From Courtney's Closet #41 - an inspiration challenge

(Make sure and read to the end for a couple announcements...) Hello and welcome to this week's edition of From Courtney's Closet, my blog challenge where I make a card based on one of my daughter's outfits. If you're new to my blog, you can check out all of the past weeks here. So I have to admit - I really love this week's photo of Courtney! I took it this past weekend at a friend's birthday party. I knew I needed to get a photo of Courtney in this outfit asap, because silly me, I went and bought a white shirt again!! I *really* should know better. But really, how can I resist such cute tops? Especially when they go with such cute skirts?? And when they are only $3.50 at Walmart?!!?! But of course - we had spaghetti for dinner that night, and I didn't change her shirt beforehand, and now it's covered in tomato sauce stains. *sigh* But anyway, enough about that - let's talk about the card!! (but real quick, I also have to point out her pink Converse!!! How cute are they??) :-) As you may know if you saw this post, where I nearly hyperventilated because I was so excited, Melanie Muenchinger asked me to be one of the guest designers for her latest Gina K release, Wee Tees!!! I just loooove this set! And of course it's very *me*, since I'm obsessed with baby clothes!! Today Melanie's featuring another card I made with this set, as well as a little getting-to-know-me thing, so check it out. :-) One thing I discovered with her Little Tees set is that it's super fun to combine it with the Stampin' Up ABC Images set. Well, it's even more fun with Wee Tees!! There are so many little images in that set that are just perfect for a onesie!! For today's card I used the ice cream, adding a couple additional scoops of ice cream to match Courtney's shirt, and coating them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Courtney's shirt says "Party Time", so I thought this sweet "Party at My Crib!" saying from Wee Tees was just perfect! I also used a new toy - I just picked up a couple sets of Cuttlebug border embossing folders, and used two of the folders on this card. So what do you think? Do you feel like making an ice cream card? Or perhaps finding inspiration from these fun, bright colors? If you do make a card, please link it up back here with the Mr. Linky thing below. Last week's safari outfit inspired some ADORABLE projects!! But I was absolutely thrilled to have a new name joining my little challenge - Cathy Tidwell!! She is such an amazing stamper, and of course created a real stunner for this challenge. I absolutely adore her card - the animals, the flower soft flowers, the tree she created from cloud stamps, everything!! Cat, I'll send you my sidebar blinkie, and would love it if you choose to display it on your blog!And now for a couple of housekeeping announcements - we're going on a family vacation next week, so I won't be posting a From Courtney's Closet challenge. So check back in TWO WEEKS for the next one. Which means you have two weeks to play this week!! No excuse not to join in! :-) And... in two weeks it will be the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of this little challenge! Of course I have to celebrate that just a bit - so make sure and tune in for that!! That would have normally been the "Courtney's Playdate" Thursday, but because it's our FCCC anniversary I'm going to skip it this month. Plus - nobody has emailed me yet saying they'd like to play along...!! *sniff* ;-) Alrighty - thanks so much for stopping by today, I need to get this posted and hit the hay!

• Stamps: Wee Tees from Gina K Designs, ABC Images from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, GP White, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, punches, CTMH rick-rack, Cuttlebug border embossing folders, Mike's ribbon

I have some happy news and some sad news...

First the happy news... see that adorable Cool Cat on the left?? He's a digital image you can download FOR FREE, here! Yay! It's a great opportunity to play with a digital image and see what you think. And then once you've decided that playing with them is FUN, you can click on over to Tim's Etsy Store and check out a bunch of other adorable digital images that he has for sale. If you're a little unsure of what to do with this free digital image, check out the details on Monica's blog.

Now the sad news... I've made the very difficult decision to step down from the Hambo Stamps design team. I've had a rather difficult time juggling everything this year with taking care of two little ones while my husband travels for business every other week. So I've been working to simplify things a bit and have less commitments in the stamp room. Now, this does not mean you'll stop seeing cards made with Hambo Stamps on this blog!! Far from it - I still love their images and plan to use them regularly!! :-) And I am so very thankful to Monica and Tim for giving me the opportunity to be a part of their team for the past year or so. *sniff* But, I'm sure Monica and Tim are thrilled - now they've gained one more very loyal *paying customer*!! ;-)

If only...

