The most affectionate creature in the world is a wet dog. 
              ~Ambrose Bierce

We're back. I have so much more to tell you about this card.

To be true to McClain history, I really should have made this with a yellow canoe and wooden paddles. When Tom and I were newlyweds, we had a beautiful yellow Sawyer canoe. I usually steered from the bow while Tom power paddled from the stern. And, for the slow, lazy rivers, we filled our bottles with Seagram's Crown Whiskey and 7-Up. So, 20+ years later, whenever I drink a 7 and 7 I think of our yellow canoe and the waterfall or two I swam when we missed the eddy or Tom yelled draw while I back paddled. Fun!

Last Saturday was just a beautiful blue-sky, hot Texas day. Caitlin wanted try out her new underwater camera – Pillow and Tom just wanted to try out the water. It felt like a good occasion to commemorate with a card.

I thought I'd use this card as an opportunity to share with you a little bit about my creative process – such as it is.

I usually start by checking out some of my favorite challenge blogs. Creating a card with a blank pallet just overwhelms me. Sketch challenges, in particular, help jump-start my design ideas. You can find a list of my favorite challenges here. As I mentioned yesterday, for this card I used this fun sketch from CardPatterns, Sketch 67.

Sometimes I also find a color or theme challenge that gives me some great ideas for my card that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Crazy for Challenges, C4C40, asked us to use pleates. I've been wanting to try these forever. And one of my favorite bloggers, Jeanie Witmer at The Spotted Chick reminds us every Thursday how cute cards look with Kraft cardstock.

This picture kind of tells the rest of the story.

• When I'm coloring with Copics, I always stamp the image twice. One image will be the one I play with and, hopefully, make all my mistakes on, and the second will be my final image for the card. I experiment with blending different markers on the same paper, and then try them on the practice image. (When I first started using Copics, I used to stamp the image three times.)
• As you all probably know, I love paper piecing. Sometimes I use the practice image in my paper piecing, like I did with Peepster's arm in this one.
• When I use a marker, I put it in a separate pen holder so I remember what I used. Sometimes I take pictures of the markers for you as I'm making the card, but, when I'm more rushed, I just save them to snap later.
• There's a LOT of trial and error. See that wooden sheet on the bottom left of the picture? I found these great paper-weight wooden sheets at a local scrapbook store and tried stamping on them with Memento ink – it did not work. The longer it sat, the more the ink bled into the wood. It was a mess. I love Memento ink, but Staz-On worked much better on these wood sheets. Just remember, you can't use Staz-On with your Copics – it will ruin the nibs.
• And, finally, as I use a product, I keep it in a little pile to the side and then write down the names of all the products so I can share them with you all. I usually don't put them away as I use them, because, you know, that slows the flow. But, being the Virgo I am, I'm pretty particular about putting everything back in it's place when the whole project is done.

For this card, I really only colored Peepsta's skin and hat and Pillow's body – the rest was all cut from pieces of the Pink Paislee 365 paper and wood sheets. Here are the Copics I used and the rest of the recipe.

• Embellishments – Button from Stampin' Up!'s Button Bouquet
• Fibers: Household string
• Ink – Memento Tuxedo Black; Copics, Staz-on Jet Black 
• Paper – ; Neenah, PrisIm, Pink Paislee 365, Kraft, Wood sheets
• Stamp: Eat Cake Graphics Summer Camp cling stamp set
• Tools: Nestabilities

I love, love these Eat Cake Graphics images. Be forewarned – I have several I'm itching to ink up. And, if you're in a summer frame of mind, stay tuned to the Paper Garden Projects blog – Cathy has lots of fun sizzling projects lined up for June.

Peepsta is one of Caitlin's many nick names for her Dad. The girl has nicknames for all of us. Bebo, Ben-Jamin and Bennies for Ben; Mumster or LMac for me. And her dog, Pillow, becomes Pilsby, Pillow-pup, Piddy . . . We have our own family vocabulary of McClain-isms – it's just crazy fun.

Pillow loves, loves the water, and Tom (a.k.a. Peepsta) loves canoeing (well, we do, really). Caitlin wanted to try out a new water camera before taking it to Costa Rica, so Tom and Pillow were happy to run to the lake with her this last weekend.

I used this fun sketch from CardPatterns, Sketch 67.

Crazy for Challenges, C4C40, asked us to use pleates. I've been wanting to try these forever.

I have so much more to tell you about this card – but it's past my bedtime . . . really, late. We've been so busy getting ready for our move to Waco and Caitlin's move to Costa Rica – I'll just have to tell you the rest tomorrow.

