Hog Heaven

Before I tell you a little about today's card, I want to update you on a couple things mentioned in previous posts... first of all, no, Carter did NOT take a long nap yesterday! *sigh* BUT - his wonderful Aunt Laura and Uncle Brad came over in the afternoon to hang out, which kept me sane. Hooray for them! And on my Duran Duran post I mentioned posting some middle school photos of me - I know you are all just *dying* to see those - well, I haven't wimped out on that, I just ran into technical difficulties. I forgot that my scanner is packed away somewhere! And those are from lonnggg before the age of digital photos. I'll see if I can figure something out soon though...

So on to more interesting things - today's card! I got to play along with Julee's Mojo Monday sketch challenge (my favorite sketch challenge in all of Blogland!). I had colored this cute little Hambo Angel Pig image way back in August when we were on vacation, but I've struggled to pull a card together with it. Julee's sketch worked out perfectly! I've been feeling pretty mojo-less and sad lately, so I made sure to use lots and lots of polka dots on this one, because they make me happy! Not to mention some pretty darn cheerful colors! The piggie was colored with Koh-I-Noor pencils and baby oil this time. The pencils come in a great little box that travels well, and they aren't terribly expensive so if I lost them it wouldn't have been the end of the world - if I took my Copics and lost those I would have been devastated!! So, I give Koh-I-Noors two thumbs up for taking along on vacation!!! (although they are surprisingly heavy...) I just bought a little bottle of baby oil when I got there so I didn't need to pack that. A detail you can't really see - I stamped the sentiment in Adirondack Slate ink, and then went over it with my clear Spica glitter pen. And of course the wings are covered with Stardust Stickles. The way I did the sentiment, on the circle, with the ribbon, etc, was inspired by Joan's pretty card. This seems to be how I end many of my posts, but I'll say it again - I hear Courtney waking up so I better go! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Angel Pig and Hog Heaven from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Georgia Pacific White, Amuse DP, Making Memories DP
• Ink: Black StazOn, Adirondack Slate
• Accessories: Koh-I-Noor Pencils, baby oil, stumps, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, SU Scallop Edge, Circle & Ticket Corner punches, Black Glaze pen, MM brads, Stardust Stickles, Spica clear glitter pen, satin ribbon from one of Jody's shares

Chef Carter

I'm posting this just to remind myself how cute he can be. HE IS DRIVING ME BONKERS TODAY!! Boy is he Extremely Two lately. *sigh* Thank goodness for nap time or I may truly have gone insane today. He's very much into playing with pretend food lately - he doesn't really like to keep this hat and apron on, but he left it on yesterday long enough for me to snap this photo.

So this is funny... I've mentioned before he's a complete Thomas fanatic too. Lately he's been playing with his trains up on our breakfast table. Then he'll say "Thomas is being naughty" and put him in time out down on a chair. He does this with various trains as he's playing. Right now there are twelve trains sitting on the chair. Guess the trains were being as naughty as he was this morning!!

Fingers are crossed for a long nap today.........................!

Carole, do not read this...!

