It's the *Happiest* of Birthdays :)

Hi, friends!  

Today is a very *happy* day ~ it happens to be my birthday today :)

But most importantly, a few days ago we received some much anticipated news that brought us to our knees with gratitude and relief.  While it's not 100% what we'd hoped for, it was a ruling out of a lot of scary to rule in a lot more 'treatable'.  Praising God and giving Him all the glory!

And that is one of the BEST gifts a mommy could ever, ever hope for -

I'm humbled and thankful!

AND...  the 28th of the month is also the day the Calendar Girls post our monthly theme creations ~  our hostess is Tami - Miss March.

And did she ever give us a challenge - 

one that had me scrambling my creative little legs off ;)

Here is her challenge for us: 

 MARCH 2013 CHALLENGE

Um, I hope I do not hurt anyone's feelings here but we are all a little bit of paper hoarders!!! 

Well, we are going to have to give up the security blanket for March. I would like to see your best created card with NO designer paper. *gasp*.....*thud* {I think J just hit the floor}.

So go ahead and grab your 'old school stamps' - yep, like a set you have not used in years - and create a card for the Calendar Girls.

Oh, and let's try to keep in theme with 'use what'cha got', please no new purchases for this round. Use what'cha got...well, everything but designer paper that is!

I cannot wait to see what my friends come up with. It is always something to look forward to!

Whew!  No dsp?  Eeek!  What's a layer-it-up, love-my-designer-paper gal to do?!  Embrace the challenge :)  I was so inspired to try the "no dsp" that I made not one, but two cards!

Since this is the 'LINY year', and I'm following 

the MCC "use every stamp" challenge, I said to myself  "Self .. 

continue using stamps that haven't gotten to play and play along with new card challenges - it's a win/win!"

So first up, Happy Birthday Card #1 ~

I saw a similiar card while blurfing around awhile back -  please see the artist's original card here!  I went with a similiar layout - changing up to just one rounded corner and the stamp use and changed the colors to suit ones I wanted to play along with for the new ColorQ challenge.  My stamp - oh me oh my, I've had this for at least 6+ years and inked up the Happy Birthday stamp in this Alphabet Soup set.

 I'm tickled with how it turned out and absolutely plan to make a few of these in a couple of different colors :)  Next up, continuing along with the theme ~

 Happy Birthday card #2:

I went straight for Rich Razzleberry and inked up a Stampendous clear stamp set.  I used the balloon stamps and added 'to you' from the set.  This card made me just laugh and laugh.  I fussed over it longer than I would a card that had multiple layers and dimensions.  I actually added a ribbon after the fact and a few kaiser pearls scattered about and then convinced myself that CAS is okay - really, you'll be fine!  So I took it all back off and well, here it is ~ finished, at least!  I was inspired by the SCS CAS213 Limited Supplies Challenge: Use ONLY line stamps (NO solid ones!) *does not include your sentiment.

Tami, thank you for this fabulous challenge this month!

I enjoyed it so very much as I do all challenges 

but learned that yes, I adore my layers of DSP! :)

Please check out the rest of the Calendar Girls DT blogs 

in my sidebar and see what they've made this month.

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card #1:  Entered into:  Color Q #182  challenge
CCEE Stampers - Oldies but Goodies stamps