Warm Fuzzies

Here I go making glittery hedgehogs again!! At least this time I made him brown rather than blue or yellow! But I couldn't resist glitterfying him up a bit. What can I say, I'm an addict. :-) So here we have Pamela's Happy the Hedgehog again. I was looking at the stamp after he came in the mail, trying to come up with some ideas. He's quite large and fairly round. I sat down and had some crackers and Laughing Cow cheese while I thought about it. And then I noticed the cheese box! Nearly a perfect size to cover with Happy! You know I don't really like to do altered projects, but I gave it a try anyway. I rather love how it turned out!! With the "Warm Fuzzies" sentiment, I'm thinking this could make a fun little gift box for something warm and fuzzy - perhaps a cute pair of fuzzy socks?? Or even some chocolates, really. I cut out Happy's head and popped it up, to give him a little more dimension. Black Glaze pen on his eyes, nose & claws make them stand out a little better. The paper & ribbon are from Stampin' Up, and I used more of my dollar bin rhinestones around the edge of the box. Ok I hear Joel getting up now, I suppose I should go give him a hug and wish him a Happy Anniversary, today is our 11th. :-) We have an exciting celebration planned - open house tonight at Carter & Courtney's preschool to see their classrooms and meet the teachers, then a family dinner at our favorite pizza place. Romantic, aye? LOL. Hey it works for me! Have a great weekend - speaking of anniversaries, I'll be back tomorrow with my entry for the Verve anniversary blog hop! Fun times!

From Courtney's Closet #51 - Carter's turn!!

Welcome to another edition of From Courtney's Closet, where I make a card inspired by one of my baby girl's sweet outfits. Except, this time I didn't do that! Remember wayyyy back when I started doing this, I said maybe occasionally I'd peek into Carter's closet instead? Well, apparently I lied. :-) But Kate left a comment this week saying she'd like to see some more Carter on here, so... her wish is my command! This photo of Carter was taken at our neighborhood park last week. The problem with using Carter's "outfits" in this challenge is that for the most part, his clothes really aren't that "cute" anymore. They aren't that terribly inspiring, I'm sorry to say. But in this photo, he does have a dinosaur on his t-shirt, so I went with that. I also love how he's sitting inside the blue tunnel, so that inspired me to pull out this paper with all the blue circles on it, and also add the brads to the dinosaur. And finally I took the rest of my color combo from Carter's outfit, adding the red block to my card. Both of the stamps I used on this card are retired from Stampin' Up. Oldies but goodies, IMHO! So what do you think? Feel like making a more boyish card this week?? I sure hope you do! Once your card is posted somewhere, come back here and share the link so I know where to find you! (and by the way, scroll down to the bottom of my last roundup post, I shared a link to a tutorial that may come in handy when you leave your comment!) Thanks so much for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Dino-Mite & It's Your Birthday from Stampin' Up (retired)
• Paper: PTI white cardbase, K&Co Citronella mat pad
• Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini & white thread, blue brads

From Courtney's Closet #50 - Roundup!

Last week Courtney inspired us with a cute little owl shirt, which she showed off by by standing on her head! :-)Now I knew owls were trendy, but can I just say WOWZA!?!? Apparently you liked this shirt, because so many awesome cards were made!!! Yay!! Gosh it was soooo hard to pick a favorite this week, but I did...! But I'll get to that in a minute, in the meantime let me start you off with this beauty from Karen:Katie said the sweetest thing about me and Courtney on her blog, she is clearly a fabulous friend!I was so happy to see Anita playing along this week! And look at the cute flower soft belly on her owl.And Sharon too, yay!! And she knew how to make a card that went straight to my heart - Swiss Dots!!My friend Nic made an amazing punched owl - I am completely in awe of it!! So cool!One name I just *love* to see in my comments is "Spicey Cat Chick" - isn't that fun?? She made this gorgeous flower soft-filled bowl of loveliness!So surely you can see how impossible it would be to pick a favorite this week, right? I almost didn't - almost just threw in the towel and said they are all fantastic, but... I decided to go with Diane. I just love how PERFECTLY her card matches Courtney's shirt. Plus she used that cute little new owl from Stampin' up that I love. And she's another stamping friend that I'm sooo happy to see back making an FCCC card! :-) Diane if you'd like my "featured" blinkie for your sidebar, just let me know.And by the way, Diane asked in the comments last time how to make a link to your card work in the comments. Since it's in my best interest to get everyone doing that (!!!), I thought I'd share a link to a tutorial by Godelieve that taught me how to do it ---> HERE. Hope it helps!!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Serenity... next week!

