Cupcake Bites

I discovered these over the weekend and decided they would be great for my Holiday Party Bake Off at work this week. They are Cupcake Bites by Bakerella (http://www.bakerella.com/cupcake-bites-made-easy/). Although they may look like normal cupcakes here, they are actually made with cake and frosting rolled into balls and then coated in chocolate for the base and top of each cupcake. They are cute and delicious too!

Another adorable baby...

in one of my handmade items. My friend Heidi posted some very cute pictures of her girls on Facebook and I noticed that Cadence was modeling one of my crocheted projects. Very cute!

Chicago Lights Festival

The Magnificant Mile Lights Festival draws a lot of people to Chicago and we usually try to avoid the crowds, but yesterday we realized that the parade would be going by the front door of our building as it made its way to Michigan Avenue. So, we went outside and got a front row spot right before it started and here is what we saw:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!

Baby Will - So Cute!

I love it when I get pictures of my crafty items being used! Katie sent me this adorable picture of Will with his hat and blanket I made him. So cute!

More Adventures in Michigan

The Mackinac Bridge:

St Ignace, MI (in the UP):

Petoskey, MI:

More Michigan

The weather at Houghton Lake was rainy and cool when we were there so we hung out there a little, but spent a couple of days on road trips - in search of nicer weather and to see other parts of Northern Michigan.

One day, we drove to Petoskey and Charlevoix. When we were ready to head back to Houghton Lake, we entered it in the Garmin and it led us to a road that ended at a lake and said "board the ferry". We laughed a lot and were a little confused at first, but then we saw the ferry across the lake and realized that it was for cars!

There wasn't much around, but we noticed this little restaurant next to the ferry stop so we went for some food and drinks and watched the ferry take cars back and forth across the water.

Eventually, we drove onto the ferry and road across. We had a nice chat with the operator and learned that we were on the Ironton Ferry. It was a fun adventure! Here is a link to an interesting article about it: http://www.mynorth.com/My-North/June-2008/Q-A-Ironton-Ferry-Captain/

Renegade 2010 and Recent Projects

Renegade (http://www.renegadecraft.com/) was in Chicago this weekend so we spent the day there yesterday. Every year it gets better and better. My cousins, Marcy and Tara, were also here so we met for lunch and saw all of the wonderful crafty items together. The morning was rainy, but by the time we were done with lunch it was clearing up and turned out to be a beautiful day.


Here are my goodies, and a couple for Jason (minus a few gifts I purchased).

Speaking of crafty stuff, here are some of my recent projects that I haven't posted yet.

A pillow to remember the Deer Shanty:

Felted soap:

Crocheted fingerless gloves:

A knit and beaded bracelet:

This project was a gift from my mom. We are getting married at the Honeybee Inn next year and have been coming across more bee themed items than we ever imagined. Either they are popular now, or they always were and we didn't notice them before. We saw this wall hanging pattern at a quilt shop and my mom turned it into a table runner for us and I love it.

Michigan

We had a good trip to Michigan last week. We visited with friends and family and went up north to Houghton Lake. Since the weather wasn't great at the lake, we took some day trips and saw the sights in Northern Michigan (more pictures to come later).

Here we are picking raspberries. Yum!

And visiting with Katie and Rob and baby Will.

And watching Krista race with her horse, Trouble. Well, she isn't racing in this picture...the racing pictures are blurry because she was going so fast!

Baby It's Cold Outside Crochet Baby Sweater

I saw multiple examples of this sweater at a yarn shop and I had to try it. You can see that it is crocheted to create one piece and then folded over to make the sweater. The pattern is available here:

http://www.crochetme.com/media/p/88283.aspx

Wedding Plans

We're getting married!

Next May 21st in Horicon, WI!

We picked the place and the date. We're going to have a small wedding with our immediate families in Wisconsin. We're getting married at the Honeybee Inn Bed & Breakfast (and we found these great honeybee cards that made perfect save the date announcements). We're looking forward to an intimate wedding in a peaceful little town at a romantic bed and breakfast, and a fun weekend with our families!

Crochet for Babies

A blanket and hat for baby Will. Congrats Katie and Rob!

Another cute baby dress...in case baby Will was a girl!

I registered for a crochet class at Stitches (http://www.knittinguniverse.com/flash/events.php) next month and I am so excited to expand my crochet skills - and meet the amazing fiber artist and author who will be teaching the class (http://www.knittinguniverse.com/expos/class_detail.php?session_id=3842&event_id=52&only_market=0).

The Storm

The view after today's storm:

And since I was taking pictures of the view, here is one of the new school that is being built by our building.

Horicon Marsh, WI

Jason and I went to Wisconsin for the weekend to look at a location for our wedding. We've decided to have a very small wedding and we went to see a Bed & Breakfast in Horicon, WI.
Horicon is a small town about one hour northwest of Milwaukee. We also visited some of the surrounding areas (Mayville, Beaver Dam, Columbus) and spent a little time in Milwaukee. Here are some pictures from the Horicon Marsh (http://www.horiconmarsh.org/index.asp).

Happy Birthday Grandma June!

Grandma's birthday party was Saturday and she really enjoyed spending the day with her family. It was fun to see her open the quilt and enjoy looking at all of the quilt squares we made. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, June 1st. Happy Birthday Grandma June!