MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hi all!! Yesterday was a fantastic family day full of laughter, good food, and lots of fun!! And, we are now off on our ski/snowboard trip so I will see you all in the New Year!!! The picture I have here is one of the place we are staying called Northstar Village near Tahoe. We are sooooo excited!! Lots of fun things to do including ice skating, tubing, shopping, and of course great food. I will share some fun pics when I get back! Enjoy the rest of your holiday time, I will be back on the 3rd of January!!! MWAH!!!!!!

WHEW! WHAT A WEEK!!!

WOW!!! This has been some week, I tell ya!!! Working, shopping, baking, wrapping - it's enough to make ya tired!!! And, this last week at work has been pure misery, since nothing seemed to go right at all!! I am soooooo happy that today is my last day until the 11th of January - WHOOOHOO!!!! I am really looking forward to a nice break!!! I wanted to take time out this morning and share with you two more of my Christmas cards for this year. I used last week's Mojo Monday sketch for this first one, and I love the sketch so I have used it for a couple others I will share with you tomorrow. I love the way this turned out - the Bravo Burgundy scalloped circles look so elegant paired with this gorgeous Christmas Cocoa specialty paper! And, of course you can't go wrong with Whisper White satin ribbon. The stamp set I used for this one is called Patterned Pines and it is a Hostess Set available only until the 31st of this month since it is in the mini. I love it!! This second card is one of the main cards I did this year and sent out - I usually have five or six designs and do a few of each so I don't get bored, lol! I used the Delightful Decorations stamp set with the matching punch, and I have a feeling this will be a favorite in MY house for many Christmases to come as I just love how much you can do with it! I cut out the DSP using my Big Shot Top Note Die and sponged the card stock with Creamy Caramel. The ornaments are stamped in versamark, then heat embossed using gold embossing powder - it turned out FABULOUS!!! I added some Whisper White Taffeta ribbon and topped the ornaments with some gold cord. I love this card, I have to say, I think it looks elegant and makes me smile! I have only two more Christmas cards to share with you before Christmas so that worked out well as I won't be stamping any more this year. I will share those over the next couple of days. So, now I am off to work, hoping that the day will go by VERY fast so that I can get home and get started on my vacation! Zach comes home on Saturday so good times this weekend!! THANKS sooooo much for stopping by, I love ya for it!!!!!

ARE YOU READY FOR??

another Christmas card, LOL??! I have been stamping away getting all my Christmas cards in the mail and having a great time!! I got soooo much done this weekend, but it sure flew by fast! My man had his b-day yesterday so I made him a special dinner and we had chocolate mousse cake and he got to watch football all day without me giving him a "honey do" list, so he was a happy camper. It also poured all weekend so it was a good weekend to take care of lots of the indoor things that needed to happen. So, on to the card! I decide to play around with my Old Fashioned Christmas stamp set called Good Cheer because I love the vintage look it has. The Father Christmas image is amazing!!! I am not sure I did it justice; I did not want to add too much to this card since there was already so much detail in the patterned paper and the image itself so I just did not shading with my watercolor pencils. I also colored and cut out the holly leaves in the set and added those as well. I am pretty happy with this card although I would like to play around with the image a little bit more. Maybe I will just have to make another one....heeehee!!! Any excuse to stamp! So, today is back to work, but I am happy it is the last week and it will go fast because I have sooo much to do before the winter break!! And, Zach comes home next weekend too, WHOOOHOOO!! I have so much to be thankful for - I am very lucky!! Have a great Monday all and thanks so much for stopping by and leaving me love, I appreciate all of you!!

Card Recipe:

Paper - Kraft, Whisper White card stock, Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper

Inks - Brown Stazon, Watercolor pencils

Stamps - Good Cheer

Accessories - Bravo Burgundy Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

CHRISTMAS HAS ARRIVED AT THE HOBSONS!

