Painting of Garrett by Artist Less Herger

"Garrett"

by Artist Less Herger

of Comfortable Shoes Studio

Garrett holding the painting of himself.

Less did this from a photographed I emailed her...rockin' awesome!

Less, there is no greater blessing that I can find that matches the painting of Garrett. It will be treasured in our home forever. You are not only creative but you are also an inspiration. Thank you so much for the gift of your talent and your spirit in creating this precious image of Garrett. You are a blessing to me and so many. Thank you!!

Love, Blessings, and {{{Hugs}}},
RHC
www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

Lake Guntersville Scrapbooking Retreat & Celebration Weekend...

I wanted to start with the next photo and end with this one, but it was absolutely by far my favorite photo

for when the sun went down Thursday night of the retreat, my soul was relaxed

more so than it had been in a very long time...

this is the balcony just outside the room where the scrapbook retreat was held

and was taken from our room at the lodge...

More photos can be seen on my gallery...

Deer were everywhere at the Lake Guntersville State Park...

and yes, I got plenty of photos of these amazing animals...

Lake Guntersville Lodge...

My scrapbook nook had plenty of room with a comfortable chair...

Leigh Lee and Edith Wray were the hosts for this event...

This was Thursday after I arrived...more were on their way and

by Sunday the room was full of scrappy happiness...AND 3 shops represented...

...what can I say!! I love my stress free wardrobe but love the fish lunch I had even more...

Some of the scrappy happy gals...

Lake Guntersville...this was the view from our balcony at our room...

simply beautiful...I am so glad for this special time together with friends...

By far, this was the best retreat I have ever been on...

it was well organized and planned...

I believe as participants we all got more from this retreat than the cost...

I didn't have one negative experience the whole trip...

Hope to see you there next year...=)

Thank you Leigh and Edith!!!!!

Thank you JUDY for putting up with me too!!!

Love, Blessings and {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

Destiny's Journey Mini Scrapbook Album

I fell in love with this theme the minute a travel theme was requested...

I used papers from SEI and My Big Ideas along with embellishments I had in my stash...

The cover is creative, fun and simply delicious with earth tones and blues...

ove love love the Tim Hotlz door knobs and the gears/watch pieces. The bling is prima.

The charm I made using some beads that I wanted to move on...they worked perfectly here...

I also added the cute charm that spelled the name of this mini album...cute...

For the page on the left I recycled a package from Michael's $1 bling for a photo spot and added some mesh that is used in sheetrock repair from the hardware store (thanks, Judy!) and my love for keys...

The page on the right is a folded pocket that has a piece of 12x12 paper that folds out into 17 photo journaling spots that I have left blank other than adding accent squares...I am not about to fold this out but for the video lol...so be sure to watch for it on my youtube channel lol...

I kept these two pages fairly simple again using the mesh and a bingo card that was absolutely perfect for this mini album...I will use 2 more of them in this mini album. Behind this bingo card is a tag pocket where more travel fun can be housed...

The front of the tag...OMGosh...I made this tag front from a piece of paper that one of our scrapbook hosts (thank you, Edith) gave me after she demo'd a neat spray and a stencil that I will show you on the video...

The back of the tag is simple and can house photo/journaling...

This is an OMGosh moment...places for photos/journaling here and...

...here...is that not cool beans! Wow...lots of real estate...I am so loving it...

The tag on the left folds out, giving 5 places for more photos and journaling...

the bingo card is an insert between the pages, once again giving more photo/journaling space or to simply leave as is...lots of possibilities with this mini album which is what I like...

here is the inside of the tag that I distressed and glimmer misted...

there is room on the back of each flap too...

The page on the left is the back of the bingo card that I simply left blank...

the page on the right houses yet another tag that folds out...

btw, did you see the hinges on these sweeties...loving it...

Again the tag folds out giving more photo/journaling space and more on the back flap...

I will show the tags for these page son the video, but I made a cute pocket for each

and then made separate pockets for the tags on the sides...

yet again, more real estate to share the travels and journeys to come...

This mini album is going to Africa...Imagine my happiness and squeals of finding the pages in this collection with Africa on them!! Wow...So I put the page down and got one just like it, clipped the edge out and popped it up to house the tags...then once again, there is a bingo page insert...

The tags to the left are from 7Gypsy's and then I covered the backs of each...

However, after reading my blog from yesterday, where did I get the design shape for the tag to the right?

Loving it...=) Recycle, Reuse, Recreate...my theme 4ever...

Finally, the back page where I left plenty of room for photos/journaling for this adventure. 

I popped up the journaling spot that is from 7Gypsy's and the letters just rocked this page...

I left the back as is other than distressing it and glimmer misting it, which I did to all the pages and tags so that photos could be added even here or maybe an envelope with fun memorabilia of the adventure...

It has been a privilege to make this album for my new friend...

Be sure to visit my youtube channel to see more details to this project...AND to learn what I used to make this album...promise, you are going to love the foundation...

Love, Blessings & {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

TAG you are it!

This weekend at the scrapbook retreat, I made several tags from the scraps of my projects...

This one is "time travel"...can you guess what it is made from?

Hint: it is recycled of course...oh and the doily was from the restaurant under my water glass =O

This one is titled simply "&" because I had to ask the gals if they had an & sign I could use for it =)...

I didn't have a stapler with me so I pinned the lace/ribbon/charm on...

"the I's have it" tag

"play it again" tag...I totally love this lace, the clear buttons I added paper to, the safety pin...

