Some sushi and a PREORDER DEAL!!

Has anyone noticed I've been a total posting fool lately?? Geesh! I just have so much to share!! And a lot of it is based on challenges from this week, so I can't space it out and save some for next week... which means next week I'll probably have NOTHING to share! LOL! Well today's card is no exception - it's Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try from this past week! This card completely made me giggle as I made it. For one thing, I *love* that sentiment!! And just having a big stack of sushi - the thought of THAT makes me quite happy. Plus - it's sort of an elegant card with that pretty Asian background paper and stitching and all, and then adding a stack of sushi to it - I don't know, it just seemed silly to me. I like silly. Bet you didn't know THAT now did you?? heh heh These fun stamps are from the FireCracker Designs by Pamela set Miso Cute. I used a little something different to color in the sushi - my Peerless Watercolors! I bought them a while ago and they've just been sitting there, unused! I have to say, they are pretty darn cool and the colors are really gorgeous! So speaking of FCD... Pamela is just pumping out the stamps like you wouldn't believe!!! This weekend she's running a PRE-ORDER SPECIAL on FOUR new sets - cuuuuute stuff and a gorgeous Easter set. The more you order, the more you save. Click on over to Pamela's blog to read the details, and visit the pre-order page to get your order in!! And hurry - the special ends on Sunday!! Here's what she's got:
Thanks for stopping by today!! Have a wonderful weekend!

• Stamps: Miso Cute from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, DCWV Far East stack
• Ink: Memento ?? brown (need to look it up!)
• Accessories: Peerless Watercolors, Janome Sew Mini, Spellbinders dies, heart brads, sponge

Let's stick together!

I just looooooove this little porcupine!! Isn't he the cutest?? He's another one of the Hambo new releases. Love the new sentiment that goes with him, too. Good stuff! Ok no time to chat, need to clean up the kitchen, round up the troops and head down to a playdate at the Hoppin' House. Have a great Friday!!

• Stamps: Porcupine and Stick Together from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots folder, Spellbinders dies, SU wide grosgrain ribbon, pink brads

From Courtney's Closet #32 - an inspiration challenge

Welcome to another From Courtney's Closet post - where I make a card inspired by one of my baby girl's outfits. Courtney has outgrown most of her 12M clothes and is moving on to 18M - so this means I've got a new stack of clothes to share with you in the coming weeks! I went on a little shopping spree in our friend Rachel's closet - Rachel is the same age as Carter, and I used to watch her a few days a week - so it's kind of fun for me to look through her old clothes, it brings back sweet memories of her playing with Carter. The clothes even smell like Rachel so I think of Rachel when Courtney wears them!! (I think Rachel's mommy said it's Cheer laundry soap... I guess they'll only smell like Rachel the first time Courtney wears them, until I wash them myself!) :-) Anyway - so I'm set for at least a few more weeks, but then, I don't know - Courtney's getting to the age where her growing slows down, so I may run out of outfits!! I may have to dig into the photo files more often and share some From *Carter's* Closet cards...! :-) We'll see what happens...! Anyway, today's card was inspired by my favorite of the Rachel hand-me-downs! I think it may be because it's blue, putting Courtney in blue is great because it really brings out her blue eyes. Of course, Courtney is in CONSTANT MOTION these days, so getting a good photo of her to really show how cute she is in this outfit was an impossible task!! But hopefully these are good enough for you to get some inspiration from the outfit. I chose to use this gorgeous American Art Stamp Easter Angel. Something about the pattern on her dress reminded me of the subtle pattern on Courtney's shirt. Of course, Courtney's shirt has some hibiscus and more of a Hawaiian theme - I didn't go with that at all! I guess I used it more as a color inspiration this week. I may have to come back with another card, with an Aloha theme, before the week is up! I just love this pretty angel image though, partially because she happens to have some polka dot pattern on her dress (!) and also that sweet bunny and her flowing hair - just lovely. So - you know the drill - if you're inspired by this outfit, make a card, post it to your blog or an online gallery, and come back to this post and leave a comment letting me know where to find you! I *loved* last week's outfit and card, but apparently it wasn't too inspiring. Not many kitty fans out there, aye? (Sssh, don't tell Melissa! LOL!) I only had two sweet ladies play along last week - but shoot - I'm thrilled when ANYONE plays along so that is perfectly ok by me!! Chris used the super cute new-ish kitty from GinaK on her adorable card. I also love the heart background, I believe she stamped that?? Am I right, Chris? :-)And although I love both cards equally, I guess I'll say Sue's was my "favorite" this week. :-) She found a really cute image with lots of kitties and dogs. And seeing her card inspired me to make a card using this same layout! Love it, Sue - so cute!! And I'm always so proud of you when you boldly use orange! :-)Thanks ladies for playing along!! And thanks everyone for stopping by! Happy Stampin'!