Could you even imagine how yummy the world would be if every now and then it rained cupcakes? *sigh* If only...! :-) I just *love* this image, it really makes me smile. It's one of several ADORABLE new digital downloads from none other than Hambo's own illustrator-extraordinaire, Timbo Hunter! He has them available in his own Etsy store, where you can also check out some of his original artwork in the form of ACEOs! Just like I love Hambo Stamps, I love his digital downloads - he has some seriously cute and funny stuff. For this first card I played along with the lastest Color Throwdown - Real Red, Black & Barely Banana (although I used a PTI yellow DP instead.) These cupcakes are all topped with a little bit of Star Dust Stickles so they are both yummy and sparkley IRL!

So let me be honest with you for a moment about digital images, or digi-stamps as some like to call them. When I first started seeing them around, I didn't like them. I mean, it's not *stamping*, right? But... I have pretty much changed my attitude about them! My favorite thing to do during the cardmaking process is coloring - so if I can get cheap access to some cute new images to color, I say why not! And... something that didn't occur to me until I started playing with this image... since they are digital, you can alter them in Photoshop! You can resize them, or... lookie what I did!!! I don't know how these things pop into my brain, truly - but I was thinking about one of the recent Cinema Saturday Challenges (Chocolat) and looking at this cute image, and thought "how dreamy would it be if it were raining Johnny Depps?!?!" So... I got my brother (who is much more of a Photoshop whiz than I am!) to replace the cupcakes with Johnnys! hee hee!! I just crack myself up! Unfortunately I didn't manage to actually get this card MADE until after that challenge expired, but I have a hunch Sankari will still appreciate it - she is as much of a Johnny fanatic as I am - as well as Hambo's Monica!!! (I bet this is NOT how Timbo intended for his cute image to be used, oops!) :-) This card is Jen's latest SFYTT, although the dimensions on my card are much different than her sketch. But it was definitely the inspiration! I don't know why I decided to go so PINK on this card! But I did. :-) I had fun with it... it made me smile... gotta love it when you crack yourself up in your stamp room!! And while I will always be a STAMPER and would be mortified if actual stamps were ever replaced by digital images, I love having digital stamps available as an option as well! Thanks for stopping by today. :-)

FCD presents Atypical Artwork!

Welcome to another FireCracker Designs by Pamela blog hop!! You hopefully came here by way of Pamela - if not, you probably will want to back up. There is a yummy prize hidden somewhere along the hop, and you don't want to miss it - so make sure you hit each and every blog along the way!! The theme for today's hop is "Atypical Artwork" - taking stamps and using them in a new way, different from how they were intended. How fun is that?? So - can you tell what I did? I took the leaf stamps from the Stinking of You set and created a butterfly! I thought he was a very elegant butterfly, so I paired him with this gorgeous frame I picked up a couple of days ago at Joann's, made by K&Co. The Script Cuttlebug folder is also new to me, and I LOVE it! The quote inside the frame is from the Forgive Me? set. As I was creating the butterfly, cutting out the body that I just made up as I cut, I was debating about whether or not he needed antennae. I looked at the set again, and thought the little dandelions could make interesting antennae. But, I didn't think they'd go with my elegant butterfly. Then I noticed the little egg in the set, and for whatever reason I got a vision of a little caterpillar made out of eggs and dandelions. :-) So, I couldn't go to bed until I made a second card! :-) I colored him in to resemble The Very Hungry Caterpillar, one of our favorite children's books. The other thing to point out about this second card is that it uses the latest Weekend Sketch Challenge, this time hosted by Sharon Harnist.

Alrighty, have I kept you here long enough with my babbling?? Ready to hop on to the next blog?? Then head on over and check out what Julie did - I'm fairly confident that it's going to be AMAZING!! That Julie sure can stamp! :-) And just a little reminder (reminder because no doubt you already read this on Pamela's blog!) - you have until Wednesday, April 29 at 7:00pm CST to finish hopping and get entered into the drawing. Got it? Good! Thanks for stopping by today!!

