The Outlawz Friday Coloring "Anything Goes/Christmas Twist" Challenge

OK, so everybody can enter this one. It is an AG with a Christmas Twist, if you like. How easy-peasy! I certainly hope you find an image you love, hand-color it with any medium you choose, and add it to your project to enter our challenge this week!

We are sponsored this month by Sweet Pea Stamps, which houses a wonderful collection of fabulous artists and stamps! Be sure to check out the shop, but allow time for it--it takes a while to ooh and ah over all the fabulous digis there. And our prize this month is your choice of three digis! Kewl.

When we last saw our heroine, (or Foodie Glutton, FG, for short), she was going to Roka Akor with her husband and friends. Alas, she has no photos for you, but she was not overly impressed with the place anyway. She had butterfish tataki, grilled barramundi, and rhubarb galette, which all sounded better than it tasted. The food was good, not great, so there is no need for a return visit. In her humble opinion...

However, our FG, (who wants to be known as a heroine, but don't let her fool you), was able to go to other restaurants worthy of mention.

First of all, the night after Roka Akor, there was a memorable trip to La Pizzeta, in Scottsdale, with FG's hubby, (Gary), sister, (Merrilyn), and BIL, (Ron). It is a unique place, as the owner also offers cooking classes next door to the restaurant--and the cooking kitchen/dining area is larger than the actual restaurant. Weird, right? Anyway, the pizzas were fabulous! Great, flavorful ingredients and an outstanding crust! Speaking of fabulous, so was the first-course caprese salad and the yummy cauliflower appetizer. Worth another trip up there, although the place is 41 miles from FG's house. So it probably won't become a weekly hangout. (FG was really incompetent when it came to taking photos this week!) 

The following night FG, her hubby, and another set of friends tried out Fuego Bistro in Phoenix. Another long-haul, (40 miles, but who cares during Restaurant Week). This is such a darling place. Looks like an old house, which is tucked back into a side street, so you would never know it was there. Unless you did. (Somehow that doesn't make as much sense written out as it did in my head.) The main seating area is outside on a large, rambling brick patio area. The patio is enclosed on the sides, so it gets shelter from the sun, for the most part. Not sure how much fun it would be to eat there in the heat of the summer, but they do have portable heaters for the cooler months in winter. The night FG was there, the weather was absolutely perfect for eating outside.

There was an almost obscene amount of food presented for the appetizer and the entree platters, which were shared by two people. But I think FG would have consumed even more of it than she did, if her stomach had not run out of room. A great tasting sampler of: empanada, salmon croquette, Cubano slider, veggie tostada, pernil asado, pasta with chorizo and chicken, tortilla-crusted tilapia, jalapeno creamed corn, chipotle cheddar mashed potatoes, and organic green beans. Then, huge desserts were served to share also: ancho chocolate chile torte and chocolate-chip horchata bread pudding, both served with chocolate malted crunch ice cream. Good grief. FG was about ready to burst. She let her friends take home the left-overs. But she will return. And soon, she hopes, because the food was all fantastic! (Best go again before it gets too hot!) Again, FG was more concerned with her stomach than your eyes, so no photos. Sorry...

There was time for one last Restaurant Week visit. So, FG, Gary, and another set of friends, chose Urban Vine in Phoenix for that last hurrah. What a hurrah it was. (It is almost next to FG's house, being a mere 35 miles away!) First of all, the restaurant is a MOD creation--Michael O'Dowd. For those of you who don't know, MOD established Kai as the premier 5-star, 5-diamond restaurant in the state of Arizona. His legacy there continues, but he wanted new challenges in his culinary adventures. He left Kai and tried another concept at Renegade by MOD, but that didn't go over so well--too adventurous for the neighborhood he picked. Closing up shop, he moved across town from Scottsdale to Phoenix...

Urban Vine is a much simpler presentation of food in yet another old Phoenix house--which has been home to other restaurants before MOD's version. But none could have been any better. That's because the place is quaint and eclectic, the service was very good, and the food was outstanding! FG forgot, once again, to photograph what she ate, but it was incredibly delicious. And paired to perfection with wines that the server chose. The first course was luscious Gazpacho, wonderfully-seasoned, served in a jar with yummy shrimp and chunks of tomato. The second course was an unbelievably fragrant, (also perfectly-seasoned), paella--which had been cooked in a bag. There was one sweet, tender jumbo shrimp, and plenty of tender, flaky fish in an incredible sauce with scrumptious rice. As a point of fact, FG ate every. single. grain. of. rice. And everything else that was not shrimp shell in the bowl. She probably would have licked the bowl clean, except Gary was eyeballing her to make sure she didn't. (He knows her too well.) To finish the meal, FG had the brownie dessert, which was a chocoholic's dream. It was moist, chewy, chocolaty, sweet, and sat on a cloud of whipped cream with strawberries. Mmm, mmm, good! (But again, no photos--just use your imagination.)