July has meant several weeks of Carter not having preschool a couple days a week, and the temperatures so scorching hot that we don't get outside to play nearly as often as we should. So with the two of us plus baby girl cooped up inside the house all the time (and now no Tour de France to keep me happy, *sigh*) I decided to give Carter a break and put myself in a little timeout, and stamp some peaceful goodness with this Buddha stamp. I bought it at a craft fair last fall - it's made by PSX, which I believe is no longer around - and thanks to them no longer being around the stamp was CRAZY cheap. The "medallion" behind Buddha is a doily - I colored it with my Copics and sponged some brown ink on the edges. You can't tell in the photo but Buddha is coated with Diamond Glaze, which looks pretty fabby IRL! And now I am focusing on this card and taking deep breathes... in... out... in... out... preschool starts back up on Monday, and *both* kids will be going... so there will be serenity NEXT WEEK! :-) By the way - I am already making a huge to do list of all the things I think I'm going to get done once I have a few mornings a week all to myself - hallway closet purge, baby clothes to the consignment store, stamp cave perfectly organized and clean, tons of junk onto craigslist... even though I know realistically those morning hours will FLY by and I won't get a fraction of it done. But it's nice to dream, isn't it? Or even meditate on the beautifully neat and clean zen household I will have this fall... *sigh* :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Image from PSX, sentiment from My Favorite Things
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss (or maybe Old Olive, I'm not sure!), white
• Ink: Memento brown, Chocolate Chip, Copics for coloring
• Accessories: Doily, dollar bin rhinestones, Janome Sew Mini & brown thread, Diamond Glaze, SU scallop edge punch

Can you say... OMG!!!!!!

I promised no more cycling, but I *had to* post a quick follow-up to my last post. I shared the blog link on Twitter and copied Cadel Evans... AND WOULD YOU LOOK WHAT HE SAID?!?!?! Somebody please pinch me.Ok, back tomorrow with more stamping, please carry on...

For My BTF (Best Twitter Friend!)

Believe it or not, today's card is inspired by another one of my Tour de France cyclists! What, you're thinking it looks a little too precious to be inspired by a guy on a bike? Well let me explain. :-) I have a new favorite cyclist!! Ok, no, not favorite, I haven't already changed my mind since yesterday (LOL!) but I guess I have a new second favorite...! I have to tell you a little story. During the Tour I became a bit of a Twitter fanatic. It turns out you can "follow" famous people on there - read their thoughts about what's going on - it's pretty cool! And I figured out I could follow a bunch of my favorite cyclists. So that was a whole fun new aspect to the Tour for me, reading "behind the scenes" thoughts on everything. If you're not familiar with Twitter, you can actually reply to these famous people too. I did it a couple times but felt like a big goofball - because really, like they care what *I* have to say, right?? But sometimes I just couldn't help myself...! So on Saturday, I was sitting here at the computer messing around, reading all the updates after the *AWESOME* stage on Mont Ventoux, when I see Cadel Evans share a photo that I thought was funny. I know, most of you stamper friends don't know who Cadel Evans is... he's one of the top riders, although this year's Tour did not go all that well for him (poor Cadel!). So I make a silly reply to him... AND OMG HE REPLIED BACK TO ME!!!!! I nearly spewed my water, and immediately had to IM Lydia and tell her about it (since she has held my hand as I've come up to speed on this new-fangled invention...). Here's a screen shot (read from the bottom up):I don't know if you understand how exciting this was for me. One of my cycling gods, basically having a (ridiculousy short) online conversation with me?!!? OMG! You know how geeked out I get about meeting stamping celebrities - it's like that! I ran into the livingroom to tell my hubby, and he just gave me this blank stare. Doesn't get it. *sigh* But at least Lydia shared my excitement. By the way - the fact that the conversation with one of my cycling gods involves me admitting I eat crap and look awful - um, not ideal. Even a little mortifying. But oh well, I'll take it!!! LOL!

So the card... you're wondering how on earth this is inspired by Cadel Evans, right? First of all he's Australian, so I got out this sweet koala from one of my favorite Melanie Muenchinger sets for Gina K - Cuddles & Hugs. I found a great tutorial on Melanie's blog for coloring the koala, to give it a soft & fluffy look (thanks Mel for being so awesome and helpful as always!!). I chose the main colors of the card - red & black - because those are the colors of the Silence Lotto team Cadel rode for this year. The sentiment - not that I'm actually going to send this to him, but he is Down Under, indeed across the miles. I actually would like to send hugs & smiles to him though - I think he's probably gotten a little beaten up over this Tour, and I hope it's not completely getting him down. He's an amazing athlete, no matter what happened for 3 weeks (or really just a couple of bad days!) in July. I'm totally going to be rooting for him next year, now more than ever!! Since he's my BTF and all (HA!) (Plus, I was poking around on his website, he seems rather smart and cares about some important things - I like those traits in a cyclist!) :-) The sketch for this card was inspired by the latest challenge on StampTV, although I didn't stay completely true to it. I have to tell you about the ribbon I used - it was part of the packaging on a set of Christmas washclothes. Lydia would also be proud of me for reanimating that! (as I imagine Cadel might be, too) ;-)

Ok, I promise - no more posts boring you all about cycling stuff. For a little while, anyway! :-) Thanks for stopping by today! And thanks to Cadel for giving this stamping stay at home mom cycling fan a thrill. :-D

• Stamps: Cuddles & Hugs from Gina K Designs
• Paper: Real Red, Going Gray, white, The Paper Studio DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, Marvy punches, Making Memories stick pin, ribbon

Vive le Tour!

For three weeks now I've been thinking "Hmm, I really should make a Tour de France inspired card!" and today I finally did it. On the very last day of the Tour! If you've been with me for a while, you know that I'm a bit of a fanatic, although I'm not sure I've actually said anything about it on here yet this summer!? My husband is a bigtime sports fan, he'll watch pretty much anything! Back in the summer of 1999 he tuned into a bike race and told me a guy from Austin was riding, and he was a cancer survivor and used to ride for Motorola - the company we were both working for at the time. Actually, back then there were photos in the lobby at work of some guys on bikes, but I had never really thought much about them. But I was intrigued by this story. So I watched it with him. AND LOVED IT!! And of course I went on to watch Lance Armstrong win seven consecutive Tours! The man is completely amazing, I believe the greatest athlete of our time. Some speculate he's doped - the sport has been plagued by many scandals - but I choose to believe he's clean. He's just super human. :-) After his 7th win in 2005 he decided to retire, and I was very, very sad. I watched the next three summers, and though I still loved it, it just wasn't the same (plus more doping scandals left me very frustrated with the whole thing!). And then - Joel told me (he's the one who actually reads the sports page, not me!) - Lance was going to make a comeback this year!!! He wanted to ride again to continue to raise awareness for his foundation, which provides tremendous support for people battling cancer, encouraging them to LIVESTRONG. I tried not to get my hopes up too much - three summers off from the Tour, and now riding against some really great younger riders (Lance is the same age as me - an old fart in cycling!!) - but then the Tour happened and Lance was amazing and *sigh* all was right in the world once again! It was tough not seeing him in yellow this year, the color of the race leader, but fighting his way to a 3rd place podium position in Paris, while also showing great sportsmanship and working hard for his teammates - AMAZING! As his team shared on Twitter: "Congrats to Lance for 3rd in his amazing comeback to cycling. He's shown athletes & the world what a true champion he is."

So the way I celebrate such happy things? Why, making a card of course! This is more of a Lance-inspired card than a TDF-inspired card. Lance has worn an awful lot of yellow in his lifetime!! I used the "inspire" definition from the Stampin' Up set "Define Your Life" - because he does indeed inspire me - it's stamped very subtly with Versamark. I think of roses when I think of Lance - one of his fundraising events is called Ride for the Roses - so I used Fifth Avenue Floral, again very subtle on Kraft paper. I stamped the roses in Summer Sun then watercolored them in with very watery lid ink. I created the "be strong" sentiment with my Karen Foster snap stamps.

Another thing I love about the Tour de France is getting to spend my July living vicariously through the cyclists riding across the beautiful French countryside. We were lucky enough to visit France back in October of 2003. I have a dream of *someday* watching a mountain stage of the Tour in the Alps! But here is a photo from Paris - the view from atop the Arc de Triomphe. Oh how I wish I was in Paris today!!Thanks for indulging me if you read this entire post (!), and thanks as always for stopping by!

• Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Define Your Life, Polka Dot from SU, Karen Foster snap stamps
• Paper: Yoyo Yellow, Kraft, White
• Ink: Summer Sun, Versamark, White Craft ink, Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: SU scallop edge punch, Making Memories DP, SU library clip, yellow embroidery floss, Janome Sew Mini

FCD Gets HOT!

Hello and welcome to another FireCracker Designs by Pamela blog hop! This month FCD gets HOT! We were all tasked with using some kind of heat to create our projects! Fun, yes? I decided to use two different heated items, both of which use the same heat source - my heat gun. First I used good ol' silver embossing powder to add my sentiment to the card. And second, I stamped my Happy the Hedgehog on PolyShrink, then heated it up to shrink him down into a charm. What fun!! I always loved Shrinky Dinks as a kid, so it's totally cool that I now have them in my craft room - and I don't even have to go out to the kitchen and use the oven! :-) You remember from the other day how big this image is, right? Shrinking him down opens up many different possibilities with this image! At first I was thinking I'd make some hedgehog earrings with the charms, but I ran into many more difficulties with that idea than expected. So in the end the card turned out like this. A little silly - a bit of a hedgehog hodgepodge - but I like it! My friend Lydia was actually a source of inspiration for this card - she looooves warm & fuzzy critters, and she loves blue. I figured, why not combine them and throw in some hearts?? So this one's for you, @understandblue - I'm sending some warm fuzzies your way! :-)

Ok now for some more info about the hop - it's a circular hop, so if you jump on over to Karyn next, and then follow all the links around, you'll end up right back here where you started. That is, assuming this is where you started. If I'm just a brief stopping point on your tour around the FCD block, then a big hello to you and thanks for visiting - and come back again sometime ok? :-) One other important tidbit - as usual Pamela will have some yummy blog candy for one of the hoppers. The winner will be pulled from the comments on one of our blogs - I don't even know which one! So if you want a chance at that, make sure and leave comments on each & every blog! And don't forget contact info so Pamela can track you down. The hop ends on Wednesday the 29th, so you have until then to get your hopping done. Alrighty? Alright! Thanks for stopping by today!

NEXT STOP IS KARYN - Tell her I said HI! :-)

• Stamps: Happy the Hedgehog from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: PTI brown CS, DP from Bo Bunny (blue) & Jenni Bowlin (brown polka dot)
• Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip (sponging), Bic permanent markers
• Accessories: PolyShrink, sanding block, silver heart brad from The Paper Studio, SU silver EP, buttons, silver cord, SU chipboard, Diamond Glaze, Martha Stewart glitter, Making Memories heart straight pin, CTMH ric-rac, SU scallop edge punch, Janome Sew Mini & brown thread

From Courtney's Closet #50 - an inspiration challenge

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of From Courtney's Closet, where I make a card inspired by one of my daughter's outfits, and encourage you to do the same. This week I cheated a little - I felt like making an owl card, so I picked Courtney's shirt with owls on it for inspiration! I really love the color combo - it's a good match to the new Stampin' Up In Colors Rich Razzleberry & Soft Suede, paired with Bashful Blue. I wanted to make an owl card because this past week's Cinema Saturday challenge was Harry Potter, and I thought I'd make a Hedwig card. Yes, I do realize Hedwig is supposed to be white. The rule of the challenge was to add an "unexpected element" - nobody expected a brown Hedwig now did they? Ok, maybe that's not exactly what they meant with that rule, oh well. I'm too late anyway, the card was due hours ago. I usually try not to combine my From Courtney's Closet challenge with any other challenges, but I so miss playing along with Cinema Saturday, I had to give it a try. The owl I used for my card is from FireCracker Designs by Pamela's "Yoo HOOO!" set, and this sentiment from "She Dreams" seemed perfect for Harry Potter. The fabric of Courtney's shirt has a bit of a square texture to it, so I used a Cuttlebug folder to add texture to the background of the card. One difficult
thing to see in the photo is that both the owl and the sentiment are covered in a bunch of Stardust gel pen. I'm going to throw in a second photo of Courtney - she was doing "Upside Down Courtney" and it gives a perfect view of her shirt's design. Well, almost perfect - it's upside down! :-) So there you have it. Want to play along this week? C'mon, owl stamps are all the rage these days, I know you have some! If you do play, please be sure to stop back here and leave your link so I can come and find you. Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Yoo HOOO! and She Dreams from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Soft Suede, Bashful Blue, Rich Razzleberry and DP from SU, Georgia-Pacific white
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic & SU markers for coloring, Sakura Stardust gel pen, black Glaze pen on the eyes, Chocolate Chip for sponging
• Accessories: Cuttlebug & embossing folder, Basic Grey designer rhinestone flourish, Soft Suede polka dot ribbon, brads, sponge