From Courtney's Closet #40 - an inspiration challenge

(ETA: Photo of Courtney added! I'm also leaving the one of just the outfit, since it shows the details much better - you should be able to click on it for a larger view. And I just have to add, why oh why won't my sweet girl ever look at the camera and smile?? *sigh*) Welcome to another week of From Courtney's Closet, where my card inspiration (and hopefully YOURS?!) comes from one of my daughter's cute little outfits. So I don't know if you've noticed this, but I have a little self-imposed "rule" on my FCCC posts. I am a big fan of challenges - I often have trouble making a card without relying on a sketch or color challenge! But for FCCC cards, I don't allow myself to play OTHER challenges. These cards have to be "all me". Well... this week I'm breaking that rule! :-) This card is my take on *my* favorite blog challenge, the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge! This week the movie was The Lion King. I hadn't planned to feature this outfit for a while yet - Courtney hasn't actually ever worn it - and I even forgot to put her in it today to get a photo!! I'll edit in a photo of her wearing the outfit tomorrow...! But when I saw that the movie was The Lion King, I just had to pull out this outfit and play along!!! I just LOVE this one - it's another hand-me-down from our friend Rachel, made by Gymboree, and I loved it back when I saw Rachel wearing it!! So cute! The giraffe and zebra stamps I used on my card are from an *old* Stampin' Up set called Wild Things. The bird is from Wild About You. And FYI, I also have SU's In The Wild!! Can you tell I love animal stamps?? Especially safari-themed animal stamps made by SU?? LOL! And even though the type of animals in each are virtually the same, the look of each set is completely different, so there's no way I'm ever getting rid of any of them! I cut out the tree on the card by hand, and ran the green parts through my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder for a little more dimension. I also used the Distressed Stripes folder on the vanilla panel, and sponged it with brown ink. I tried to mimic the sun with my sentiment circle. So what do you think? Feel like making an African safari-themed card this week? Or is there anything else about this outfit that inspires you? If you make a card, link it up in my Mr. Linky below!!

Last week's cards were all *SO* amazing!!! I really struggled to pick my favorite, but I think it has to be Betty's card. I just love her fun little scottie, and that funky tree, and the cool papers she used! Betty I'll email you the sidebar blinkie that says you were featured here, and would love it if you choose to put it on your blog!Thanks to everyone who played last week! And thanks everyone for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Wild Things, Wild About You from Stampin' Up, sentiment from Inkadinkado
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Garden Green, Very Vanilla, K&Co Marcella DP
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Memento Coffee & Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots, Distressed Stripes folders, circle punch, Janome Sew Mini & brown thread, CTMH rick-rack, sponge

I *heart* Mommy

Tonight I decided to pair up the new Gina K Wee Tees set (which will be released on Thursday with six (6!!!) other new sets!!) with one of Melanie's other sets, Little Tees. One of the things I loved most about Little Tees was the "I *heart*" stamps - I've proclaimed my love for both cupcakes and Duran Duran with them on previous cards! :-) Well when I saw that Melanie included the word "Mommy" in Wee Tees, I knew I had to make a card saying "I *heart* Mommy". Wouldn't this be a sweet card for a mommy's first Mother's Day? Plus, what new mommy can resist getting at least one onesie that says someplace on it that the baby *hearts* her? I know I couldn't! For this card I turned to one of my favorite color combos that I use fairly often - Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue and red (in this case, PTI's Pure Poppy Bitty Dots DP). I got this card together and stared at it for the longest time - it was a little boring, it was missing something. So I decided to sew on it. I cannot tell you what a difference a little bit of stitching makes! It completely brings the card together and makes it pop. If you haven't tried sewing on cards, I truly recommend you give it a go. I just love the finished look it gives a card. Well it's late, and I still want to spend a little time with Edward and Bella tonight so I better go. Yes, I've finally succombed and am reading it - I always thought all these middle-aged women in love with a teenage vampire were a little whacked - but now I am becoming one of them!!! ;-) Thanks for stopping by, hopefully I'll see you back here again tomorrow. :-)

• Stamps: Wee Tees, Little Tees from Gina K Designs
• Paper: Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, GP White, PTI Bitty Dots DP in Pure Poppy
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Marvy scallop circle punch, SU slit punch, CTMH rickrack, Cuttlebug & heart folder, Janome Sew Mini & white thread

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!