So I will give you three guesses whether or not FG will return to Urban Vine, (and the first two guesses don't count). Oh, my, yes, yes, yes...

Enough about FG. (She only cares about stuffing her face, anyway. So uncouth.)

As a matter of fact, after all the good eating that was done last week, we decided to go back to Citizen Public House with our dinner club this Saturday. Remember, I said it was tough to be me. Or FG. Whatever.

Hope I made you all as hungry as I am after describing all that fantastic food. Before I go feed my face, here is a recap of my AG card this week.

I did use the Christmas twist to make another card for the holidays. (I must have all of two or three now, at least. HELP!) My Sweet Pea Stamps image is the beautiful Holly, by Rebecca Sinz. I printed her on X-Press It BC and colored her with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E01, E11

Hair: E50, E53, E57

Eyes: YG93, YG99, W00, W3, W5

Holly: YG93, YG95, YG97, YG99

Berries: E02, E19, E18

I wanted Holly to be the focal point of the card, so I added very little to my Stampin' Up CS: DP from the Simple Stories Handmade Holiday collection, some Frantage, and two die cuts, made with Cheery Lynn dies: Snowflake #2 and Holly Corner. That's about it.

Do check out the fabulous creations by my very talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen! Then, color up something and play along with us, won't you?

Have a great weekend! (I have to go eat now.)

The Outlawz Friday Coloring "Music" Challenge

Oooh, this is an easy one this week! Just color an image with the medium of your choice on your project, which is to reflect music in some aspect: musical instruments, sheet music, or song lyrics. As you can see, I hit both the instruments, sheet music DP, and even some notes. And I used a darling pixie image by the fabulous Sweet Pea Stamps, (our sponsor this month, with a prize of 3 digis). It is called Musical Pixie and was drawn by Karen Middleton.

Before I get into the deets on my card, I have to shout out the fantastic news: THE BIRDIES HAVE FLOWN THE COOP! Yes, dear readers, my patio is now nest-free, with much birdie do-do cleaned up, and I am so relieved to have my backyard back! (Of course, the babies still hang around a bit on our furniture, but less each day, so I am hoping they will find new homes soon!) Can you see me smiling? (Well, probably not, because I am a shy, endangered species, who hates having her picture taken. Kind of like the abominable snowman. Only less hairy.)

Note: I wrote the above paragraph before noticing that the parents are back trying to build a new nest. I will definitely let Gary keep knocking the nests down. The birds will have to give up sooner or later, (I hope). I blame the crazy cool weather we have been having for extending the nesting season beyond the norm here. Big heavy sigh...

So. This is still Restaurant Week, and we tried another new place, (to us), in Scottsdale on Monday night. Citizen Public House. OMG! Were we ever tickled! The drink menu is so creative, (I had The Beast--so good!), the food was fabulous, and the service was terrific! Score!!! We will certainly go back. It started with their house special salad, which is unlike any salad I have ever had, but I really loved it and would go back for that alone! It had Israeli couscous, sweet dried corn, smoked salmon, asiago, pepitas, tomatoes, currants, and arugula with a basil-ranch dressing. OMG! And I forgot to take a photo, but here is one from their Facebook page:

You just mix it all together when you get it, and it is the most delightful combination of flavors and textures I have ever had in a salad. If you get a chance to try it, I bet you'll love it, too!

Then I opted for the scallop main dish, which was a combination of pan-seared scallops, Hampshire bacon, roasted corn grits, wilted snow pea greens, and cola gastrique. Pure heaven. The scallops tasted fresh and were cooked to perfection!

I finished my meal with the Pig in the Orchard: an apple-bacon bread pudding, with maple ice cream, blueberry sauce and blueberry-maple streusel. It was really delicious, but I had a bite of Gary's dessert, the Peanut Butter Strata Bar, which was even better than mine.  His dessert had white chocolate ice cream, strawberry jam, and peanut butter crunch, (a real kicked-up-a-notch Reese's peanut butter cup). So I would opt for that on our next visit, because there has to be a next visit at some point. I love this place. Here are photos of both desserts:

I still say, it's hard to be me. Snicker...