• Stamps: Easter Angel and sentiment from American Art Stamp
• Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Neenah Solar White, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring, silver paint pen, white gel pen
• Accessories: Michael's velvet ribbon, Janome Sew Mini, button from stash, linen thread

Cinema Saturday #20

If you're looking for From Courtney's Closet, I'll be back with that a little later. This was due today as well, so I needed to get it posted!! My favorite challenge in all of Blogland is the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge - Sankari and Brooke are such clever gals for coming up with this!! It's so much fun - from the sneak peek guessing on Friday to the big reveal on Saturday, to seeing how the movie inspires the players - good stuff!!! I want to play every week, but too often I'm not able to squeeze it in. So this week I was determined!! Which is funny, because I haven't even seen the movie. And the requirement this week was to make the card have a vintage feel, which I am seriously not good at! But I suppose that made it more of a challenge! The movie this week was The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons. On the Cinema Saturday website they also said to be inspired by the tagline "Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments". I was going to just write that out and use it on the card, but then I noticed this Hero Arts sentiment in my stamp bin and thought it was rather perfect! The rose is from FireCracker Designs by Pamela - I don't know that there are any roses in this movie, but I thought it went with the love/vintage theme. I also got to use a new rose die cut for this, which ROCKS! And of course I had to do the obvious and add some buttons!! LOL! The paper I used is some gorgeous new textured DP from Stampin' Up! called "Parisian Breeze". And the layout is actually the same as the Irish Frog from my previous post, just turned on its side - it's this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I had a lot of fun making this card, as I do every Cinema Saturday card. If you love movies, you need to start playing this challenge!! I can't wait to see the new sneak peeks on Friday! And I hope to suck my brother in again as well!! Thanks for stopping by today. :-)

• Stamps: Paper Roses from FireCracker Designs by Pamela, Anytime Messages from Hero Arts
• Paper: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Neenah Solar White, SU Parisian Breeze textured DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Brown, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini, SU scallop edge punch, buttons, linen thread

Irish Frog

Here's another one of the Hambo new releases - isn't he funny?? This cute little Irish Frog was screaming out to me "use Liquid Applique on my beard, use Liquid Applique on my beard...!" - how can I possibly deny a request like that?? The sentiment is just a section of the new Irish You stamp, the full thing reads "Irish you a happy St. Patrick's Day!". Unfortunately I just couldn't make the whole thing fit on this card - I was trying to play along with the latest Mojo Monday sketch challenge. The colors are a little bit out there for a St. Patty's card I think - but they are today's color challenge on Splitcoast - Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun & Kiwi Kiss/Old Olive. They turned out rather fun I think, even if they aren't what you'd expect! :-) As often happens, I went a little nutty with the polka dots! :-) Alrighty, I need to end this here - I am soooo tired tonight! Courtney was up for an hour & a half in the night last night, and once I got her back to sleep I foolishly stayed up and finished my Mardi Gras card and posted it, and then had an unfortunate 4:15am wake-up call from Carter this morning. Sooooo, I'm beat. So as much as the stamp room is calling me, I think I better be a responsible mommy and get some much-needed sleep! Who knows when/if anyone will wake up tonight! Happy Stampin' to you, and thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: Irish Frog and Irish You from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Basic Black, GP White, DP from stash
• Ink: Copics for coloring
• Accessories: Spellbinders dies, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, May Arts ribbon, SU scallop edge punch, MM brads, straight pin, embroidery floss, Liquid Applique

Happy Mardi Gras!

Well it's Fat Tuesday, and would you believe I have a card that fits the occasion? True story: I've been working on this card in bits and pieces over the past few nights. Tonight I thought "hmm, when is Mardi Gras anyway?" and Googled it - and found out it's NOW! Eeek! So then I *had to* finish this card and get it posted!! It was now or never!! LOL. This gorgeous image is part of the Italiano stamp set from FireCracker Designs by Pamela. I just loooooove this set, I wish I would have had it when I made my Italy scrapbook! This image is a Venetian mask - but it looks Mardi Gras-ish to me! Especially when paired with the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green & gold. I sooooo wish you could see the image in person! I embossed it in gold, and then used all kinds of glorious Shimmerz paints on this baby. It sparkles and shines like you wouldn't believe! And of course that is impossible to capture with the camera. Here's some trivia for you, do you know what the Mardi Gras colors are supposed to mean? Purple = justice, green = faith, gold = power. Who knew? I didn't. I just learned that when I was doing a little web search for the sentiment - which I could only partially remember - "laissez les bons temps rouler!" It means "let the good times roll!". :-) I did something that typically makes me cringe on my cards - I used my own handwriting for the sentiment! Ack! But actually, I don't mind it so much this time (a first!). The layout for this card came from a whole line of inspiration - I saw it when Sue posted her link to this week's FCCC card. She was inspired by Julie Masse, who was inspired by the SCS February DD sketch. It was all sweet serendipity for me, because I had punched out and colored the image on that circle but had no idea where to go from there...! :-) Ok y'all, I better hit post and then hit the hay! Enjoy your Mardi Gras (but not TOO much, LOL!)! I'm suddenly craving some crawfish etouffee washed down with a nice, big Hurricane. Yummm. Happy stampin', thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: Italiano by FireCracker Designs by Pamela, French Script from Stampin' Up!
  
• Paper: Garden Green, Basic Black, Gold, Purple from Bazzill I think?
• Ink: Encore Gold, SU journaler for the sentiment, Versamark
• Accessories: Gold EP, Shimmerz paints, gold brads, ribbon, rhinestones, Fiskars effervescence punch

Baby got back!

Guess what! Hambo Stamps has some more new releases coming soon, and let me just say they are soooo CUTE! And my favorite? This brand new little addition to the Buttcrack family!! Not only is this stamp completely adorable, but guess who inspired it?!? That's right, my own little blog superstar, Miss Courtney Leigh - remember this post, when she was showing off a little too much crack herself??! LOL! Well, Timbo saw that post and got to drawin'! And would you look at that sentiment!? LOVE IT! The new stamps are en route to Hamboland as I type this - Monica is debating whether or not to open it up to preorders - check her blog for the latest scoop! Oh and check her post today - that would be ME stamping away, while Courtney is over here drinking her bottle. hee hee! No no no, don't worry, I didn't *really* send Timbo any photos of *me* to inspire *that* stamp! But I bet it's accurate at times (just ask Joel!) - not to mention that desk piled high with STUFF everywhere is so me! I will be sharing a sample of my own with that cutie stamper soon, as well as several other of the new releases, so stay tuned!! :-)

• Stamps: Baby Got Back and Huggies & Kisses from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Kraft, Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink, Whisper White
• Ink: Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini, Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots folder, Marvy punches, SU Word Window punch, button brads (I think Making Memories?)

Happy Hamiversary!