Um. Can you tell I'm excited? :-) WELL I AM!! I got an email last month from one of my absolute favorite stamper/ blogger/ stamp-designer/ all-around creative genius chickadees, Melanie Muenchinger, asking if *I* would like to be a guest designer for her upcoming Gina K stamp release. I seriously had to reread the email about ten times before replying, to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding. Of course I said YES!!! Melanie knew I would love this set - her Little Tees set is one of my all-time faves, and I've wished outloud in her comment section on multiple occasions for a similar set with onesies. Wellllllll... guess what!!! She did it! (she, of course, was way ahead of me on that, see above about her being a CREATIVE GENIUS!) And it is soooooooooo cute, exactly as I pictured she'd do it! It's called Wee Tees (such a cute name!!) and tonight I had to share the image I love most in the set - THE PEANUT!!! When I was pregnant with my son, I called him Peanut. So I just looooove that she included that in this set! And you know me, I love to make cards inspired by photos of my babies... so in my typical obnoxious mommy fashion, I have to show you a photo of my own little Peanut in his peanut onesie. This was taken when he was about 3 months old, he's 3 years old now. :-) For this card I used Taylor's latest sketch. I did stop and think as I was making this that it might be slightly odd to have so much black on a baby card, but oh well - I like it! I added the safety pin for more of a baby feel. :-) Ok... I need to get this posted!! Make sure and check back throughout the week, I have soooo many more things I want to show you with this set! And make sure and check out the whole Gina K team as well for more peeks... Asela Hopkins, Carolyn King, Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Gina Krupsky, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Theresa Momber as well as Melanie's other guest designer, Laura Jean Nygard.The set will be part of Gina K's big release on Thursday!!! Yay!! Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!

• Stamps: Wee Tees from Gina K Designs
• Paper: Basic Black, Kraft, GP White, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: SU circle punches, scallop edge punch, black grosgrain ribbon, safety pin

4 Ewe

I just love these silly Party Sheep - it's one of my favorite images from Hambo Stamps' most recent release. Something about stacked up animal images... I dunno, they just make me smile! And add on a sentiment like "4 Ewe"... *snort* LOVE IT!! For this card I played along with Jen's latest Sketch For You To Try. The bottom middle ewe is cut out and popped up. Stickles were added to the party hat. Not much else to say about this one, it's pretty self-explanatory! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Party Sheep and 4 Ewe from Hambo Stamps
• Paper: Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, GP White, AMuse DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Spellbinders dies, Star Dust Stickles, clear button, pink grosgrain, pink ribbon from Jody, Making Memories brads, safety pin

Watercolored Shells

Hi all! Sorry for the lack of posting! (OOPS, I forgot I wasn't apologizing anymore... blogging without obligation...) :-) Anyway...! I haven't done any stamping since Wednesday night, when I did that FCCC card below. Ack! I've been really busy, and then mojoless, and then feeling kinda yicky. So, no cards coming out of my Cave this weekend! BUT - I need to find some mojo ASAP because I get to play with some AWESOME NEW STAMPS tonight that I'm sooooooooo excited to show you tomorrow - so don't forget to come back for a peek! But tonight I thought I'd show you a card I forgot to post (!) - it was one of my stamp club cards a few weekends ago. I just love these "Seaside" shells from Stampin' Up. I also loved the "Stipple Shells" set that they retired - and I still have that one - but I couldn't resist buying this one too!! I used this card to try and show the ladies how you can just quickly and randomly color on ink (we used lid ink with an aquapainter) and get a really pretty effect. For this card we didn't even have to be careful about coloring in the lines, since the shells are cut out and sponged. I had planned for this to be a Father's Day card, but left it without a greeting so the ladies could use it for whichever occasion they chose - so tonight I added a sentiment before posting, and thought this curvy one from Inkadinkado looked pretty with it. Ok - enough jibber jabber, I need to get stamping!!! I'm totally on cloud nine about the stamps I'm about to play with. Let's just say... one of my fave companies... one of my fave stamp designers... me getting to be her guest designer for the release of this new set... EEEEEEK! Ok, 'nuff said. See you tomorrow. :-)

• Stamps: Seaside from Stampin' Up, sentiment from Inkadinkado
• Paper: Baja Breeze, Kraft, Confetti White, ?? DP
• Ink: Basic Brown, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Creamy Caramel, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Hemp twine, sponge
  

Attention Austinites: STOP SLAVERY NOW!

Zonta Club of Austin's 2nd Annual
Efforts to Stop Human Trafficking

A POETRY SLAM AND SILENT AUCTION

Creating awareness and raising funds for victim support.

