From Courtney's Closet #18 - an inspiration challenge

Welcome to another week of From Courtney's Closet, where I make a card inspired by my baby girl's wardrobe, and encourage you to do the same! This week I got to use a stamp that I just love! Earlier this month I hosted a stamp garage sale at my home - some of my friends came over and joined me and we offloaded a bunch of our old junk (which was other peoples' treasure!). My friend Lucy had this adorable stamp on her table. While I was trying really hard not to spend more that morning than I actually made (!), I couldn't resist this one. Especially for $2! :-) So Lucy, if you're reading, I hope you like what I did with your old stamp. ;-) The stamp is by Nancy Cole for Inkadinkado. I paper pieced her little dress in red gingham to match Courtney's outfit this week. It was slightly tedious, because I then colored and cut out the bow and flowers to piece on top of the gingham dress - those tiny flowers were a bit difficult! But I love the result. This image just makes me smile - I can picture Courtney standing in a field of Texas wildflowers next spring, intrigued by the butterflies. And I'm hoping by then I'll be able to put little bows in her hair like this. I also love the sentiment - it's from Verve's Seeing Stars set. It's fitting as I imagine Courtney's future - anything really *is* possible! I spent a lot of time coloring and paper piecing this image, so I ended up going with a fairly simple layout - I just didn't feel like layering last night! But I like how it turned out. I also realized I was subconsciously playing along with the latest Verve project parade - to use Kraft paper. I love Kraft and hope to make another card for their challenge - and I try not to play along with other challenges for my FCC challenge cards - but when I went and used a Verve sentiment too, I had to face the fact that I was being inspired by Verve! (as I often am!) :-) But wait, this post isn't supposed to be about being inspired by Verve - you're supposed to be inspired by Courtney's outfit. Are you?? Great, then get to stamping and let me know what you come up with! If you happen to post to Splitcoast, please use keyword FCCC.

There were some super cute cards created last week based on Courtney's pink and green garden dress. Jenn had been wanting to play and finally had a chance to jump in, yay!! The colors last week went perfectly with flamingos!Stacey created this gorgeous pink and green rose card, with a fabulous bow!Anita made a very sweet and sassy card - and once again included some super cute ribbon! (btw Anita is so sweet, I mentioned last time that I loved the ribbon she used, and she sent me some! Thanks for making my day Anita!!)Anita's daughter, Katie, played again too and put mom's Big Shot to really good use!My buttering up of Donna worked last week (woohoo!) and she made this pretty card. And I'm honored her FCCC card will also be mailed to an Alzheimer's caregiver.Despite having a rough week, Kathryn still found time to play along and created this cute card!And Sue - wow - Sue really outdid herself this week, I absolutely LOVE her garden card!! The image is just so perfect for Courtney's dress last week!!ETA: Late breaking news - Ashley played too!! YAY!!Thanks for playing, ladies!! I love seeing what you come up with! I was thinking of starting a little "prize" on here for my favorite submission of the week - those of you who play along, what would you think of that?? I wouldn't want anyone to feel bad if they don't win (and if I continue having around 6 or so players a week, chances are good that everyone WILL win...! *wink*) Just a thought. Thanks everyone for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: image by Inkadinkado, Seeing Stars from Verve Stamps
• Paper: Neenah Solar White, Kraft, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black and Espresso, Garden Green and Bashful Blue for watercoloring, Copics for coloring
• Accessories: Oval punch, SU button, Martha Stewart twine, paper piercer, sponge

PS... click on my card to enlarge the image and check out the coloring - I have to admit I'm completely proud of how her skin turned out!! ;-)