride! Imagine my surprise deciding on a wedding date of December, 26th - the day after Christmas!
What a stressful endeavor, a wedding... so many details. I've realized just what a wonderful blessing it is that we decided on such a short engagement! The longer the engagement, the more expectations, the bigger the bridal party, the bigger the show!
The most difficult decisions for me were THE FAVORS! I knew I didn't want anything chotchkie or cheesy - nothing that would be thrown in a drawer and forgotten...
And then it hit me! After all, it was CHRISTMAS!
COQUITO!
Coquito is Puerto Rican coconut rum eggnog and a family favorite. It couldn't be just any kind of Coquito - nope - it had to be special!
I found a great wholesale distributor of full-sized glass liquor bottles! Of course I could have made small flasks instead since Coquito is suppose to be enjoyed as a shot, not a drink, but the image of my elegant wedding favors fitting into the back pocket of a pair of jeans, was not what I envisioned!
After a little time on Etsy, I found customized wine bottle labels to match our Red Rose Theme from tishtica.etsy.com! I was absolutely thrilled with how beautiful the bottles and the personalized labels came out!
We then wrote the recipe on Letterpress Cards from missive.etsy.com and attached them with personalized ribbon from espritdejoie.etsy.com!
After 12 dozen eggs, mountains of coconut cream, and 6 gallons of Bacardi Gold, all the anxiety of choosing the perfect wedding FAVORS for our guests, faded away as we watched our friends and family toast the night away with our special brew!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach.
Yoda has always been a big fan of the art of Letterpress, so it was important to me to have some Letterpress pieces in our wedding. I was thrilled to find Lisa of Etsy's Missive.etsy.com!
Words cannot begin to describe the amazing design and quality of our custom Red Rose Coasters and Place Cards. They were exactly how we had imagined them and brought a truly special touch to our wedding reception tables!
Our guests were very impressed with the beautiful print work and I ordered an extra set of Place Cards as the Recipe Cards for our favors. THEY WERE PERFECT!
We were touched by the beautiful handwritten Thank You Card and good wishes that Lisa took the time to send to us.
In this process, we learned that how you're treated AFTER the sale is just as important as the way you're treated before the sale. Lisa has been an invaluable resource of information in her trade as we now help my younger sister plan for her wedding this summer!
Thank you SO much Lisa for helping us achieve our dream handmade wedding!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach
The plan was a small outside intimate wedding with 25 of our closest friends and family, celebrated in our new historic town and home.
(sigh)
Alas, Mother Nature had other things in mind; torrential rainfall! It poured from before sunrise into the following day!
As I walked out of the salon with my hair in cascading waves, the howling wind turned my umbrella inside out while the rain crashed down sideways! I struggled with the umbrella trying to protect my hair as I slid on the pavement losing my flip flops (yes, flip flops - note to future brides: don't get manicure and pedicures done the day of your wedding!).
I remember shuffling through growing puddles of water and thinking to myself, "I can't believe this! This is our WEDDING DAY!"
All morning long I had been convincing myself that the rain was GOOD LUCK!
I had read that rain on your wedding day represented fertility and stability and income and guaranteed a long happy marriage!
But as I drove home realizing that we wouldn't be able to take pictures in our new town and have the service in our beautiful side yard, I was so disappointed!
I made the turn into our driveway and was greeted by our beautiful custom made Wedding Sign created by Jennifer of Etsy's Funki Folk Art.etsy.com that my future husband had attached to our mailbox!
All of the disappointment over the weather and anxiety immediately melted away! It wasn't quite what I had always imagined... it was better!
Jennifer's beautiful welcoming signs set the perfect stage for our living room wedding!
I had been exchanging emails with Jennifer for over a year and we were so thrilled to finally be able to take advantage of her unique personalized signs!
We also ordered a "RECEPTION" sign that Yoda stole and positioned over our new Wet Bar in the kitchen!
We can't wait to order my little sisters' signs to welcome her guests to her June Wedding! Thank you Jennifer!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach.
There are no processed foods, candies, potato chips, no junk food of any kind in our house... really! In fact, one of the greatest joys of going to my best friend's house is poking through the magical cabinet in her kitchen that transports me to another time with Pop Tarts, Doritos, an endless tub of Halloween candy, chocolates - lots of chocolates and my all time favorite: Marshmallows! And not just any marshmallows, but the big fluffy marshmallows - not the teeny tiny ones that we do keep around for the rare occasions we make hot chocolate.
Okay, perhaps there is the occasional tub of vanilla ice cream and chocolate chip cookies, warm chocolate chip cookies and CHOCOLATE. Not just any chocolate though - NIKI'S CHOCOLATE!
There is something about those little white boxes with the freshest, most decadent little bits of sweet heaven! Our favorite: ROCKY ROAD - just something about those fresh soft marshmallows!
We couldn't imagine celebrating our wedding without Nicole Varrenti's of Etsy's nikid.etsy.com's incredible treats!
With whimsical Caramel Apple Pops and Chocolate Covered Coffee Spoons, they were just the special sweet touch of our Handmade Etsy Wedding!
We've all seen it before.
The bright fuschia dress from a guest that somehow appears in EVERY wedding photo!
NOPE, not at OUR wedding!
It took some serious convincing, but after much begging and pleading, Yoda relented and I was thrilled!
A BLACK AND WHITE WEDDING it would be!
My mother was mortified!
"You can't let people wear white to your wedding!"
Of course I could!
My custom made gown was a beautiful ivory and with everyone and everything in black and white, I was certainly the belle of my ball!
The only color throughout the event were signature Red Roses in my bouquet, flowers, and my Red Satin strappy heels!
The theme of the wedding was beautifully set with the calligraphy lettering for our invitation by Jerise Fogel from Etsy's jerise.etsy.com.
I am SO excited to finally get the opportunity to catch up on the last eight months!
Had someone told me eight months ago that we were going to buy a new house in a dreamy historic town, spend six months giving birth to a new kitchen as a DIY project from studs to custom wet bar, get ENGAGED AND BE MARRIED BEFORE THE NEW YEAR, I wouldn't have believed it!
For the next couple of weeks, I am thrilled to walk you through our HANDMADE ETSY WEDDING that we planned in less than 6 weeks for well under $5000 including a custom a Dorana design wedding gown!
Please make sure to follow my a Dorana design Blog to read about our incredible Handmade Wedding!
Make sure to stay tuned HERE to read more about the adventures of
RENOVATION GIRL AND COMP BOY!
I was thrilled this summer when ddots.etsy.com received a custom card request from Bride Tracy for a gift for her Groom on their wedding day!
Every couple shares many special quotes and sayings. When they first said "I love you" to one another, he was so nervous that he blurted out,
"I THINK I love you!"
She replied,
"I KNOW I love you!"
It became a little joke between the two of them and she thought it would be a perfect quote for her special Wedding Card!
I'm SO pleased with how it came out!
I am so happy to have been invited to share in such a special moment!
siempre- dorana
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