Ok I really shouldn't be posting this yet, because it's going in the mail tomorrow and it would be nice if the person receiving it didn't see it before she finds it in her mailbox... but I am not known for my patience. (Actually that's not true, I'm actually a fairly patient person - just not when it comes to blogging!!) :-) So here it is, posted prematurely. I've got my fingers crossed that she's too busy being a stamping superstar to even read my blog in the next few days...! So anyway... I *heart* Duran Duran, and I *heart* this card!! But you would not believe how much I STRUGGLED with this stupid card - it's been in the works for ages. I kept working on it, getting frustrated, shoving it aside, coming back to it, getting frustrated... you get the picture. It's still not 100% what I envisioned when I set out to create it - but I'm tired of looking at it. Ok, now THAT'S not true either!! I used my friend Diane's Duran Duran stamp on it, and I can stare at Duran Duran forever. LOL! I also made a little t-shirt to proclaim my love for Duran Duran (a love the recipient has in common with me, btw) using my Little Tees set and my snap stamps. As soon as I saw Little Tees, I *knew* I had to do something along these lines!! I have a photo of me wearing a Duran Duran t-shirt back in the day, maybe I'll have to dig that out and post it tomorrow (also maybe a photo of me attempting to have hair like John Taylor - it's not a pretty site but it's good for a laugh...!). I also decided to bling up this card like mad - not sure how much will come through in the photo... I used the heart from Little Tees to stamp the panel of hearts, then covered them all with Christmas Red Stickles and Diamond Glaze. The blue panel has Swarovski crystals glued on, and the bottom polka dot DP is coated with iridescent ice EP and embossed. I also coated the Duran Duran panel with crystal clear EP, just for the heck of it. And the black sleeves of the tee are colored in with black Glaze pen. Fun stuff! OH! And I nearly forgot to mention - this is also SC194 from Splitcoast! :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Little Tees from Gina K, Karen Foster Snap Stamps, my friend Diane's completely cool Duran Duran stamp!!
• Paper: Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Georgia Pacific white, Making Memories DP
• Ink: Pacific Point, Palette Noir
• Accessories: Christmas Red Stickles, Black Glaze Pen, Diamond Glaze, Swarovski crystals, Iridescent Ice EP, Crystal Clear EP, SU heart brads

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Here's another card made with my "Pawsitively Fright" set from FireCracker Designs by Pamela. I had some fun with my Stickles on this one - those cauldrons are sooooo glittery and cool IRL! The stamp actually has candy coming out of the cauldron - so cute - but I was too lazy to color them all, so I found a use for some *yellow* liquid applique my friend Amy had just given me! Fun! I need to hit JoAnn's and see if they sell it in any other colors now, I like it! The broom embellishment is also a stamp from this set, which I colored and cut out. And the "Bubble Bubble" sentiment is too - I used a Making Memories clear tag, and stamped it on there with StazOn. Has anyone else bought those "Spellbound Glitter Clears" from MM this season? Boy do they STINK! I got a little lightheaded smelling them as I made this card. I had to take an extra big whiff of the StazOn to cancel it out! LOL! And funny - I didn't realize until just this minute as I was looking at the package to see what they were called - that they are self-adhesive! I attached this tag with a little moon brad, also from MM. I wouldn't have wanted this adhered flat to the card anyway, it's cuter in this case with a little dimension (but boy am I a dope for not noticing that!). I love the little pack of MM Spellbound brads - it also has bats and glittery pumpkins - you will most likely be seeing them on here REALLY soon. Sure hope you enjoy Halloween cards... I have A LOT of supplies to use before October 31! :-) Ok, hope you all are enjoying your weekend, and thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Pawsitively Fright by FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Lovely Lilac, Georgia Pacific White, DP from Stampin' Up and The Paper Studio
• Ink: Black StazOn, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Starry Night, Black Diamond & Orange Peel Stickles, Yellow Liquid Applique, Hobby Lobby ribbon, Making Memories Spellbound Brads and Glitter Clears

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!! ;-)

Cammie is amazing...

I just opened Cammie's blog to link as I type this, and I see she's up to 500 comments already - so no doubt you know about the AMAZING stuff she's doing!?? But in case you've been sleeping under a rock and haven't heard - Cammie (ie Carolyn King) designed this great set for Gina K Designs, which benefits the Alzheimer's Association. Sadly Carolyn has a personal interest in this cause, having lost her grandmother to this awful disease this past summer. And now Carolyn is doing even more - check out this post with all of the details, and get in on a chance to win The Most Amazing Blog Candy Of All Time!!! I know I won't be lucky enough to win (it's like the Stamping Lottery, and I never win the lottery!) but I do feel good about the fact that I'll be mailing this bunny hug off to the caregivers at The Artman Home, who took care of Carolyn's grandmother.