Ok I have to admit it, I LOVE THIS CARD!! :-) I think it turned out really cute. That mostly happened because the image is so stinkin' cute - it's a Hambo, of course - this one is called Soda Shop Pigs. Oh so sweet! The card has a lot of fun details going on... You probably can't tell, but that heart paper has glitter on all the hearts - it's soooo cute, but it's one of those $5 pieces of DP - ok, maybe not quite $5, but it *was* one of those where after they rung it up I was in shock over how much I had just paid for a sheet of paper! LOL But it sure is cute! The sentiment on this one makes me giggle too - "Happy Hamiversary" - hee hee! And just an fyi, for next year around this time - they also have one that says "Happy Valenswine's Day". Love it! I used Taylor's Cupcake Challenge this week for the layout - a very fun sketch this time around that helped push me beyond some creative block I was experiencing when I sat down to stamp. A couple other fun details about the card - the soda has liquid applique "foam", and the sentiment was stamped in black and then traced over with a Spica glitter pen. Now I need to wrap this up, I'm so tired I can hardly see straight, much less think of coherent sentences to type...! I may have to edit this post in the morning... LOL Thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: Soda Shop Pigs and Happy Hamiversary from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Brocade Blue, White, Silver, SU SAB DP, cute expensive heart DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots, Janome Sew Mini and thread, SU oval punch, Marvy oval scallop punch, SU scallop edge punch, scissors, May Arts ribbon, Liquid Applique, black glaze pen, Spica clear glitter pen, heart brad.

FCD presents DIE-normous FUN!

It's time for another FireCracker Designs by Pamela blog hop! Woohoo! This month we're telling you about a cool little item over on Pamela's site that you may not have ever noticed - DIE CUTS!! I actually saw that on there a while back and didn't think much of it - I thought it was just die cuts to match the stamps, but I'm not really much of a die cut person (like the old-school ones that used to be the ONLY scrapbook embellishment beyond plain old stickers, until Jolee's came along and changed everything!) (or at least that was the first big change at my LSS) ... anyway... the die cuts that Pamela carries COMPLETELY ROCK!! Yes, they do match her stamps - but you use them to stamp ON! I am a BIG fan of cutting out my stamped images and popping them up - in my last post I was just complaining about how much extra time I spend on cards because I'm forever doing that. Well with these die cuts it's quick and easy - no cutting necessary. Aren't convinced? Watch Pamela's video that I'm embedding down below - it will change your life. LOL! For my card today I used the die cuts that match my Miso Cute stamp set - because THEY so cute! :-) The layout for the card was Beate's latest Weekend Sketch Challenge. I just loooove that patterned paper I used - it's from last fall's Bali Breeze pack from Stampin' Up. But enough chit-chat about the card, you've got some HOPPIN' to do!!! From here you need to bounce on over the Marie's site and see what sort of die-normous fun she was up to!! And make sure to travel all the way through our blog hop loop and end up back at Pamela's site - she will be giving away some blog candy, you don't want to miss that!! You have until Wednesday at 8pm EST to enter her drawing. Now I just wish ALL stamp companies offered these die cuts with their stamps. That Pamela, she's a GENIUS I tell ya!! :-) Thanks for stopping by today, and happy stamping!!

• Stamps: Miso Cute from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Taken with Teal, Stampin' Up Bali Breeze DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: FCD Die Cuts, clear Spica glitter pen, brads, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, paper piercing tool, May Arts ribbon (I think)

From Courtney's Closet #31 - an inspiration challenge

I had fun reading your guesses about what Courtney might be wearing this week - a couple of you named different animals - you were close - but no cigar! :-) It's KITTIES!! I love kitties. I've been soooo good (for me!) about not buying new stamps this year, but when I saw the new release at Pink Cat Studio, I could resist no longer. My willpower is only so strong, people! And when I saw this little onesie at the Carter's outlet, I actually thought to myself "OH, THAT WOULD MAKE SUCH A CUTE KIKI KITTY CARD!!!" Yes, I was yelling inside my head when I thought it. Ugh. I am a sick, sick Mommy. hee hee But don't you agree? Is it not perfect? :-) I had a lot of fun making this card, but spent too long on it. I really need to learn how to stamp faster. I guess Step 1 would be to quit feeling the need to paper piece or cut out everything! First I paper pieced the polka dot kitty (because it matches her outfit) - I was going to just color the pink kitty with a marker, but none of my Copic pinks were making me happy. So what is a gal to do but paper piece with Pink Pirouette?? And then - if you really want a glimpse at my level of psychosis - look at the little orange cheeks on the pink kitty - I stamped the image in orange, punched out the little circles, and lined them up with the existing whiskers on the pink kitty!!! I had to point that out, because I'm sure it is a detail you NEVER would have noticed! LOL! Thanks to my sweet blogging friend Anita, I got to use a Top Note die cut on this card - she sent me a little stash of them as a RAK (thanks so much Anita!!). And to those of you who dislike orange (*ahem, Sue!*) I apologize for using so much of it - the color scheme is quite similar to a couple weeks ago! I had to go and put orange pants on her to draw more attention to the orange - but you could probably focus on the shirt and ignore it. LOL I have to post a second photo of Courtney - she was having so much fun sitting in a laundry basket with her stuffed animals! Ok does this inspire you at all? Got any kitty stamps you need to show some love? Or do you just like the color scheme (if you're not Sue)? Make a card and let me know about it by posting back here with the link, to your blog or SCS gallery or wherever you may have posted it. If you post on Splitcoast please use keyword FCCC. Some of my favorite stampers did me the honor of playing along this past week! They were inspired by Courtney's little Old Navy blue and white polka dot dress with big red flowers to create these darling cards...
Kathryn got her Verve on with this gorgeous flower! And love that yummy ribbon, too:I love how Stacey did the ribbon treatment on her cute card:Anita says that every girl needs a matching purse - so cute!!Sharon is a gal after my own heart, using so many different polka dots - love it!!It was so great seeing Katie get some time to stamp with this cutie, love all the flowers!Sue looked at Courtney's dress and couldn't get Mary Engelbreit out of her head - works for me! It must have taken a while to color this one in, so cute!As for my favorite - well - I feel like I'm playing favorites here, but I can't help it! And anyway, last week Courtney picked it! LOL I just love Chris' card this week, those flowers are so gorgeous!!Thanks for playing ladies, and thanks everyone for stopping by! I hope to see some cute kitty creations (or however else you're inspired!) this week!!

• Stamps: Kiki Kitty from Pink Cat Studio
• Paper: Tangerine Tango, Pink Pirouette, Pink Passion, white, Making Memories DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Top Note die, small hole punch, 1" circle punch, Janome Sew Mini & pink thread, May Arts ribbon, small heart brad

A whole lotta Hambo!

Hello again my blogging friends - I've missed you this week! Not a whole lot of stampin' has been going on in my world lately - as I mentioned below, Baby Girl has been a handful, and during the time I meant to be stamping I spent a lot of time cleaning that Stamp Cave of mine because boy oh boy was it a DISASTER AREA!!! But it's in pretty good shape now, I have to say! One day soon I think I'll take you on a little tour of it, because there are a couple storage s0lutions in there I think you might be interested in. Anyway - here's one thing I *did* work on recently! I thought all of these little Hambo Artist Pigs, grouped together like this, looked too darn cute so I wanted to show you that instead of the finished cards! It's one of my all-time favorite Hambo images, I just *heart* him so much!! So that is the first half of the "whole lotta Hambo" I wanted to share with you - the other is in the slideshow below. I recently wrapped up hosting a Hambo swap over at Splitcoast! It was my first time hosting a swap, so it was quite a learning experience. For one thing, I have all new respect for the ladies that host HUGE swaps - they must spend sooo much time swapping out the cards and getting them all shipped back!! Wowsers! But my swap was a nice, managable size for me - and it was super fun chatting with these ladies and getting to know them a little. So without further ado - check out their super cute creations in the slideshow below! And thanks for stopping by!!

What is Courtney wearing??

