X is for Xylophone

Lovin' the new images we received today to complete our ABC book. X is for Xylophone. The colors on this are so vivid! I cant wait to use this image. More new ones to follow.

My First Book: ABCs

Remember one of my goals for 2013 was writing a  book? We are starting off with a kids ABC book and I am so excited to learn that the images we need to complete the letters of the alphabet will be here next week. Stay tuned for more updates. Wont this be a great baby gift?

Middle Child Syndrome

I don't personally have middle child syndrome as I have only one older sister (probably obvious that I am the baby of the family to most people who know me) but I can't help but feel some compassion for our medium round stickers  (1 1/2 inch). There are so many great ways to use them... I think they get neglected between the glory of the large round stickers and the press worthy small round stickers that fit on the bottom of candy. Let me know what you think!

Ideal to jazz up any lollipop. Personalization is available.

Another sample from a back to school party. Lollipops from Hammond's Candies.

Ohh, the perfect compliment for a Valentine's Day card - This can also be used on the front with a TO: FROM:

Just the right size for a return address label.

Jackson's Sports Party: Favor Boxes

The responses are pouring in for Jackson's 6th Birthday celebration with lots of fabulous comments like there is no more fitting party than one with a sports theme for Jackson. Jackson loves sports, all of them... football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, car racing, soccer, men's, women's, high school, college, professional - doesn't make a difference to him. He will turn on the TV, find an event pick a team and start cheering. (had I not been in the delivery room when he was born, I would be convinced we weren't related)

I received lots of compliments on the invitations and one note of surprise to the fact that the return address labels (sq solid stickers with all 3 images)  were perfectly coordinated with the same images (umm hello, why would this surprise someone about me?!).  I Just want to be sure our guest know they are in for a good time from the moment the invitations arrive!

I took a quick break from working on Valentine's Day orders to work on the favors. Totally love our new basketball image. (thank you Lucy!!) It completed the look for the theme.

I used the large round stickers without the dots for these Chinese to go boxes. (they are filled with candy and cookies)

WALLPAPER WARNING

I do have a passion for wallpaper and as you may recall if you read the interview I did late last year for Le Papier Studio wallpaper was on my list of  new products I wanted to roll out in 2013.

 If you stop by my house dont be surprised if there is HPD wallpaper in every room on every floor.I especially love wallpaper in a powder room and a closet. It gives the space an element of surprise!

By the way, where was this when I needed fabulous backdrops for my candy tables at the kids parties? Wallpaper is a wonderful solution as its easy to tack or tape to the wall or a board and it doesn't wrinkle like fabric.

I have been working on this blog for over an hour and could just keep going.....Enjoy your weekend!!

Wouldn't this be adorable in a dressing room of a girls boutique?

Game Room.

Great idea for a basement or game room.

Fun for a dentist office or child's bathroom.

Tween Girls Room.

Love this for a closet in a little girls room for a little surprise. Also for anyone who loves William & Kate.

Adorable for a boys room.

My son Jackson would put this in his room + bathroom + closet + ceiling!

My friend Kim will love this one. The peacock is one of her fav images.

Adorable for a Dr.'s office of a little girls room.

Fabulous for a beach house!

For anyone who lives in Fenwick.

For someone who has a lifetime membership to Rolling Stone Magazine (ie RPL)

My fav. Maybe in the kids computer room.

For the sports enthusiast.

What Makes Your Heart Melt?

It's been fun working on all the Valentine's Day orders this week. I love assembling them and literally wait with anticipation for clients to receive them. I have just completed a few orders with the love letter and it's one of my favorite images - top ten for sure.  So elegant and simple.

As I have been working on all the orders, I think about what makes one's heart melt. Yes, I admit, a blue box will do the trick but for the most part, it's usually something more pure and simple. An unexpected "I love you" or a genuine compliment.  A tight hug on your leg from one of your children. When Thomas was about two and a half, he looked at my husband and I and said "You know, I really like you guys". It was so honest and heartfelt.  I love that the first time Thomas saw my wedding photo he said "Mama, you are prettier than all the other princesses combined"!  I love when I hear my wedding song on the radio, Stephen Bishop, "It Might Be You" or after being married for a few months, the song my husband would have chosen, "She Drives Me Crazy" by The Fine Young Cannibals.  A home cooked meal, just because. Finding out my husband had an account at my favorite florist, Mayflowers.

Sometimes its the triumph of a great movie line in conversation. I think my husband knew he made a good choice when he quoted  "Well put it in the college fund" when my son had some change in his hand and I casually responded with the movie title, Caddy Shack. He was amazed I knew that line given its in the very beginning of the movie. 

Sometimes its a witty response to a question "What's it like to be married to someone so brilliant?" my husband inquired one late night while we were driving on the New Jersey Turnpike on our way to NY (we were betting on the name of the last rest stop before we exit the pike - forgive us, it was probably well after midnight and we were trying to pass the time on the long trip to Eastern Long Island). "I don't know, you tell me." I responded.

I don't want to get too sappy so early in the morning so a quick acknowledgement for "my girls" reading this blog (AOH, MET, CAM & NCH & GEL) at the top of the list should be "You look so skinny"!

 

So, what makes your heart melt? 

Mrs. Kennedy and Me

After my post on The Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult I received some inquiries about what else I have been reading.  So for those of you interested, my virtual book club is reading Mrs. Kennedy and Me written by Clint Hill. Clint was Mrs. Kennedy's body guard during JFK's presidency. Very interesting and the photos are amazing!