Some details about the card - both the image and sentiment are from Hambo Stamps, one of the generous companies participating in Carolyn's blog candy. The sketch is Julee's Mojo Monday from this week, turned on its side. I haven't played any challenges in soooo long (other than my own!), it was fun to get back in the swing of that (even if I did alter it a little!). I added a little liquid applique to give the bunny a little fuzzy tummy and tail. And I used my wonderful new Stampin' Up scallop edge punch.

And a quick reminder - today is the last day to take advantage of Hambo's free shipping deal - see details in my post below! Thanks for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: Rabbit and Some Bunny Sometime from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Riding Hood Red, Blue Bayou, Creamy Caramel, Georgia Pacific White, A Muse DP
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black and Espresso, Copic Markers for coloring
• Accessories: Black Glaze pen, liquid applique, buttons, Martha Stewart twine, scallop edge punch

Get 'em while they last!

There's a lot of good stuff retiring over at Hambo Stamps - and through Wednesday the 24th they're running a great deal - buy 5 or more of the retiring stamps, and your entire order ships for free! Woohoo! I love free shipping.

Sorry I don't have anything new to show you today - while I did get to sleep early last night, I was up *five* times in the night with Courtney, and then today Carter didn't want to nap, so no stamping has happened in my neck of the woods... hopefully tomorrow...!

Another Witchy Kitty...

I am sooooo tired tonight. It's 8pm but as soon as I post this I'm going to bed! I've stayed up wayyyy too late for too many nights in a row now - some nights stamping, some nights cleaning (boo!). I just can't get anything done these days until after the kiddos go to sleep. I also decided I drink way too much Diet Coke. So, today I haven't had any. And I am feeling the effect - I am dragging big time! I hosted a little fundraiser at my house today for the service club I belong to - Zonta Club of Austin - I made lunch and we watched the film "Human Trafficking" - a pretty heavy subject that left me just wanting to hug my babies! One of the ladies in our club works for the Attorney General's office and deals with real life trafficking, and she was here for the movie - it was so interesting hearing her comments on what was "real" in the movie and what was "Hollywood" - if you've ever seen this film (it was a tv miniseries a few years back, but you can rent it now), she says all of the Mira Sirvino parts are pretty far fetched. But sadly the stories of the trafficking victims have a frightening amount of truth to them. I don't how much you know about human trafficking - I didn't know much until I heard more about it at a Zonta event - but it's far too prevalent in this country. And not just in the big cities or the border states - in suburban middle America, too. Anyway - just something to think about - read more about it here, and how to recognize it here, you never know when you might see something and be able to make a difference. It's modern day slavery, and most people don't even realize it's going on around them.

Ok on to lighter things, my public service announcement is over! Here's one more card I made with my little witchy kitty from my Firecracker set. This time I made a tag to attach to a pumpkin shaped jar I found for cheap. It's "filled" with Hershey Kisses that look and taste like candy corn - soooo yummy! That's why I had to use the term "filled" loosely - too many disappeared before I got around to taking the photo! LOL!

Ok I'm off to get some much needed sleep! Thanks for stopping by today!

Doin' the Monster Mash

Isn't this monster the cutest?? He's from the Halloween page at Hambo Stamps. You know I love Halloween!! But this monster doesn't have to be exclusively for Halloween - I decided to use him on a birthday card this time around. It's supposed to be a little boy's birthday card - purple and green isn't too girlie, is it?? I put this card together and it still needed a little something, so I went a bit crazy adding dots. I refer to these as "Faith dots" (when I'm talking to myself in the stamp room...!) because, although I don't think she invented putting dots around things, she certainly is the Master Dotress. :-) I think they really helped this card pop.

So I am having struggles in the stamp room right now. I have two different cards in progress that I can't seem to finish. They are both birthday cards for two of my stamping idols - amazing stampers - Dirty Girls, no less - and I have it in my head that the cards have to be perfect. And I don't make perfect cards so they are kicking my butt. Does this ever happen to you?? You want something to be so perfect that you just get frustrated? And maybe end up never finishing??? I'm trying to tell myself - stamping superstars enjoy receiving cards in the mail just like anybody else, even if the cards aren't perfect, so I need to just get them done! Often I send no cards rather than less than perfect cards. Silly, huh? *sigh* Maybe the cards will cooperate with me today and magically come together... (and here's to hoping my own little monsters cooperate and nap at the same time today so I can stamp a little.......!)

