Happy Anniversary, My Sweet Gary

Today is our 42nd wedding anniversary. And it has been a very strange day.

First, I have worked on Gary's card most of the day. It nearly drove me crazy, as I just couldn't settle on a design, even though I thought I had it figured out yesterday. One night's sleep and the card didn't look right anymore. So I did my usual 'fuss and stew'.

Second, the weather has been ugly--first we got a nasty dust storm, complete with high winds and followed by rain. All of our patio furniture blew over, and it appears one of our small trees got damaged. I don't want to go out and pick up the furniture yet, as it is still raining. (Yeah, I know, I am a wimp when it comes to rain, but we might just melt away if we get wet in the desert.) The rain is actually a good thing, as it washes the dirt out of the air and off of the plants. So we don't mind the occasional wet weather, especially if we don't have to be out in it! But now the dog doesn't want to go out, either, and I would expect his little bladder is about to explode. Or is it implode? I think his eyes are turning from brown to yellow as I write this.

Third, Gary and I could not spend much of today together, as he always has an extra-long work day on Wednesdays. So I am about to have a frozen Amy's meal for an anniversary dinner. By myself. Ah, but don't feel too badly for me. We will go out to celebrate next week when many Valley of the Sun restaurants are participating in Restaurant Week. And there are several ones I would love to go to, so it will be interesting picking out the one to celebrate at. Most of these restaurants offer a fixed-price, 3-course menu for $30 or $40 per person. Some even throw in a free glass of house wine. Woohoo! I am really looking forward to a great meal at a nice place.

OK, back to Gary's card. I chose a Magnolia image for this card. I know it is called 'Brother and Sister', but I think the image works for a couple as well. I stamped this on Cryogen CS with Memento ink. The color scheme came from the Authentique Journey collection. I used Stampin' Up CS for the card, and I distressed all my papers with my Zutter Distrezz-It-All. The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado Wedding/Marriage stamp. The large flourishes were made with a Magnolia Doohickey die; corner flourishes were made with a Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco B die. I also used a Spellbinders Classic Rectangle die to cut out the sentiment. A little Wrights' Lace Trim and a Prima flower were added, as well as some image accents with a Signo Uniball white gel pen. Last, but certainly, not least, I colored the image with Copics: W0, W2, W4, W6, B12, B14, B16, E0000, E000, E00, E11, E13, E30, E31, E35, E37, E50.

I intend to enter this card into the following:

Outlawz Greeting Card Challenge
CMC Copic Challenge #42

Here's hoping your weather is a little nicer than ours right now!