I would tell you what we ate last night at Roka Akor, but I wrote this piece before we went, so I really have no idea. (I hope I remember to take photos, so I can share that meal with you, too.) Yes, this week is an eating vacation. In lovely weather. Who could ask for anything more? Me. I want the ocean, too. That's all this week needs to be picture-perfect. Sigh...

Okey dokey. Time to get to my card for the week. As I said, I used Musical Pixie. I printed him on X-Press It BC, then colored him with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E01, E11 (new combo for me)

Hair: Y23, YR23, E25

Shirt: YR61, YR65, YR68

Pants: E51, E53, E55

Wings/Boots: YG91, YG93, YG95

I added some Star Dust Stickles to his wings and some Frantage Shabby White to the background. Then I mounted him on Stampin' Up CS and Prime Lyric DP. I added a bit of ribbon and some musical notes made with an MFT Musical Notes die--makes sense, right? 

And that's all she wrote. Mostly. Please check out the fab inspiration by my talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen! Fun stuff! We'd love to see what you come up with! Oh, and one mention about The Outlawz. Yes, it is a closed group, and you have to join in order to post to the challenges, (we have a different challenge every day of the week). But it costs nothing to join, and it is a great group of people! I have been a DT member for almost three years now, and it feels like home. So do join if you haven't already! And then play along, won't you?

Have a great week!

Path of Positivity Midway Reminder Challenge #26: Perseverance

Well, I am learning a perseverance lesson as I speak. And it begins with this ditty from my childhood:

Birdie, birdie, up in sky,

Drop some whitewash in my eye.

Me no care, me no cry,

Me just glad elephants don't fly.

Yes, we have enough birdie poop on our deck and patio to make me crazy. But I shall wait, and wait, and wait some more for our baby birdies to fly the coop. For good. If I just give it enough time, they will go find new homes for themselves, and we can recapture our backyard for ourselves. I will persevere in this without losing my mind. Completely. (And I know I don't have far to go for that to happen, so there.) 

We have had the craziest weather. Temperatures going up and down. Rain and wind. You'd think this was March instead of May. Hopefully, the weather will warm up our pool about the same time that the birdies leave our yard. And then we can go swimming, finally. Cray-cray. (Is that a word?)

Well, I chose a darling image for this mid-month posting: Dee Dee's Digis Lemonade Stand Girl. My sentiment is also from that set. I know I have heard this phrase for years, but it really does fit the standard for perseverance in my mind's eye. Keep on keeping on, hey? Make the best of a bad situation and you will persevere. Like with waiting for my birdies to leave...

I printed this little girl on X-Press It BC and colored her with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04, R20

Hair: YR14, YR18, E08, E18

Stand: E40, E42, E44, E47

Lemons: Y11, Y13, Y15, Y18

Cup/Bowl: YG91, YG93, YG95

Dress/Hairbands: BG70, BG72, BG75

I took my palette from the Basic Grey PB&J collection, although I opted for making a very CAS card without DP. The image/sentiment combo is mounted on Bazzill Kraft CS. 

I think I mentioned that this is Restaurant Week in Phoenix. And Gary and I are going to a few restaurants we have never tried--ones that have good reviews on various sites. We are going to have an eating frenzy this week. But we decided to do this rather than a trip to southern Arizona for the wine festival. I know, I know. We chose eating over drinking--what were we thinking? We were thinking that we had enough wine in our wine cooler to last us a while. And we wanted to try some new cuisine. So we let our hunger overrule our thirst. Does that even make sense? Not even in a cray-cray way???

So last night we went to Nobuo at Teeter House in downtown Phoenix. First of all, the restaurant is in a tiny house in the Heritage Square district. The house was built in 1899, and all the rooms are LITTLE. But so cute! We had the most fabulous meal! And I was so hungry I completely forgot to take photos, darn it! Suffice it to say, that was our first visit to Nobuo, but hopefully, will not be our last! We had a seafood bento box that was just scrumptious, with wonderful rice, a yummy green salad, sashimi (tuna), roasted sea bass, and a soft-shell crab salad. This was after a fab appetizer plate of charred cauliflower, roasted artichoke, picked radish, and roasted Japanese eggplant. We had our meal with a delightful glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and then finished the meal with dessert and green tea. I had a super-moist walnut cake. Gary had a rhubarb panna cotta. We left pleasantly full and gushing about how good the service and the food was. Yes, yes, it's hard to be me. As far as the other restaurants we want to visit, stay tuned...

