Happy Birthday Cupcake!

Hello! Is everyone having a nice summer? So far it's been both fun and a little hectic around here! My husband just got back from three weeks in Korea. My in-laws were visiting while he was gone. I had a big stampy garage sale. Courtney started ballet classes (so cute!!). We got a new cat. And now the kids are off for summer break from preschool. Whew! I'd like to say I'll have lots of time to stamp now - but - it's not likely. But as always, I'll do the best I can to get into the stamp room, and hope you'll be patient with me. :-)

On to today's card...


You all know how I love to play challenges!! Well today was my first time playing along with The Play Date Cafe color challenge!


The sketch is from Taylor...


Instead of scallops, I substituted in some pennants. This is because I wanted to play along with this week's Cinema Saturday challenge - State Fair!


In the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that I haven't seen this movie. But I wanted to play along anyway because, well, I love this challenge, and also because I love pennants - the most fabbiest fad at the moment - and they were the requirement this week. I used my sweet little pennant stamps from my Hero Arts Kiss from the Sun set. When I think of State Fairs, I think of an endless array of food booths. Since I didn't have any funnel cake or food-on-a-stick stamps, and because I was making this card for a sweet 4 year old's birthday, I went with a cupcake from Taylored Expressions. But that was my thought process behind it. The cupcake and pennant images are all paper-pieced.

And if you're wondering if I'd be able to make a card without blog challenges - I'm pretty sure the answer is no. :-)

Happy Stamping!

• Stamps: For the Love of Cupcakes from Taylored Expressions, Kiss from the Sun from Hero Arts
• Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock, K&Co DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Star Dust Stickles, white gel pen, Spellbinders die, machine stitching

HUGE SALE THIS SATURDAY!!

Hi there! Just wanted to let any of you in the Austin area know I'm participating in a HUGE stamp & scrapbook supply garage sale THIS SATURDAY from 7-11am. Address is 3317 Burks Lane in Austin. There will be ELEVEN of us purging our crafty goodness! All Stampin' Up sets $7! Lots of freebies, including HERO ARTS!

Hope to see you there! :-)

I love you right up to the moon - and back!

Today I'm participating in something FUN! I'm joining this round of the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past blog hop!! Yay! Here is my card:


I used one of my all-time favorite Taylored Expressions sets - The Places You'll Go. I loved this set the moment I saw it, and then was lucky enough to win it as my Audrey prize one week over at the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge! The super sweet Sankari (PIPs forever!) sent it to me along with one of her AMAZING creations - I'm so lucky to own a Sankari original!!

My color inspiration for this card was provided by Taylor:


This was my other source of inspiration:


That's my sweet boy Carter! The reason I loved this set so much is because of the image I used, and the quote "I love you right up to the moon - and back." Carter and I often have I love you more contests. I tell him I love him to the moon and back. He says he loves me to Mars and back. I say I love him to the sun and back. He says he loves me to AFRICA and back! Because, you know, Africa is much farther away than the sun... :-) So, this stamp just makes me smile - just like my sweet Carter makes me smile!



Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: The Places You'll Go from Taylored Expressions
• Paper: SU Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla; October Afternoon DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
• Accessories: Chipboard stars from my stash, Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint, Star Dust Stickles, green brads, black velvet scalloped ribbon, machine stitching

Beer Friday - I'll have a margarita, please!

First of all, today is my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!! But because I am a terrible daughter, his card is still in my head. I'm hoping he'll get it sometime next week...! But guess what, today is also my mother-in-law's birthday! Happy Birthday MIL! And because she is currently staying right in my own house, and she likes to stamp, I felt more compelled to actually get her card done ON TIME. (Will my FIL, also staying in my house, get a Father's Day card on time? No.) (I am terrible.) Anyway, here's the card for my MIL's 76th birthday:


No, really! The woman is a complete lush, every time she's here she totally twists my innocent little arm into getting fastfood Taco Cabana margaritas with her!! Ok I'm just joking, she's nothing close to a lush - but, she does love her some margaritas. And she also loves her saguaro cacti. So naturally I had to use this fun Rubbernecker image for her card. The background paper is stamped too, with a Rubbernecker lime slice. After stamping and coloring it all in I spritzed the entire thing with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist, so in real life there's a subtle background shimmer that you can't see in the photo. The "salt" on the rim of the glass in the main image is chunky iridescent glitter held on with Glossy Accents. (sorry Lisa, no clear beads!) :-)

I hope you don't mind me sharing a margarita with you on Beer Friday. I will confess - I'd much rather have a margarita on most days! And now I am thirsty. Guess I'll go get more water. Boo. :-) Thanks for stopping bye!

• Stamps: Marguerita Glass set & Garnish set from Rubbernecker Stamp Company, Essential Message from Hero Arts
• Paper: SU turquoise & black, Georgia-Pacific white
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
• Accessories: Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist, SU chunky glitter, Ranger Glossy Accents, PTI scallop edge die, SU corduroy brad, machine stitching

From Courtney's Closet #63 - an inspiration challenge

It's Thursday so you know what that means! Well ok, you know what it sometimes means...! Today I do indeed have another edition of From Courtney's Closet, where I make a card inspired by one of my daughter's outfits, and you're welcome to do the same. Today's card is quite sweet...


And it's inspired by Courtney's yummy little dress, covered in sweets!


I love this photo of her, but unfortunately she was also showing off her Doras! But, this is what happened when I asked her to be a little more modest...


So anyway, back to the card. I used my Hero Arts cupcake. Since the dress has a little blanket stitch around the collar, I decided some blanket stitching on the card would be fun. The rest of the card - yikes - it was kinda a free-for-all. I couldn't decide what to put on this card, so apparently I put a little of everything...! But hey, it was fun, so what the heck.

I'd like to send a big THANK YOU to Betty and Cat for playing along last week with their fun cards! If Courtney's outfit inspires you at all this week and you'd like to play along, link up your card down below so I can pop by and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: LL247 Birthday Cupcake, CL307 Mini Messages from Hero Arts
• Paper: Bazzill Carob Cream, Strawberry Splash; The Paper Company Petal Pink
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
• Accessories: Tim Holtz Alterations Styled Labels die, Spellbinders circle die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, embroidery floss, rhinestone flourish, Star Dust Stickles, Ranger Glossy Accents, buttons, ribbon
  

Life moves fast...

Thanks for all the sweet comments yesterday, they made my day! :-) And now I have to say... while yesterday's card made me grumpy, today's makes me very happy!!


Fun, yes? Can you see what the background is? It says repeatedly "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Ring any bells? Why yes of course, that's Matthew Broderick's line in Ferris Bueller's Day Off! hee hee

I had this card in my head for a few weeks now - I wanted to make it to play along when Cinema Saturday featured Ferris Bueller!! But of course I didn't. Story of my life.


But I decided to seize the day, just as Ferris would, and make the card anyway! I thought that line was sorta fitting with a bicycle. Because they go fast too. But more on that in a sec, I also want to mention that this card played along with the latest Taylored Expressions sketch, turned on it's side.


AND... bicycles are the Moxie Fab World challenge right now! Yay!!! I love this theme so much, I hope to make at least one more bicycle card before the challenge ends - you should too!

I already had cycling on my brain because while I was on vacation a few weeks back, I got to watch a stage in the Tour of California bike race!!! Some of you have already read this, but I'm going to repost from my family blog here...

On Sunday we drove up to Thousand Oaks for the 8th and final stage of this year's Amgen Tour of California bike race! I've been a big cycling fan since 1999, when a guy from Austin started winning the Tour de France. It was so exciting to see a cycling event live and in person! I had no idea what to expect at the starting line - turns out fans could wander around the parking lot with the team buses and wait for a peek at favorite riders. How cool! We opted to hang out by the Team RadioShack bus. We were surprised how we were able to get in so close to see the cyclists - Joel pointed out it may not have been so easy if Lance hadn't crashed out of the race a few days earlier...!


We saw Popo...