Night . . .

I dearly love the state of Texas,
but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults.
           – Molly Ivins (1944-2007), Texan and Political Commentator

I'm happier than a gopher in soft dirt to be part of Libby Hickson's Texas Tuesday. We're making Texas themed cards on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, and, if it makes your wild hair blow, you can join in, too. Just visit Libby's blog, Libby's Little Addiction, and she'll tell you how you can be part of the Cowgirl Roundup at the end of the month.

You can follow the links below to sit a spell and howdy to Libby's other Texas Tues-Steppin' gals and guy:

Geeta Suggs at The Crafty Engineer 
Shannan Teubner at Pink Tulle with Feathers and Sequins
Betty Schaub at Scrapped Into a Friendzy
Mark Jetton at Deadbeat Designs

One of the perks of my job as a nursing home surveyor is that I get to visit some terrific small Texas towns. A few weeks ago, I was in Llano, about 80 miles west of Austin. It's known as the "Deer Capital of Texas," but I like Llano more for the scrumptious ribs at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Q and yummy cookies at Berry Street Bakery. Oh my!

I found these treasures at a fun store in downtown Llano, Whimseys Antiques.

Yep, I used the package from the sewing pattern to make my card. You can see I didn't have to distress it at all!

The sketch is from Card Pattern Sketch 62 – although you may barely recognize it in my card since I moved the sketch around a bit.

Don't you just love that stamp, "Whatever Makes your Wild Hair Blow?" It's from Texan Mark Jetton's Deadbeat Designs collection of Cowgirl stamps. You can find Mark and his stamps at Stamp Salado about 40 miles north of Austin.

What?! No Copics markers? Not this time, but here's the rest of the recipe.

• Embellishments – A button from my Mom's button jar; Bazill Half the Edge die-cut border; Prima flowers
• Fibers: May Arts Ribbon, DMC embroidery floss
• Ink – Tim Holz Distress Inks (Faded jeans, Tea Die and Scattered Straw)
• Paper – Wright Designs (Quilt), Basic Grey Basic White Paper Pad, Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry card stock
• Stamp: Deadbeat Designs
• Tools: Nestabilities
• Misc.: Vintage Simplicity sewing pattern

Hope ya'll enjoy your Texas travels – come back soon.

Have you figured out yet that I'm obsessed with Mo's Digital Pencil images? I can't seem to get enough. They're whimsical, poignant, funny . . . well, you can find an image for just about any mood you want to set. This one makes me just want to pinch those delicious chubby cheeks.

When I was a little girl I was constantly pulling at the corner of my eyes trying to convince my eyes to look like pretty China doll eyes. Don't laugh. I was convinced it would work, and, hey, I wasn't much older than this little baby girl. When I saw the Copic Creations Challenge this week was to create Ethnic Skin Tones(Challenge No. 20), I knew I wanted to take a stab at creating Asian skin tones. Well, okay, I'm not sure I succeeded, because my China doll doesn't look much different from my baby girl. Oh well, at least I gave it a stab. 

Here are the markers I used for the China doll (YR0000, YR00 and YR61 for her skin).

And here are the markers I used for the baby girl (E0000, E00 and E21 for her skin).

If you want a better idea of markers to use on Asian and other ethnic skin tones, be sure to check out the challenge; there are links for some great ideas and tutorials.

Once again, I really went to town mixing up challenges. They're just so much fun and they're such a great jumping off point for designing. I used the sketch from the Card Patterns Challenge #48.

And, I got my color theme from Mo herself, at Mo's Bronte and Belle Challenge Blog, Challenge #15.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot . . . here's the card!

• Fibers: Stampin' Up! Satin Ribbon
• Ink – Copic Markers (see above)
• Paper – Stampin' Up! cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, and elegant Eggplant. Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper in Almost Amethyst. Neenah Classic Crest Solar White.
• Stamps: Mo's Digital Image I Love It CG
• Tools: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Before I leave you, I have some very exciting, Stop-the-Presses news to share. One, is just a hint to stay tuned next week for a big ole' fun announcement. Oooo, that's just a tease, but that's all you get for now. 

The other news I have for you is that the Catty Cruise Line has weighed anchor again. The Catty Cruise is a blog hop of some of the most amazing paper craft artists highlighting the latest Stampin' Up! catalogs (aka Catty's). You will not want to miss seeing their beautiful creations – they're stunning. They're also very sweet and dear friends of mine, so be sure to leave them some love (comments), and tell them Linda sent ya.

You can jump on to the Catty Cruise at their home port, here, or just click on the icon below.

Anchors Away!