Thought I'd share a little sneaky-peek with you tonight of Courtney's outfit. Hmmm. Whatever could she be wearing?? And is her mommy really crazy enough to be putting her in a mostly white shirt again?? Doesn't she ever learn? LOL I will be seriously impressed if anyone can guess what the main theme of this week's shirt-inspired card will be from this little photo, but thought I'd share it anyway. Courtney is actually lying down on the chair/footstool here and I am tickling her as I took the photo. Her hair wasn't really up in a little Pebbles ponytail (although now I'm thinking I should try that!!) - the clip had just fallen during the ticklefest (and the bow is upside down!). Can you see what's going on in her mouth?? That somewhat large top tooth is getting brand new friends on both sides. Courtney has been working hard on those, as well as nursing an ear infection and a nasty cough. Aye carumba, it's NOT been a fun week with a majorly cranky baby girl!! But really, who can blame her? If I had all that going on I'd be pretty cranky too. So it was nice to get a smile out of her and hear her sweet laugh during this little bit of tickle torture. hee hee But enough chit-chat, I need to get one other thing posted and then head to the stamp room so I actually have a card to reveal to you all in the morning!! Until then - Happy Stamping - or Happy Lost Watching - or whatever it is that you do on your Wednesday nights! :-)

Drake the Dragon goes to...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

103 

Timestamp: 2009-02-16 05:01:41 UTC

Karen B said...

What a great set for invites. I love this dragon. I also love kit the cat and oriental gardens. Thanks
Karen

February 13, 2009 8:47 PM

Congratulations to Karen B!! Email me with your address and we'll get that set right out to you! (stampinlibby at gmail dot com). Sorry everyone that I did this so late - it *completely* slipped my mind! I was sitting here stamping just now when suddenly it popped into my head out of nowhere, I never did the drawing!!! Oops. Thanks everyone for your SUPER sweet comments - wowsa is it FUN to be part of a giveaway hosted by The Great Cambria Turnbow - I think I got more comments on this post than I typically get in a year! LOL! Good times. :-) Now I need to go and place my own Our Craft Lounge order since I didn't win anything... hee hee
Happy Stamping!!!

Love Birds

And here's a Valentine from me! If you know me, you know I love polka dots. So I don't think I need to tell you how happy this card makes me!!! I went pretty wacky with the polkies!!! LOL The fun layout is Beate's latest Weekend Sketch Challenge. Yippee! I so missed Beate's sketches, I'm so happy she's ready to get them going again. I decided to make a big card - it's 9x4", which fits perfectly into a business-sized envelope. The image is from American Art Stamp, one of their Valentine & Easter releases called Love Nest. Sooo sweet. Or should I say, sooo tweet? hee hee I'm proud of myself for using some more of my Stampin' Up hodgepodge hardware - I have it in pretty much all of the options they've offered the past few years, but I've hardly used it! This marks the official end of my package of fun, swirly rhinestones. boo hoo I'll have to go and find me some more of those, they are just too much fun! Ok I better get this posted and get crackin' - Daddy is back in town today and I convinced him to take both kiddos to the store and then to lunch, so I have some things I need to ACCOMPLISH today - number one being the organization of my DISASTER of a stamp space (which I refer to as The Stamp Cave, fyi - because my desk is in my walk-in closet and the lighting leaves much to be desired). So a very Happy Valentine's Day to you - may you eat lots of chocolate today. :-) Thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: Love Nest and sentiment from American Art Stamp
• Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Regal Rose, DP from my stash (sorry I forgot to check!)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Spellbinders dies, StarDust Stickles, SU Styled Silver HPHW, rhinestones

Happy Valentine's Day! (and a sale!)

Pamela posted this super cute greeting on her blog today so I had to steal it and share it with you all too! LOL The image is from FireCracker Design's new Sally Stamps set. So cute! And the really fun part - Pamela's wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day with 14% off your order now through Sunday midnight EST. Just use the code BEMINE at checkout. Now that's SWEET! :-)

I'll be back in a little bit with a new card. Hope you're having a wonderful day!! Joel is back so I'm trying to spend my Valentine's barricaded in my stamp room! LOL We'll see how long it lasts...

Our Craft Lounge release day GIVEAWAY!!