From Courtney's Closet #49 - Roundup!

Last week Courtney was looking cute as can be in her Hello Kitty shirt:Two sweet friends took on the challenge and played along. Both cards are so sweet, so I'm not going to pick a favorite this week! So, first up, Katie - who happened to find a Hello Kitty die cut at her LSS. How perfect! And she used polka dots (YAY!) and I love the little "hello" sentiment in the background.And Sue - she made a Hello Snoopy card! :-) It's so adorable and yummy - and the clouds are a perfect touch to match Courtney's shirt.Thanks so much girls for playing!! I'll be back with this week's outfit soon - probably late tonight. Until then - take care, and happy stamping!!

New FCD Rubber!!

Just wanted to pop in and tell you about a limited time preorder special going on over at the FireCracker Designs by Pamela site. Pamela has designed some *wonderful* new sets - and for a limited time you can get the two pictured below for only $10.99 each (regular price is $12.99 each). I am LOVING them BOTH!!! And guess what - she will have two other sets with this release as well - I'll let you know when they are available for a peek! But in the mean time, check these out... And go place your preorder here! :-)

Some really awesome stuff.

I have a couple of really exciting things that I've been meaning to blog about forever but for whatever reason haven't gotten around to it...! Pure craziness I tell ya, because this stuff is too cool for words!! First of all, this photo. A couple Saturdays ago I got to meet one of my favorite stampers on the entire planet, Lydia of Understand Blue!!! Surely you know Lydia - she's funny, talented, passionate about animals, best friends with Martha Stewart, loves to turn junk into gems, can teach you a ton, tweets in the name of Splitcoast, aaaaaand is a super duper stamper and all-around wonderful gal. She lives right here in the same city as me and I've been wanting to meet her forever. So glad I was finally able to! I even got to go to her house and make some cards! Yay! (which I was going to show you too and never got around to photographing - now I remember why I haven't posted before now!) So that was Exciting Thing #1. Are you ready for Exciting Thing #2?? I got an email last week from a certain stamping magazine letting me know they are going to publish one of my cards!!!!!! EEEEEEEEK!! I can't believe it. It was actually the first thing I've ever submitted. It took me about a hundred years to get up the nerve to send something in. And they liked it. Wow. The rotten part though - it won't actually hit the newstands until NEXT SUMMER!! So, that's all I can tell you for now. And I have to sit here with my fingers crossed for an entire year hoping that they don't change their minds. Ack. So those are my exciting tidbits. Don't hate me because I'm awesome. HA! :-)

Sparkly, yellow hedgehogs - why not?

Here I go again, getting all whacky with my animal colors. But hey, I figure why be boring? I like to make my animals interesting. And I sure do love me a little sparkly, yellow hedgehog! This cutie is from the FireCracker Designs by Pamela set called Happy the Hedgehog. Fitting name, isn't it? How could you not feel happy looking at this fuzzy little bundle of hedgehoggy cuteness? :-) Today's card plays along with the latest Color Throwdown - Lavender Lace, Garden Green & So Saffron. I have a couple other ideas running around in my brain for this stamp set, so stay tuned. And one of them will be shared this coming Saturday, when we have our monthly FCD blog hop! You won't want to miss that - it's going to be HOT! ;-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Happy the Hedgehog from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Garden Green, Lavender Lace, So Saffron, DP from Stampin' Up
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring/shading a bit, black & clear Glaze pens
• Accessories: Diamond Stickles, Spellbinders Labels 1 dies, Fiskars tag punch, Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles folder, SU corduroy brads, silver eyelet, hemp twine, ribbon from Jody

Twilight Tuesday on a Sunday!