The sponsors and prizes for this challenge are:

• A $10 gift certificate from Ike's Art, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• A $25 gift certificate from Deedee's Digis, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight. 

There will also be:

• One digital designer paper (made to order in a couple different ways) from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Be sure to check out all the wonderful creations by my talented teammates and our guest designers from each team! And then submit your entry for our Perseverance challenge. Please include in your blog post how your entry reflects our theme!

Have a wonderful week!

The Outlawz Friday Coloring "Color/Photo Inspiration" Challenge and Wendy's Birthday Card

Well, I'm back, hopefully with a little more chatter than last week. Golly, that was a short post for me. I felt incomplete all week, just knowing I was depriving you all of my wit and wisdom...yeah, right.

But I do feel so much better. Of course, I did have to develop a new cold sore on Monday, which makes three this year so far. What the heck? I have no earthly idea.

And then I awoke Tuesday to a message from my credit card company, saying there was a fraud alert on my account. Oh, goodie. And, yes, some numbskull was using my card to charge a few hundred dollars at places I have never even heard of. So that card number was closed and they are sending me a new card, which should be here today. Joy...this is a first for me, but it has happened to Gary three times now. I guess credit account theft is big business, huh? Not sure how they got my number, but I suppose they hacked into something online. I wonder how old these thieves are. Do you suppose they are teenage Einsteins? Or career criminals? Inquiring minds want to know...

Anyway, the end of the week seems to be better than the beginning was, that's for sure! I would be ready for another vacation, but I would settle for some swim time in our pool. The crazy weather here has caused the pool temps to fluctuate so much that it is still chilly. And then there are the baby birdies. Yeah, remember the nest on our patio? Well, this bird couple managed to raise four, count 'em (4), babies, that are about to take flight. Not soon enough for Gary. We have tried to avoid being outside much, so we didn't disturb the growing family. It is time for them to leave the nest. They are cute little stinkers though, sitting up there flapping their wings. Wish they'd use them to fly the coop, so we could have our backyard and patio back. To say nothing of all that darned bird doo-doo that they are dropping on our travertine. It is getting stained. Sigh...

Well, aren't I chipper today though? Perhaps I should just go back to bed and try this over again. Nah. It would take far too much of my precious time. And I know how much you all love hearing me complain. I would hate to deprive you of that.

BTW, Gary and I did go out for dinner on our anniversary last Saturday. We went to The Dhaba, and had a delicious Indian meal. Yummy spinach dumplings, naan, a fabulous appetizer combo, and some wonderful chicken masala. Really great meal, washed down with their tasty Chai. Ahhh...now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Then on Sunday, our darling daughter took me to Ko'sin at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort for an out-of-this-world Mother's Day brunch. So reminiscent of the food at the 5-Star, 5-Diamond "Kai"--the restaurant upstairs at that same resort. Great food plated beautifully.

We started with a fabulous soup: Potato Leek with caramelized shallot, toasted sourdough, micro celery and truffle.

Our second course was a fantastic salad: Heirloom Tomato with charred sweet corn, Crow's Dairy goat cheese, zucchini, and crispy prosciutto.

For my main course, I chose scrumptious Dungeness Crab Benedict with avocado, heirloom tomato, spinach, soft poached eggs, and a roasted pepper Hollandaise.

I was full by this time, but still managed to finish my dessert course: a Lemon Tart with corn sable, Meyer lemon curd, poppy seed streusel, ricotta semifreddo, fresh berries, and basil. (Good thing I didn't have to take a drug test after eating the poppy seeds.)

Guess we raised our daughter right, if she would take her mama to such a place for Mother's Day, huh? Absolutely fabulous food, great service, and we even had a complimentary Mimosa. Ahhhh.....

And we have Restaurant Week starting tonight. It actually used to be a week, but now goes for 10 days. More time to pig out on wonderful meals. I don't know how many times we will go out. We are retired, after all. But I should hope we get to try a couple of new places that we have been wanting to visit. We shall see. I want to wait until next week, so that my lip is healed, and I don't look like Frankenstein's wife.

OK, on to our theme for this week. We are doing a Color/Photo Inspiration challenge once again and here is our color palette:

Pretty, isn't it? I had fun using another Sweet Pea Stamps image, by Joanne Schempp, called Dusty Rose. These colors just looked like they would work with this image.

And, remember, we are sponsored again this month by Sweet Pea Stamps, lucky you! A prize of 3 digis awaits our randomly-selected participant. You will have so much fun shopping for them!

