My new dress!!!

I was sick of going shopping and trying to find a super cute summer dress that I liked with a bold pattern (okay, I know I'm asking for a lot there...).  I could never find one, so one day as I'm shopping at Jo-Ann for some odds and ends...I think to myself, "Why not just make one?" And voila! I go to the patterns and find this one!

And while it took a little while to make it...Here it is!! I am SO happy with it! My very first piece of clothing make entirely from scratch and by myself, and here it is!!  I'll add a picture of me in it soon on my FB account, considering that I want to surprise my mom with it!

I just adored the blue fabric with the apples and pears on it, so I of course had to buy it and make a dress out of it! I also bought a shirt pattern from the same manufacturer, so hopefully I'll get that done before my trip down to CA. I'm so excited to wear this out and about!

Happy Anniversary, Nataku!

Yesterday marked the very first anniversary for myself and my husband!! I am so happy and proud to call him my husband -- he is such a wonderful, caring, thoughtful and loving man, and I couldn't ask for anything more from him.  I found out that he didn't really have much or any of our wedding cake last year, so I called up a friend of mine that does custom cakes to make one for our anniversary.  I knew that she was talented, and I gave her an idea of what I wanted from the cake...but I am just blown away by her talent and the thought that she put into the cake.  The first picture is our wedding cake:

We had a cherry blossom theme, because my husband's maternal side is Japanese, and I thought that cherry blossoms are just beautiful! Just a way to honor his side of the family that couldn't make it to the wedding.
Here is how the anniversary cake turned out:

Thank you so much, Danielle!!! You did an awesome job!!!
I also got my hubby a little something extra....I know that he just adores sock monkeys, and what do I come across at Target? A baby sock monkey! Now the family is complete!!!

 Happy Anniversary, my Nataku. I love you!

Happy Birthday to me! =]

Well, Happy Belated Birthday to my lovely self =] My birthday was two days ago, but that's okay.  My wonderful husband surprised me at work by bringing flowers and balloons!! Okay so it wasn't much of a surprise considering I told him that's what I wanted for my birthday, bu needless to say, I have the greatest husband in the world. I haven't got much for presents (which is totally okay), but my mom said that she'd treat me to whatever when I'm down in CA in about 3 weeks!! I'm so excited to see her again!

On a side note, I finished my "surprise" present for my bestie.  It was going to be a birthday present, because I thought it would take FOREVER to finish and obviously as the queen of procrastination here, I gave myself ample time to finish it. But voila! I finished it tonight (albiet I should be in bed right now as I have to get up in 6 hours for work...) and I am kind of impressed with myself! I'm more impressed with my ability to *paint* Japanese characters pretty darn well.  My husband was impressed with me, that's saying something =]  I made it with pieces of felt that I cut out myself, and then sewed on to the little bag.  I filled in any little characteristic things with black, white, and yellow fabric paint.  If you know anything about the anime Naruto, then you know that this is the "chibi" version of Naruto's Jinchuriki: the 9 tailed fox.

Here's a picture of it:

And here's a picture of it next to the original art by my close-to-no-ink printer by some unknown fabulous artist online:

What do you think?  So it's going to be Roxie's graduation present, and I'll get her something from CA for her birthday.  Love you girl, I hope you like it!!!

Update!

It's been a while since I updated my poor blog.  I feel like I've been neglecting it!
Well, an update as far as crafts go -- I finally finished those darn crib bumpers.  I decided I didn't want to tackle quilting the blanket (even if it is machine quilting) that goes along with it quite yet, so I decided to do a mini project! I made a "Moo Moo Measure" for my bestie's mom, fondly known as "The Mame" :] Here's how it turned out:

I also decided that I'm going to make a present for my bestie for her birthday.  Hopefully I won't put it off too much and get it done by her birthday in June.  Also, a big fat CONGRATULATIONS goes out to her for getting her B.A.!! I was so excited to see her graduate! Congratulations, Roxie!!!

The weather here has been so cold and gloomy lately that when we get some sunshine and the temperature is over 40 degrees it definitely is cause to celebrate!  I'm hoping that it won't rain on my birthday next week, even though it's supposed to. Went shopping to the Mall of America on Saturday, with intentions of buying a sundress, but I couldn't find anything that I really liked for cheap.  Thus, I decided that if I can't find something, then darnit, I'll just make it myself, so I picked up some patterns and CUTE fabric from JoAnn Fabrics. That's next on my to-do list (after the bestie's birthday present :).

Not much else going on here right now, just working and spending time with the hubby every chance I can get!!