Saturday, April 18th 3pm-5:30pm
Ruta Maya International Headquarters
3601 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78704

Tickets are $10 at the door.

This event is going to be AMAZING!! The slam poets are incredible. And it's for a very important cause. You don't want to miss this!!

For more information:
www.humantraffickingawareness.org

From Courtney's Closet #39 - an inspiration challenge

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by for this week's edition of From Courtney's Closet, my little inspiration challenge where I make a card based on one of my daughter's outfits. If you're new to my blog, you can see all of the past weeks here. Well... it seems last week's challenge was just that... a challenge! After the crazy colors our sweet little playdate Avery was wearing, I thought I'd give you all a break this week and go with something relatively easy. Well - relatively easy as far as color schemes go - I do realize not everyone owns scottie dog stamps!!! But please keep in mind, the scottie dog is NOT a requirement - be inspired however you'd like! :-) But, I *do* happen to own a scottie dog stamp, so I pulled him out for this card. This is from Stampin' Up's "Man's Best Friend" set. If you're familiar with this set, do you notice anything different here? Yep, the dog is facing the opposite way!! At first I planned to make two dogs facing each other, so that's why I had a mirror image scottie. I'm sure when you looked at this card you thought, "wow, boring card Libby"!! Well... you would not believe how long I messed around with this!! Of course I made it tonight, I never am "ahead" on my stamping. And of course I didn't even START stamping until after watching Lost, and then falling asleep on the couch a bit until Courtney cried and woke me up (she's still nursing an earache, poor baby!). So then I went to my room to try and stamp something. I mentioned on Facebook (yes, me and FB are inseparable it seems!) that I needed to stamp something rather quickly because I am so sleepy! Allison commented that I should go with a one layer card. But did I listen to her advice? Noooooooooo. I sat and I fiddled, and I fiddled and I sat. I tried this and that and the other. I didn't like any of it. Then I started procrastinating, and looked at FB again and reread Allison's comment. And decided to stop messing around and just get it done. Which stinks - it completely defeats the purpose of clean and simple if it takes you hours to do it!!! So - in the future, I will do whatever Allison says up front. :-) But in the end - I think I like this card. There's something kinda slick about it. The little scottie dog is popped up on dimensionals. I reversed him by stamping on a mirror image stamp, and then onto my paper. I thought I had black & white gingham paper in my stash, but in fact I did not - so I just used a marker and ruler to draw some lines on some white paper to mimic gingham. I used textured red cardstock for the background, to be more like the corduroy of her dress. IRL the sentiment isn't blurry - that's due to my rotten photography skills. So anyway - too much rambling, sorry! Are you feeling at all inspired? If so, make a card and let me know about it!! Use the Mr. Linky below so I can find you!! Last week three brave souls played along - all three cards were fabulous, but my favorite came from Donna. Her funky tree with the little flowers just makes me happy, and I love the Swiss-dotted hills, and that sweet little bird. Great job Donna!! I'll send you my little sidebar widget, if you want it. :-)And thanks again Allison for letting me feature your sweet Avery last week!
Thanks everyone for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Man's Best Friend from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red Textured
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU black marker, Copic black marker
• Accessories: Slit punch, American Crafts ribbon, embroidery floss, ruler

The Beauty of Wildflowers...

I promised you (or should I say warned you?) there'd be another bluebonnet card today, and here it is! Today to create the bluebonnets I used the little cluster in Stampin' Up's retired (but one of my all-time faves!) Mixed Bouquet set three times per flower. They're not *exactly* like bluebonnets, but I think they make a fun version. I love the sentiment on this card - it's hard to read, but it says "May your day be filled with love, laughter and the beauty of Wildflowers." It's another Joyce Meyer stamp, and can be found in the Texana Designs store. I stamped the sentiment over the bluebonnet with White Craft ink, and then embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. In real life it's sparkly and pretty. I hand-stitched the little row of X's using SU Linen Thread, and also tied it through the buttons, which are from my stash. The rick-rack was a brighter green, so I sponged it with Chocolate Chip ink to tone is down a bit and give it more of a distressed look. Well I think I've finally gotten the bluebonnets out of my system for now - I hope to have something completely different for you tomorrow! Thanks for putting up with me! :-)

• Stamps: Mixed Bouquet from Stampin' Up, May Your Day sentiment from Texana Designs
• Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue
• Ink: Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, White Craft
• Accessories: Mesh Cuttlebug folder, Iridescent Ice EP, buttons, SU Linen thread, CTMH rick-rack, sponge, edge distresser

More Bluebonnets!

Yes, I'm still on my bluebonnet kick! What can I say, they just make me happy! Today's bluebonnet was designed by local stamp artist Joyce Meyers, and can be found at the Texana Designs store. I've been a fan of Joyce's stamps for a long time now - back when I first started stamping I took a class she taught at my LSS. It was a little overwhelming - I was a complete beginner - but she actually introduced me to embossing! Her class was using watercolor paints directly on the stamp, and then clear embossing powder while the paint is still wet. I should try that again now and see if I can figure it out (now that I'm much less overwhelmed!). :-) Today I just colored my bluebonnet with my Stampin Up ink pads and an aquapainter. The whites of the bluebonnet have Star Dust Stickles added, which you can't see in the photo but looks sooo pretty IRL. I sponged a little Chocolate Chip on all the edges, and also over the Swiss Dots from the Cuttlebug. The DP is the new textured specialty DP from SU- love it! For the sentiment, I painted a little ink onto a bit of watercolor paper, let it dry, stamped the sentiment and then punched it out with the circle punch. I've been loving how everyone puts those Martha Stewart punched butterflies on their cards, so I finally did one myself. I have to admit - this card makes me happy! I'll have one more bluebonnet card tomorrow, and then I'll give you all a break from wildflowers. I think. Maybe. :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Joyce Meyer Bluebonnet and Sentiment from Texana Designs
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Kraft, watercolor paper, SU Parisian Breeze & To the Nines Specialty DP
• Ink: Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke, So Saffron
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, SU scallop edge, circle & scallop punches, Martha butterfly punch, K&Co pearls, Star Dust Stickles, sponge, aquapainter

Happy Easter!

If you celebrate Easter, I hope you are having a wonderful celebration. If you don't, I hope you are just having a fabulous Sunday! Today I thought I'd show you a couple cards I made with the Easter Blessings set from FireCracker Designs by Pamela. I think it's a really beautiful, elegant Easter set. For my first card, the colors are a little out there I think, but I was playing along with Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #3 (yes, late as always!). The sketch is Beate's latest Weekend Sketch Challenge, this time hosted by Laurie. I like this sketch a lot, I need to put it in the reserve for future use! The cross is paper pieced with Kraft and Real Red cardstock, and sponged. I'm not sure the Swiss Dots really go with this card, but what can I say - I just can't help myself sometimes! I did a bunch of sponging on this card with Chocolate Chip ink - I've been on quite a sponging kick lately!

The second card uses Jen's latest Sketch For You To Try. I cut out each of the doves, and popped them up with foam tape. You cannot tell in the photo, but each one is colored with a Sakura Stardust pen for yummy sparkle. No color challenge on this card. :-)

I thought I'd also link you to a couple other GORGEOUS cards made with this set - the first one you may have seen during our last blog hop, it was made by Melissa Sauls and uses Flower Soft (which, by the way, Pamela will soon be carrying!) - so simple, elegant and perfect! And then two drop-dead gorgeous cards by my fellow design team friend Julie, here and here.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a wonderful day!

• Stamps: Easter Blessings from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: PTI Berry Sorbet, SU Kraft, Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla
• Ink: SU Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava
• Accessories: Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, Marvy punches, aquapainter, sponge

• Stamps: Easter Blessings from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: SU Kraft, GP White, PTI Spring Rain CS & DP
• Accessories: Spellbinders dies, Janome Sew Mini & white thread, Sakura Stardust pen, embroidery floss, foam tape

From Courtney's Closet #38 - Courtney's Playdate!