Happy Saturday! I am so excited that it is the weekend and I only have one more week of work before Christmas break, whoohooo!! The advantage to working at a University is that we close down for two whole weeks!! And, I am going to take a third week since Zach will be home so I am going to have a nice stretch of time off which I am very much looking forward to!! Meanwhile, we have been decorating, shopping, wrapping, and hope to get some baking in so Christmas is very much the topic of the day in our home! I have also been stamping alot of Christmas cards and have several I want to share with you! I will share two today - they were so much fun to make, I am really enjoying all my new Christmas stamp sets!! This first card uses one of my favorite sets called Winter Post - these ice skaters really make me smile!! And, the paper is yummy!! I could not help adding some bling, winter just says bling to me and well, they are skating, LOL! It's a pretty simple card but I used pretty ribbons and one of my new giant brads which I just love. This next card uses a set called Cold and Cuddly and I bought him because my daughter absolutely adores penguins and when we saw this little guy, well, that was all she wrote!! I love how fat and round he is and all the little hats that come with the set! I did some paper tearing on this one and then layered them to give the card some depth and I do like the result. The snowflakes are actually rubons in the Holiday Mini called Merry and Bright - they are FABULOUS!!! I did pop my little penguin up on dimensionals because he is small and I wanted him to be noticed *wink*. This was a fun card to make and came together pretty quickly. I have several more that I have completed and I will be sharing those with you all over the next week or so. It feels soooooo good to be stamping again, I am loving my new room and enjoyed reading all the comments you all left me! And, for those of you wanting to come play in my new room with me, come on over, the door is always open *smile*. Now, I am off to work on some more decorating and getting dinner started. It is very cold, windy, and rainy here so I am making my Great Grandma's Hungarian Goulash, YUM! Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Card Recipe:

Paper - Kraft, Taken with Teal, Ruby Red, Whisper White card stock, Holiday Lounge and Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Papers

Inks - Close to Cocoa, Basic Brown, Taken with Teal, Basic Black, Ruby Red Stampin' Inks and markers

Stamps - Cold and Cuddly, Winter Post stamp sets

Accessories - Ticket Corner Punch, Large Oval, Scalloped Oval, Modern Label punches, Large White Brad, Silver elastic cord, Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon, Ruby Red taffeta ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, liquid glue, Dazzling Diamonds, silver brads, paper piercer

BEATES WEEKEND SKETCH CHALLENGE AND MY NEW CRAFT ROOM!

Happy Hump Day all!!! I am actually home from work today since Kayla is not feeling well so I am playing in my craft room - kind of a nice little break during the week although I wish she was not sick! So, I thought I would share another one of my Christmas cards - this one is actually Beate's weekend sketch challenge this week and I really enjoyed having the time to play along! And, sketches are good for me when I am trying to get my stampin groove back, LOL! I had fun with this one although I may have gotten carried away with the glitter *wink* I used my embossing folder Finial Press because it reminds me of Poinsettias. I then added some Ruby Red accents to the flowers and added some green glitter to the leaves - such fun! The flowers across the top are made with my punches and then I added a brad to the center. Of course I had to add some ribbon so I used Sleigh Bells ribbon from the Holiday Mini (can only get this until the end of the month so if you need it, you better order it!) as it had all the colors I wanted on this card. The Santa face with all the Dazzling Diamonds is from the Heritage Holiday stamp set and the sentiment is from the Delightful Decorations stamp set. I really had fun with this one and I hope it shows in the result, which I am quite happy with! My first bunch of Christmas cards are going into the mail tomorrow and I have LOTS more to show you, WHOOHOO!!! Many of you have expressed an interest in seeing my new creative space so I thought I would share a few pics - I adore my new room and expect that there will be many a happy time creating way in it!

These first pic shows a partial view of my room from the door - hard to get the whole effect but you get the idea. The second pic shows my new work space for all my fun tools such as my sizzix, Cricut, BIA, and other things - one of the doors was broken so we are waiting for the replacement but I really love having all that dedicated work space. This third one shows you all the fabulous storage I now have for all the fun things I have accumulated - and now I can see all that I have and it is easy to locate! This fourth one is a close-up of my new Sizzix play area, I am just thrilled about it!! I can see all my dies, easily reach for them, and just have a ball!! The next one shows the storage above my new counter space and this is where I store all my SU! product and of course all those fabulous stamps! All of my non-SU! stamps are stored separately so everything is now really easy to put my hands on. I also have this fabulous storage with all these shelves that contain my chipboard, all my Cricut cartridges, and many embellies by subject - scary, I know but I am so happy to know where everything is now. It was getting so

