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!! :-)