Best Present Ever and A Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge

Ta da! It's my workspace. I think this may be the first and only photo I've ever taken of it while working on a project. Please note the orange-handled scissors which were sent to me a few years ago by one of the lead Fiskateers. They're still sharp and highly functional. The scissors, I mean. Not the lead Fiskateers, though I suppose it could be said about them also. :)

And what was I working on? Lo! It is a card I made for this week's Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge.
I love their digital stamps, especially the ones with this Airdale Terrier guy. It's neat to see some dog stamps that aren't poodles or doxies. Nothing against poodles and dauchunds, but they always steal the show. The challenge theme this time was flocking, so on this card I used some light blue flocking on the shopping bag and wreath. I used some red glitter on the opposing lines on the bag just for contract. I actually printed the wreath in green which I was totally psyched about because I know nothing about how to do that kind of thing. I essentially stumbled arount Paint until I got it to turn green. I doubt I could tell you *how* I did it, but the point is, I did. So there! :)

Sooo, I was having fun with the challenge and decided to make a second card, same rules. The image is, again, a Shirley's 2 Girls one. I can never resist a mouse. This time I used Doodlebug red flocking, which, incidently is the darn finest flocking I have yet found. No, I'm not being reimbursed for saying so in any way shape or form (though I'm totally open to it, Doodlebug ;)). It's less clumpy than other brands which affords a lot more control and makes it stick a whole lot better. The other kind had to be coaxed into sticking and despite re-applying 3 or so times, never did give the nice opaque look that Doodlebug did. As far as your standard fuzzy flock goes, this stuff rocks my world.

So, what is the BEST present ever? Apparently it's this sheet of wrapping paper. My friend Jen, her daughter Vivi, and Pete the husband/dad brought over a slew of neat presents that were big hits with Scott and I, but if you go by the numbers, this got more immediate use by more members of our family than any other gift. Here, Usagi uses it as a tent, which she hung out in the whole time they were there. Later she left it, briefly to inspect something in the kitchen, then hopped right back on the couch and into her tent again.

When I got tired of sharing the couch with a tent, along came Weezee, who decided to camp out beside the coffee table.

And later, the tent proved to be magnificently fun to destroy. So very versatile! If you don't have a wrapping paper tent under your tree this year, your pets could be missing out.