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend!

• Stamps: Monster from Hambo Stamps, Karen Foster snap stamps
• Paper: Basic Black, Georgia Pacific White, Bazzill green, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Black StazOn
• Accessories: Koh-I-Noor pencils, baby oil, stumps, white Souffle pen, SU mini library clip, embroidery floss

Ok a few more photos...

(I'm rambling a lot today - don't forget to scroll down to my latest From Courtney's Closet post!) Ok I don't want you to think I never take photos of Carter anymore now that Courtney has become my #1 source of blog fodder...! Here's my cutie patootie big boy with his big boy haircut! Mommy does it herself with the clippers - not that Carter enjoys this process, but I hate paying $15+ for a kid's haircut! (I'd rather spend that on a new release at Verve or something!) I have to tell you how proud I am of Carter right now - right after our trip to Cape Cod, we decided to "get serious" about potty training. We put him in big boy underpants - he had a couple accidents - but that's pretty much it!! He took to it right away and was potty trained in about two days!! He's a potty champion. LOL. I mentioned last time that Carter isn't completely thrilled with his baby sister these days - but he does have some sweet moments with her. And the final photo was taken the afternoon I was trying to get these photos for the cupcake outfit FCC challenge - he had to eat his foot just like Courtney. :-) I really am amazed by Carter all the time (when he's not driving me bonkers acting like a total two year old) - it's amazing how much he's LEARNED and how much he's GROWN in such a relatively short amount of time on this planet. Just yesterday I had a moment of having to stop and think about how fast he's growing - we were at the park and he wanted a drink from the drinking fountain - I went over with him, thinking I'd have to pick him up to reach it, and push the button, and all that - and he did it all by himself. When did he get big enough to do that?? Ok enough reflecting - Little Miss Courtney wants my attention!

My little over-achiever!

Ok remember how just last night in my From Courtney's Closet post, I mentioned Courtney wasn't pulling herself up to standing on her own yet? Well look at this!! I had nothing to do with it - I was too busy reading stamping blogs when it happened! ;-) But I looked up when she was laughing and making all kinds of noises to get my attention - she was clearly very proud of herself! I grabbed the camera and snapped this shot before she decided she'd had enough and toppled over... luckily, toward the carpet and not the tile floor! Ugh, it's time for Stage 2 of babyproofing now. Those things up on the coffee table can no longer be considered "safe". (and if you're curious, those things are things her big brother freaks out if she touches - he's very much NOT into sharing with his sister right now - he liked her much better when she was a motionless blob who could not get ahold of his trains and start "eating" them...) She also loves climbing up on this built-in shelf in our livingroom, it's her favorite place to hang out. Have I mentioned she's only seven months??? It's so funny - when Carter was a baby all I could think was "when is he going to crawl??? why isn't he rolling over?? why isn't he moving yet??" - silly first-time mommy, now I know how WONDERFUL it is to have a baby who stays put until ~9 months or so...! Courtney is already proving to be one big little troublemaker!

