happy wrapping.

i love wrapping presents. when i give a gift, the way i wrap it is just as important to me as the gift itself. here are some recent wrappings! enjoy!

as you can see, lately i've been loving sewn notebook paper, bows and brown paper bags.

so excited to be back to blogging about my craftings/art projects!

happy friday!

not abandoned!

hey kids. wow, i havent posted on this blog in a while.... its not on purpose i promise! ive just been posting more on oneforeverpromise. ive been busy working on my art portfolio, thus, things have been hectic, and i had to prioritize a little bit! but, here are thumbnails of my finished portfolio pieces. the full-sized versions are all up on facebook!

work in progress.

well, this is what has been keeping me busy for the past two days. i finished the journal spread and have gotten this far on the dress for my summer project. i still have to cover the dress with gesso, then paint on the designs, which is going to take a while, but i am soooo glad that the sewing is over with. {i love sewing, but my poor fingers have been stabbed and pinched and bruised enough for this week haha} and im sure jenna is glad im done too. she was getting tired of modeling for me. haha :)

the zipper goes all the way down the left side of the dress. love it!

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

an unexpected detour.

so, when we got to the airport thursday morning, our flight had been delayed two hours, and they had to reschedule us. it worked out that we had to spend the night in minneapolis, which, although was kinda a bummer, ended up being rather fun. we got two hotel rooms and a ton of food for free. oh yeah, and we also got to go to the mall of america.

goodness, it was basically the epicenter of commercial america. four floors of money-spending, entertainment, and material lust. haha. but... it was still super cool! in the center is the nickelodeon universe park, with lots of fun rides and kid stuff. and then all of the stores kinda surround it.and yes, they have all of the necessary stores, including the disney store, urban outfitters,

and forever21. jenna and i just walked around, and in forever we tried on dresses just for the fun of it. it was really a great deal of fun.

oh yeah, and they also had the American Girl store! haha, it was so fun to walk around and see all the dolls that i still have at home under my bed, including felicity& josefina.they even have a doll hair salon here! oh yes, and an ameican girl bistro. the whole store was very pink and bright and happy. i felt like a little girl all over again! i loved this sticker on the pac sun display window. so cute! oh., and here is a six foot tall lego woody, found in lego world.

yes, it was definitely an unexpected detour, but im so glad it happened. i love all of the random adventures in my life. it keeps things interesting! haha.

taking the nidnight train.

so... our traveling began wednesday night, because we had to take the train back to spokane so that we could fly out the coming afternoon. austin and i grabbed frozen yogurt while we were waiting for the train to pull in.

this is our conductor! he was so nice, and i loved his outfit! haha

i love train graffiti, as long as it doesnt say dirty words and stuff. it adds color!

the train left at 9:15pm, and we got to spokane at 1:45 am, so we got to watch the sunset, and then sleep the rest of the way. it was tiring, but nice. and so beautiful.

girls day road trip.

our last day in montana was spent with jenna and my mom. we took the convertible up to glacier, and just relaxed, swam a little, and then drove home.

we didnt go far, but it was just nice to take a breath, relax, listen to good music, soak up sunlight and vitaminD, and take in the beauty of montana. i wouldnt have spent my last day any other way.

a learning experience.

saturday i went to a horse cross country racing event. no, i do not know the actual formal name, haha... but... i have pictures, so you can get the idea! haha : )

it was SUCH a beautiful day. the sky was crystal clear, and literally went on for miles and miles and miles..... everywhere i looked was blue sky! it was crazy.

i have a new love... diet snapple tea! it's so so yummy! peach and raspberry are my favorites.

the horses were really pretty. there were over 450 competitors there, from all over the nation. someone from maryland even flew out 18 horses all the way to montana in their private jet just for this competition. the whole event lasted like five days, but we only went to one event.

saturday was such a learning experience for my family. we have never been to anything like this, ever, and no nothing about horse competitions and such. but aparently, there is almost this horse-riding subculture that we never knew about. for instance, if you wanna be cool, you have a kids sized dirt bike to ride around, and if you are really cool, you cram two full sized adults on these things. haha, and, if you are not cool enough to have a motorbike, then you have a two-person golf cart {that you can squeeze six people on} either these people are trying to go green by carpooling, or they are really really lazy....

{haha, happy monday everyone!}

strawberry cupcakes for dinner!

i just made really yummy strawberry cupcakes! there's a recipe in one of my new baking recipe books, and i altered it a tad bit to make these! and they taste super good.

oh, and to garnish, i dusted all the cakes in confectioners sugar, cut a heart shape out of cardstock as a stencil, and dusted all the cupcakes again, but this time with a confectioners sugar/cocoa powder mixture.

{happy friday everyone!}

nicknames.

jenna and i have officially earned our nickname.

the sisterhood of the traveling feet

given to us by our aunt due to the fact that she always sees both of us taking pictures of our feet. and, i cannot deny that i do this....and, here is the proof.

cup of color.

just a little thing i did today....

cold water and rainbow rocks.

yesterday afternoon, we all went to glacier national park. i love glacier! everywhere and everything is so amazingly pretty. and the weather was perfect for being outside. not too hot, but not too cold.

first we stopped at lake mcdonald lodge, and bought a bunch of "centenial celebration" stuff. i got a sweatshirt! this is jenna dear in front of the totem pole out in the front of the lodge.
then we drove up going-to-the-sun road for a little while. and took this side road that went off into the woods {my aunt caught an adventurous spirit} haha. and, at the end of this curvy dirt road, we found a hiking trailhead, this abandoned cabin, and an outhouse. such finds! avalanche creek was our next stop, and also my absolute favorite place in the park. we always come here, and build rock cities/sculptures like this one. haha, the tradition started when we came to glacier with colin and his family, and its kinda become a fun way to be entertained! haha, besides, the 40 degree water doesnt exactly allow for swimming, so...this is a fun alternative.jenna and i found three heartshaped rocks!
these are two little butterflies! they didnt mind me getting close to them, so i was able to take pictures of them!

Next glacier trip, we are going hiking! i love hiking so so much! jenna and i have hiked all the way up Big Mountain 3 times already, and we plan on going again tomorrow.