Veggies!

I made today's card for my Dad. We got him a gift certificate to a seed company for Christmas, so I wanted to put it in something decorated with veggies!


I pulled out a super duper old Stampin' Up set for this. I'm not even sure what the set was called, I don't have a label on it anymore - but the stamps say copyright 1998 on them. It's one of my few SU sets that's survived many, many massive stamp purges. Love these veggies! The little pocket for the gift certificate was cut out with my Silhouette, and I used my cute little MFT die for the banner.

Carter came into my stamp room while I was making the card and saw that I had some leftover stamped veggies and wanted to make a card for his Papa too. Isn't it lovely?


I told him I made my card so we could give Papa a gift certificate for seeds, so Carter wanted seeds in his card too. I took him down to the local nursery, and let him pick out what he thought Papa would like. I hope these carrots grow well for him, they are so cool!


Carter loves digging in the dirt with his Papa - too bad he's way up in Michigan and we're down here in Texas!


Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend!

Beer Friday!

Last weekend I got to hang out at Archiver's for a mini retreat - it was GREAT, lots of time making cards and chatting with some new friends. Made me happy. :-) I sell cards locally at Old Koenig Engraving & Gifts - they carry a lot of beer steins and pub glasses, so my friend (the owner) has been asking me to make beer-themed cards for the store. Sooooo, that was my focus last weekend! Here's the first one:


The beer mugs are made with an old Stampin' Up set, "Treat Yourself" - they are supposed to be coffee mugs, but I figure color them yellow and add a little Liquid Applique foam, and you've got beer! I'll probably be posting beer cards for the next several Fridays, so if you don't like looking at them, you might want to avoid me on Fridays. But otherwise - cheers!

Have a great weekend!

• Stamps: Treat Yourself from Stampin' Up, Menswear from Flourishes (sentiment)
• Paper: white, red, blue, DP from Fancy Pants Designs
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
• Accessories: Liquid Applique, button, linen thread, rickrack (CTMH), machine stitching

From Courtney's Closet #57

Welcome to another week of From Courtney's Closet, where I draw inspiration from my daughter's clothes. Courtney got this cute little outfit for her 1st birthday way back in February, from my sweet friend Theresa. As soon as we opened it I got excited about the card possibilities!! The caterpillar on the shirt has a lot of texture to it, so I considered paper piecing him together, which would have been fun. But when the most recent Stampin' Up catalog came out and I saw the "Love Bugs" hostess set, I just KNEW I had to use it for this card!! So I did what any good stamper would do - I placed a $150 order just so I could earn that "free" set!! :-D But seriously, could it be any more perfect?? In addition to the caterpillar, I found the color scheme inspiring, and also added a flower inspired by the pants. I really love this pink & green color combo! So... I don't know if you noticed the title of this post, but I dropped the "inspiration challenge" part. I'm going to keep making the Courtney's Closet cards, but I don't think I'll call them an inspiration challenge anymore. Unlike back when I started this nearly a year & a half ago, I think there's just way too many challenges out there now - which is GREAT - but I don't think there's much interest in THIS one. Which I understand - the others are run by bloggers who actually are active in the blogging community. Unlike me. So - if you do feel like playing, that's still FANTASTIC, I'd love to see your creation. But I am not very optimistic that anyone will. :-D

Before I go, I have to subject you to a couple other photos. I had a bugger of a time getting a decent photo this week, properly showing off the caterpillar! All Courtney wanted to do was either hug her bunny, right in front of her shirt...Or lie down with her blankies!But considering how sweet she is, I couldn't get too mad at her about it. :-D

Thanks for stopping by today!

Why I should use a Stamp-a-ma-jig...!

Today I share with you my Ode to the Stamp-a-ma-jig, and why I should use it.

Me: "I don't need no stinkin' SAMJ, I can just eyeball it, it will be fine!"

Reality: A crooked row of owls that would have been so much cuter if nice and straight.

*sigh*

You live and learn. Did I learn? Probably not, I detest messing with a SAMJ. But, I do know that I *should* use it...! :-)

This card is as close to Stampin' Up Only as I've come in ages! Just the DP is non-SU. Well, and of course the stitching too, but I think that is "allowed" and not considered "contraband". :-) The owl stamp was colored with a pink marker, and then the edge colored over with a caramel marker. Fun! Thanks for stopping by today.

Oh how I love this lattice!!

I'd be willing to bet that not many of you are aware that I'm a Stampin' Up demonstrator - am I right? Well I am, and have been for over five years now. But I'm just not a very good one! :-) But I certainly do looooove me some SU and get excited about the new catalog releases and hearing all about Convention!! The big, annual Convention was this past weekend, and I got to live vicariously through friends like Lydia and Suzy. And now I'm completely inspired to play with a bunch of my sadly neglected SU goodies!! But today's card only used one little stamp, the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. The rest was a diecut, and was actually something I was lucky enough to make on Lydia's Big Shot when I went to a stamp class at her house a while back. We got to cut out that gorgeous Lattice, and the bird from Birds & Branches. Lydia had designed the black panel to go on a smaller white card, but I botched mine up thinking I could place the sentiment she provided straight on the card without a stamp-a-ma-jig, but I was sadly mistaken. So, I put it together at home and used a larger card and the wedding sentiment, since I needed a card for my cousin. This card is sooo simple and sooo pretty! It makes me totally want a Big Shot, but I'm still resisting. For now. :-) Thanks for stopping by today!!

• Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: Big Shot, Lattice die, Birds & Branches die

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

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

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
  

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

Choo Choo!

I made this card for our friend Derek's second birthday party yesterday - Happy Birthday, Derek! He's a train lover - or at least his mommy is, she decorated his bedroom soooo cute with trains galore! For his birthday card I pulled out an old, long-retired Stampin' Up set called Choo Choo. It's something rare on my blog - a solid stamp! I usually prefer line drawings that I can color. But this train is just too cute!! It had little circles all over it - I decided to put a silver brad over each of the circles. Thanks for chuggin' by today!

• Stamps: Choo Choo (retired) and All Holidays from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Ballet Blue, GP white, PTI DP
• Ink: Ballet Blue, Real Red, Moment Tuxedo Black
• Accessories: SU silver brads
• Tools: Janome Sew Mini, scissors, paper piercer

Miracle & Wonder

I was able to sneak away to the stamp room for a little quiet time this afternoon, and this is what happened. :-) I wanted to make a card for my little sister - she's having a baby, and found out this week that's it's going to be a girl! Yay!! Courtney can't wait to have her first cousin close in age that she can play with!! :-) Laura isn't too into pink, she's more of a purple girl, so I decided she needed a purple teddy bear on her card! I told you a few cards ago that I was bummed I hadn't been able to play the last few Color Throwdown challenges - well here I am catching up on another one! This is from the previous week, Color Throwdown #44, and the colors were Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant and Barely Banana. I pretty much NEVER reach into my Bordering Blue drawer, so it was fun to give that paper a little love! The yellow is actually PTI, not Barely Banana - but close! This Stampin' Up teddy bear from "Bundle of Joy" is one of my all-time favorite baby stamps! For this card I stamped him in Black StazOn on Confetti White paper, and used the lids of my ink pads to color him with Bordering Blue, Eggplant and a little Pretty In Pink on the cheeks. I cut him out when I was done - and would you just look at what he's mounted on!!?! I SEWED IN A CIRCLE!! I was so proud of myself!! It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good! LOL! The sentiment is one of my all-time faves too, it's from the Close To My Heart set "Celebrate Life" and I adore it, for one thing, because it's a Paul Simon lyric and I looooove me some Rhymin' Simon! And, I just think it's so fitting for a baby card - especially a first baby card - those truly are days of miracle and wonder! I'll never forget our first night home from the hospital with Carter, it's was like we were in our own magical world, trying to figure out the new little person in our house. I can't wait for my sister to experience that! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Bundle of Joy from SU, Celebrate Life from CTMH
• Paper: Kraft, Confetti White, Bordering Blue, PTI DP
• Ink: Black StazOn, Palette Noir, Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue, Pretty in Pink
• Accessories: Janome Sew Mini, Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots folder, Marvy punches, SU slit punch, Eggplant grosgrain ribbon, aquapainter

From Courtney's Closet #44 - an inspiration challenge

Hello and welcome to another edition of From Courtney's Closet, where I make a card inspired by my daughter's outfits. Make sure and scroll down to the next post for the winners of my anniversary challenge! For this week's card I was inspired by Gina K over at StampTV to pull out my chalks!! In my case they are the Stampin' Up Pastels, and although I love them they had not seen the light of day in quite a long time! Gina showed a different neat technique I'll have to try soon, but for my card I did the good ol' method of stamping the images with Versamark and then rubbing the chalk colors over it with a cottonball. The images are from the old, retired SU set called Grapes. After I did my stamping and chalking, I wet the back of the paper slightly and then wadded it all up for that crinkly look, and then flattened it back out and rubbed lightly over the creases with a dauber inked up with Vintage Photo distress ink. The card was inspired by Courtney's outfit, but the colors aren't really the same, and I don't think it's even grapes on there, it looks more like berries! But that's the great thing about inspiration, it doesn't have to be an exact duplicate! :-) I actually went with the color scheme from the Color Throwdown a couple weeks back - Lavender Lace, Old Olive & Elegant Eggplant. Just love this color combo!! And as you can see, the thing that was making Courtney smile so much in the photo was playing with her Papa, who's visiting from Michigan!! So, I'd love to see how you interpret this outfit into paper! Will you bring in more of the blues of the outfit?? If you give it a whirl, be sure and link back here in the comments so I can check it out! Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great weekend!!

