Happy Halloween!

I'm so sad that today is Halloween - it means I really need to stop making Halloween cards until next year! Boo hoo! Well here's one last hoorah for you - made with a bunch of little cuties from the Hambo Halloween page. They're all dressed up and ready to go trick or treating! These images were seriously fun to color. I used Beate's WSC63 sketch again for this card - it's one of my favorites and you'll probably see it on here again!

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween tonight! And goodbye until next year, my sweet Halloween stamps!!

• Stamps: Ghost, Monster, Princess, Trick or Treat from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Garden Green, Neenah Solar White, SU & Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring
• Accessories: Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder, Hobby Lobby ribbon, MM brads, purple Stickles, Stardust Gellyroll pen

I forgot to mention...!!!!

Look on my sidebar... I have a new button for From Courtney's Closet!!! Isn't it the cutest (yes, I am biased, but still...!) - I sent this photo over to Dina and asked her to work her photoshop magic on it, and what she sent back was just exactly what I wanted! Then my tech support team (ie my brother!) turned it into a button for me. So... if you'd like to add it to your own sidebar, I would be both thrilled and honored!! Just click on it to email me for the code. :-)

From Courtney's Closet #22 - an inspiration challenge

Hi everyone! Well, tomorrow's Halloween, and even though I already did a pumpkin outfit a few weeks back, I still had to celebrate Halloween in today's From Courtney's Closet post!! I didn't want to do another completely Halloween-y outfit, so I did what only made sense - found inspiration from Courtney in her Halloween costume!! I'm sorry for the blurry photo of her this week - I've told you before, taking her photo is no easy task! But my sister convinced me that it's such a cute photo despite the blur, it was ok to use. :-) Yep, Courtney is a dalmatian this year!! It goes with her big brother's fireman costume. I don't know if anyone remembers but many weeks ago, when I was first getting excited about Halloween, I declared that I already knew what they were going as, and I was going to attempt to make Courtney's costume! I knew it couldn't be *that* difficult to sew some black felt spots on a white onesie... Well... then I found this little dalmatian costume, already made and oh so cute, at Walmart for only $8, and decided that was less than it would probably cost me just to get the materials for her homemade costume, not to mention the time to make it which I never seem to find enough of... so I took the easy way out!! LOL Maybe someday I'll be one of those cool moms who makes amazing homemade costumes... (or maybe not...!) So for this week's card, I pulled out my retired Stampin' Up Yappy Day set that I LOVE. I got to go all out with the polka dots this week - it was "required" since I dressed my baby girl in a polka dotted costume!! (I know Monica is going to give me a hard time about that! LOL!) The card is pretty self-explanatory, pretty simple, but I think it's simply CUTE! And not too shabby for a gal going on very little sleep and a lot of Diet Coke...!! :-) So does this inspire you at all??? Keep in mind you don't *have to* go with a dog theme! If you do come up with something, please let me know - I'd LOVE to see it! And if you upload on Splitcoast please use keyword FCCC. Last week's outfit was a real challenge for nearly everyone, just as I predicted. But some brave souls did take on the challenge, and the results were fabulous!! Anita and Katie's cards are so cute this week, using the birdie die from the Stampin' Up Big Shot! Look at the ADORABLE little nest Katie created! And of course I *love* how Anita used that Top Note die that I covet! LOL (in related exciting news - I have the Nestabilities version shipping to me soon from Ellen's store!! WOOHOO!!)Berenice played again (yay!) and used the CUTEST round bird image!! Love it!I love that Diane chose to use the Big Flowers set from SU to mimic Courtney's pants, and again an adorable green bird!!Maria's card is just adorable - I love her teal faux stitching and how she made the scalloped strip - too cute!How could I not love Megan's card?? Just look at all those polka dots!!! :-) And I love the fun clip she found, and added the "hey chick" rub-on to - so cute & clever!Here's a great example how inspiration comes differently to different people - I love how Sue went a more elegant route with her card! I'd love to see it in person, she says it has a lot of shimmer the camera couldn't capture.Sue's niece Katie played again via email (Katie you need to get a blog, girl!!) :-) and sent me this adorable creation. I just love that little birdie image she used!!And finally... well... how could this possibly NOT be my favorite?? I mean, I know it seems "rigged" - she used a Hambo stamp which you all know I LOVE, and it happened to be a Hambo stamp that I sent to her... but just LOOK what she did with it?? Isn't Leslie's card way beyond fabulous?!!? I guess we expect nothing less from superstars like her. But wow. This just blew my mind (and brightened my day!!). I have your address Leslie, some goodies will soon be on the way... :-)Thanks ladies, you most certainly conquered this challenge with flying colors!! And thanks everyone else for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Yappy Day from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Real Red, white, DP from AMuse and Paper Studio
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, black grosgrain, MM big red brads, Copics, prismacolor pencils

Ok I have to share a couple more post-post photos with you. This is big brother Carter in his fireman HAT - I cannot get him to wear his fireman coat!! But I did dress him in a firetruck shirt to go with his hat...! This was his costume at school this morning - they did a little pumpkin patch and invited the parents to stay and watch the kids do their pumpkin hunt. True to form, Carter quickly chose a pumpkin, put it in the back of a dump truck, and pushed it around the playground the rest of the time I was there.

