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

Well, I am finally feeling like my old self. And that's a problem. Wish I was feeling like my young self again. But beggars can't be choosers. So I will settle for no longer coughing my guts out and using boxes upon boxes of Kleenex. I will probably be ready to go for a swim again sometime next week. That would feel good. Summer colds are the most miserable for me. It's just the wrong time of the year for it, KWIM?

It is time for a new challenge at The Friday Outlawz Coloring group. And we have a favorite of mine--the Anything Goes/Christmas Twist challenge. I like this because I can use it for a needed birthday card that doesn't fit into our other challenge themes. Or I can make a Christmas card like I did this week for my holiday stash.

We are still sponsored by Sweet Pea Stamps this week. Our monthly drawing will result in a lucky winner getting the choice of 3 digis from this fab shop. Hope you have joined in the fun with us already, and will again this week!

I have chosen Sweet Pea Stamps Christmas Bird by Elaine Cox for my image this week. I printed it on X-Press It BC and colored it with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E01, E11

Hair: E50, YR31, YR24

Dress/Wings: V12, V15, V17

Leaves/Trees: G00, BG32, BG34

Eyes/Bird/Snowflakes: BG70, BG72, BG75

My color palette was taken from my DP, which came from the Bo Bunny Altitude collection. The paper was paired with Stampin' Up CS. I also used a Spellbinders Grand Circles die and my Zutter for this card.

I know I am keeping this short and simple. I want to get to some blogs to do some commenting again. It will be good to see your creations! 

Please check out the fab cards by my talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen. And then join us, won't you? All you need to do is hand-color an image for your creation, using your choice of medium. Looking forward to your entries...

Have a wonderful weekend! Stay healthy!

The Outlawz Friday Coloring 'Color/Photo Inspiration' Challenge

Hi, this is going to be super-brief. I have been ill all week with a nasty cold, but am much better today. I am well enough so that I could color my image for the week finally. I am just going to give you the details. And I want to apologize for missing your blog posts this week. I will be back commenting soon and will have more next week hopefully...

Our challenge this week comes from this photo:

Our sponsor this month is Sweet Pea Stamps. Our lucky monthly winner get his/her choice of 3 digis. So get your entries in, OK? You will love choosing from all the fab images by the talented artists in the store.

I chose Sweet Pea Stamps Face 1 by Karen Middleton. I love this image. I printed her on X-Press It BC with my Copics and Twin Touch Brush markers:

Skin: E000, E01, E11

Hair: YR20, YR21, YR02, E07

Eyes: TTB66, TTB67, W00, W1

That is it for this edition. Please check out the inspiration by my talented teammates and then play along with us...

Hope you are having a great weekend!

The Outlawz Friday Coloring "At the Beach" Challenge

At the beach. I wish...

Friends of ours just got back from 10 days on Maui. I was living vicariously through them as they posted their vacation photos on Facebook. I could almost smell the sea. And feel the ocean breezes and the humidity.

Speaking of humidity, it's really, really high in the desert right now. We have had the most horrific storms this week. Thunder, lightning, lots of rain, and wind. So much wind. We saw uprooted trees and broken branches everywhere we looked the last couple of days. So sad. I hate seeing trees die like that. I read on FB that one of our friends went to the Chandler airport Wednesday to check on his private plane. Fortunately for him, it wasn't one of the 20+ private planes that flipped over. Nature can be so unnerving, can't it?

Now where was I? Oh, yeah, wishing I was at the beach. Not that I don't love my backyard with our pool and all. I do. We even had a pool party for our dinner club/fantasy football friends on Saturday. Miraculously, that day was sandwiched between storms, so we had a really pleasant day. Peeps brought pot-luck, Gary fixed yummy burgers, and we all got in/near the pool at some point in time. They said our yard looked like a resort. That was really nice to hear, as we have put so much effort into creating that atmosphere...