I promised to have something special today, and here it is! I've decided to do a monthly *special edition* of From Courtney's Closet called Courtney's Playdate!! Each month one of Courtney's BSFs (that's Best Stampin' Friends in case you aren't hip to the lingo!) will come by and play dress-up with her! This month we have one of the sweetest baby girls in all of blogland - Little Miss Avery! I'm sure most of you followed along with Avery's birth and somewhat rough start on her mama Allison's blog, Stampin' When I Can. Avery quickly slipped into her role as Wild Jackal #3 in the Fillo household, and just like big brother Tristan and big sister Charlotte is doing her part to keep her mommy from getting any rest. Oh the joys of having a newborn!! But my goodness, isn't she just THE CUTEST!! Allison actually planted the seed for this post idea by sending me this photo and asking if I'd like to have a "guest blogger" - she thought this outfit might inspire super cute cards, and she was right! (she even sent the link to the outfit if you want to see an unobstructed view, but personally I'd rather look at the photo of Avery!) :-) The first card is what I came up with. Was I lying in the sneak peek when I said the colors were a bit funky?? My card has Perfect Plum, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss and Real Red. Yowsa!! I freehand cut out the tree and leaves. I picked a really funky sentiment to go with this funky card - my photo stinks (as usual) but it reads "I'm so lucky you are my friend". Allison created the second funkalicious card - check out her blog for all the details!! So what do you think?? Wanna play along?? If you find AVERY'S fun little outfit inspiring, make a card and post your link back here so we can find you! And, if you'd like to have your own sweetie join Courtney for a playdate, send me an email (stampinlibby at gmail dot com) and I'll put your name in the hat - I've decided the easiest way to do this is just draw a name each month. There's no way I want to "judge" which sweet child should be on here!! It can be a current photo, or an old photo if your child has grown - and I don't care what age as long as the outfit is cute! :-) I do have to add one "rule" - you can only be featured if you've PLAYED my challenge at one point or another!! So, if you've never played along before but you want your name in the hat, play along this week. :-) Or some future week. You get the idea. The 2nd Thursday of each month will be Courtney's Playdate.

I also mentioned there would be some general changes to this challenge. I've had some things happen recently that have inspired me to simplify my life a bit. Even though I love showing each and every card of the people who play along, it takes me FOREVER to summarize them - part of why I'm always so late with these posts! So, going forward - I'm only going to feature "my favorite" here on the blog. I'm also going to start using Mr. Linky, to make it easier for me to go directly to the entries (and make it easier for all of you to find them too!). Finally, instead of mailing a RAK to "my favorite", I'm going to have a little sidebar button you can add to your blog *if you want to* (no worries if you don't!) that says "I was featured on From Courtney's Closet". And if you are the featured stamper on a Courtney's Playdate, there will be a button that says "I played dress-up with Courtney". :-) So... less cool, I know. I don't blame you if you no longer want to play along, but I truly hope you will!!

Before I implemented these changes, five AWESOME ladies (and one fabulous young lady!) played along last week, so I will show ALL of those cards this week!! Here's how they were inspired by Courtney's little denim and bandana-themed Texas outfit!
First up is Anita and this soft and sweet butterfly card. The pattern in that DP is very similar to the bandana flowers! And you know I love those Swiss Dots in the background!!Next the fabulous young lady I mentioned, Anita's super-talented daughter Katie. I love her squares, and the gingham definitely goes with the Texas theme!Stacey made this gorgeous card - I just love that gorgeous bandana-inspired flower and the rhinestone in the center, as well as the punched card edge!Donna *created* this bandana paper herself - isn't that awesome! All of the white details were drawn in with white gel pen. Love it!!And my favorite this week - Chris! Her pocket card is just the coolest - it looks completely Texan! Yeehaw!!! Love that paisley background, too.Thanks ladies for playing along!! I just love seeing what you come up with every week!! And thanks the rest of you for stopping by today!

Now let's see if I can successfully figure out Mr. Linky...! ETA: I think I did it!! Woohoo!! :-)

Sneak Peek!

Hi all! I've had another rough night with the kids - well ok, just a rough night with Carter, I shouldn't blame Courtney! I let him watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs today - bad idea, he was afraid to go to bed tonight. I've decided to put a ban on Disney movies for a while, especially when Daddy is out of town! So now that he's finally sleeping, I'm too tired to stamp, so I'm headed to bed. I'll have my card posted tomorrow evening if all goes according to plan tomorrow...! In the mean time, here's a little sneak peak. Notice anything about this photo? And just a bit of a warning, there are some funky colors going on this week!! Can't wait to show you the whole photo tomorrow, it's a cute one!! See you again soon....

ART SHARE/BLOG CANDY

My fellow Texan blogging friend Betty posted this on her blog, and I thought it sounded like too much fun to pass up...!

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice! For you! Could be a card I am really pleased with, an altered object or something else altogether! My choice! But this offer has some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be made with you in mind, so you won't get something I already made unless I think it suits you to a T.