Late again...

From Courtney's Closet will be late again today! Between my two kids I was up most of the night last night, so I'm dragging this morning! And despite that, Carter was still up at the crack of dawn this morning... he's going to be a crabby handful later today I bet... thank God I get to send him off to preschool...!!! ;-) I'll be back soon...

Don't let your age bug you!

Isn't this goofy little bug image a hoot? This cute little Hambo pairing just cracks me up! For the colors I played along with yesterday's color challenge on Splitcoast - Pixie Pink, Tangerine Tango & Pink Pirouette. Bright & cheery!! The brads going through the ribbon didn't work out perfectly, it caused a little gathering in the ribbon - but, since it happened equally on both sides, it looks like it could have been intentional. :-) Of course the card has polka dots, scallops and Stickles. I'm no longer even attempting to fight those urges.

Ok that's all I have to say today - Carter keeps yelling for me to bring up a new Thomas video on YouTube on the other computer every two minutes, which makes concentration as you're trying to think up an interesting blog post basically impossible! Have a good day!

• Stamps: Magnifying Glass and Age Bug You from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, white, Making Memories DP, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: SU scallop edge punch, Marvy scallop punches, SU wide grosgrain ribbon, MM brads, StarDust Stickles, Black Glaze Pen

PS... Notice anything new and cute on my sidebar?? :-)

Happy Birthday, Isabelle!

I made this card for my stamping friend Isabelle's birthday, which is today! Being the idiot procrastinator that I am, I didn't get it into the mail until Saturday, so chances are she may be seeing it here before seeing it in her own mailbox - oops! But Isabelle I wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you on your special day!! This card also satisfied a ton of Splitcoast challenges last week! The sketch challenge, the color combo (Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss & Chocolate Chip), the technique lover's to use Twinkling H20s with watercolor pencils (I used watercolor crayons) - we were to use pink, but the closest I had to pink was "jasper red" so it made more of a magenta than a true pink, but close enough! It was my first time playing with Twinkling H20s, they give such a pretty shimmer to the image! And this card also incorporates the Ways to Use It challenge, to use a one word sentiment. Whew! That's a lot accomplished with one little card!! That gorgeous owl image is from FireCracker Designs by Pamela - her You HOOO! set. I had been dying to find time to play with this set ever since my owl encounter several weeks back!! Do you ever feel like there just isn't enough time in the day/night/life to play with all the stamps you want to play with??? Well, I suppose if I could JUST STOP BUYING THEM (!!) maybe I'd feel a little less sad about all my uninked rubber!! LOL. Anyway.... again, a very happy birthday to you, Isabelle - and thanks everyone else for stopping by today! :-)

• Stamps: You HOOO! and Paper Roses from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Confetti White, Paper Salon DP
• Ink: Palette Noir, Adirondack Espresso
• Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, Twinkling H20s, Copic markers, black Glaze pen, oval punch, scallop edge punch, bling from Walmart, Janome mini & brown thread, Old Olive wide grosgrain

Austin breaks Thriller Dance World Record 10/25/08

Confirmation that I live in the coolest city on the planet. ;-)

October Roses

We went on a fun little outing this morning to the Zilker Botanical Garden here in Austin. They are currently hosting an exhibit called "DinoLand" - life size dinosaur replicas nestled in among the plants in the garden. Most certainly Carter's idea of a good time! I had a pleasant surprise at the garden - many of the roses still had blooms on them! Shows how much I know about Austin gardening, I didn't realize we still get roses this late into the fall!! So I went a little snap happy with the camera, and thought I'd share a few of them here, as well as a sorta neat photo of a butterfly. Enjoy! :-)

Wanna Swap???

I just posted my first ever swap on Splitcoast!! I am super nervous, I hope I did everything right. And I hope somebody will play with me!!! So... thought I'd do a shameless plug here... anyone want to do my Hambo swap!?!?! C'mon, it will be fun!! I'll be a good hostess, I promise!! You can check it out here. :-)

(ETA: No Hambo stamps?? No problem! The swaps aren't due until JANUARY 25 (!!!) and even better, Hambo has the BOGO (buy one, get one free) sale going on right now... perfect time to pick something up and play along in the swap!! LOL!!!)

