Just Because

I created a card for a few different challenges. Not for anyone special, but just because I wanted to make something. I had this brainstorm after looking at the challenge possibilities. Don't have one of those. Brainstorms, that is. They hurt. And I now lean a bit to the left. Of course, that could also be a result of my left leg being somewhat shorter than my right. Which is a real problem for me when I buy pants, because they are usually a little too long for my right leg (I am short, after all) and way too long for my left leg. I am digressing again, aren't I? Sorry.

Before I go through all my thoughts about this card, (which aren't many since the brainstorm fried my left hemisphere--or was it my right?), I wanted to tell you that we met some old friends for dinner last night in Scottsdale. Well, old as in old, yes, but also old as in known for a long time, like 30 years or so. Which is probably longer than some of you have been on the planet. 

We hadn't seen Bob and Connie for a couple of years, I think. I can't remember for sure. That brainstorm again. Do yourself a favor and don't have one. Mush, I'm telling you. My brain has turned to mush. Anyway, we met them at Eddie's House. It was Eddie's birthday yesterday. And he was celebrating by doing a buy one entree, get one free. And he wasn't even in the country. He was somewhere else celebrating his birthday. What's up with that? Oh, that's Eddie Matney, for those of you who don't know about Eddie's House. This is the second of Eddie's restaurants that we have visited. And it is just as good as the first one we went to, which was called Eddie Matney's.

Do you want to know what I ate? Too bad. I'm going to tell you anyway. We started with some really good cracker bread. Then we ventured into some edamame, which wasn't your standard soybeans covered in salt. These were marinated in some soy sauce and other goodies that I couldn't identify due to that brainstorm. But they were really yummy. Then I had a bowl of lobster bisque, which I try everywhere I can. It was OK, but not to die for. However, my entree of scallops with sweet potato, green onion hash, Bleu cheese and autumn melon relish was. To die for. Oh, so, so tasty. And free! Actually, I think Gary's was free, since my dish was more expensive than his halibut, which he loved. But who cares? You don't, I'm sure. Even I don't. I'm just glad I got the scallops. They were worth every penny. No pun intended. 

We ended the meal with the special birthday dessert. It was a cherry turnover covered with vanilla bean ice cream and the most amazing caramel sauce. Oh, my! I had to share that with Gary, but he let me have the biggest part of it, like he always does. Great way to end the meal. And the meal took about four hours. It was very leisurely. Just the way I like it. We had so much fun catching up with Bob and Connie--so very much to talk about and laugh over. We shared a couple of bottles of wine, which was just right for the four of us over the four hours. Not enough to get us inebriated. Good thing, too, because when we got on the freeway we saw cops everywhere we looked. What the heck? I have never seen so many squad cars on the freeway, unless there was an accident. And it isn't a holiday weekend. So I am not sure what was going on, but at least they weren't after us. Or my brainstorm.

Which brings me back to my card. OK, so 7 Kids College Fund Shaped Card Challenge gave me the idea for a shaped card. And it's been a long time since I've done a Magnolia image, so I thought I would find one to color. I picked Soccer Edwin, to go with the Midweek Magnolias The Olympics Challenge. That's when I hurt my brain with the brilliant idea to make the shaped card a soccer ball. Ooooh, that hurt. I found the soccer image by Kate Pullen and sized it to fit a Spellbinders Grand Oval 5-3/4" die. At least I think that's the size I used. Remember, mush, people, my brain is mush. I have no idea why I did an easel card. Must have thought it would look cool.

So I found a couple of other challenges that would fit this card. Crafty Ann's has a circles challenge--perfect. And Pixie Dust Studio has the Olympics as a challenge. Cool beans. Then The Outlawz CPC group has a Tic Tac Toe challenge, which I thought was fun. I chose the Ribbon, Die Cuts, and Buttons column of the grid to follow for this. I had planned to enter this into the Simon Says challenge, too, but then realized that totaled 6 challenges and Midweek Maggies will only allow 5. So I decided to drop Simon. I'm sure he'll be OK with that. 

OK, so I have set the stage for this card. I stamped Edwin on Cryogen CS with Memento ink. I printed the Create with TLC sentiment and the soccer balls on Stampin' Up CS, which I also used for the card base and the die cuts. Different colors, of course. Goes without saying. But I said it anyway. Pffffft. The dies I used were: Spellbinders Grand Circles and Classic Circles, Memory Box tree, and MFT grass and clouds. I added some SU ribbon and buttons from my stash. I colored the image with my Copics (imagine that!): G40, G43, G46, C00, C0, C2, C3, C7, E0000, E000, E00, E11, E13, E25, E27, E29, E49. I added a bit of accents with a white gel pen. And that's it. That's what caused my mush. 

Here's hoping that never happens again. Because I don't have much brain left to work with. 

Sister update:  Merrilyn's physical therapist told her to ditch the walker--she wasn't using it anyway. She was just pushing it around. And she could bend her robo knee 92 degrees on Thursday, a mere 9 days post-op. Which is really ahead of schedule--so good on her, hey? :^) 

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!