From Courtney's Closet #17 - an inspiration challenge

How do you like that? I'm actually getting my From Courtney's Closet card posted early for once!! Woohoo!! (if you're new here, each Thursday I post a card inspired by one of my baby girl's outfits, check out past weeks here) And just what you expected in *September*, right, a totally *springy* card! LOL! Well, Courtney's grandma sent her this super cute dress a while back, and this is when it happens to fit her. And anyway, here in Texas you can pretty much garden year-round! And with the "cool" temps we've had this week (low 80s rather than 100s, it's been heavenly!!) it feels like spring... (I know that was a silly argument, lower temps to most people feel like FALL!) (Anyways...) Can you see the little details on this dress? I hope so - I was faced with my weekly dilemma again tonight - do I use the photo where Courtney looks the cutest, or do I use the one where you can actually see the dress?? I went with the dress!** You can also click on the photo of her to get a larger view. There's all kinds of little flower pots, shovels & rakes, ladybugs, caterpillars, etc - lots of potential for things you have in your stamp stash! For my card, I dug out my "old" Papertrey Green Thumb set. I ended up using just the flowerpot and the sentiment - I was in the process of stamping and cutting out some of the flowers from the set when it occurred to me that I could use some of my brand spankin' new Stampin' Up felt flowers (from Flower Fusion Too). Yay! Much easier! I added pearls to the centers, which I love. I went with the green and pink color scheme of her dress too, and of course had to incorporate some polka dots and scallops. I almost added some glitter to this card, but resisted the urge - with the pearls and the satin ribbon, I thought this card was too "elegant" for glitter. hee hee. So I hope you find something you like about this week's outfit and will jump right in and play along! If you do, be sure to let me know about it! And use keyword FCCC if you happen to upload on Splitcoast. Last week's outfit inspired some super duper yummy creations!! Oh, but first I want to mention - a couple of you asked about her shoes - they are indeed Robeez. A sweet friend of mine picked them up for Courtney when she saw them on mega-sale at Nordstroms. She knew Courtney was my little Cupcake. So for those of you who don't know that either, I referred to Courtney as "Cupcake" when I was pregnant and had not yet decided on a name (because I'm trendy like that). So on last week's card, when I said "I *heart* cupcake" - I meant Courtney. Although I do love the frosted concoctions as well! And speaking of cupcakes, I keep meaning to show you all Courtney's birth announcements and thank you cards - maybe I'll get to that this weekend! :-) Anyway - on to last week's cards... they are all so completely YUMMY! I want to EAT them ALL! I guess I'll start with my most exciting "newbie" of the week - the one and only sweet, kind, fabulous, superstar stamper Donna Baker played along! Yay! I love all of her details, especially those paper-pieced cupcakes! (and yes I'm totally trying to butter her up so that she MIGHT play again someday...!)Diane also added a lot of fun details on her card - I love the pink velvet ribbon and her use of the hardware - I am always at a loss for how to incorporate those things!Vicki didn't mention it in her blog post but I think her circles look like yummy cupcake tops! Was that her intention??Sue never lets me down (how's that for pressure to keep playing!) - I love her cute little Town Mouse creation!Stacey completely nailed Courtney's outfit by including flowers on her cupcake top - love it!!I just love how sweet and pretty Kathryn's card turned out.Anita's cute card has ribbon that is totally fun - I need to find some like that!And Ashley's cupcake truly looks yummy enough to eat!Dang, I am totally craving a cupcake now!! Lydia tells me I *must* go and try these cupcakes. Maybe tomorrow! (I'm sure they are low in points, right??) Thanks again ladies for playing this week, and thanks everyone for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Green Thumb from Papertrey
• Paper: Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, GeorgiaPacific White, Nana's Nursery DP
• Ink: Pink Pirouette, Palette Noir
• Accessories: SU felt flowers, pearls, Marvy punches, May Arts green satin ribbon, Making Memories pink scalloped ribbon (I think?)

** Look at my baby girl, STANDING!!! She is growing up so fast. *sniff* She isn't really pulling herself up to standing yet, although she's definitely working on it - but she loves standing up next to the footstool if I help her up there. (I need to find an activity table to borrow for her to stand at!) And this has been a week of milestones all around in Courtney's world - she cut her first tooth, and she's figured out how to go from crawling back to sitting. She continues to be months ahead of Carter on everything. Girls rock! ;-)

Why is it...

... that time seems to go sooooo much faster at night than during the day??? I've been trying to get caught up on blogging tonight - which I pretty much have (YEAH!!!) but holy cow, it's 3am!!! How did THAT happen?? I am going to be so tired and cranky tomorrow...... yikes. My poor kids... And what does this mean for my plan to stay up late STAMPING tomorrow night?? Hmm. Only time will tell... ;-)

My witchy kitty in Copics...

