Artful Inkables

Today I received my first ever purchase from Artful Inkables. I've been following their blog, as well as some of their design team members' blogs for a while now, and they have some really cute stamps. Their design team always comes up with adorable designs to use them for too.

I try to be a frugal shopper and usually purchase my stamps from Hobby Lobby and similar stores when they're on sale, but Thursday I decided to place an order from AI. The sets I chose were "Bouquets & Butterflies" and "A Bird's Song", which was just released last week.

I have to say, their prices are really good. And I was really impressed that they arrived so quickly! I'm also impressed with the quality of the stamps. They're made from red rubber and the images are carved really deep. They are then mounted on EZ Mount foam, and so you can use them on your acrylic blocks.

I played around with them a little tonight and wanted to share. Nothing fancy, but I had to do something with my new toys!

Weekend in Memphis

I spent the weekend with my friend, Vanessa, this weekend. We shopped Saturday morning and picked up the rest of what we needed for Gina's shower, and then we spent the afternoon & evening putting everything together. I was really pleased with how everything came out. I'll be sure to post pictures after the shower...don't want to spoil the surprise in case Gina's reading on here... (Hi there!) :)

Sunday morning, we loaded up my car, and I went to our assembly hall for our one-day assembly. We had over 950 in attendance. It was such a great program! Plus, Brandon had his first-ever part right after lunch where he was interviewed regarding an experience he had. He did great!

Here's a few more pics from yesterday:

Brandon and I during lunch


Brandon's sister, Kelley, with her son, Landon

'
Brandon's mom and brother, Tyler


Our friends, Kim & Kaitlyn

Catching Up

Here I am getting behind again on my blogging! Let's see if I can catch up without a mile-long post...

Last Wednesday, Daddy had to go back to the hospital. Thankfully, he wasn't in as bad shape as we thought and didn't have to stay long. He is back home now, as of Sunday, and is doing really well. He isn't even using his oxygen anymore. In a couple of weeks he has follow-up appointments with his doctors, and so we'll see what they say when he goes to those.

We had our CO visit last week. I love the couple we have right now - they're really great. Elizabeth even got our phone number and called me on Saturday night to check on Daddy. I thought that was very thoughtful of her. She's super-sweet!

Brandon actually had a weekend off this past weekend. He was scheduled to work, but a girl in his department had sick kids and so traded with him for her shift earlier in the week. Since he was off, he wanted to have some friends over to watch the Ole Miss game. We invited Bobby & Tessa and Lee & Rachel. We haven't been able to do much with them and wanted a chance to get to know Tessa - Bobby's fiance - better. We both really like her and think she and Bobby make a great couple. :)

Anyway, we had a really good time with everyone. Brandon smoked a couple of racks of ribs and I fixed some chicken and some snacks. Rachel brought the sides to go with the ribs. Everything was really good. Even though Ole Miss blew the game, we had a lot of fun.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I'm leaving tomorrow after work to spend the weekend with Vanessa. We're going to work on getting all the decorations made for Gina's baby shower next weekend. Then on Sunday we have our one-day assembly, which Brandon will be meeting me up there for. It should be a good weekend!

Crop for a Cure

Friday afternoon I picked up Rachel at work and we headed to Corinth to Scrapbooks & Supplies From Nanny's Attic for her annual "Crop for a Cure". Last year was so much fun that I couldn't wait to get there this year. Jeannie was able to go earlier in the day and get us all seats together. She was scrapping away when we made it around 5:00.

The crop lasted until midnight on Friday and then from 10:00-10:00 on Saturday. The whole weekend was lots of fun. Deborah gave away tons of awesome prizes. We played bingo, had ticket drawings all day, and on Saturday played "Dirty Scrapper". I came away with a pre-made album, some felt accents, and some awesome ribbons & lace. Of course, I had to make a few purchases as well, including a couple of bottles of Stickles, which I had never used before but am now totally addicted to. Needless to say, most of my pages I did this weekend have their share of bling. (I'll be posting them soon - I need to add journalling first.)

Great News & A Crop

My dad got to come home from the hospital yesterday! I took the day off work to go and get him. Of course, no one got in any hurry to get his discharge papers to him, so it was 3:00 before we actually go out of there. He was none too pleased, but at least he got home. :)

I'm really excited about tonight and tomorrow. I'm attending the Crop for a Cure at Scrapbooks & Supplies from Nanny's Attic with some friends of mine. Jeannie & I were able to attend last year as well and had a blast, so I can't wait to get there this evening. After the last few weeks I've had, I'm ready to do something fun!