So Long Summer...

A friend reminded me earlier this month that I was behind on my blog posting. (Sorry Janet!) We have had a great time this summer. In July we traveled to New York for vacation and had a BLAST! Andrew had the opportunity to participate in the Lamplighter Guild for Creative Disciplines and got to spend his week at an incredible resort in the Catskill Mountains. The rest of us explored New York (city and state) and visited the surrounding states also. Here are pictures from highlights of our trip.

Lunch with my brother, Dennis, in Pennsylvania on our way to NYC...

Seeing Spiderman on Broadway...

Mohonk Mountain House, where Andrew got to spend the week...

Niagra Falls at night...

Dinner with my family in Indiana on our way back to Arkansas...

I have so many more pics, but you'll have to wait and look at the scrapbook to see them all.



Yesterday my baby boy turned 18! Yikes! Today we begin our final year of homeschool. I am so blessed to be able to spend so much of my day with him, he's an amazing young man. He had been "driving" my dad's old '87 Ford pick up, but it wasn't real dependable and we decided to go shopping for another vehicle for him. This is what we found...



It's not much of a truck (which is what we had in mind), but he loves it and it is a lot of fun to drive...when he lets us :) We surprised him at gym last week with a little early bday party and a new car---he was speechless. You can't see him in this pic, because he's inside the car.
As for crafting, I have done my share this summer and if you dared enter my craft room you could tell it by the mess I have made! My sister was here for a weekend and we played around with making some melted fabric flowers. Here's a pic of Christina modeling it on her shirt...



I made a cute card for my mom's bday, but put it in the mail without taking a picture---ugh! I played with a new stampin toy that just arrived at my house this week. You can come to my card class this Friday and I will let you play with it too ;) Today I am anxiously anticipating delivery of my goodies that were preordered from the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog. There are so many fun things in that box I can't wait to open it! If it comes in time for me to play with it before church, I will post pics of what I come up with.

OKLAHOMA!

This has been quite a busy time at our house. Christina and Andrew finished the last show of "Oklahoma" at the local community theater last night. Pat and I saw the show 5 times and loved every minute of it! How I love to watch my kids singing and dancing on stage...it is fun for all of us.

Of course, its also a crafting opportunity for me. This is a picture of one of the gift bags I made for them to hold their "you did a great job" goodies. I also made 140 chocolate dipped Oreos as a parting gift for the cast and crew...

The release of the new Stampin' Up catalog is July 1st and so I am also gearing up for the release party this Friday! Let me know if you would like more details about that.

Praying you have a blessed day today and that you are able to be a blessing to those around you!

My New Toys

June is such an exciting time for Stampin' Up demonstrators. The new catalog arrives, the retiring stamps & accessories list is posted and we beginning planning for the new catalog year. This is the first year I have gotten the new catalog sent to me Next Day Air. I had to order some items for a class this week end and was going to have to expedite my shipping anyway. Soo just after breakfast today the UPS guy rang my doorbell. I have had lots of fun today looking through the catalog and playing with some new toys. I can't show you any of the new stuff until July, but I can show you some of the things I have made with the new stuff! So here's a little sneak peek of what is to come...

Christina will be starting her junior year of college this year. One of her best friends just graduated from homeschool last week & will be joining her at Williams Baptist College in the fall. They have been looking forward to rooming together for 2 years. For Laura's graduation gift we bought matching bedding sets for their dorm room. I noticed as I looked through the new In Colors that they matched their new bedding and I had to make something for their room from my new stash.