Today is a huge day over at Our Craft Lounge - they are releasing another 28 new sets. YES, you read that right - I said *28* new sets!!! Can you even believe that?? This company is growing so fast it's making my head spin. They even have their stamps at my Archivers now. Wowsa! When Cambria asked if I'd like to help them celebrate their release, of course I said YES! Here's the deal - see this cutie patootie little dragon? His name is Drake and I am so in love with him!! I happen to have a thing for dragons. I guess it stems from growing up with a geeky Dungeons & Dragons-playing brother. :-) (and I wouldn't have him any other way!!) So lucky me - I get the share the Drake the Dragon love with YOU! All you have to do is post a comment here before this Sunday (February 15) at 9pm CST, when I'll draw the winner! YAY! And be sure to head over to Cami's blog, she's got a whole list of bloggers that you'll want to visit for a chance to win the other sets!! (Seriously!) (Can you even believe it?!??!) :-) Ok, now that that's out of the way (*whew* catching my breath after all the excitement!) let me tell you a little about the card. First of all, the photo stinks - I am missing my camera and computer big time!! And I also should have turned the card the other way so my glaring sewing mishap wasn't the first thing you see - LOL! But some positive things about the card - I played along with the latest Color Throwdown combo - Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip & Regal Rose. One frustration I keep running into - I love the latest round of Stampin' Up In Colors, but I don't know which Copics match them. I definitely don't have a Kiwi Kiss marker. Has anyone seen tips posted anywhere on which color Copics match the latest In Colors? I'd love to hear about it! I added a little Stickles to the dragon's wings because as much as I love dragons, I love dragons even more when they have glitter on them! LOL So anyway... time to wrap this up... leave me a comment and this super duper cute set may be yours! And check back Sunday night to find out if you were that lucky! :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Drake the Dragon from Our Craft Lounge
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Regal Rose DP
• Ink: Copics & Stampin' Up markers for coloring
• Accessories: Marvy punches, Lime Green Stickles, black Glaze pen, white gel pen, CTMH rickrack, Janome Sew Mini, K&Co bling (from a fall-themed pack)

From Courtney's Closet #30 - an inspiration challenge

Well I've done it again. Last week I broke my camera. Today my computer isn't working!! My desktop computer - where I keep all my photos, and where I have photoshop to adjust the images before posting them here. *sigh* What's up with me breaking things??? I'm just generally having a crappy 2009 so far, which I'm sure is partly due to my DH being gone for four of the six weeks so far! But blah, you don't want to hear my whining!! I just brought it up to tell you that the photo I had planned to share today of Courtney - from her birthday party, opening presents, is on the other computer. So I'm using this one instead. If my computer is really dead - THANK GOODNESS my friend Theresa took a whole bunch of photos at Courtney's birthday party, I'd be *so* bummed if I lost all the ones I took and that was all there was! Being the little fashion plate that she is, this was actually the second outfit Courtney wore at her party! Her first was a pink cupcake sweater - she was wearing it in the photo I posted of her eating her cupcake - it ended up so covered with frosting and cake that she needed to put on something else before continuing with the festivities. I just love this little dress! For one thing, it has polka dots! I also love the bold colors. I saw it on sale at Old Navy and just couldn't resist! (fyi I have as hard a time resisting new clothes for my kids as I do resisting new stamps... if you hadn't guessed that already... *wink*) That reminds me - I meant to tell you, the cupcake shirt in last week's post? Bargain of the century - I picked it up at the Gymboree outlet for $1.99!!! How awesome is that? But anyway... for this week's card I found some polka dot paper from my stash - it's not the nice navy blue of the dress, but it's close enough. And I pulled out my Stampin' Up retired Mixed Bouquet set - one of my all-time faves!! The flowers and leaves were stamped on Whisper White, colored with Copics and then cut out. I love how bold and vibrant they are! The card size is 4.5 square - and I decided to do something a little different (for me!) and scalloped the bottom edge, then glued the red polka dot ribbon to the inside of the card, so it peeks out. Courtney's dress has red polka dot trim on a blue polka dot dress! NO WONDER I LOVE IT! LOL. So what do you think? Are you inspired to play along?? I sure hope so. If you make a card, post back here and tell me where to find it. In the past I've been giving out little "prizes" to my favorite card. I still plan to choose a favorite card, but just so you know I'll probably just send my card to the "winner". Nothing that I need to actually go to the post office for. I'm *so* awful about making it to the post office, I just don't want to have that extra stresser in my life right now. If you were playing just to get my fabulous prizes - well - first of all, they weren't that fabulous!! LOL And now all you'll get is a lousy old card made by me. :-) Alrighty then, I need to go and crash for a little nap while Courtney is napping, I stayed up wayyyyyy too late summarizing last week's cards last night. ;-) Thanks for stopping by today! (PS... wishful thinking on the nap - Courtney is awake before I even managed to post this...!)