that I was spending more time hunting for things than I was creating, which really made me not want to create at all! But, not anymore - just check out my new workspace where I do all my creating! I love the big work area and with so many things right at my fingertips, I can really do everything I need without getting up unless I need to die cut something which is fun to do anyway. And, of course no creative space is complete without the computer so I now I have a shiny new laptop in my space that is all mine and I don't have to share with the kids or the husband - just all mine!! They are also happy as they have the desktop for homework and whatever else teens do on the computer (not too much since I have it all locked down with parental controls, LOL!!) This last pic is to show you just how sweet my husband is - he surprised me with some beautiful flowers for my new craft room! I walked in and there they were, so bright and cheery...I just love that man!! So, there you have it, my new little piece of paradise, all set up and ready to go! I am having a ball in this room - I may never want to come out again!! And, for those of you who stuck with me through this long post, thanks so much! I am sure you are not nearly as excited as I am, but I wanted to share :-) Have a wonderful day and I will be back tomorrow with some more Christmas cards to share!!!

CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!

Hi all!! WOW! Did NOT mean to take such a long break, but we finally got my whole craft room moved to the other space and all set up and I am soooooooo excited!!!!! I just love my new creative space and I have just made some Christmas cards at my brand new work desk!! I have just a few finishing touches to do and it will be PERFECT!! And, then I will post some pics of the new space. But, I was so happy to have completed some cards that I wanted to share one that I made last night. The lighting was NOT the best, but I love this card!! It is made with the single stamp reindeer at the very back of the catty and I truly think it is my absolute fave Christmas stamp - and I really enjoy playing with lots of the others!! I also used some of the Christmas specialty paper that feels like flock and it just makes the card look warm and rich!! And, of course I could not resist adding some bling so I used Dazzling Diamonds on the antlers and chunky glitter for the snow! So much fun - I CANNOT wait to play more tonight when I get home from work - who needs sleep???LOL!!!! I hope you are all doing well, I sure do miss you all!! I actually think I have time to blurf again now that the room is done so I plan on doing some catching up this week. Thanks for stopping by - MWAH to you!!!!

IT'S SWAP TIME!!

***CALLING ALL SWAPPERS***

This post to remain on top until December 1st

***Limit 10 swappers***

Hi all!!! I wanted to host another swap this year since we had such a great time doing it last year!! So, if you are interested in doing a Christmas card swap, just sign up on this post. Here are the deets:

(1) Full cards only with no recipes needed
(2) No restrictions on products
(3) Your best work so people can use them to send out to friends/family
(4) Get them to me by 10 December(I will mail them back the next day!)
(5) Include a SAS envie with postage to get your swaps back to you!

So, who's game? I will close the sign-ups on Tuesday, the 1st of December so that people have time to get their swaps done and in the mail! Can't WAIT to see them all - last year they were FABULOUS!! I will add the names as I get them!!

1. Alex
2. Diane
3. Stacy
4. Dana
5.

A CHRISTMAS CARD!

Hi all!! WOW! It sure has been busy around here! I have been cleaning out my craft room, moving to a new room, painting, putting in new furniture, etc. so I have not been making much of anything at all BUT will have a beautiful new creative space this week and plan on hitting it hard for Christmas!!! My son is home for Thanksgiving so we have lots of family time planned! In the meantime, I thought I would share a card I made for a contest - it did not win, but I like it anyway, lol! It uses one of my favorite sets called Holiday Lineup, which I tend to reach for alot when making cards. And, these elves just crack me up! And, I love to sure Dazzling Diamonds on their beards, I think it looks fabulous! The contest was to create a simple card with glitter - this was my sample. This is a variation on a similar card I made during a workshop I recently held and it was a hit! I hope to share some more cards this week, AND some pics of my brand new creative space! Thanks for stopping by, I love to hear from you!

