where in the world is that crazy crafty girl

hey guys! right now i am at an Internet cafe in a far away country with this crazy girl my sister-in-law margo...

enjoying fruit like this...

hanging out with awesome people like these...

(that's me in the middle, the one white as the snow :o)

eating at places like this...



and sitting on animals like this

can you guess where i am?????

bad blogger bad

ok so i have been a terrible blogger!
the thing is this...
the weather has been really nice here and the neighborhood pool just opened:o)
we live in oregon ok; we just suffered through 6 months of pure rain!
now everything is lusciously green and it is perfectly heavenly here.

my good friend erin asked if i would take some family pictures of their sweet family since the weather has been so nice.
it was my first family photo shoot (if you call walking down the street and taking pictures for 10 minutes a photo shoot :o)) and i was a little nervous.

this one is sweet of dad making baby smile.

just look at that little family!

big smooches on those chubby cheeks!

i love this one because mom is talking to baby.

so sweet with mom and baby!
aren't moms the best!!??

this little guy is always blowing bubbles.
this pictures is too cute because it captures his little bubbly smile.

it was a good first time experience and i actually learned a lot
(from all the pictures that didn't turn out :o))

if it's nice where you are get your cameras out! snap some pictures of the little ones or the flowers that are blooming! don't be shy! go go go!

High rolla'

last weekend i hopped on a plane and jetted to vegas.

i was headed to watch my sister-in-law marge in her grappling tournament.

what is grappling you might ask.

it is like wresting in that you can win by gaining more points than your opponent through different move and holds;

but it is different, in that you try to get the other person to tap out by doing certain holds and choking them out.

i know it sounds a little on the crazy side but it was seriously SO AWESOME!

i LOVED every second!

(here is a picture of margo (left) and her teammate at the match.)

here they are warming up.

here is the actual match.

they give each other a little hand slap to let the other know they are ready.

here is margo taking her down!

if you know anything about my husbands family...it's that they don't like to loose and they are all very competitive.

margo is not only competitive but very very feisty.

she did an amazing job and i was so proud of her.

margo and i after the match.

(i am one white nw girl compared to margo)

i do have to say that i have never seen so many muscles in one place before.

w-o-w

this is my sister-in-law stephanie giving into temptation.

(photo taken from the plane)

and just like that i was headed back home all in the same day.

now i know what is feels like to be a high rolla.

until next time vegas.

Tile Coasters

At my church we have a once a month craft day. I was asked to help out. There are 3 of us, and we each take a day once every few months. This last month I decided to do these tile coasters and they turned out so super cute!

I saw this idea on a blog called "Just a girl."

Go check out her blog!

I got these tiles at Lowe's. FYI: Home depot didn't have them.

They are 4x4, "Agora Almond" color.

They were only .41 cents each!

You'll need "StazOn" stamping ink, as well as "StazOn All Purpose Cleaner".

You can get both of these at Joann's of Michael's.

*The cleaner is a must. You can dab a little on your tile if you don't like the way your stamping turned out, and start over. Just have a package of baby wipes on hand to wipe your tile clean after applying the cleaner.

Place your stamp on the ink.

Center it on the tile and push down.

You'll need some felt for the bottom of the tile so it won't scratch the surfaces you use them on.
I used these felt blankets and cut them up into little squares.
You can purchase the pre-cut felt circles of squares as well.


Stick them to the back.


Tie a bow around your tiles along with a little tag so you can write who it's to and from.

I made my tag by cutting a small rectangle out of card stock. I stamped a flower on the tag and lightly brushed the corners of the card stock on my stamp pad.
Punch a hole in the tag with a hole punch and tie it onto the ribbon.


These are so easy and make great gifts!
Make a bunch now and store them away for Christmas Gifts. When you recieve an unexpected gift, you can pull out these babies, and quickly write their name on the tag :o)
Or make them for your children's teachers as an end of the year gift.

we did pedicures & manicures tonight

i won't ever forget it.

oh how i love you my lucy lu.

i could not have been sent a more perfect little girl.