I've been wanting to place an order with The Greeting Farm for ages now, and last week I finally did it! Here's one of the little cuties I couldn't resist. Edward. Yes, as in Twilight. But I think the stamp is absolutely adorable even if you're not a Twilight fanatic. Which I have to admit, I am not. I'm currently making my way through the series - I like it, and had to read it because I love all things vampire (more background here) but I'm not OH MY GOD ITS THE GREATEST THING EVER in love with it, like some people. Like, for example, my sweet blogging friend Erica! I was chatting about Twilight and stamps with Erica via email, and she mentioned this week's bonus Twilight Tuesday challenge. Can you believe that, an entire blog devoted to stamping challenges focused on Twilight!?? That's pretty darn cool, people who love it, LOOOOOVE IT! :-) Erica advised me not to nose around too much on that blog, because I still need to read that final book and there are spoilers. So fyi, if you are in progress like me! But this particular challenge was "safe" according to Erica. LOL! The challenge was to use a Greeting Farm stamp (check!) and use the "classic" Twilight colors - red, black & silver (check!). I also combined it with this week's Weekend Sketch Challenge hosted by Lori Craig. The silver background is actually aluminum foil, run through an embossing folder on my Cuttlebug - a technique I found over at StampTV. As is usually the case with blingy, glittery cards, I love it wayyyy more IRL than in this darn photo, but what's a girl to do? I used the "just for you" sentiment because, really, what gal wouldn't want an Edward of their very own? Thanks Erica for hooking me up with the inspiration for this challenge - once I finish Breaking Dawn I'll have to visit regularly for more fun challenges! :-)

• Stamps: Edward from The Greeting Farm, Teeny Tiny Wishes from Stampin' Up!
• Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, white
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring, black Glaze pen
• Accessories: aluminum foil, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots folder, "rings" embossing folder from quicKutz, oval Spellbinders die, Star Dust Stickles, bling flourish from Walmart, metal heart accents from Colorbok, red SU grosgrain ribbon, white American Crafts scallop ribbon, black ribbon from Jody
  

From Courtney's Closet #49 - an inspiration challenge

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of From Courtney's Closet, where I create a card inspired by something from my daughter's closet, and inspire you to do the same! A few days ago I went on a little trip up to Target. It was innocent enough, I just intended to buy a few storage bins to work on organizing the kids' playroom. But next thing you know the darn shopping cart was dragging me over to the clothes section. To look at the clearance racks, of course. But... there on a regular price rack... practically calling out my name... was HELLO KITTY!!! How on earth can I be expected to resist HELLO KITTY!?!? Well, I didn't resist, and immediately put it on Courtney as soon as we got home so I could snap some photos for this week's post. :-D I have to say I'm lovin' how this card turned out!! The Hello Kitty I used was actually on the tag from the shirt - I just cut it out. For the larger clouds I used a stamp, but the smaller ones were just drawn freehand. I put Stickles on them, because the white clouds on Courtney's shirt are also sparkly. The patterned papers were all from scraps in my polka dot drawer. What, you're surprised I have a drawer dedicated to polka dot paper? Do you even know me AT ALL? ;-) The black ribbon is a super cute velvet scallop ribbon from American Crafts that I love - it's a shame it's nearly all covered up. So... what do you think? Feel like making a card? You know it doesn't have to have Hello Kitty on it, you can find whatever inspiration you'd like from this post. If you do play, be sure to link back here so I can find you. Thanks for stopping by today, happy stamping! (Oh and btw - I still need to share with you some AWESOME STUFF that's happened over the past week - hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow! It's funny, I've been sick with a cold all week and yet this has been one FANTASTIC week for many reasons!!) :-)

• Stamps: Fly Away and Wonderland from The Greeting Farm
• Paper: Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, DP scraps from my stash
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Swiss Dots & D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folders, American Crafts ribbon, Star Dust Stickles, Hello Kitty cut from shopping tag on shirt

From Courtney's Closet #48 - Roundup!