And Jason McCartney (I took this one for Lisa!)...


Jani Brajkovic (who I've learned, thanks to Twitter, has THE CUTEST little boy!!)...


A roughed up Chechu - he had crashed a few days earlier with Lance, but stuck around to finish the race. I had read he "had no skin left" - ouch!


And Levi - yay! This photo cracks me up, it's like the kid is saying "Can I touch you?".


Carter & Courtney have a new favorite - Team Jelly Belly!! And yes, they were handing out free samples! We also got some free t-shirts from Team RadioShack, yay!


The ceremonial starting line...


After the starting line we had lunch then found a spot along the route to watch them fly by. As you can tell, Carter and Courtney were so excited... (ha ha)

Here come the leaders, George Hincapie is supposed to be one of these?


And the peloton. Recognize anyone? They went by so fast...


And the cars, rounding out the "cycling parade".


YAY! Fun day. Now let's hope I watch a live stage of the Tour de France someday... :-)

And my dear stamping friends, thanks for bearing with me as I just relived that day once again! :-)

• Stamps: Are we there yet? from GinaK, Karen Foster snap stamps
• Paper: misc from my scrap drawer
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU markers
• Accessories: Corner rounder, ribbon, staples, heart brad, machine stitching

Texas Tuesday!

(ETA: I was grumpy when I wrote this, after staying up way past my bedtime struggling with this card. I should have waited until morning to write up the post, I don't hate the card quite as much anymore. Although I still don't LOVE it, either. hee hee!)

Do you ever spend FAR too long on a card, only to have it turn out looking like total crud? On a related note - welcome to Texas Tuesday, where apparently I make a butt-ugly card, post it on my blog and expect you to leave comments here praising how purdy it is. HA! I'm not a fan of today's card, can you tell? Well here, judge for yourself:


I don't understand what happened. I had a fabulous Deadbeat Designs stamp. I had my completely cool new Sizzix 3D Flowers die and visions of the yellow rose of Texas. I had big plans for this card. But somehow, it all went wrong. I think the first bad step was putting aside the white paper and Copics and deciding I wanted to stamp this image on kraft and color it with my watercolor crayons. It just isn't working for me. Then I decided to go for a distressed/shabby look - not a look I can easily pull off. So there you have it - the process for ending up with this card! I do have to say it improved quite a bit when I added stitching. That's my tip for the day - add stitching to a card, it works wonders!!

And now that my self-deprecating is done, how about you hop on over and see what my far-more-talented Texas Tuesday compadres are up to? I'm sure it will be good. Here's the links for the cowpokes who played along this time: Geeta, Mark, Betty and Tina!

If you're feeling inspired to make a Texas-themed creation yourself, link it up HERE so we can find you. Next week I'll be sharing those submissions - if there are any!

Happy trails,

• Stamps: Deadbeat Designs
• Paper: SU, Hero Arts cardstock, October Afternoon DP
• Ink: Black StazOn, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink
• Accessories: SU Watercolor Crayons, Sizzix Flowers, 3D die, machine stitching, lace

From Courtney's Closet #62 - an inspiration challenge

Hello and welcome to another 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! If you're visiting for the first time, you can view all the previous cards HERE. Well today I have a very special From Courtney's Closet for you!! I'll get to that in a moment, but first I want to give a shout-out to Betty, Chris & Karen who made my day by playing along last time. You ladies rock!! Sorry it's taken me so long to acknowledge that!

And now onto today's card:


Which was inspired by this silly photo of my little pea:


I loved the color combo in Courtney's shirt, but decided to go with a butterfly theme rather than flowers, mostly because I wanted to try a technique for coloring the butterflies that I learned from Jill Foster (jillianavery8222 on Flickr) in her fabby tutorial she did for the Hero Arts blog, HERE. You might say I was inspired by Jill! Which, by the way, happens to be the name of her FANTASTIC blog!! Jill is an amazing stamper, I am always in awe of her creations! Her blog is so much fun - she picks a different stamper to be inspired by each week. Well would you believe this week she picked ME?!?! It's been such a thrill to see what she's come up with every day!! You can see all of her Libby-inspired (squeal!) cards HERE.