• Stamps: Grapes and Warmest Regards from Stampin' Up!
• Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Confetti White
• Ink: Versamark, Ranger Vintage Photo distress ink, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Pastels, Cuttlebug & Houndstooth folder, Janome Sew Mini & brown thread, CTMH embellies, old SU organza ribbon

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

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

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
  

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

Cinema Saturday plus some others!!

First of all, very sorry for the crappy, blurry photo. *sigh* But anyway... I have one whopper of a challenge card for you today!!! First and foremost, it's my card for the latest Cinema Saturday challenge - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!! Of course I *loved* the original Willie Wonka movie and saw it about a gazillion times growing up. And I was soooo excited when I heard they were remaking it, and that none other than my one true love Johnny Depp would be in it!! (Oops, sorry Joel, I mean my second true love? Hmm. Probably still bad. Let's just say he's my favorite actor and leave it at that!) And while I did like the remake, I have to say the original is still my favorite. So this is my card inspired by the movie(s). I just went with the general chocolate theme, not focusing on any particular aspect of the movie. The images are from Stampin' Up's long-retired Oh So Sweet set (which I still LOVE!) and that awesome sentiment is from AMuse. This week's challenge had the added rule that we were to use BRIGHT COLORS. I think I achieved that. Yes? The colors are actually Dawn McVey's brand new color challenge. How fun to play along with a challenge right from the get-go, starting in Week 1! I wonder if I'll be able to be a regular? We shall see! But as for the Cinema Saturday rule - I thought using a plethora of different polka dots also added to the general "brightness" (or shall I say craziness?) of the card! You all know I love polka dots. I think this may be a new record for the amount of different ones on one card!!?? LOL! I played another challenge too - the sketch is this week's Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoast! It's a fun one! The chocolates have clear Glaze pen on them for shine, and Star Dust Stickles on the papers. My stitching is crooked, but so be it. ;-) And finally, I also made this for Jennifer Tapler's blog candy challenge. It's Jen's 1-year blogoversary, and she is doing something really special - gathering cards to use in an auction to benefit the Alzheimer's Association. Sadly, Jennifer's father has been afflicted with this horrible, scary disease. The blog candy she's gathered is YUMMY to say the least, so go and check it out!! And thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Oh So Sweet from Stampin' Up, All I need is love from AMuse
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, Whisper White, DP from The Paper Studio (yellow), AMuse (orange), Making Memories (pink)
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip marker
• Accessories: Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots folder, Janome Sew Mini, Bazzill mini brads, scallop ribbon (American Crafts? May Arts? I forget.), clear Glaze pen, Star Dust Stickles

From Courtney's Closet #35 - an inspiration challenge

Welcome to this week's edition of From Courtney's Closet - my weekly (more or less!) blog feature where I dress my almost-not-a-baby-anymore (*sigh*) little sweetie up in one of her outfits, make a card inspired by that outfit, and challenge YOU to do the same! If you're new here and you're curious, previous weeks can be found here. Well this week I decided to do something different for me. Would you look at this card?? Monica mentioned yesterday that she liked my pig card because of the "simple" design. I'm definitely not very good at clean and simple cards, they are quite a challenge for me. So, I decided to challenge myself to make one last night! And, I think I succeeded! Not a whole lot going on with this card, but I have to say I rather like it. There is a little dimension to it - the tree tops and trunks are all stamped and cut out. But, that's about it! As soon as I saw the outfit Courtney's wearing this week, that tree made me think of the new Trendy Trees set from Stampin' Up. I love how SU got right to the point and called them Trendy Trees, because trees sure are trendy these days, aren't they? I think it's so interesting to watch the stamping trends - something becomes popular, and next thing you know every company seems to scramble to make their own version of it. Cupcakes, birds, owls, trees... hmm I wonder what's next? :-) But I digress, as usual. LOL! So what do you think of this week's outfit? The colors are a little wild, aren't they? I hope you'll give it a whirl. Remember you can be inspired by ANYTHING in this post - the colors, the image, making a clean & simple card - shoot, even the little truck in the background is fair game! :-) If you do make a card, link back here and let me know where to find it - your blog, SCS, PCP, wherever! If you upload to SCS or another online gallery, please use keyword FCCC. Last week my little princess inspired several wonderful cards!! In the past I've been picking my favorite, but this week I just love them all and refuse to pick. :-) So, ladies - if you have never sent me your address, please do so and I'll put a little something in the mail to you. (Well, I mean the ladies who *played* - but if the rest of you want to get yourself on my "stamping friends RAK list" please feel free to email me your address as well! LOL!) So today I'm just going to list and link up all of the WONDERFUL creations, here goes...
Chris:Berenice:Angie:Kim:Kathryn:Anita #1:Anita #2:Katie #1:Katie #2:Tammy (ok I do have to add I am SO THRILLED Tammy played this week!!!!):Sue:Thanks so much ladies, you are all THE BEST! You completely make my week EVERY week with your wonderful creations!! And thanks everyone else for stopping by today!!!

• Stamps: Trendy Trees from Stampin' Up
• Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Georgia Pacific White
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal, Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie
• Accessories: ZIP!