A LITTLE BIT OF SCRAPPY LOVE

WHOOHOO!! It's Friday!! I love Fridays because that means no homework, no practice, AND lots of stamping :-)  I actually have two workshops in the next two days - one tonight, and one tomorrow! I am excited because that means stamping with new friends and seeing some old friends :-) I just love getting together to make pretty things, it's the best part of my job! Heck, every part of my job is amazing :-) I also hope to get some scrapbooking done this weekend as I have not been able to do much lately and I miss it!  I did get a chance to one layout and I wanted to share it with you today! It is one of my daughter and her very close friend Sam - these two girls are glued at the hips, but they are so much fun together! I have never heard so much laughter, they make me smile every time they are here at the house together :-) I used a lot of new products on this page, and I love the way it turned out! I wanted something soft and pretty, and that is what I got! Not a whole lot of stamping going on with this page, but the sentiment is one that makes me smile every time I see it - "Friend Good" by Frankenstein! LOL - it is part of a set called Smarty Pants, and I hope it never retires, it is one of my all time favorites!!

Oh, but look at that beautiful patterned paper!!! Isn't it just gorgeous??!! It is from the Gorgeous suite of papers called Attic Boutique and is in the Occasions Mini. I just love all the patterns and color combos in this pack, it is all soooo very pretty and definitely has the vintage touches that I love!  The pretty details of each pattern make this an ideal suite to use for all kinds of projects - and I have *giggle*. The strip across the bottom of the page is also from the same suite, it's just the flip side of the pattern used on the main strip. It is mounted on Melon Mambo card stock, which I border punched along the bottom with the Pinking Hearts border punch! I often forget I have this punch, and it is an awesome punch, I just love the little hearts border it makes!

Ooh, and look at that pretty birdie!!  Sorry for the shadow, I had a heck of a time with this close-up, lol! However, you can see enough details to know that his is a gorgeous die, and so much fun to play with! I cut the body out of another piece of the Attic Boutique suite, and the wing is Regal Rose Card Stock. See how the wing has some beautiful texture? That's because I ran it through my crimper and oh, I just love how it looks!!!

I added some pretty ribbon (whisper white) and one of the new buttons from the mini from the Twitterpated suite - I love how super cute they are and you get tons of them in different shapes and designs in two different colors! 48 buttons for $6.95 is a heck of a deal :-) I also used a couple more buttons on the bottom right hand side of the page - aren't they just so pretty??!  Most of my little embellishments on this layout are actually dies for the Big Shot - I use my Big Shot every day and I honestly have no idea what I would do without it! So many fun new dies, and embossing tools - I have lots of fun mixing and matching and just playing around with them!

See the hearts? They are so cute, and I actually used two different embosslits to cut these. One is called Scalloped Heart of Hearts and is actually the bigger hearts at the top of the page - soooo very pretty!  I love the textured look at the pretty finished edges it creates. The smaller hearts are from the brand new embosslit in the Occasions Mini called Fashionable Hearts and it has different sizes and patterns for these hearts. You can see them scattered on the page and the close-up of one in this picture. I actually used that heart to cover up the camera that my daughter is holding since they took that picture while looking in the mirror at themselves - ROFL! Silly girls, right??!

Embosslits are fun and easy to use, and at $11.95, they are a great deal to boot!  I really love that our new embosslit has so many different patterns and sizes to choose from because it gives you an instant variety to your embellishments, especially when you mix and match papers and colors to cut them out with! Super cute! Another one of our new products that I used on this layout is our new frame designs. I used the Labels Framelits for the sentiment pieces and I love them! They all nest together so well, and you can use both the negative pieces (just the outline) or the whole shape like I did here! The great thing about these frames is they also coordinate with one of our new stamp sets called Apothecary Art, and, although I did not use it here, I have played with that as well, and it makes cutting out those shapes quick and easy.  I love this layout and now I have decided I need to make a matching page so that both sides of my book are complete, lol! I like double layouts, it keeps all my books looking pretty :-)  So, hopefully I will have time to do that this weekend and I can share it later on next week! If you like any of the products that you see here, you can buy them in my online store, or you can email me your order and I will be happy to place it for you! Don't forget: with every $50 you spend, you get something FREE from the Sale-a-Bration brochure and you don't want to miss out on that!! I love FREE, don't you??!!  Now, I am off to do the last minute prep for my workshop tonight, and hopefully do a little stamping before it is time to go! The kids both have plans tonight, and Tony is enjoying a golf weekend with his buddies down South so it is just me and the dogs! Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to take some creative time for yourself!!
Layout Recipe:
Paper - Regal Rose, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo card stock, Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper
Inks - Soft Sued classic stamp pad and stampin' write marker
Stamps - Smarty Pants
Tools - Big Shot, Labels Framelits, Fashionable Hearts embosslit, Heart of Hearts embosslit, Elegant Bird Bigz Die, Crimper, Pinking Hearts border punch, Scallop Trim border punch, dimensionals
Accessories - Whisper White thin grosgrain ribbon, Twitterpated buttons, Basic Rhinestones