Here's another card I made with my FireCracker kitty - this time colored with my Copics. Of course the thing I love most about this card is the sparkley purple hat! Fun!! And yes, I'm back to my old tricks... Polka dots. Scallops. Stickles. Aaaaah... stampin' goodness. :-) This time I cut the kitty out and popped her up on dimensionals, after stamping her again on the white oval, so her whiskers would be in tact (without me having to cut around them!!). Another thing I love about this card is that spiderweb ribbon - it's from Hobby Lobby, but it was a find for me at the stamping garage sale I hosted a couple weeks ago - can you believe one of the other gals was offloading such a fun spool of ribbon???! Once again the eyes are colored with my black Glaze pen - Diane asked me in the comments on my previous card about these pens. They are made by Sakura - I bought mine in a set at Hobby Lobby, I've seen them at Archiver's, but I've also found them online here and here. (I hope you're reading this post, Diane! LOL!) I also use my clear Glaze pen a lot as well, to go over things like balloons, cupcake frosting, etc - things I like to give a little clear shine without going so far as adding Diamond Glaze (or Crystal Effects). Ok I better hit "post" - my other goal for this evening is to clear out my Reader, and do some organizing in there with folders, and adding some more blogs to it (just what I need if I want to stay caught up, lol!). Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Pawsitively Fright by FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Basic Gray, Georgia Pacific white, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Purple Stickles, black Glaze pen, white gel pen, Spellbinders dies, fun ribbons

PS... Is it just me, or do you also have The Eagles "Witchy Woman" in your head now, but with the words "oooh oooh witchy kitty..." LOL Maybe if you didn't before, you do now! *wink*

They like me, they really like me!!!

I'm going to try to dedicate this week to Getting Caught Up. At least, that's my intention. There's about a gazillion things I've wanted to post for a while now (including, no joke, roughly SEVEN MONTHS worth of RAKs! EEK!) so hopefully you will see a bunch of stuff like that this week, provided I can get everything photographed. And let's not even discuss the status of my email inbox or my Google Reader. Mass chaos. At any rate... here's an easier one to knock out! Three *wonderful* chickadees nominated me for some of those cool blog awards last week... Julie, MacKenzie and my sweet From Courtney's Closet devotee, Ashley!! I so appreciate that - I actually feel a little sad when I see everyone getting awarded and I'm always left out. Boo hoo. Sniff. LOL. (and actually, I'll mention again since it was tucked within my rambling, whiney birthday post last month, but Jane and Nic also nominated me as well!).
I'm not going to try to name 7 people to give this to, since there are soooo many worthy bloggers out there, plus I'm so far behind on blogging (see my Reader comment above...) that I have no clue who has and who has not already received them. Sooooooo... what I'm going to do instead is just make sure you check out my *fabulous* fellow designer gals on the two marvelous teams I have the pure pleasure and priviledge of stamping for.... (a few are redundant because they are some of the gals who gave me these awards, but oh well!!)

First, my beloved Hambo Stamps!
Monica at Talk to the Ham (our fearless leader!)
Jane at Jane's Addiction
MacKenzie at Midnight Scramper
Judy at Joy in a JAR
Holly at Toy's Haven

And my new team I'm lucky to be a part of, FireCracker Designs by Pamela!
The one and only Pamela herself, at Pamela's Gallery
Marie at Aloha and Mabuhay!
Lisa at Mainly Stamping...Sometimes Scrappin'
Vicki at Stamped Smiles
Karyn at Stamping Stuff
Heather at The Best in Life
Sherri at Stamping Serenity
Julie at The Write Stuff

These ladies are all so talented, it's an honor to be stamping with them! One of these days I'll get them linked up on my sidebar too - another thing on my long to do list, a major blog design overhaul! Stay tuned for that! :-) Ok now off to post another card... :-)