I printed Dusty Rose on X-Press It BC, and colored her with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04, R20

Hair: E51, E53, E35

Hearts/Flowers: RV21, RV23, RV25

Beads/Leaves: BG70, BG72, BG75

Top/Tail: V12, V15, V17

(I have gone back to E04 and R20 for skin colors after experimenting with some other tones. I am still not completely happy with the results, but will just have to think on this for a while.) I chose DP from the Prima All About Me collection and paired it with Stampin' Up CS. Then I added some bling from my stash and called it a card. Well, a birthday card, actually, as it is going to Wendy, Gary's SIL, for her birthday at the end of the month.

I hope you will play along with us again this week! Do check out the fab inspiration by my very talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen! Then color up an image using our palette and any medium you wish for your entry! 

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

The Outlawz Friday Coloring Celebration Challenge/Angela's Mother's Day Card

This post is going to be historically short. I caught Gary's cold. 'Nuf said.

Our challenge this week is Celebration. This can be for any occasion. I chose Mother's Day, as I needed to make a card for our daughter, Angela. I am intending to feel well enough to go to the fabulous brunch she booked for us on Sunday...

Our sponsor this month is, happily, Sweet Pea Stamps. I have the greatest love for this wonderful shop. Do check out all the talented artists. Our lucky, randomly-drawn participant will win 3 digis from their amazing collection.

I chose to work with Sweet Pea Stamps Fireflies, by Janna Prosvirina. Love this image, which I printed on X-Press It BC and colored with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04, R20

Hair: E53, E35, E29

Wings: YR14, YR16, YR18, R81, R83, R85

Leaves: YG21, YG23, YG25

Dress: R81, R83, R85, YR14, YR16, YR18

Fireflies: YR20, YR21, YR23

I added some ribbon, DP from an old Basic Grey Gypsy collection, a WOC pin, Star Dust Stickles on the 'flies, and used Stampin' Up CS. 

As always, check out the fabulous inspiration by my very talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen! Then please play along with us this week!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend. Tomorrow is our 45th anniversary. We have postponed the celebration of that until next weekend. Well, at least we will be able to take advantage of Restaurant Week pricing at our favorite hangouts...

Path of Positivity Challenge #26: Perseverance

Good Monday to you all! I am actually writing this on Sunday, as I need to be knee-deep in coloring today. Many, many cards to get made. As we all know, time is rushing by at a mad pace, and I need two more right hands to keep up. (Not another left one, as it is almost useless--except for typing. Ambidextrous I am not.)

Our new PoP challenge begins today. Our theme is "Perseverance". And I almost always type that wrong. I need to persevere to spell it correctly! For some reason, my fingers hit the wrong keys. Of course, that so seldom happens with typing other words. Snicker...

BTW, I spent waaay too many hours watching and listening to the NFL draft Thursday through Saturday. Gosh, you'd think I was obsessed or something. (Those who know me best know I am definitely an obsessive-compulsive type, so this will be of no surprise to them.) The Cardinals were unable to get the top running back, but I am really happy with the guy they did get. Hopefully, our ground game will be much improved this year. And there are a couple of other picks that look pretty good. Time will tell. But I am flummoxed over some draft choices by other teams. Apparently, character means nothing to them...'nuf said.

Poor Gary is still suffering from his cold. He does feel better today, which is encouraging. He really is grumpy when sick. (Of course, I am a perfect angel when I don't feel well. Don't believe me? Well, I sleep when I am sick, so I can't misbehave then. Snort.)

It finally got over 100 here, but at least it had the decency to wait until May. However, this also means that our pool is warming up and about ready to jump into without freezing! Yay! I am ready! I bet those of you still getting snow--what???--would love to visit for a day or three, huh?

On to my card for the start of this challenge. I found a really cool image by Ike's Art, called Beauty and The Beast, found here. I think this is a perfect example of perseverance! I mean, how else are you going to change the beast into a prince without persistence and determination. (I routinely change Gary into a prince. Don't believe me? How else would we have been married almost 45 years?)

I printed my couple on X-Press It BC and colored them with my Copics:

Her Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04, R20

His Skin: C00, C1, C3, C5, C7

Her Hair: Y21, YR23, E15, E18

His Hair: C7, C9

His Eyes: B32, B34

My CS is from Stampin' Up. And I found my quotation by John Quincy Adams, (which really seemed to fit the image), online. I gotta say, I would have trouble sleeping at night if Gary looked like this beast... 

The sponsors and prizes for this challenge are:

• A $10 gift certificate from Ike's Art, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• A $25 gift certificate from Deedee's Digis, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight.