• Stamps: Mixed Bouquet, Vases in Vogue from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Whisper White, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: SU silver hardware, oval punch, scallop edge punch, ribbon from a Jody share

Drumroll, please...

Today's the day I announce the winner of my Courtney's Closet birthday celebration blog candy!! First of all, thanks to everyone who left such sweet birthday comments, even if you didn't play along. It was soooo much fun checking out everyone's cards! And I have to say - also a bit surreal to surf around Blogland and see my baby girl's face all over the place! LOL One of you called her a rockstar - it almost felt like it as I visited all of the blogs! :-) And boy oh boy, what WONDERFUL creations you all made!!! In the end we had 31 *FABULOUS* entries!! More on that in a minute - without further ado I had better announce the winner... Courtney did a perfect job of reaching into the bag and pulling out a winner, and then even holding it up to pose (!!!)... and the winner is...

**** CHRIS aka Mudmaven!!! ****

Hooray Chris! I have your snail mail address so I'll get the box of goodies out to you on Saturday (and catch up with ALL the OTHER mail I have been meaning to send out, geesh!! Sorry ladies!) (but I refuse to go to the post office with Carter anymore, maybe I'll have to tell that story another time, LOL - suffice it to say he's 3!). Here is her yummy card, I just LOVE the little hearts on the cupcake!! I also have to admit - I'm thrilled the winner is somebody I *know* has been visiting my blog for a while now. Nice picking, Courtney! :-)As most of you know, I like to summarize all of the card entries in my blog post - but I usually only have a handful of participants!! If I posted each card individually this week and added my editorial comments, this would be the world's longest blog post ever!! LOL I debated what to do - in the end I decided I'd list everyone's links here, and then hightlight a couple of my favorites, then show them all in a Slide show. I also put my card as well as the girls who helped me out with samples in the Slide show - it's fun to see all the cupcake goodness compiled together!! :-) Here's the list of awesome women who played along (I *sure* hope I didn't miss anyone - not everyone posted a comment on the correct post - ahem... ;-)):
Berenice, Stacey, Nic, Diane and Diane, Anita, Kathryn, Dina, Ashley, Sarah, Amber, Gabriela, Marti, Christy, Kim, Sharon, LeAnne, Julie, crystalkbk and a few ladies who played but didn't post their cards anywhere but emailed to me instead - Diane, Laura and Ananya.

Now for a few that I especially loved... First up is Donna, who had the *fabulous* idea to use liquid pearls as icing! I'm definitely going to have to try that!! Plus her clean and simple cupcake design is just too cute. (not surprising from a stamping superstar like Donna!) ;-)My favorite project was made by Karen. OMG!!! It's a gift card holder! I just adore it. You must visit Karen's blog for all the details!And my absolute favorite card came from Elena! Again you need to be sure and visit her blog - the little cupcake you see is actually hidden by the box, then revealed when you pull up on the lid. Sooo sweet!!
Thanks again to all of you who played - it was so much fun seeing all of your wonderful creations! I wish I could give candy out to everyone, but alas, I cannot. But... if you have a sweet tooth and want more candy, do be sure to stop back by tomorrow - I'm going to have some more goodies to give away and you won't want to miss it! And I'll be back in a bit today with this week's From Courtney's Closet challenge!! I leave you all with a Slide of all the fun creations - thanks for stopping by today!!