From Courtney's Closet #28 - an inspiration challenge

Well here I am posting my From Courtney's Closet challenge on Sunday, much later than I had planned. But, I'm not going to apologize for it!! LOL! A great big thanks and cyber hug to all of you who left such sweet, encouraging comments on my sneak peek post, I so appreciated that!! And I know some of you were probably thinking "uhhhh, why is she feeling the need to say this, it's not like she posts regularly anyway. Didn't she just come back from a month-long break??" hee hee True, true. But the difference is, before I would actually feel guilty when I didn't post, and now I'm trying to release the guilt. To blog without obligation. :-) (Thanks Chris & Leslie for the links!!) Soooo anyway... nobody was able to correctly guess the other color in Courtney's outfit - it's MAGENTA!! But... hmm... not seeing a lot of MAGENTA happening in my card now are we? I think Stampin' Up's old Marvelous Magenta would have been PERFECT, but I seem to have sent all I had remaining to a friend a while back (so, ahem, friend, you really should play this week! LOL!). Instead I went with Purely Pomegranate, which is close but not quite as magenta-y as her outfit. And then with my coloring of the rose, although I did use Pomegranate, it took on a much more pink tone. Ah well. So about that rose - don't you just LOVE IT?!?! This is actually the stamp that made me fall in love with FireCracker Designs, long before (well ok, like a month or so before) I ever dreamed Pamela would invite me to join her design team. The set is called Paper Roses and it's one of many gorgeous flower sets she's created. And I call this my Marie card, because I was trying to channel a little of my design team pal Marie when making this card - her cards are always so elegant and gorgeous. And I was also inspired by that awesome blinged-out buckle that I just got in the mail this weekend from Cheryl as a little RAK. LOVE IT! So are you at all inspired by this week's outfit? I know I haven't given you as much time, but if you'd like to play along I'd LOVE to see it!!! Leave a comment back here so I can check you out! :-) Last week I shared what I thought was a completely adorable animal print dress with you all - but apparently only a few people are inspired by animal print. :-) But boy, did they make some CUTE cards!!! First up is Sue, who has played my challenge more than anyone - I was soooo happy to see her back at it! And, she doesn't even like animal print. Her other Stamping Nemesis is the color orange, which I've subjected her to a couple times in the past. So what did she do? She made this challenge even harder on herself by using BOTH animal print and orange on her card!!! Too funny! But I love what she came up with!My sweet Maria played this week too, yay!! I just adore her little horse, it is ooooh so cute!!!My favorite this week is Anita! Anita and her daughter Katie have been so sweet to play my challenge many, many times too - I so appreciate that! This week Anita had a very different take on the outfit. I love how she combined different textures and patterns on this card. Nicely done, Anita! I have your address so I'll put a little something in the mail to you... someday... ;-)Thanks everyone for playing!!! And thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Paper Roses from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Bazzill cardstock, Little Yellow Bicycle DP, Shimmery White
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Purely Pomegranate, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke
• Accessories: white gel pen, Janome Sew Mini & pink thread, doilie from Michael's, bling buckle from Cheryl, ribbon from a Jody share, Making Memories stick pin, embroidery floss