This was last week's From Courtney's Closet inspiration - a SERIOUSLY CUTE photo of sweet little Mattea, daughter of stamping superstar Maria Gurnsey, visiting us for a playdate!Needless to say that photo inspired several stampers to get their creative juices flowing! First of all - I was THRILLED to get a comment from The One And Only Susan Roberts (aka Rainy) saying that she played along. EEEEEEEEEEEK! One of my favorite stampers in the entire universe. So exciting!! And just look what she created - wowsa!! Soooo pretty. But of course. Why wouldn't it be? :-)Caryl knew just what to do to make Maria love her card - look at that gorgeous gingham ribbon!! Love it!Stacey is an absolute expert at adding big, gorgeous flowers to her cards. This is such a beauty!And speaking of big, gorgeous flowers - I love the one Ella added to her card as well! Not to mention that sweet butterfly! So happy to have you back, Ella!Hip hip hooray!! Kim played!!! I've been waiting and waiting. ;-) I just love her card - those birds are too much fun!And holy toledo, Karen is on an absolute ROLL! She played AGAIN! Love the big flower stamps on her card, sooooo pretty & fun!Picking a favorite this week was extremely difficult, every single card is fantastic - but I have to say I did love Sue's the most. Those buttons are just way too pretty, and I love the fun flower background she chose. I'll email you Sue, I think I owe you a few things now... :-)Now go and show these ladies some love on their blogs! Thanks everyone for playing, and thanks again to Maria for sharing such a sweet photo with us!

Twitter's for the birds!

When I looked at this week's color challenge on Splitcoast - earrrrrrly this morning because my darling son woke me up at the absolute crack of dawn and I couldn't fall back asleep - I couldn't help but think the colors would look nice with My Birds. You know, the FCD set that I looooove. (and which is back in stock, btw!) So since I couldn't sleep, I sat down to stamp and actually completed an entire card before I had even had breakfast - unheard of! Not only were the colors pre-arranged for me, I also used this week's Mojo Monday sketch. That has to be a new record of recent times for me - two challenges completed the week they were issued, one on the day OF! Wow. :-) So check out the sentiment on this card - isn't that hilarious!? LOVE IT! I've just recently started twittering or tweeting or twerping or whatever it is the kids call it! But I'm really only on there for the time being to follow all the cyclists from the Tour de France (I'm a fanatic!) :-) But I digress, back to the card... the main image was colored with Copics. One of the things I had suggested to Pamela for this set was to add little leaves & morning glories, so the birdhouse pole could be extended and the plants could be growing up it. I love how it turned out - just as I imagined. Go me! LOL! (ok I suppose Go Pamela! for drawing it so well...) The bird silhouettes were stamped on the gray paper with Versamark. I think that about wraps it up for this card - tune in tomorrow when I tell you which stamping superstar I was lucky enough to rub elbows with this past weekend - yay! :-) Thanks for stopping by today.

• Stamps: A Little Bird Told Me from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Lavender Lace, white, DP from The Paper Studio
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini & gray thread, slit punch, Swiss Dots cuttlebug, AMuse rhinestones, gray taffeta ribbon

Sweet Little One

I was looking through the file of card photos on my computer and realized I never posted this one!! At least, I don't think I did?? (I'll feel VERY foolish if I did!) I made this card for my sister, who's due to have her first baby girl in October. If you're keeping track, it's the second card I've made for her. So far. :-) This time I colored a super sweet Elzybells UK (ie BIG!) image which the mega talented, kind & generous Carole sent to me right after Courtney was born. Yup, that's right - I've had it in my stash for quite a while! A little ribbon, a few buttons, some stitching - there ya go, a sweet baby card! And I sure hope you haven't seen it before. :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Baby Moon from Elzybells, sentiment from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Regal Rose, Bo Bunny DP
• Ink: Copic markers for coloring, Sakure Stardust gel pen on the stars (I think??)
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini & white thread, American Crafts ribbon, SU ribbon, buttons, embroidery floss

FCD Design Team Call!!

So I bet those of you who've never been on a design team are under the false impression that the greatest thing about it is the free stamps. I suppose I can see how you'd think that. But I'm here to tell you... if you play your cards** right... you can get oh so much *more* out of it! Here my friends, I present to you, the greatest perk I've ever seen from being on a design team... SECRET GERMAN SPICES!! I've made many a batch of cucumbers with sour cream in my day, but never ever have they turned out so incredibly scrumptious as when I had Secret German Spices to add to the bowl. And this wonderful dinner happened to me all because I got brave enough to submit my application to be on the FireCracker Designs by Pamela design team last summer! Now I'm not here to mislead you... if you join Pamela's team, chances are you'll *only* get the free stamps. She can't give spices to EVERYONE, then they wouldn't be so secret anymore, now would they!? But, if you feel lucky, I urge you to visit Pamela's blog post, read all the rules and requirements, carefully consider whether you are able to make the commitment, and get your application submitted ASAP! You will not regret it, I promise you! Oh. And there's the fact that Pamela happens to be one of the nicest ladies on the planet. And that her stamps are fabulous. But all of that simply PALES in comparison to just the slightest possibility of receiving Secret German Spices. Now go... create... submit... join a design team! I know you can do it! :-)

** pun intended! :-)

Christmas in July!