Playing with Firecrackers... LOL

Thanks again to those of you who were concerned about me having a run-in with Ike. He didn't even come close - not even a drop of rain at my house this weekend. I would have actually liked a little rain. But I'm so thankful we weren't hit hard. Janin, if you are reading this, thanks for sharing your story on the previous post - I can't imagine how terrifying that would be! My son doesn't do well in thunderstorms so he would have been a wreck! Ok, on to the card... I got to play with my first FireCracker DT set this weekend!! As I've mentioned before, I *love* Halloween!! So it was an easy choice putting this cute little witchy kitty on my wishlist! For this card I colored her in with Koh-I-Noor pencils, baby oil & stumps. I usually put gray shadows around my images, but since the kitty was gray I decided to try blue this time, just for fun. I like how it looks - it's a bit of a spooky glow, I think. I have to admit, I've gone a tiny bit crazy the past couple weeks, acquiring Halloween papers. I have way more than I'll possibly use this season! But here's one from a little K&Co pad I just HAD TO have! I think one thing I love about coloring images for Halloween is that it's a great excuse to use a lot of purple!! I love the purples in this paper. And the shimmery brads, too! One detail you can't really see in the coloring - I went over the kitty's eyes, as well as the spider and stars on the hat, with a black Glaze pen. That's something I nearly always do on the eyes of my images, it gives them an extra special little shine. Ok I better wrap this up and get a few more things done before hitting the hay. I've been so far behind on things for a few weeks now, it's driving me a little crazy! But hopefully this week I will finally get back in the swing of things, get caught up on my emails and blogging, and actually start playing my favorite blog challenges again!! I miss them! Here's to hoping...! Have a great week!!

• Stamps: Pawsitively Fright from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Georgia Pacific white, Basic Black, Bazzill orange, K&Co DP
• Ink: Black StazOn
• Accessories: Koh-I-Noor pencils, baby oil, stumps, black Glaze pen, white Souffle pen, glitter brads, Making Memories Halloween embellishments

I Don't Like Ike!

My thoughts are with my fellow Texans tonight along the Gulf Coast... hopefully the forecasters are wrong, but WOW they are predicting a monster storm surge! I hope everyone there stays safe (or better yet, has left!), and if it is as bad as predicted, our country does not let them down. For those who were curious - I'm in Austin, which is quite far from the coast and perfectly safe. In fact, Austin is welcoming many evacuees from Galveston today. The wind advisories stop one county to the east of us, and unfortunately it doesn't even sound like we'll get much rain from the storm.

From Courtney's Closet #16 - an inspiration challenge

One thing I love about my weekly From Courtney's Closet posts - if I don't find any other time to stamp during the week, I at least try to make it into the stamp room on Wednesday nights to come up with something to share with you on Thursday!! So here's my latest installment - you can see previous weeks here - of me creating a card inspired by one of my baby girl's outfits. It seems last week I stumped most of you, so I decided to go easy on you this week! Pink, brown, cupcakes - this has got to be the trendiest FCCC post yet! And soooo easy to play along!! *wink* But boy, I had such a tough time getting a decent photo of Courtney's outfit! I made the mistake of putting shoes on her (but I had to, they are super cute cupcake shoes!!), and she just wanted to eat them! I guess the cupcake looked yummy to her, too! And I don't know if I mentioned this yet but Courtney is "crawling" now!! She has been for a few weeks - not a real up-on-her-knees crawl, but I guess it's called an army crawl - she can get anywhere and gets into everything! She's only seven months. Doesn't she realize she's MUCH too young to be crawling? What happened to my few months of being able to plop her on the floor and she'd just sit there in one spot? HA! It's making my challenge even more of a challenge for me - just trying to get her photo! :-) So anyway... for today's card, I decided to create my own cupcake shirt! I don't know if you've noticed but over on my sidebar I've had a little icon declaring my love of Melanie's stamps for a while now. Funny, huh, since this is the first time I've actually posted something made with Melanie's stamps!!! GEESH! But I just loved this Little Tees set as soon as I saw it and had to have it. And now Melanie's just released a Just So Sporty shirt set too - hey, she could have played along with last week's challenge! LOL! (I'm betting that she'll have a set with baby onesies to decorate in an upcoming release - wouldn't that be awesome?? Hey Melanie, if you haven't thought of that - you should do it! *wink*) As I was searching for a cupcake to put on my shirt, I realized Stampin Up's "ABC Images" fit perfectly on my Little Tee! I can see some more cards combining these images in my future! So - I know many of you have cupcake or birthday cake stamps in your collection - not to mention pink and brown items - so what are you waiting for? Get stamping!! And once you've posted your yummy creation, be sure to link back here so I can find you! If you post on Splitcoast, please use keyword FCCC.