Paradise Found

Circa 2000  I had the privileged of joining an elite group of my co-workers for a mid year "club trip" to St. John. I was an Account Executive in software sales and my company had  incentive trips they offered yearly to those sales reps who met and exceed their quota.  The end of year trips were totally over the top. We traveled internationally to places like Rome, Paris, Vancouver & Ixtapa.

A few years they offered a more exclusive "mid year club trip" in January. Qualification was based on percentage of plan to goal and we were stack ranked and the "best of the best" qualified for the trip.  Picture yourself and your best friends on a first class all expense paid trip to what can only be considered heaven on earth. My husband and I were lucky enough to qualify two years in a row for the trip and we stayed at The Westin in St. John 

We always vowed we would return. We scaled back on Christmas to make it happen this year.

I am counting down the days and keep playing my theme song,  Knee Deep in the Water by the  Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffet on my Sonos sound system. I totally cant wait, until my  "Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair"(obviously because if it did, my book would get wet!)

Gonna put the the world away for a minute
Pretend I don't live in it
Sunshine gonna wash my blues away

Had sweet love but I lost it
She got too close so I fought her
Now I'm lost in the world trying to find me a better way

Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Wrote a note said be back in a minute
Bought a boat and I sailed off in it
Don't think anybody gonna miss me anyway

Mind on a permanent vacation
The ocean is my only medication
Wishing my condition ain't ever gonna go away

Cause now im knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

This champagne shore washing over me
It's a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea
One day you could be as lost as me
Change you're geography
Maybe you might be

Knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Come on in the water it's nice
Find yourself a little slice
Grab a backpack of lies
You never know until you try
When you lose yourself
You find the key to paradise

Be Mine...

Our adorable Valentine's Day cards perfect for classroom exchange are now available online at our web site. www.hamptonpaperdesigns.com

Mix and match any combination of up to 15 for $20.00 from Option 1 or Options  2& 3. 

We can personalize with your child's name too. White envelopes are included. 

Option 1: Order here

  Option 2 & 3: Order here.

Here We Go Again

I swore this year I was going to keep Jackson's birthday party small and simple. "Invite 4 friends over to the house for pizza" I said. The idea lasted about five minutes- how can I limit it to four friends? This was a short lived problem as  I quickly came up with a sports themed party at the club. Here we go again! HPD Invitations avail here.

 

Super Bowl XLVII

Well, its safe today not a word was spoken about the Notre Dame vs Alabama game in our house. Most likely there wont be a mention about ND again until there are conversations about the new players for next years team. So, on to the next big game which I just found out was on Feb 3, 2013 via a Superbowl Party Invitation. You may recall we gave these as a hostess gift for the party we attend last year. I put them in a large jar with a ribbon. It was a huge hit! Small Round Stickers starting at $12.00 for 108. This includes personalization.

The Road Not Taken

We spent this past weekend up in NY and had the opportunity to enjoy the Hamptons during the "off season". I must admit as fun as it is in the summer, there is something so peaceful and tranquil during this time of year. I took a nice long run to the beach and only saw 2-3 cars on a usually crowded Dune Road.

As I was running, I  thought of the poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken and thought it was a good reminder to take the road less traveled as I begin 2013. Sounds like a good plan, right?

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

On My Bookshelf: The Lone Wolf

It's difficult to believe I have had the new Jodi Picoult book, The Lone Wolf since it was first released and just read it. Since she is my favorite author, I almost hate to start the book as I know that when I finish it I will have to wait months on end for the next release.  The holiday break seemed like a great time to read it as I could relax and enjoy the book cover to cover. The stakes are high when I start one of her books because I know the content will  in some way force me to think or rethink a particular idea or belief. This book was no exception.

If you read Jodi Picoult's books, you know what I am talking about. If haven't read one, pick one up and you will see what I mean about her writing.

I loved this line best....

"This is just my way of pointing out that we people who leap without looking are not stupid. We know damn well we might be headed for a fall. But we also know that sometimes, its the only way out."

ND VS ALABAMA

While I  am not a big football fan many close members of my family are and I am constantly submerged in the world of Notre Dame football during football season as my dad went to ND and my mom went to St. Mary's at ND.  Over the years,  I have attended many games, participated in tail gates and if by chance you were at a game I attened, you may remember seeing me in the stands because I was the girl  you noticed was reading a book during the game.

Regardless of my disinterest in the sport, I cant let today go by without mentioning the BIG, BIG, BIG game on tonight at 8:30. What can I say.... "GO IRISH"!

One More New HPD Celebrity Fan: Constance Marie

We welcome new HPD Celebrity Fan Constance Marie, best known for playing Angie Lopez on George Lopez  and for her role as Marcella Quintanilla  in Selena. She currently portrays Regina Vasquez on the ABC family drama Switched at Birth.  

 

Feature Presentation

I had the best intentions to make home-made Chocolate Fudge for all my neighbors, wrap in a glossy white window box with a ribbon and a custom HPD sticker. I had all the ingredients but in my over scheduled last days before Christmas I neglected to actually block off a few hours to get it done!

So, I ran to Target after the holidays and went with less time consuming but equally thoughtful Plan B.... Movie Gift Packs. They were a huge hit with the kids in my neighborhood!

I purchased the Orville Redenbacher Popcorn in the Microwave Bucket and filled a few packages of movie theater size candy and a movie. There were several new movie options to choose from including Diary of Wimpy Kid, Brave and Ice Age. I wrapped the buckets in clear plastic, tied with a ribbon and adhered a HPD sticker and then the boys and I delivered them to my neighbors.

If you you were running a bit behind like me perhaps you can deliver a few "Happy New Year" gifts this week or file it under "ideas" for next year!