Card Recipe:

Paper - Kraft, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White card stock, Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper

Inks - Stampin' Write Markers, Basic black stamp pad

Stamps - Holiday Lineup, Teeny Tiny Sayings

Accessories - Top Note Die for Big Shot, Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Vintage Brads, Corner Rounder punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Two-way glue

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....WE HAVE A WINNER (TWO ACTUALLY)

Okay, the time has come to announce the winner of my blogaversary/100,000 hits blog candy!!! WHOOOOHOOOO!! Thanks to all who played along - 83 comments, that is fabulous!! And, I have gotten the chance to see all kinds of new blogs with some wonderful ideas!! I hope you all will continue to visit as I actually do have lots to share over the coming weeks because of my holiday workshops and parties!! Yep, stamping is in my blood, I cannot give it up for long, LOL!!! But, I digress......want to know who the winner is?? Well, I used random.org to do the drawing and this is who it chose:

Here is your random number: 67
Timestamp: 2009-11-15 04:34:42 UTC

So, by my count that is Cheryl aka Engineered Expressions - WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! Cheryl is actually a friend - we have served on some Design Teams together and let me tell you, she has MAD TALENT!!!! Cheryl, I will get your goodies out to you as soon as you send me your snail mail (I may already have it, need to check!) Thanks again to all who played along - I am sure I will have another fun thing to do soon so please check back!!! And, because I always feel that the number one entry never gets a fair shake during a random drawing, I will also be sending out a wonderful stamp to my friend Denise aka Paper Ponderings who was the first person to come by and congratulate me in her very sweet way!! Denise is also very talented and one of the nicest gals I have met in blogland. She will be receiving a wonderful Whimsy stamp of her
choice from me so Denise, send me an email and tell me which one you want and I will get it right
out to you! SMOOCHES to all of you - can't wait to show you what I have been working on, so stay tuned for Monday!!

AT LONG LAST......BLOG CANDY TO CELEBRATE!!!!

***THIS POST TO REMAIN ON TOP UNTIL NOVEMBER 13th. SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTS***

Howdy all!! I am sooooo sorry that I went MIA....believe me, if it had been avoidable, I would not have!! I have lots to share with you this week, but first and foremost, I think we are all FINALLY healthy again (crossing fingers AND toes here)!! And, nope, I did not forget about my milestone - I am THRILLED to have made it to 100K hits, it just blows me away!!!! Thanks again to all of you, I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful people through blogging. I treasure each and every one of you!!! So, what I would like to do is explain how we are going to celebrate....yep, we are gonna PARTAY!!!! Here is the deal: see that picture of the USPS box? Well, ...... I am going to fill it up with YUMMY GOODIES for ONE LUCKY WINNER!!!! Each day I will give you a new piece of the giveaway and then on October 30th, I will draw the lucky winner through one random drawing!!! Why that day - well, that will be my BLOGAVERSARY!!!!! Yep, how about that!!!! Two years in blogland and I am still having fun!!! So, I thought it would be a great way to tie them both together!!! So, what do you have to do to get in the drawing? Here are the rules:

(1) Leave a comment here so I know you stopped by

(2) Add yourself to my blogger friends list - I love seeing everyones face

(3) Link me on your blog and tell them about the celebration!

That's it!!!! No quizzes, no recipes(well, only if you want to, LOL!), nothing but those three simple steps! So, want to see the first portion of the blog candy? Here it is: There are two sets of die cuts and one embossing folder - and these will fit any machine you have so not to worry!!! I actually have these three myself and love them and I use the Big Shot!!!! So, I will add some more fun goodies tomorrow and also will have a fun hostess gift to share that I did for a recent workshop. Until then, take care and thanks sooo much for stopping by!!! Smooches!

VETERANS DAY - HONOR THOSE WHO SERVED AND STILL SERVE

*****HAPPY VETERANS DAY*****
As you enjoy this day off from work or school, or are just spending time at home, please take time today to remember those who have sacrificed all for our country in order for us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. And, remember those who are still serving and are far from loved ones right now! To all my brothers and sisters in uniform - I salute you!

WHO WANTS CANDY??!!