As for last week's challenge - well, guess most of you aren't sports fans. Oh well. But I just *LOVE* the cards that the gals who did indulge me created!! First there's my girl Sue, who made the cutest little Megatron card! LOL!My new stamping friend (and fellow Austinite!) Brenda jumped in this week, also with a green & yellow color scheme. I *love* her little cheesehead, even though it pains me to like anything to do with the Packers... ;-)Diane became Very Cool in my book by using my beloved Detroit Red Wings as inspiration!!! Woohoo!! Diane, your mom sounds like one smart lady! :-)Monica was able to dust off her Gator stamp and contribute this fabulous creation to the challenge! LOVE that big orange "f"!And just when I thought there were only four cards last week, Maria snuck this beauty in under the wire! I think she disregarded my suggestion to make a sports-themed card and just went with last week's color combo - but considering how cute her card turned out, I think that's a-ok!ETA: Hey! Anita was able to play too! Look at this cutie, she must be a baseball fan. :-)Alrighty, I better get this posted and get to cleaning! I have stamp club at my house tonight, and my house is a WRECK! Sooooooo much to do...! Thanks for stopping by today!! I hope to post another card sooner than one week from now...!

• Stamps: Little Tees from GinaK, ABC Images from Stampin Up
• Paper: Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, SU Berry Bliss DP, Paper Salon polka dot DP
• Ink: SU Basic Brown, Copic marker for coloring
• Accessories: Fruit Punch & Cotton Candy Stickles, Slit punch, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, old heart brads from my stash

Vote for Donna!!

I really do promise to one day return with something stamped... *sigh*... it's been one of those weeks! (Actually I need the stamp at the bottom middle of the Hambo sale page... check it out to see what I'm talking about...) ANYWAY... I need you to do me a favor and vote for my pal Donna in the JustRite contest!! You can see the details of her super duper cute and yummy project here, and vote for her on the JustRite site here. Voting is only open until Friday night so go and vote asap!! Go Donna!!

And I hope to be back real soon with something stamped - at least a Courtney's Closet card tomorrow if not something sooner! BTW - I guess you all aren't sports fans, huh? Lowest FCC turnout so far this week, boo hoo. ;-)

Check this out!!

I have to show you what my *brilliant* fellow design team member over at FireCracker did - check out this post on Julie's blog!! She made her own polka dot stamp! Soooooo smart! Must try this...

A Whole Bunch of Good Stuff at FireCracker!

Wow Pamela has been busy over at FireCracker Designs by Pamela, I need to get caught up!!

First and foremost, today is her birthday, and to celebrate she is offering blog candy!! Go and check it out, and while you're there, wish her a happy one!!

Turns out Pamela is also a football fan - sadly, an Ohio State Buckeyes fan. This was NOT mentioned in the design team email, I may have had to pass if only I had known... KIDDING! :-) Anyway... to celebrate the start of football season, Pamela is offering a deal on her cute Football Fan set! Check out the details on her blog here.

And last but CERTAINLY not least, four new sets will soon be released over at FCD, and you can get a great deal on them if you place a preorder TODAY!!! (I am slow to post about this, SORRY - the preorder special ends today so get crackin' on your order!!). The sets are beautiful!! I completely need the owl and swan sets!!! And check out the soldier - that one was drawn by none other than the multi-talented Dina Kowal (aka Mama Dini), who also designed my blog banner and watermark! Super cool. Check them out on the website for clearer, clickable views!