VERY SCARY WEEK FULL OF EMOTION

Good morning!  I realize it has been over a week since I posted last, but it was an extremely stressful and emotional week in our house.  First, my son had oral surgery to have his wisdom teeth taken out. He had a really bad reaction to the anesthesia, and had a seizure, and lost consciousness. Well, naturally I freaked out because I was with him when it happened.  I immediately called the doctor, got Tyler on the couch with the help of my daughter, and got him conscious again.  Then, he started to lose consciousness again and so I put a cool, wet towel on his head and this seemed to really help. I had the doctor on the phone with me for about 30 minutes as we talked with Tyler to ensure he really was okay, or if he needed to go to the emergency room.  Once I got some water into him, kept the cool towel on his head, he was fine, but WOW! very scary moments for mom and sister, who was with me, and thankfully was helping me with him.  I stayed up with him over night , waking him every hour to change his bandages in his mouth (not fun at all!) and then every four hours to give him his medicine to keep the pain down.  Needless to say, I was exhausted by the next morning, only catching a few hours of sleep in between taking care of Tyler.  At about 7:30am the next morning, I head my husband yell my name out in a panic.  After seeing him, I rushed him to the emergency room where he was admitted - for the next three days, it was test after test for him as we realized a very serious thing had happened.  Out of respect for him, I will not discuss this in detail, but it was a very real and frightening experience for all of us, including his parents and siblings who came to the hospital to see him.  I think I aged ten years this past week.  Tony is my best friend, and the love of my life - I cannot imagine life without him.  I am sooo thankful he is home now, with no lasting effects of what happened.  We have had to make some changes here in the Hobson family, but nothing we can't handle.  Thankfully, things seem pretty much back to normal for all of us as the kids started school this morning, and Tony went in for a quick doctor's appt before he too will head back for work on Wednesday.  As you probably realize, I have not been doing any creating this past ten days or so, but I plan on changing that today.  I need to go to my happy place for a little while today - it really does make a difference for me! So, I will have something creative and fun to share tomorrow, but I wanted to let you all know that we are doing much better! For those of you who have been calling, and have helped out this last week, I cannot tell you how much it has meant - my love and hugs go out to all of you!!! I hope you all have a wonderful day, and remember to hug your loved ones and let them know how much you love them!  Be back tomorrow!

A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Good morning all!! I hope you enjoyed your long holiday weekend - I know we certainly did!!! We had a big bbq here at our house on Sunday night with all of our family, and we swam, ate, drank, and laughed until late into the night! It was a lot of fun! Then, on Monday, we went to my SILs house for another bbq, more swimming, and of course, fireworks!! It was so much fun - I had to spend all day yesterday catching up on all the things I just did not do so I could play, but it was oh so worth it!!  This first picture is my handsome man - he just loves the pool, and I love this pose, lol!  He is in this pool every night after work - I am so very glad we put this in last summer and at least this summer, we get to enjoy it the whole summer instead of just one month!
This next shot is my daughter Kayla who was doing her best not to let me take any pics of her but I waited her out, and when she came up for air, I snapped the shot! She is beautiful - I love taking pics of her!  And, here is one of all the cousins standing under the waterfall - those kids were in the pool for six hours straight - talk about some tired kiddos! And, they all stayed over that night, and it was nice to have a house full of kids again!









They got up the next morning, and after a big breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and bacon, they were back in the pool until it was time to leave to go to my SILs house! They are all just water babies, and I love it - not only are they having fun, but they are outside in the sunshine, and getting some exercise as well!

Tony was the official chef of the afternoon, not that he minds - he loves to bbq! As you can see, most of the adults hovered under the shade in the outdoor kitchen, although us ladies were in the pool a good three hours chatting while the guys served us margaritas - not a bad deal, right, lol??!! They were really good because Tony created this wonderful concoction with real fruit in it, and it was oh so refreshing - we just had to be careful because when they are that good, they go down rather quickly, lol!
And, check out the yummy food we had! Tri-tip, grilled zucchini, fresh grilled corn on the cob - yummo! And, we had some wonderful fresh salads and fruit to accompany all of this - needless to say, nobody went hungry, lol! If there is one thing this family knows how to do, it is to eat, heehe!


In fact, the only thing that got Tyler outside with the rest of us was the lure of the smell - he finally came out and just chilled while waiting for dinner to be done as he said he did not feel much like swimming - what??! It was 109 degrees - in that kind of heat, I am ALWAYS ready to so swimming, lol!     
      So, he just hung out in the shade getting picked on unmercifully by his Uncles and his dad, although Tyler gives out as good as he gets these days! He is bigger than some of them now, and so he can hold his own, pretty much!!!  So, there you have it - a fun day by the pool, relaxing with family - I think it is the BEST way to spend a weekend! Okay, so I will be back with something crafty to share tomorrow - I have been stamping, but a lot of it I can't share yet because it is for specialty swaps at Convention, BUT there are a few and I will post some tomorrow :-) I hope you weekend was a fun as ours was! Thanks for stopping by and letting me share a little piece of my family with all of you! Time goes by so fast, each moment with them is precious-  make sure you hug them, and tell them how much you love them - they never get tired of hearing that!! And, if you get a chance, Stamp Something today :-)

BACK FROM GRADUATION AND READY TO STAMP!

Hi all!! WHEW!  The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity that I can only describe as CRAZY BUSY!!!  We just returned from the East Coast after spending some time visiting old friends, seeing my oldest son graduate and get commissioned, and exploring Washington DC with family.  It was chaotic, hot, loud, and FUN! I have not stamped in two weeks, but plan on spending almost all day in my studio today getting ready for the new catalog and closing out the stamping year with a bang so stay tuned for some fun and fabby projects this week!  Here is a pic of my kiddos right after the graduation - love this photo of my three gems!!! They all look soooo grown up though - ack! Means I am getting old, lol!!! I will be back tomorrow with a fun project AND some class announcements for this month!!! Until then - HAPPY STAMPIN'!!!!

BE BACK LATER TONIGHT!

Hi All!! Well, it has been quite the week in the Hobson household - my son brought home STREP!!! Yep, then the husband got it, then the daughter, and then, yep, ME!!!! uggghhhh!!!! Soooo, not much stamping this past week although I was very busy over the weekend! I will be back tonight when I get home to share some fun projects with you - I just wanted to let you know I have not forgotten about you all!!!! See you soon!

*STAMPIN HUGS* Alex