And because Jill and I are sort of blogging together this week (although granted she is ACTUALLY blogging, so far I've just been sitting back watching her blog, LOL!), it only made sense to invite her to play along with this week's challenge. Here's what she came up with:


Jill is the queen of gorgeous backgrounds, and this one does not disappoint! And she also went with a beautiful butterfly, but a completely different style than mine. The pearl is such a perfect touch. I love your card, Jill! Thanks so much for playing along!

And would YOU like to play along with me, Courtney & Jill? You know I'd love it if you did! Just link up your creation down below so I can find you. Thanks for stopping by!

• Stamps: CL383 Antique Engravings, CL272 All Occasion Message, CG139 Cling Dots from Hero Arts
• Paper: Archiver's cardstock, October Afternoon DP
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Ink, Versamark
  
• Accessories: ribbon, machine stitching

Happy Hedgie Birthday!

One of my favorite stamps in the Precious Baby Boy set from Hero Arts is this cute little hedgehog! I had no choice but to stamp him several times and color him in goofy colors. It was required.


Hedgehogs make me happy. That is all.

• Stamps: CL264 Precious Baby Boy and CL272 All Occasion Messages from Hero Arts
• Paper: Stampin' Up
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
• Accessories: Square punch, scallop die

Beer Friday!

It's been a while since I've inflicted a beer card on you, so I thought I better remedy that situation.


This is a rather quick & easy one - just a Jolee's beer mug sticker and a sentiment from Stampin' Up. Simple layout and a little stitching. Done! Plenty of time left to hit the bar. HA!

Have a great weekend!

• Stamps: Cheers to You from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Archiver's cardstock, Unknown DP (maybe My Mind's Eye?)
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic marker
• Accessories: Jolee's Boutique beer sticker, circle punch, machine stitching, staples

A little Lance on your Thursday...

I love this photo so I'm making you look at it too. Cards soon!

Texas Tuesday!

Hi y'all! Sorry I'm late posting this - but hey, it's still Tuesday! And today's the first Tuesday of the month, so it's time for a Texas-inspired creation!


I'm loving this guitar-playing cowboy image from Deadbeat Designs. Did you know that Austin, Texas is the live music capital of the world? I read it on the wall in our airport, so it must be true...! Well if nothing else, I'm sure you've heard of a little show called Austin City Limits, have you not? We've caught a lot of fantastic live shows since moving to Austin, although not so many in the past few years since losing our social lives (aka having kids). But I do have to say that one of the very best things that happened to me when I moved to Austin was I discovered this man:

Sigh. Lyle Lovett. I love him so much!! I can't even remember how many times I've seen him live now. I'm thinking at least seven. Maybe more? We saw him this past November and he was just as wonderful as always. Here's a song I've been humming lately, "and the lights of, LA County, were like diamonds, in the sky..."

We just got back from a vacation to LA County! (Although, please note, we did NOT bring a .45 with us on our vacation...) We did stuff in and around Los Angeles - we took the kids to Disneyland, among other things! (we ventured outside of LA County for that...!) :-)


It was lots of fun - if you're so inclined you can read more about our vacation HERE.

And now, after this long-winded post of mine, why don't you head on over and see what my Texas Two-steppin' buddies are up to today? I know that Betty has a fun creation for you! I think the others are busy this week, but I'll update this post if I see anymore creations pop up! (ETA: Tina is now a regular Tues-stepper too, check her out!!)

And... just like last month, if you are feeling inspired to make a Texas-themed card yourself, please be sure to link it up down below!! At the end of the month I'll do a little round-up of any fabby Texas creations I've found. Hope to see you play this month!

Happy Stamping!

• Stamps: Deadbeat Designs
• Paper: Bazzill (brown) & Flourishes (vanilla) cardstock, jillibean soup DP
• Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Copic markers
• Accessories: Diamond Stickles, Glossy Accents, machine stitching