alive and kickin'

Contrary to what you may believe, I am still alive and aware that I have a blog that has been terribly neglected.  Life has been incredibly busy and exciting and full.  It's summer now, which should allow time for me to catch you up on all of our adventures.  I must say, though, that summer itself tends to be full and I'd rather be outside with my family summering than sitting in front of this here computer, but I will do my best to share all things exciting or crafty. 

So to be true to my word, let's back up to May 26th when my baby, yes baby, turned seven.  Seven! How did that happen?  Life doesn't stand still.  You can't press pause.  The girls, they continue to grow and change.  Well, the theme for this year's birthday cake was Blue Jay.  Yes, a blue jay.  So a blue jay cake she got.  She also got a new birthday dress with fabric with birds on it. I couldn't find any fabric in town with blue jays so she said as long as it has blue birds, real looking blue birds not cartoonish or drawings of birds, it would be fine.  I followed the adorable dress tutorial from Craftiness is Not Optional.  It was such a simple, yet uniquely adorable, dress to make.  You can find the tutorial for it here.  The only thing I changed was adding a nice, big box pleat to the front to accommodate running, jumping, swinging, and other activities that may happen while wearing this dress.  It lacks only one thing...the perfect bird buttons.  I love covered buttons and thought I might make some, but I just know I am going to find just the right little birds to sew on the bodice to make it perfect. 

So, here's to a great start to summer! Fun and exciting, warm and sunny, refreshing and relaxing! XO ANG