Make Your Own Happiness...

I made today's card to play along with a couple challenges. First of all, it's Beate's latest sketch challenge (WSC63). Such a fun sketch!! I chose to make mine a square card, it measures 5.5" on each side. This card was also made to play Karen's Lilacs and Lupines Random Act of Kindness challenge. Karen is a great stamper with a huge heart - she already donates cards to brain cancer patients, and now she's started this challenge to get bloggers sending more RAKs. Every Tuesday she posts a new challenge, including a special "rule" for the week - this week the rule was to incorporate a circle in the design. The challenge runs until 8am Sunday morning - if you want to play this week, you better act FAST - otherwise look for her new post on Tuesday! :-) I made this card to surprise a friend - I picked up a little something for her at the stamp show I went to last weekend - she's not somebody I would typically buy things for, but this just called out her name. I cannot say more than that in case she's reading this!! I used the sentiment "make your own happiness" on this because that little giraffe is sitting there with a party hat on, even though this isn't a birthday card. It just seemed like he was making himself happy. :-) Plus giraffes happen to make the person I'm sending this to happy. Oh no, I've said too much!! LOL Ok it is waaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past my bedtime, I better post this and hit the hay!! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Nursery Bash from CTMH, Happiness Messages from Hero Arts
  
• Paper: Brocade Blue, Georgia Pacific White, Marcella by K DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Adirondack Espresso, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini & brown thread, Spellbinders die, large brads from JoAnns

RAK from Leslie

(Ok, now you can scroll two down for this week's From Courtney's Closet challenge! :-)) Gosh, I told you in the last post that I'm a very lucky girl, but I didn't expect to be lucky enough to get RAKs two days in a row!! My hubby just came from the mailbox with this beauty from Leslie!! We all know that Leslie is known for her coloring skills - but wow, seeing it up close and in person, it's just amazing!! So much talent. You can see Leslie's original post here. Leslie had made this card a while back for a From Courtney's Closet challenge, and now she sent it to me as a thank you for her birthday gift. You are very welcome, my friend - and thank YOU for this beautiful card!!

RAK from Megan

(Scroll down for this week's From Courtney's Closet challenge!!) I got this beautiful card in the mail yesterday from Megan. She had made it for a From Courtney's Closet challenge a few weeks back. I just love it, it's even *more* beautiful in person than I realized! For one thing, I don't think I had fully realized that she stitched the butterfly's antennae. So many gorgeous details! Thanks Megan, I love it!

So about RAKs... I have received soooo many beautiful RAKs this year. Between Courtney's birth and my birthday and just general RAKs, I've been such a lucky girl! (back when the gorgeous cards were pouring in when Courtney was born, my sister said she wants to start a blog before she ever has a baby so she can be so lucky too, LOL!) I've been beating myself up all year about being so rotten about photographing and posting them. I keep meaning to do it, but I just never find the time (or make the time?). Anyway, I've decided to release the guilt and just start fresh, going forward from today. No more beating myself up about the past. I realize it's not even a "requirement" that I post them - many people do not - but I wanted to and I feel bad that I never did. Or I *felt* bad, anyway. So... if you've sent me cards this year, please know I appreciate them SO MUCH!! And if you send me more, I'll post them. LOL! I'm also really trying to quit hoarding cards, so hopefully I'll be sending lots of RAKs out myself from here on out. :-) So there you have it - my RAK confession. Have a nice weekend! :-)