I'm melting! I'm melting!! Ugh, 105 degrees in central Texas today, with a heat advisory in effect. It's so hot my 3 year old son refused to go to the *POOL* this morning because he didn't want to leave the house! What's a girl to do on a day like today? Why, make a snowman card, of course!! :-D And the timing was perfect since Pamela is having a "Christmas in July" sale over at FireCracker Designs by Pamela! You can read about the sale deets on her blog but basically it's buy 2 Christmas sets, get the 3rd free! WOOHOO! I just loooooove this snowman image, it's one of my all-time favorite FCD sets, Love Never Melts (along with his snowladyfriend in Gifts of Love!). :-) A snowman warming his backside on the fire, what is cuter than that?!? I used Pamela's latest sketch for this card as well, and it worked out quite nicely! I added a little liquid applique to the fuzzy part of his hat, fun! I was almost finished with the card and saw the rhinestone flourish hanging above my desk and thought "A-HA, what fun smoke that would make!" and once I went with some bling, I couldn't resist glitterfying the entire snowman with some Stickles!! The fun, vibrant colors are this week's Color Throwdown - Real Red, Tempting Turquoise & Kiwi Kiss. It was also last week's Stamp Something challenge, sponsored by Pamela, to make a Christmas in July card, but as usual I'm a day late and dollar short on that!! Well I don't know about you but I am feeling cooler already. :-) Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Love Never Melts and Gifts of Love from FireCracker Designs by Pamela
• Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, GP White, Making Memories DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring
• Accessories: Swiss Dots & D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folders, Janome Sew Mini & white thread, liquid applique, Star Dust Stickles, rhinestone flourish from Walmart

From Courtney's Closet #48 - Courtney's Playdate!

Hi everyone! Courtney is soooo excited that it's time for another playdate already! This week her friend Mattea came over to model an adorable outfit for our cardmaking inspiration! And boy oh boy look at this photo of sweet Mattea - did her mama Maria have her totally POSE or what?? I just love it - what an adorable photo of a beautiful little girl! And look at that dress, so cute and colorful!! I'm sure you all know Maria of Scraps by M! She's one of the many stampers I'm so fortunate to have gotten to know thanks to this little challenge. I think of her as my Gingham Girl - gingham is to Maria as polka dots are to me! :-) So of course I couldn't resist adding some gingham ribbon to my card this week! The stamp I used is from Penny Black, and I won it as a door prize from Julie (aka Jag_Bug) at the Dallas shoebox swap. Love it! I added a little Spica glitter pen to the pink flowers and yellow center, but you can't see it in the photo (sad!). I've been in a major stamping slump lately, as I'm sure you can tell from my lack of posting! I went looking through some of my favorite blogs last night to try and find inspiration, and this beauty by Amy Sheffer inspired me to pull out a Top Note diecut for the image, still using my stash that sweet Anita sent to me a while back! Mattea's cute outfit inspired three things about this card - the color palette, the urge to use a flower stamp (although quite different from the outfit!) and the row of pink buttons. Mattea's mommy Maria made a fabulous card inspired by her daughter too! I just love the fun grouping of flowers, the big gorgeous button and of course the Maria-signature gingham going through it! Hop on over to Maria's blog and let her know how much you love her card too!Thanks so much for letting Mattea inspire us this week Maria!! If anyone out there is as inspired by this as I was, go for it! Make a card!! :-) And link back here so Maria and I know you did. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Burst of Stars from Penny Black, Sentiment from Stampin' Up!
• Paper: Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, K&CO Citronella mat pad, white SU Top Note diecut
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring, Copic Spica glitter pens
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini & thread, SU Slit punch, pink buttons, white embroidery floss, gingham ribbon from JoAnn