I Glimmer Misted the lace too...

"key to bliss" tag

"certifiably happy" tag - I adore the 7Gypsy card in the center...

"playing post office" tag

The mesh I got from my friend Judy is actually used to repair sheetrock from the hardware store =O

Making tags is fun but recycling my scraps in another work of art wins the Rita's Rockin' Awesome Award hands down! I use to buy tags until I made a chipboard template using the #8 measurements. It has saved me money while recycling the elements onto everything from cereal boxes to children's book pieces left over from projects. I also double my thickness when the base of my tags are thin, this is true in all my mini albums or scrapbooks. I want all my elements to withstand time and handling.

Now, did you guess what some of the smaller tags were made from? Ok, I will give you the answer...I recycled the cardboard from the bling packaging I get from Michael's on their $1 aisle. =) They make neat tags too. I used on in my newest creations, the Destiny's Journey Mini Album...loving it. I think I will give myself the Rita's Rockin' Awesome Award! =O Visit my gallery to see more tags I have created...

Love, Blessings & {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

My Altered Journal from Alyson is starting to fill up =)

 This is the Altered Journal I got from Alyson who was my swap partner...

This is the first pages of the journal using the first prompt she added for me...

I wanted to make something for this page as I answered the prompt...

then I art journaled the page...Loving it...

Adding the photo was part of the prompt Alyson added...then I embellished the page...

As I listed the 10 moments in my life, I knew that I wanted to expand the thoughts

giving the reason why I felt these were the top 10 thus far...

so I created tags for the following pages and they are still being developed...

Also, I placed "The House" sketches that DeDe encouraged her viewers to create

in the first section of the journal..I wanted them there to remind me of such a 

special creative process...

It is hard not to fill ever page right now...but this is to be a year process and I wish to give it that...

Thank you again, Alyson, for creating a special gift for me...

I am glad you liked the one I made for you...

Love, Blessings, & {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.blogspot.com

Valentine's is coming up charmed...

 "sweeter than sweet" charm for the Valentine's Day Charm Swap II

on the beach hosted by Joann...

Another view of the charm and the tiny heart charm that says,

"handmade with love"

perfect for this charm...

I just wanted to share this charm I made today for the Valentine's Day Charm Swap.

I have already become a member of one group but another needed one more participant

so I offered to do it. I need the charms too... =)

Here is the first one I made for the first group...

"sweetness" charm by Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

It has been fun to learn something new and making these charms has been a delight...

I can't wait to share the beaded corsage pins I have made...

Love, Blessings, & {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

**Home of my first novel, "Born of the Heart" & more charms and beaded items...

Mailbag Haul & Featured Artist Gift from Laurel!!

This is the beautiful box and mini album, which fits just inside of the box,

that Laurel made me as her featured artist in her 31 day Pay it Forward...

Such an honor...wow...isn't this box and mini absolutely gorgeous! 

This was the goodies she added to the gift she made...

I totally totally love every inch of this...wow...

Still, such an honor.

Thank you again, Laurel!!

Check out my friend's...

www.paperandscissorsrock-laurel.blogspot.com

www.youtube.com/user/scotia9338

www.twitter.com/LaurelDeViney

Love, Blessings, & {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

** My first novel "Born of the Heart" is available for download at my website...

Altered Journal Swap from Alyson over on the Beach...

Can you believe this? It is so very much me! I love this tremendously and can't wait to use it even though I want to prop it up and simply look at it! It is that fabulous and absolutely beautiful! Alyson did a rockin' awesome job in making this for me (gulp) she may send mine for her back to me. =)

If you are interested in learning more about the various swaps on the beach, just sail on over and check it out. In the meantime, I will start journaling in this wonderful creation. Again, Alyson, thank you for the journal and for the goodies you sent!  I needed flowers and lace badly and I love these colors...I will post a video soon of the whole journal.

Love, Blessings, & {{{Hugs}}},
RHC
www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

Charming it up for Mardi Gras

"Charmed Mardi Gras" charm by Rita Hutcheson-Cobbs

Does this little mask charm not just make you smile?

Oh wow! When I signed up for the charm swap on the beach, I wasn't sure how to even began. Now on my fourth design, I am loving every moment of creating. I joined to get new charms for my personal creations like mini albums, but then I thought I so wanted on for my Nook and my purse, thus the creating began. I love the deep purple and green of these beads and combined with the gold, all I can think is I need earrings to match now. =) All of these elements are from my stash, I didn't have to buy a thing. The mask charms were from a swap and the fiber was also from my stash. The beaded charm has a claw clasp at the top and measures approx. 3" in length.

When I made this charm collection, I thought of the colors representing Mardi Gras and what they meant. The purple is for justice, gold is for power, and green is for faith. I thought how symbolic these were of the faith that lives within our beings. For it is in our faith that we find a more precious jewel that can't be measured in material things of this world. We are rich in love, peace, hope and joy, things that can never be bought with a materialistic price. For faith in God is worth far more than precious stones. Then I thought of the Proverbs 31 woman who clothed herself in purple. We are all created in His image and for me that is a precious gift when the uniqueness and creativity come together to make each of us who we are, although individual, we are still made of Him.

Please check out my store for more beaded charms and other creations. I am using my stash and pleased that I found a great way to use my beads.

Love, Blessings, & {{{Hugs}}},

RHC

www.RitaHutchesonCobbs.com

She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 

~ Provers 31:22, the Bible's Proverbs 31 Woman