Hey all!! As promised, I am posting the last of the candy for the big drawing on Friday!! I hope you all like what I have added to the stash, I am trying to make this a really fun blog treat for one lucky winner to receive!!! And, since we all love to papercraft and I am sure one or two of you out there are stampers, I thought I would make sure that there is some fun stuff to stamp with too *wink* And, of course no good papercrafter can make ANYTHING without some ribbon so I made sure that there is plenty of that as well! The bag is literally stuffed with all kinds of fun ribbons - I took some of my faves and made sure that they will become your faves as well, heehee!!! And, to top off the goodies, I added a complete kit with paper, die cuts, and embellies that are going to come in handy since they are fall themed and well, it's fall, LOL!!! And, I know I told you I would share a project tonight, but guess what??!! I got an email today that said it is going to be published!!! Yep, little ole' me - WHOOHOOO!!! I had submitted this one awhile ago and figured since I had not heard, that it would be okay to share, and well, voila! I can't share too much right now, but needless to say, I am thrilled! And, since I submitted a bunch at the same time, I will wait to share any of those to ensure I don't mess anything up, lol. So, you will have to wait until I stamp some more, probably tomorrow, since I will have some time now that soccer is out of the way!! I have to say, having that email in my inbox really made my day!!! So, enjoy yours and I will be back tomorrow!! And, for the candy, make sure you sign up on the original email and follow the three steps to ensure you get a chance in the drawing - you DO NOT want to miss out!!!

WENT AWAY FOR AWHILE!

I am sooooo sorry ladies!!! I ended up being out of town for 12 days instead of the original five days so I have not been able to post! Nothing to worry about (THANKS FOR ALL THE SWEET SWEET EMAILS!) it was a business trip that I ended up having to go on for the University, BUT it meant leaving you all in the lurch and for that I truly do apologize. This job is WAAAYYYY busier and more stressful than I thought it would be, and I am trying to get a handle on everything so that I can still do the things I enjoy such as blogging and stamping, but so far, it seems I have failed miserably!!!! So, what I am going to do is extend the candy drawing until the end of this week, and my first post with candy AND a new project (yes, I took time and STAMPED!) will be tomorrow!! Thanks for continuing to check on me, you all are keeping me sane:-) Big hugs and kisses to Corrinne and Denise especially - your emails totally made me SMILE!!!! BIG SMOOCHES!!!!

BATTY FOR YOU....AND MORE CANDY!

Happy Hump Day all!!! I am soooo happy it's Wednesday.....because that means the last day of work for this week AND I get to leave to see my mom and sister, WHOOOHOOOO!!!! I am really looking forward to my short break and time away, I just know it will be fabulous!!! So, as promised I have another halloween card to share although not the one I originally planned. Why not, you ask??? Weeeeelllllll, my golden retriever decided that my sweet treats card was indeed sweet and HE ATE IT, UGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! All I have left is the chewed up sweet treats cup and some really soggy card stock *sniff* I loved that card....that will teach me not to take a pic right away!!! Soooo, I have another to share that we made that night using the Batty for You stamp set which is such a favority for me. I just love it! And, I used the Big Shot Texture Plates as well - if you click on it, you can see the dots design on the Elegant Eggplant piece of card stock. And, to make the embossing pop even more, I too a sponge and sponged Elegant Eggplant ink all over the background as well!! I love how it looks!! Lots of fun colors on this one - all the colors of Halloween!! We had lots of fun making this card. Here is the recipe:

Card Recipe:

Paper - Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White card stock, Cast-a-Spell Designer Series Paper

Inks - Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive classic inks

Stamps - Batty for You, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Accessories - Elegant Eggplant narrow grosgrain ribbon, Circle Scallop Punch, 13/8 inch circle punch, Modern label punch, Old Olive brads, white gel pen, Big Shot Texturz plates

Now, I am sure you are waiting for the next piece to the candy.....well, I have decided that tonight and tomorrow I will give you bigger pieces since I won't be posting while I am gone through the weekend(I will be back with a post on Monday). So, if you know me at all, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflys, etc. I use them ALOT in my scrappin' and stamping and love all the different ones out there. Well, I decided to share some with the lucky winner and here they are - just check out all those fabulous embellies!!!! I decided to take a pic of these on their own, but they will be added to other goodies I have already shared. Now remember, to enter, you have to do three things - leave a comment ON THE POST AT THE TOP OF MY BLOG, sign in as a follower of my blog, and post a link to my blog on your own!! That's it - pretty easy!!! So, off to work now but I will be back to share a very special birthday set for a very special person in my life!!! See ya then and thanks SO MUCH for stopping by - you make my day!!!