There will also be:

• One digital designer paper (made to order in a couple different ways) from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment.
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Be sure to check out all the wonderful creations by my talented teammates and our guest designers from each team! And then submit your entry for our Perseverance challenge. Please include in your blog post how your entry reflects our theme!

Have a wonderful week!

The Outlawz Friday Coloring Cinco De Mayo Challenge/Andrea's Birthday Card

Oh, yes, another long title today. I am actually writing this Thursday, but you are seeing it Friday or thereafter. So, my news is already outdated. But that's OK. I'll catch up with you on the flip-side on Monday.

As I write this, I am nervously awaiting the first round of the NFL draft. There have been so many rumors flying about that I am totally confused. Not that I am normally not confused. (Was there a double negative in there somewhere?) It's just that I am somewhat more confused that usual. I am eagerly awaiting the 24th pick, which should go to the Arizona Cardinals. However, they have a history of trading down in the draft. If you don't know what that means, don't worry about it. I am wishing and hoping that they are able to take the running back, Melvin Gordon, at pick number 24. But that may be a pipe-dream. Time will tell--in about 5 hours from now. Of course, by the time you read this, it has already happened. Or not happened, as the case may be. Sheesh. I bet I am confusing you now, because I truly don't understand what I just wrote.

We were supposed to have guests for a draft dinner, but Gary is now sick with a cold--sore throat and all. So we cancelled the dinner and it will be just the two of us for a crock-pot full of New England Pot Roast. (And I made it--please don't faint.)

And tomorrow, (today, actually), we have a barista class to attend. We did want to get better at making coffee with our espresso machine. But we'll see if Gary is feeling well enough. Oh, yeah, and we have a track meet to attend that our GD, Kelsey, is running in. Hmm. Not sure if Gary will be going to that either...

Guess I will get to my card deets now. I am too nervous to chit-chat anymore. Arrrgh.

So our challenge this week is Cinco de Mayo. I hate to admit it, but I speak no Spanish and lived in Arizona for years before I knew that the celebration was actually a date. Yeah, not the brightest bulb on the planet, that's for sure. Anyway, we want to see what you come up with for your interpretation of Cinco de Mayo. It can be colors of the Mexican flag, (like I used), margaritas, (that I love), Mexican food, (that I also love), or Mexican culture. So have fun with this! Just be sure to hand-color an image for your project, using the medium/media of your choice.

Our sponsor this month is once again Sweet Pea Stamps, hooray! Can't believe our good fortune in getting this fabulous selection of images once again for the month of May! This month the prize is 3 digis to our lucky, randomly-selected winner! Good luck!

I chose an image by Enys Guerrero, called Chica de Vitral, for this challenge. I think she is such a vamp, don't you? So seductive. She was fun to color, even in Mexican flag colors, which seems a bit Christmasey to me. So I used Webster's Pages It's Christmas for my DP, which was paired with Stampin' Up CS. I printed her on X-Press It BC and colored her with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E13, R20

Hair: N4, N6, N8

Flowers: R05, R08, R89, G24, G28, G29

Stained Glass: R01, R02, G20, G21

Bodice: R01, R02, R05, R08, R89, G20, G21, N4, N6, N8

Glove: N0, N2, N4, N6

I used the following dies to make my die cuts: MFT Double Scallop Border, Spellbinders Labels 4 and Grand Labels 4, Cheery Lynn Sentiments. Then I added flowers and stick pins by WOC, flowers by Maya Road, and some pearl stickers. I am giving this to a good friend from our dinner club, Andrea, for her birthday. Hope she likes it.

Do stop by and check out the fab inspiration by my talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, and our two newbies: Vannessa and Karen! Really sad to see Laine step down, but am so happy that Vannessa and Karen agreed to join us! We'd all love for you to play along with us this week...

Wanted to mention that Gary and I attended a beautiful wedding last Friday. Melanie and Sean tied the proverbial knot. It was such a fun evening. At the reception I danced like no one was watching--even led a conga line, which was a first for me! I danced all night long, and managed to get blisters on four different toes. Whaaat? You'd think a person of my maturity would know better. Apparently not...

We also went to a track meet Saturday morning and watched Kelsey run like the wind. It seemed so anyway. And we went to dinner at Bluewater Grill with our dinner club. Had scrumptious cioppino, which I can highly recommend. So we were busy last weekend, but I imagine this weekend will be much quieter!

Hope it is a fabulous one for all of you!