From Courtney's Closet #21 - an inspiration challenge

Subtitle: The Card That Kicked My Butt!! Ugh. So you thought last week's challenge was difficult?? Well you're gonna just love this week! And sorry Maria - there's purple once again!! :-) I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had a 'very different and fun' outfit to show you, well this is it! I love the funky stuff they have at Target for little girls, and I couldn't resist this. Daddy thinks it's a bit loud for Courtney, but I think it's just great! However... trying to copy it onto a card... not easy! So now you know I don't cheat - I could have very easily just given up and picked something else from the closet... but I was determined to use this one! And actually, after lots of struggle, I rather like how the card turned out! I used my Cuttlebug to cut out a bunch of flowers in the cardstocks I chose to match Courtney's pants, and then just randomly placed them on a black panel. Courtney's shirt has a cute little bird, but I felt like using an owl - I realized the other day that although I *love* the latest Stampin' Up catalog, I don't think I've made a single thing with any of my new stamps since the catalog came out!!! That's just wrong. So tonight I wanted to right that wrong just a bit. :-) Although - as I was coloring this owl, in my whacky colors, I kept thinking of Just Johanna's "odd bird planet" - because this owl is one odd little bird for sure!!! You can't really tell, but he's cut out and popped up on dimensionals, and I also added a little shimmer to his belly and closed eyelid with a Spica glitter pen. I thought "whoo-la-la" was a fitting sentiment for this wild and crazy card! So what do you think? Are you up for this challenge?? Or are you going to run and hide and pretend you never saw this week's post? :-) If you do give it a go, be sure to report back here and let me know about it! And if you post to Splitcoast, please use keyword FCCC.
Last week I thought I picked something super easy for you - purple and cupcakes are two of my favorite things!! But it proved to be more of a challenge than expected for some - although I truly would not guess that from looking at these fantastic creations! First up, one of my two new players - Berenice. I'm so excited she played, her little cupcake is so cute and sweet!The second newbie this week is the niece of my most faithful player, Sue! She gave a disclaimer that she's not a "professional" stamper - as if ANY of us are!! We're all here to have fun, Katie! And it's so fun having you join us with this super cute card!And next is Katie's Aunt Susie - my girl Sue is so stinkin' creative, look what she came up with this week!! I love how she put a cupcake in that crabby lady's hand instead of a coffee cup. Too funny!Kathryn's card this week is so sweet and cute - I just love that Kim Hughes cupcake!This week's over-achiever award goes to Jenn, who made not one but TWO cupcake cards! She's too critical of them on her blog (aren't we always our own worst critic?), I think they are wonderful! I love how she used the little cupcake to make the letters on the first card, so clever! And the second card is just completely yummy!Diane got to play this week!! Yay!! I missed her. And I love what she came up with! I am seriously in love with that new SU Top Note die, but am trying to resist the urge to buy it... but boy is Diane making it difficult!! LOVE how she Cuttlebugged on top of it!My favorite misplaced in Oklahoma but 100% Texan gal, Megan, got to play again too, and created this beauty!Anita is having a blast with her new Big Shot, and put it to great use on this fun and vibrant card:Anita's daughter Katie got to play again too, I just love the cupcake image she chose for her sweet card:I *LOVE* this adorable gift card holder that Karen came up with this week! The fun colors of the cupcakes, the glitter and crystal lacquer, all on my beloved Kraft background - just too cute!But this week I have to give top honors to Maria - her card is soooo cute, I love how she used the printed paper on the cupcake top, and the pink ribbon - and since she claims purple is a struggle for her, I have to give her props for fighting her way through it and coming up with this sweet card! Maria, email me your address at stampinlibby at gmail dot com and I'll put a little something in the mail to you!Thanks everyone for playing, your creations this week were fantastic! And thanks everyone else for popping in the take a look!

• Stamps: Owl Together Now from SU
• Paper: Orchid Opulence, Purely Pomegranate, Bashful Blue, Taken with Teal, Basic Gray, Basic Black, white
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Cuttlebug and flower dies, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, white gel pen, black Glaze pen, Spica glitter pen, metallic purple brads from my stash

And since you all don't seem to mind when I indulge myself... I can't help but share some more cute photos this week!!!! Here's my sweetie, standing up like such a big girl!Sweet as can be...What a happy girl!And my favorite of them all...*smile*

My blog is broken?

Thanks for your emails about my comments not working - I have no idea what's going on!! But, I just went in and changed my comment format to being a pop-up window, and that seems to have "fixed" it. Soooooo... feel free to shower me with wonderful comments once again! ;-)

If you're here looking for From Courtney's Closet... I'm so sorry, I'm late today!!!!!! It's coming, but perhaps not until late this evening... I'm not done with my card (this week's outfit is TRULY a challenge!!) and as much as I'm tempted to just go in the stamp room right now, I REALLY need to work on cleaning my pigsty of a home today while Carter is at school...!!! So... see ya back here later tonight!!

Wanna win an FCD set??

Head on over to Sherri's blog, she's posted some pretty sweet blog candy!!!

