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

It's Friday and another very hot one here in Arizona. Yeah, temps in the one-hundred teens is really hot. Thank goodness, it's a dry heat. Riiiiight. Who am I kidding? When the temp gets that high, it does not matter if it is a dry heat or not. I can do up to 110, but after that I wilt. Like a very old lettuce leaf. Left out of the refrigerator. For several days...

However, that swimming pool does refresh, even in the heat. Just float around on the surface of the water and splash yourself a bit here and there. It is actually cooling. Problem is, the dog feels he has to be out there, too, and he really shouldn't be. He keeps running around the pool and panting. So I have that yet to work out. Guess I'll have to limit the pool to early in the day, or after the sun goes down so that Donovan can be out there with me.

We had my sister and BIL, Merrilyn and Ron, out for dinner on Wednesday. It was a very fun day. Mostly because I didn't have to lift a finger for anything. Gary cleaned inside and out while I was making cards. And he made the entire dinner, which was really delicious. We had cold honeydew melon soup, cold quinoa salad, and turkey burgers on the grill. And then chilled melon for dessert. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Do you call me spoiled? Yes, yes, and well you should. I am.

I think we all enjoyed the fun in the pool and the lovely meal. I had to laugh, as Merrilyn seemed quite shocked at how "busy" Gary kept himself. He is a very antsy guy and needs to be on the go most of the time. That's why he is at the bowling alley, fitness center, driving range, or yoga studio so much...complete opposite of me in so many ways. I am the original slug.

Oh, well, we do have a lot of interests in common, too! And one of them is baseball. This year, we did not buy season tickets, as the Dbacks were sooooo bad last year. Not the least bit fun to watch. But this season they have a bit of a spark, and we watch most of their games that are televised. Gary won a ticket deal at his fitness center, so we decided to go to the game yesterday afternoon. We bought one ticket and got the second free. And sat in the nice diamond-level seats. And that's where the fun ended. The game was the pits. Oh, well, you win some, you lose some. (But did they have to lose on the one day we attended the game? Couldn't they have waited until today to lose 7-1?) Sigh...

On the bright side, Merrilyn and Ron took care of Donovan the dog while we were at the game. And, after we got back, the four of us, (sans dogs), went to Mika's Grill for a yummy dinner and a lively conversation. That helped sweeten the sour taste left in our mouths from our Diamondbacks.

OK, on to this challenge. We are sponsored by Norma Burnell of Fairy Tangles Art. Her prize consists of three of her wonderful digis, so be sure to play along with us again this week! You will love her images--they are gorgeous and unique!

This week we have a color/photo inspiration for you to work from. I love the beautiful blues, but didn't manage to match them as well as I had hoped...oh well. It's the thought that counts, right?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I used my image by Norma Burnell the first week of the month. This week I needed a card for our friend's birthday. Catherine turned 64 yesterday, a mere youngster! This image, Sweet Pea Stamps Gardenia by Rebecca Sinz, just spoke to me, so I printed her on X-Press It BC and colored her with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E01, E11

Hair: E53, E35, E57

Eyes: B00, B34, B37, W00, W3, W5

Lips: R00, R30, R32

Flowers: E40, E41, E42

I picked some DP from the Basic Grey Picadilly collection and paired it with Stampin' Up CS.  I added some lace, a Cheery Lynn Gardenia die cut, a pearl, a couple of Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco E die cuts, and a couple of Marianne Designs Flourish die cuts. I wanted the image to be the main focus, but needed to jazz it up just a bit for Catherine's birthday. She really liked the card, which was a very good thing for me! 

Okey dokey, that does it for this week. We have some fab inspiration for you by our talented DT: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen--so do check them out! And please play along with us; we would love to see what you come up with for this week's inspiration challenge!

Have a fantastic weekend!