But, I would fly to Hawaii at the drop of a hat. Well, except for the days that we have Cardinals' games, of course. Cannot miss my football, doncha know. Speaking of that--which I was not, but now I am--we went to a practice session on Monday at the stadium. That was actually really interesting--watching the various drills that each position group does. And then to see them put it all together to pit the offense against the defense. Really enjoyed that. Might even do it again before the full season starts. We have a preseason game tomorrow night to attend. And I am so looking forward to that, even though it is just preseason. Gives us a chance to see what all our new players are capable of when competing against another team. We have Kansas City coming in this week.

On a culinary note: we had lunch with Merrilyn and Ron before we went to the football practice. Wish there was a Mika's near us. Had a fabulous spicy gyro/salad combination. Oh, yum! And then Gary took me to a cheesesteak restaurant, Forefathers, on Thursday. He used to go to this one when he worked near the place. Not impressed. At all. I had a chicken cheesesteak, which was chunks of chicken. Whaaaat? It should be shredded, like the beef used in regular cheesesteaks. And it had no flavor. Tasteless, even with onions, peppers, and mushrooms on it. Soooo disappointed. We have a much better place, Philly's Famous, which is closer to us, to get cheesesteaks. Fantastic flavor, even with the chicken ones. Love it! Last foodie mention: my friend, Ellie, and I are having lunch together today. So we can celebrate her birthday, which was the 6th. We don't see each other often enough since we moved away from Trilogy--it will be good to catch up again this month.

Totally off the point, but I just watched a little lizard running up and down my block fence. I love lizards. But inquiring minds want to know--how in the heck do they run so fast on such short, little legs???

Did I mention that this month's sponsor is Sweet Pea Stamps? I didn't? Well, I am now. And our lucky monthly winner will get his/her choice of 3 digis. You will love shopping for those--it will take a while, as there are many talented artists showcasing gobs of fabulous images! I am envious...

I used Sweet Pea Stamps Wind Swept, by Rebecca Sinz, for my beachy, (is there such a word?), image this week. I printed it on X-Press It BC, and colored it with my Copics and Twin Touch Brush markers:

Skin:  E000, E01, E11

Hair: N6, N8, N10

Wrap: N0, N2

Tail: BG000, BG53, BG57

Water: BG000, BG53

Sky: BG0000, BG000

Sand: YR30, YR31, Y26, E42, E47, TTBG3

Island: TTBG3, TTBG5, TTBG7, TTBG9

I chose DP from the Graphic 45 By the Sea collection and paired it with Stampin' Up CS. I added die cuts made with Lawn Fawn Spring Showers, Cheery Lynn Lighthouse, and Marianne Designs Sea Side dies. Voila! Fini!

Do stop by our challenge and check out the fabulous inspiration by my talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen! And then, hand-color an image for your project, using any medium you wish, and play along with us this week, won't you? We'd love to see what you create...

And have a wonderful weekend!

The Outlawz Friday Coloring Kids/Family Challenge

A shout-out to my mom, who passed away on May 7, 2005. Happy Birthday, Mom! (She would have been 98 today if she was still alive.)

Our "Kids/Family" Challenge is this week. This is to acknowledge Son and Daughter Day, which is August 11th. I did not do a traditional "daughter card", as you will see. But I used a young girl image to make another Christmas card, which could be given to a young person. A young female person, to be sure. Like, possibly my one of my granddaughters. See how I work? Mmmhmm...

We had another fun surprise yesterday. American Express sent an email saying that someone tried to use Gary's card to charge $919.47 to the Apple Web store. Well, it certainly wasn't one of us. Fortunately, AmEx declined the charge. Which is good. However, you know the drill. Gary has to get a new charge card. Again. We went through this with American Express twice before--once with Gary's card and once with mine. I am not sure if it is because we use our AmEx cards so much, or if it is because AmEx is more likely to be compromised. Thoughts???

Last weekend was Arizona Breakfast Weekend for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We took advantage of the special pricing by a couple of the restaurants and went for breakfast/brunch on Thursday and Sunday. We tried NCounter in downtown Tempe on Thursday. If you live in the Valley of the Sun, and haven't been there, I highly recommend it! We each loved our dishes, which were completely different. I had the Crack O' Dawn, which was a combo of ham, mushrooms, onions, grilled potatoes, and melted cheese. It came with toast, which I didn't eat, as the special pricing included a breakfast pastry--and, of course, I chose a cinnamon roll--which was scrumptious. Also included was a medium latte, which was really delish. Gary had the Killer breakfast sandwich, which he loved as well. It had bacon, Gorgonzola, fresh thyme, tomato, and almost hard fried eggs. It was the first time he had been to NCounter, but he wants to go back. So that was a successful visit.

Then, on Sunday, we returned to Barrio Urbano. This was our third visit. And breakfast was only $7, and included a Mimosa. (Which I really don't care for much, but finished mine anyway. Hey, it was included! Snicker.) Anyway, we had the Torrejas, which is basically Mexican French toast. And that sounds incredibly stupid. Like the restaurant we had in Whitefish, Montana in the 50's, called Frenchy's Chinese Gardens. But I digress. The Torrejas was made with bolillo, which is yummy Mexican bread. It was served with butter, piloncillo syrup--so thick and sweet, yum!--and jalapeno cured bacon. Although, if that bacon had even a hint of jalapeno in it, I'll be a monkey's uncle. It was really good bacon, but I think it was their "gringo bacon". They added powdered sugar at the end of cooking, and my platter could have used less sugar sprinkled on the bacon. That was my only complaint--otherwise, it was another wonderful meal at Barrio Urbano. FYI, when we arrived they asked if we had reservations. And that was at 8 a.m.! Shocking. I guess they do a huge breakfast business, especially on that weekend. So we will know for next time. (And there has to be a next time, so I can go back for their out-of-this-world chilaquiles!)

My sister, Merrilyn, and I went to Hummus Express for lunch on Wednesday. Just the two of us. We hadn't gotten together without our hubbies for a long time, and decided we needed a girls' lunch out. And it was really yummy. Had the $7.95 bowl special. Mine contained rice, falafel, several grilled veggies, tabouli, and hummus, served with a wheat pita. So we had great food and a fun conversation. Donovan got to go to Merrilyn's house for a play-date with her dog, Simon. Which is kind of a laugh, as neither dog really plays much anymore...

I think that catches you up gastronomically. In other news: well, football season is almost upon us. I am anxiously awaiting the first game. In the meantime, we are meeting our football seat-buddies for a preseason practice on Monday. I never would have imagined I would be doing something like that when I was younger. But, when you are retired, you can do all sorts of things for the first time. Like bungee-jumping or skydiving. (Oh, just kidding. I am weird, but I am not crazy.) And I am still reading. Quite a bit, actually. Both non-fiction and fiction. Right now, I am in the middle of a trilogy, called Daughter of Time. It's a pretty good read, if you like sci-fi.

Okey dokey, time for the card deets. We are sponsored again this month by Sweet Pea Stamps. YAY! One of my favorite digi stores, evah! So many great artists. So many fab images. And our winner gets to choose 3 of them this month. Do get your entries in! Just make sure you hand-color your image, with any medium you wish, for your project.

This week I chose Sweet Pea Stamps Home for the Holidays, by Katerina Koukiotis. (I seem to use a lot of her images lately.) I colored this sweetie with Copics and Twin Touch Brush markers after printing her on X-Press It BC.

Skin: E000, E01, E11

Hair: E43, E44, E47, E49

Wood: W3, W4, W5, W6

Tree: G21, G24, G28

Lantern: W00, W0, W1, W2

Candlelight: YR21, YR24, YR27, E08

Cape: E08, E09, TTBR94

Sweater: B34, B37, B39

My colors were taken from the DP I chose--Docrafts Christmas in the Country Collection. I paired this DP with Stampin' Up CS. I added a die-cut bow using the Cheery Lynn Ornamental Wreath Bow die. I finished the image by using Pearl Pen Ice White for the snowflakes. 

That's it for this week. Please check out the inspiration by my talented teammates: Carla, Kathi, Vannessa, and Karen. And please send Karen some good energy, as she broke her ankle this past week. (At least she has more reason to sit and color now!) We all look forward to you playing along with us again this week!

Have a great weekend!