YUMMY HOSTESS TREAT

Hi all!!! Well, I am back as promised and I want to share with you this fun hostess gift I made for a workshop I did a couple of weeks ago. My hostess Andrea asked me to do a Halloween theme and we had soooo much fun!! There were twelve of us there and we laughed, ate, stamped, and laughed some more....such a fun time!!! Andrea LOVES candy corn so I made this especially for her - and she loved it!! This is called a Diaper Fold Pouch and I found the pattern on SCS - VERY easy to put together! All the products used are Stampin' Up! and if you have a question or want to order any of them, just contact me! I used one whole sheet of 12x12 designer series paper from the Cast-a-Spell paper pack....I love this paper and designed the whole workshop around it!! I made the scallops using my Big Shot Die and my large scallop circle punch. The little ghostie(the sentiment says the ghostest with the mostest, too too cute!) comes from the set Batty for You stamp set and is filled with these cute little halloween figures and sayings. I topped off the whole thing with some basic black and pumpkin pie ribbon and added some white dotted accents to my scallops with my white gel pen!! Quick project but I thought it turned out cute and most importantly, my hostess loved it!! Now, tomorrow I am going to share a card we made at that same workshop using the sweet treat cups - sooooooo fun!!!!! But, for now I am going to give you another peek at what the lucky winner will find in the box of goodies I am filling for my blog celebration....are ya ready??!! Here it is: I have added a 6x8 scrapbook that has 35 pages - that is 70 pages total if you use both sides! I love these and have used several of them myself as gifts and for special occasions I want to highlight!! Now remember, in order to qualify for the drawing, you must do three things: (1) Leave a comment in the blog candy post(one at the top of my blog), (2) become a follower of my blog, and (3) leave a comment on your blog linking my post. That's it - easy peasy!! Now, I did notice that some of you all who left a comment and linked me did not become followers - remember, you have to do all three to qualify!! So, that's it for today folks, I will be back to share some more fun halloween creations tomorrow!! Thanks for stopping by, you all make my day!!!

WHOOOOOHOOOO!! 100K HITS AND A NEW CARD!!!

Hi all!!! Whooohooo!! I am BACK and even have a card to share today!! And, I was checking out my counter and saw that I just went over 100, 000 hits - that is sooooo AWESOME!! Thanks to all of YOU - that is what makes me keep blogging!! I have met sooo many wonderful people and I have to say, it brightens my day to read all the comments, and visit all of you as well!! At the end of this month I will have been blogging for two years - I cannot believe that!! So, now that I have hit such a GREAT milestone, I will have to decide what fun blog candy to have in celebration - I will put my thinking cap on and figure it out and let you all know by Friday *wink* But, for now, I do have a card to share - it's a simple card but I love how it turned out! It's using one of my fave sets called Cheep Talk - I just love the birdies, they are sooo cute!! And, I have to say, I am not a huge fan of purple but I do love the different shades here with that gorgeous designer series paper called Cottage Wall - it's just so soft and pretty, it makes me smile!! This is one of the cards I did for a workshop recently and they really enjoyed making this one too!! I hope to be back to stamping regularly again now that I am feeling more like myself - I tell ya, that virus is really something - I am still recovering and have not been able to shake the cough and congestion that goes along with it. But, at least I am able to get back into a routine, which makes me happy!! I am off to blog hop a little before I hit the office, and I will be back tomorrow to share another fun project!! I hope you all have a FABULOUS day!!!

