The Outlawz Greetings "CASE the DT" Challenge/Merrilyn's Birthday Card

Our sponsor this month is Bugaboo Stamps. 

We are challenging you to CASE a card made by an Outlawz DT member and then change 2 or more things about it on your own card. I found this challenge to be extremely difficult. There were so many cards I loved that it was hard to pick only one to CASE. In the end I chose a card by Carla Suto as you can see below. I will describe what I modified after I give you a few more photos of our trip to Hawaii.

But first, I want to take this opportunity to thank Lady Anne of Cards by Lady Anne for allowing me to participate as a DT member on her Anything Goes Challenge group for the past several months. Lady Anne has decided to close down that particular challenge group; however, she still has four other challenge groups at this location, so be sure to check them out if you haven't already done so.

And now I return to our road trip around the Big Island. We had just finished photographing Waipi'o Valley from the overlook and had returned to our old fogies' van. Next we headed westward across the island from the eastern shore to the western one. We had to drive through Waimea again, so we stopped there for lunch. We thought we would eat at Merriman's, but as luck would have it, they were closed for lunch on Saturdays. So we ate next door at a tiny pizza place, called Pau, that was recommended as well. It mainly does pizza, but I didn't want pizza, so I opted for the Superfood Salad, which had wonderful ingredients: quinoa, brown rice, edamame, grapes, feta, spiced nuts, and a champagne vinaigrette over mixed greens. In theory, this should have been awesome. It would have been too, if there had been more than a thimbleful of dressing on the salad. It was really dry and, honestly, a little hard to swallow all the greens. Big dummy here didn't ask for more dressing. I should have. I didn't mention it until I was finished with my meal--serves me right. The waitress said everyone had been asking for more salad dressing, so the "chef" obviously needed a little education on the art of making salads. Gary, the smart-aleck, had pizza and seemed very happy with his meal.

So, off we went again, over to the west coast and down it to downtown Kailua-Kona. I wanted to see King Kamehameha's last home, his personal temple, (Ahu'ena Heiau). You can photograph it, but it is closed for public viewing.

And then there was this strange dude taking photos at the same place I was. The nerve!

I wanted to tour the Hulihe'e Palace, which is now a museum, but we were too late in the afternoon for that. So I contented myself with a couple of photos:

At the north end of the palace grounds is a seawall and small inlet. Gary spotted a turtle there, which I managed to photograph, both with him under the water and popping his head out of it. (The turtle, not Gary.) This was certainly a turtle week for us! Can you see him in the water in the last two photos? I thought I caught such a cute head shot in the second photo--you may need to click on the picture so you can see his sweet little face.

We stopped in at Splasher's Grill for a Mai Tai, because we heard they made good ones. Not so much. Not super terrible. Just not memorable at all. The hostess had seated us at a table where the sun was blazing down. I couldn't sit there--I am such a delicate flower, after all--so Gary got us moved to the bar. We watched a bit of playoff football beamed in from the mainland and talked with some kids from Seattle. They, of course, were so happy about their Seahawks, while Gary and I were a bit embarrassed about the Cards. Long-suffering fans, we are. Maybe next year. Or the year after that. Or, whatev.

We did walk around town a bit before heading back to the Lotus Cafe for some more fabulous Thai food. Gary said we had to stop there again. And so it was. This time he had a glass of their fabulous Thai iced tea, too. Wish a restaurant here could make it the same way, but that's not very likely. I honestly cannot remember what we had for dinner that night; I just know we really enjoyed it and wished that we could return. But they are closed on Sundays and we were leaving Monday afternoon.

Sunday found us needing to do laundry. And what do you know? Gary offered to do it while he read by the pool, (which was right next to the laundry facilities at the Sheraton). Hey, I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I said, cool beans and let him. (Please don't tell him I called him a gift horse.) Yes, I let him, with some pointed instructions, of course. 

So I spent a good deal of the day reading--which was so blissful--out on our lanai, listening to the waves. I also went to a general seating area at the front of the hotel, so that I could look at the ocean from a different perspective. I had my little camera with me--good thing--and saw a couple of manta rays feeding just offshore. Wish I had had my good camera, because I could have zoomed in better, but I was tickled to get a few photos anyway. The first photo shows you how far away I was. The others are zoomed views:

Don't you just love that blue, blue water? Oh, my....

The Sheraton encourages the rays to come feed here by turning spotlights on the water at night. That draws plankton to the area and that's what the rays feed on. There are nightly dive groups that go down to photograph the rays feeding. But, I was surprised to see them feeding here in the daytime, too!

We decided to try the Sheraton's wine tasting in the lobby that night. It was our last night there, and the only opportunity, so...you know we had to, right? The wines were really pretty good, especially for $2.50 a taste. Gary got two reds and I got two whites and we tried each other's. 'Cuz that's how we roll. Us old folks.

Grumpy Gary:

Happier Gary:

Happiest Gary:

And, yours truly, with a red neck and a chubby face, but happy nonetheless:

After our little wine tasting we decided to check out downtown Kona at night. We took a few photos with my trusty little camera. And, fyi, I tried to get Gary to buy the hat, but he refused. I do love that picture of him in it! He reminds me of the golfer Ian Poulter. An older version, of course, but still...

So, after checking out the shops & galleries that were open we went to Kenichi Pacific for some of the best Japanese food I have ever eaten! OMWord! I wish there was a branch here in the Phoenix area, but the closest to us is in Aspen, or we could go to Dallas or Austin. Yeah, right. I had the best miso soup, and then wonderful mac nut salad and firecracker shrimp! Ahhhh, so, so good!

That brings me to the last day on the island, which was Monday, January 14. And I will save that for my next post.

On to my CASE'd card. I changed more than two things: the card shape, the colors & papers, the sentiment, the flower & flourish, the border die cut, and I added an extra flourish.

I used the same image: Mo's Digital Pencil Party Girl. I printed her on Make It Colour Blending Card and then colored her with my Copics: YG91, YG93, YG95, E000, E00, E11, E50 E53, E57, R20, V000, V12, V15, C00, C0. I added Copic Spica to her glass, jewelry, shoes, fingernails, and lips. I printed my Create with TLC sentiment on MICBC also. I die cut both pieces and sponged Stampin' Up ink around their edges. 

My DP is from the Basic Grey Plumeria collection, which I paired with Bazzill CS. My die-cut flower has a SU brad holding it together. The dies I used to make this card are: Cheery Lynn Embellishment #1, CL Daisy Strip, CL Polynesian Sails Oval Doily, MFT Double Scallop Border, Magnolia Doohickey Flourish, and Spellbinders Labels 10 and 20. That's it: Merrilyn's Birthday Card.

I want to thank Carla Suto for such a fabulous card for inspiration. You are one talented lady, Carla! Sending you big hugs!

Be sure to check out the wonderful cards made by my teamies this week! And please, join us in the fun. See you on The Outlawz!

Here is the one I decided to try by Carla:

And here is mine: