Flowerettes

I made a few “flowerettes” with some extra fabric when I was making some other crafty things. My s.i.l. Anna is always wearing cute things and I was inspired to make some cute things myself :) If you want one or two or three let me know and I’ll make some! :)

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Flower Dress

I made this little dress from the same pattern as the dress for Campbell, but I altered it a bit. I only did 1 layer and made it less of a circle skirt. I think it is classy but comfortable, hopefully a everyday wear. The last time I saw my niece she showed me all her dresses, so I thought I’d make her one! :)   I made a little purse to go along with it. Because she is as “cute as a button!” But “buttons” are white felt, and I used embroidery floss to stitch around the sides and button holes.

I also made matching  aprons for Ellie and Michele.

This is how I wrapped the gifts!

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1 and 2 Kings

Matt and I have been reading through the “Bible in a year” plan. 1 and 2 Kings is wonderful. I absolutely love those books. And I feel like this cloud picture represents how I think the sky would had looked after each new king in Judah or Israel was replaced after “doing evil in the eyes of the Lord”. I especially liked reading about Solomon (1 Kings 2-11) asking for wisdom(1 Kings 3), building of the temple (1 Kings 5-7), the prayers and dedications to the temple and for the Lord (1 Kings 8), Jeroboam (especially 1 Kings 13:34), all the different kings of Israel and Judah, Elijah (take a look at 1 Kings 18:16-46, 2 Kings 2), Ahab, Elisha, Israel exiled, Hezekiah, Book of the Covenant, and Jerusalem.  1 and 2 Kings has so much culture and history, and DRAMA! One king after another! Now I am on to 1 and 2 Chronicles :)  What did you think of 1 and 2 kings?

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Matty and I in MN

Matt and I had a lot of great adventures in MN. We went to the MN Landscape Arboretum. We were married there 1 year ago! It was such a beautiful wedding and great place to take pictures. And it was great to come back and walk around together. :)

We went on a bike ride around Lake Calhoun with Michele and Ellie. We had lunch at Punch Pizza, my most favorite place. Then we biked over to Sebastian Joe’s Ice cream and cafe. Tasty Delicious.

We went on a off-trail bike ride around Wayzata. Beautiful!


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Keyboard

Matt asked me to make a cover for his keyboard so it will not become all dusty. And this is what I created. I was going to stop at just the fitted cover, but I couldn’t help myself with embroidering a keyboard on top! So cute!

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One year ago, today

Matty and I have been married for 1 year. I cannot believe it has blown by so fast! We have gone through a lot of big changes, and I love him even more.

Matt was laid-off, but got a new job a week later.

I graduated from The University of Arizona.

I started my first “real” job out of college.

We came back to the house we were living in to have water damage. Then later, twice, someone tried to break in.

Moved into a beautiful new house.

Decorated our new house, successfully.

Celebrated Christmas, separately, with both of our families, successfully.

Went to Urbana09.

Took a wonderful vacation to MN and ILL.

Have seen amazing friends leave us in Tucson, for other parts of the country, and Mexico.

And we have, to date, attended 7 other weddings since our own.

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Before our wedding in MN, I made a little “music” video at the Arboretum where we said our vows. The video is set to Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” Meghan and Elizabeth helped me out with the production, and I am so thankful for their continuing love and support.

In The Ceremony picture (below), my cousin Mariah is holding a laptop so my Gramma could see the wedding via Skype!

What a wonderful day. The weather was perfect. The reception was AMAZING. We had The Return which had EVERYONE dancing (which is exactly what I wanted). We had an open house the day before so I got to mingle with new family and old friends so that I could dance at the reception (which I did).  :) Perfect.

Matty took me on a date for our anniversary. We went to Vivace. It was fantastic! I had the seafood lasagnette, it was amazing. Fresh. Light. Delicious. Perfection. And we had the stuffed mushrooms for starters :) I had a glass of zinfandel and matt had a martini. :) Wonderful.

I love my Matty!

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A little Minneapolis adventure

We all started our adventure at Pizza Luce, we had some amazing pizzas! So delicious! We had the Shrimp Al Pesto, The Bear, Ruby Rae, and The Rustler.

Then we walked around the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail in the Minneapolis Riverfront District. It was very beautiful and a lot of history. There were lots of boards up with historic stories about the dam and how this district started.

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Preschool lunch bags

My niece Ellie, and my cousin Campbell, are starting Preschool this Fall! They are growing up so quickly! I wanted to make a lunch bag that they could put in their backpacks for school. I got the idea from here and here.  I made the Purl Bee’s design first, and I will try IS*LY’s next.  The previous lunch bag I made was the original sizes, but for these I increased the size for more room and so I could be a bit more creative with the design.  If you would like one for your child, or yourself, let me know :)  ($7)

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I’m Sweet

One night as I was trying to fall asleep, I thought of 3 cute ideas.  *A heart shaped pie (lattice crust) with the tag “I’m a sweetie pie.”  *Buttons with the tag “Cute as a button.”  *An embroidered cupcake with the tag “I’m sweet.”

I decoded to make cute little dresses, with matching purses (and maybe some hair accessories) for my young niece and cousin. My plan was to make 1 dress and then alter others to make them more informal. The (yellow) one got a bit formal with the lining and the layers. I followed the pattern as much as I could understand. The back part gets a bit bunched up where the zipper ends. But it still looks cute. I made it for campbell. Campbell is a super sweet and intelligent little girl! I was going to make a simple square purse like I did for the flower dress, but I decided to challenge myself with a cupcake shaped purse.  It was fun to figure out what part to sew first. I should have embroidered the face parts first, but alas I did not start with that. :)

I also made some matching Mommy and Daughter aprons for Liv and Campbell.

Let me know if you want one for your own kido! :)

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Chicago, one of my favorite cities.

The hubby and I took a little trip to visit family and the City this past month. We had a lot of fun visiting with family, eating at a lot of great places, watching Knight and Day with Gramma Pat, and visiting the hubby’s hometown.

We took a little trip down memory lane in Crystal Lake, ILL. We also met up with family for a great family dinner at Gramma’s house. We took Gramma out on a date to Leona’s, and saw Knight and Day (which I thought was pleasantly entertaining).  Then we made a pineapple upside-down cake, which we ate at 12:30am when it was finished baking.

The next day we took the Metra  into downtown Chicago for the Taste of Chicago. We had some great tastes! Chocolate covered banana, Pad Thai, Pickle, Chicago style hotdog, Jumbalaya, Pot stickers, and Lemon Italian Ice. We also went to Dominick’s Cooking Corner and this egotistical chef was telling the audience how to loose weight (How he did…) it was ridiculous! Then he had about 15 minutes left of his hour time limit to cook….lame.  But we took a lot of great pictures and saw some interesting people. We also got some great tan lines!

We had a great time in Illinois! We hope to go back often :) On our way back to MN, we stopped at Portillo’s, a really cool retro diner with hotdogs, beef and burgers. Great food!

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