Card Recipe:
Paper - Old Olive, Pale Plum, Lavender Lace, Whisper White card stock, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper
Inks - Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant classic inks
Stamps - Cheep Talk
Accessories - White gel pen, 3/4 and 1/2 inch circle punches, large and small oval punches, Elegant Eggplant narrow grosgrain ribbon

I AM ALIVE....BARELY

Hi there all!! Thanks for all the nice emails checking up on me - I am doing a lot better than I have been these last seven days. See, my daughter got sick, then my son, then me....and we have ALL had the dreaded H1N1 virus aka the Swine Flu. Yep, I am here to tell ya that it is NOT a fun flu at all!! High fevers for days, and total misery for all of it!! I am definitely on the mend now as my fever finally broke yesterday afternoon, but I am still very tired and weak so I guess maybe in another few days I should be feeling much better! I have had to cancel two workshops and miss lots of work, but my kiddos are doing a LOT better and are back in school - seems I am the one who is lagging....must be my old age, lol! Seriously though, if you have the flu, get checked out because this is no joke - I am a very healthy person and it knocked me flat on my rear! I hope to get back to stamping this week as I do miss it...now - a few days ago I could care less about stamping - so you know I was sick!! Thanks for checking in on me - you all are the best!!

HOSTESS TREAT

Hi all!!! It has been very hectic around the Hobson household the last five days as we seem to be sharing the flu amongst ourselves, uggghhh......!!!! My son is sick and so is Tony and I have not been feeling so hot either although I keep telling myself I am fine(denial is a great thing!) I will be happy when this bug moves on and we can get back to some semblance of normal!!! Today I wanted to share the gift I made for my hostess of last Saturday's workshop. I made this cute little treat bag and filled it with peanut butter and chocolate Hershey kisses - YUM!!! The bag was super easy to make since I used my new Big Shot die called Fancy Favor! Once I put it together, I used my 3/4 inch Circle punch and some of my clear window sheets to make the window in front!! The handle is made from scraps left over after I finished the bag and card so no waste at all!!! Here is a close-up of the bag -I just love the way it turned out! I also added some of the yummy polka dot soft suede ribbon - I am loving all the polka dot choices with my in-colors. I think she liked it too, although I am not sure if the bag was any big thing to her....she was very excited about the chocolates, LOL!!!! Well, off to work I go - I really wish I could stay home in bed, but I have so much to do, that is just not possible. So, I am going to make it a short day, come home and take a nap, and then carry on with my day after I pick up the kids. I hope to do some blurfing at some point today as well!! Thanks for stopping by to see me today - love ya for it!!!
Bag and Card Recipe:
Paper - Ruby Red, Soft Suede, Whisper White card stock, Autumn Traditions designer series paper
Inks - Ruby Red, Soft Suede classic inks
Stamps - Flight of the Butterfly
Accessories - Butterfly Punch, 3/4 inch Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Window Sheets, Modern Label Punch, 5/16 inch Jumbo brads, Red Sticky tape, Soft Suede Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon, Close to Cocoa narrow grosgrain ribbon, Fancy Favor Big Shot Die

SIMPLE FRIENDSHIP

Well, here it is - Monday again....boy, it sure does come around FAST!!! I am really missing when we worked four tens and had every Friday off....three days for the weekend was sooooo much nicer!!! So, today I wanted to share another one of the cards we did in the workshop on Saturday. This one was done using the Simple Friendship stamp set which I love!! I used a white card base which is not something I do very often, but really liked it for this particular card. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Night and Day which is the designer paper I used for this one....it is on page 11 of the Holiday Mini and is absolutely FABULOUS!!! The ladies really enjoyed making this card because they got to do quite a bit of stamping. This is one of three projects that we did and this one they said was their favorite (okay, it was mine too, LOL!) So, off to my day job I go but I will get some blurfing done today and I will be back tomorrow with something else to share! I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a fabulous day today - thanks soooo much for stopping by!!! MWAH!

Card Recipe:

Paper - Whisper White card, Basic Black card stock, Night and Day Designer Series Paper

Inks - Real Red, Basic Black classic inks

Stamps - Simple Friendship

Accessories - Real Red Double Stitched Wide grosgrain ribbon, Scalloped Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Real Red narrow grosgrain punch, stampin' dimensionals