Ode to Jon

Today's card is dedicated to my brother Jon, or as he's referred to around this house, Uncle Jon! Uncle Jon came over the past two nights to help me with dinner and the evening routine while Daddy was away on business. I'm so fortunate to have both my brother and sister living here in Austin, they are forever helping me with their niece and nephew! (I'll have to do an Ode to Laura in a future post!) This card is very Jon-esque because Uncle Jon happens to be a chemist, although these days he doesn't hang out in a lab, he uses his (vast) chemistry knowledge working for a company which writes online learning resources - basically a perfect union for him of his chemisty and computer geekiness. :-) As for the card - the sketch came from this week's Mojo Monday challenge over on Julee's blog (MOJO57), more or less. The cute image and sentiment are from Sweet 'n Sassy - the set "You're a Genius". Now I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled about something on the Sweet 'n Sassy website - they had this set filed under "for the boys". I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that's only because it features a boy image, and not because they think only boys like science (their girls sets are flowers, purses and princesses...)! This sort of thing just hits a nerve with me - I used to volunteer through the Society of Women Engineers and the Women in Engineering Program at UT to encourage young girls to study science - it's hard enough to break stereotypes and get girls into math and science!! It reminds me of that awful move by Mattel years ago to have a talking Barbie that said "math is hard." ACK! But I'm sure Sweet 'n Sassy didn't do it intentionally... I hope anyway. My sweet blog friend Anita sent me a cute card made with this set, and I had to have it when I saw it!! (I'm a bit of a chemistry geek myself!) (Oh and btw, when I use the word "geek", it's meant as a compliment...) :-) See the little flask embellishment? I stamped that image on polyshrink! I loved shrinky dinks as a kid, what fun that I can still play with them as an adult! A couple other details that are perhaps hard to see - the flask in the little chemist's hand has clear glaze pen over the green liquid, to make it look more liquidy. And his eyes, buttons, and shoes are all covered with black glaze pen. Isn't that saying funny???

So anyway - thanks again Uncle Jon, this ones for you (ETA: this is Beaker doing his version of Ode to Joy, hence the name of the post, Ode to Jon! Not obvious to most.) *smile*:

• Stamps: You're a Genius from Sweet 'n Sassy
• Paper: Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, white, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Polyshrink, heat tool, tag punch, Orange Peel Stickles, Clear & Black Glaze pens, Hobby Lobby ribbon

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have another fall card for you today - this time using my sweet cornucopia stamp from Hambo Stamps. This was a fun one to color (as are ALL of the Hambo stamps!) - all of those cute little fruits and veggies! I really had no idea what some of them were supposed to be, so I was winging it with the color choices. I'll definitely have to play with this image again soon and try a different color palette - plus I want to pair it with one of Hambo's FUNNY sayings ("Thanksgiving always reminds me of my family - A ham, a turkey and a whole bunch of nuts!" LOL!!) If you like this cornucopia, check out the sale page - it's part of the buy one, get one free deal they have going on right now! Buy it, and you get the sentiment "Let us give Thanks..." for free! Nice! A lot of my other favorites are represented there too, like my bunny and ballerina girl and pineapple, and my all-time favorite little elephant! I can't think of a better time to get them than when you get something else with them for free!! And I don't know if you've seen it yet, but Monica also has a banner ad running over on Splitcoast today. It features their funny little flasher guy stamp! Now if you're easily offended, don't read this - but I think I've already driven all of those people away from my blog anyway! *wink* There's a thread on SCS discussing sentiments that could go with that stamp, it's a hoot. You can read it here if you want a good chuckle. :-) Thanks for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: Cornucopia and Happy Thanksgiving from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Bazzill cardstock, K&Co DP, Georgia Pacific White
• Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Copic markers for coloring, Creamy Caramel & More Mustard for sponging
• Accessories: SU scallop edge punch, mustard grosgrain ribbon, green brads

Election Day in Texas!

Early voting began today in Texas!! Courtney, Carter and I did our civic duty and cast our ballot! Ok truth be told, I have very much been looking forward to voting in this election!! I usually wait until election day, because I think it's FUN to vote ON election day, but this year I just couldn't wait. :-) Even though Courtney is sporting the "I Voted" sticker here, it was actually Carter who technically voted - I let him push the big, red "cast ballot" button. If you can't tell in the photo, Courtney's onesie says "Future President" - too cute. I actually hope she aspires to other things, being President seems like way too stressful a job for my sweet baby. But I suppose I'll support her if that's the career path she chooses. ;-) Aunt Laura bought this onesie for my munchkins, she works at the LBJ Presidential Library & Museum here in Austin and she found it in the giftshop. Apparently she's also bringing me a Red State/Blue State puzzle to have for fun on election night as I sit and watch the results come in. *grin* And now I thought I'd share a Public Service Announcement for my friends here in Travis County... if you need to know which districts you live in, look here. Here's a list of early voting locations. If you want to check which propositions are on your ballot, look here. And here's a good voting guide. To the rest of you, sorry, I can't help y'all. :-) But yay for democracy in action! ;-)