The card is nice, but how about an M-Audio 1010LT instead? It'll save you $220, and since you will mostly be recording things one at a time anyway, even this will be overkill. But, to each his own.
I say screw the outboard compressors and other gear. Spend your money on a good sequencing software, preferrably Sonar 3, and it's not just me, and use software-based DXI and VSTI compressors, maximizers, limiters, EQ's etc. etc. etc. For the $220 I saved you on your soundcard, you can almost get Sonar3 Producer off of Ebay new.
Next, I'd decide exactly how you are going to record. Does your footpedals allow you to record direct, or are you going to mic your amp? If you are going to mic your amp, get yourself a Shure SM57. This mic is good for basically anything. It's not the BEST at everything, but it will do. There is a different mic DistortedRumble mentioned in a different thread when he gives his low-cost "pro" setup. You could go with that too.
Now that you have a soundcard, a mic, and great software, it's just about time to record, and I bet you have PLENTY of cash left over from the original $1200. I would suspect you are planning on mixing the songs at home. If that is the case, monitors would be the next thing I purchase. You can't mix it if you can't hear it. Yorkville YSM1p's or
M-Audio BX-8's are about the lowest I would go pricewise.
So, that just might eat up your $1200. Any cash left over, I would put towards a good condenser mic. You don't want ALL of your vocals recorded on the 57 do you? Maybe you do. It works great for a lot of folks, but a good(price performance) condenser would be my next purchase.
As I see it, your whole budget will be driven by what you get Sonar for off of Ebay, ""or elsewhere""
if you choose to go that route.
The last thing I would get is room treatment. Not that it's last in importance, because it is important in order to mix properly, but playing/singing/recording is just more fun.