3. It'll be done sometime this year. I am the first to admit - I SUCK at sending out RAKs. I am slow slow slow - but I do get to it EVENTUALLY! So only sign up if you are patient, and please do not camp out by the mailbox waiting! :-)

4. There is a catch - you must offer this same blog candy on your blog! Let me know you're in, then re-post this on your blog (you can change the wording - the "I SUCK" part is all me!!) and offer something you make - your choice - to the first 5 people who respond to your post. Add my name to the #1 slot on your list - I am your first participant. When you create your giveaway, you will become the first participant on the lists for the people who participate with you. Got it? :-)

Soooo... who wants to play??? :-)

1. Betty - Scrapped Into a Friendzy

2. Ananya - Express Imagine Create
3. FibreJunky - Ramblings of a FibreJunky
4. Yael - My Creative Spot

More Texana bluebonnets!

Today's card uses more stamps from Texana Designs - this time an actual bluebonnet image! For this card I played along with *last* week's Raspberry Suite color challenge from the fabulous Dawn McVey - brown, teal, white & celery. Ok, I may be a little off with the "celery" - but hey, it's not like I'm playing along ON TIME anyway! :-) I colored the bluebonnet image with my Copics, then added Star Dust Stickles to the white parts. The cute sentiment is also from Texana Designs - as part of their partnership with one of my other favorite Texas stamp artists, Joyce Meyer (more on her in an upcoming post!!). I colored the sentiment with Stampin' Up markers directly on the rubber before stamping, and then added Stickles again to the heart. A little Cuttlebugging, stitching, brads and voila - a finished card! Yay! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Texana Designs
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, Whisper White, ?? DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip, Copic & Stampin' Up markers
• Accessories: Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder, Janome Sew Mini & brown thread, Star Dust Stickles, White gel pen, large brads from The Paper Studio

Hangin' with Flat Joey!

Growing up, my very best friend was Karla. Karla and I drifted apart in high school, and I hadn't talked to her in ~20+ years - until recently! Karla found me via Facebook! It's been really great catching up with her and seeing photos of her family. Well - her six year old son Joey is doing a 1st grade class project based on the book Flat Stanley, about a boy who is made of paper. Joey, who lives in Michigan, needed to send "Flat Joey" to another state for a visit. Apparently Joey loves Texas, because Sandy on Spongebob is from here too (who knew??!). :-) So Flat Joey came for a little visit. He arrived like this:Of course he needed to be dressed up in proper Texas attire, so I turned Flat Joey into a true Texan with a little cowboy outfit:Today Carter and I took Flat Joey out to see some of our favorite things around Austin. A visit to Austin in the spring would not be complete without a photo in the bluebonnets!!Next we took Flat Joey to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum. It's a really nice museum, and best of all - it's FREE! :-) First Flat Joey posed with LBJ himself (in bronze):Flat Joey got to see a replica of LBJ's desk in the Oval Office.And he hung out in the Green Room of the White House for a bit.There's currently a very cool space exhibit at the library called To the Moon: The American Space Program in the 1960s. As both a Senator and then President, Mr. Johnson did more to facilitate the rapid progress of the space program than any other American leader. Flat Joey got to see the actual Mercury 7 space capsule:He also went to the moon!In addition to the museum, the building is also home to all of the documents Lyndon Johnson kept during his political life. And there are lots and lots of them! Carter's Aunt Laura works where researchers come to view the documents. She also helps when documents are being declassified and released to the public. She's even gotten calls from Brian Williams' staff - he happens to be quite an LBJ buff! (Laura correct me if I'm getting anything wrong here!) Here are some of the boxes you can look up at while you're down in the museum:Thanks to our insider tourguide (Aunt Laura!), Flat Joey was lucky enough to see one of these boxes up close and personal - maybe he jotted down some notes for an LBJ memoir he's been working on? (ETA: Since Flat Joey is *not* LBJ, I suppose memoir was a poor choice of word here, oops!)After all of this touring at the library, Flat Joey was hungry! Carter took his new friend to lunch. He can't visit Austin without going out for some tex-mex, now can he??We had fun spending our morning with Flat Joey - tomorrow he's headed back to Michigan so Real Joey can hear all about his adventure! Thanks for stopping by today!