The Outlawz Greetings "DIY Pattern Paper" Challenge/Ed's Retirement

It's once again Monday. And time for The Outlawz Greeting Card Challenge. We are being sponsored this week by the great Bugaboo Stamps! And I know you can find something to fit your needs if you win this challenge! So get your thinking caps on and create your own design paper to enter.

 

I had created some alcohol ink backgrounds a few years ago by using transparencies with the ink. This time I chose to use CS, and it certainly made it more challenging than I remember! But I kept adding Copic Various inks and blender solution until I had a blotchy pattern that I liked. So, if I can do it, you can, too! Or try other mediums or stamping. Have fun with it!

We had a great weekend of dining. Yeah, I know, it's me with a food story again. I imagine you are soooo surprised. Like "falling off your stool" surprised. Right. "More like falling asleep reading this" surprised. 

Friday night Gary brought home salads from Kona Grill, that were fairly healthy, and quite yummy--oriental salads with grilled salmon. Mmmmm! And I ate all of mine because I was starving. Starving, I tell you. 

Then Saturday we tried out a little strip-mall Chinese restaurant in Chandler called Chou's Kitchen. They are a tiny place, but they do a huge business! And from the sounds of the language being spoken there, a lot of Chinese-born people frequent the place. And happily so. We were happy, too, with the food and the prices. We ordered hot-and-sour-soup for two for $6. And got delicious, but not overly spicy, soup enough for four. Couldn't believe the size of the portions! Huge, I tell you, huge! We also tried the green onion pancakes. Again, delicious, inexpensive and generously portioned. We added the pork & shrimp dumplings to our order and were so glad we did. We got eight of them--I let Gary have 5, though, because I was getting full--and they were so flavorful! YUM! Fortuitously, the waitress left one item off of our order. We didn't have room for it, so we were glad she forgot it. But we will try those pork-filled buns the next time we stop there. And we will stop there again. Gary said he could get take-out on the way home from work some night. I am 100% for that!! Mmmm, mmmm, good! 

Then yesterday, our daughter, Angela, stopped at our place on an errand. We took her out to the Olive Mill in Queen Creek for lunch/brunch. She had never been there, which totally blew my mind. Whaaaat? Of course, she lives quite a long way from there, and just never made the drive before. (Well, it is a good 20 minutes from our house, so it isn't close. But well worth the trip!) Anyway, Gary and Angela had sandwiches, while I ordered the egg & ham breakfast, as I hadn't eaten yet. And breakfast sounded really good. Everybody was totally happy with their food, although it took 50 minutes to get it from the time we ordered! Needless, to say, they were really busy! It gave us time to window-shop their grocery. And, after eating, we actually made some purchases. Angela got olive-oil cupcakes for her family, and we bought some wine. 

I got an email from Angela last night. She said her cupcake may have been the best she'd ever had. And that it was a good thing she didn't live closer or she'd gain 10 pounds for sure. I know all about that. That's why I don't buy the cupcakes! 

OK, on to my card. I chose Bugaboo Clyde Birthday for my image, even though I was doing a retirement card for a friend of ours. Ed took an early retirement last month and is celebrating it with family and friends in a couple of weeks. I thought that the dragon would be a really cute image to use. And, since we had to make our own DP, I picked colors that I wanted to use on Clyde. I'm selfish that way. And then I matched those colors with Stampin' Up CS.

I printed Clyde on MICBC and colored him with the following Copics, (which I also used on my DP): B06, BG0000, BG000, BG01, BG02, BV11, BV13, BV17. I also added C0, C2, and C4 for shadows at his feet. I added a bit of Pearl Pen around Clyde and some Wink of Stella Brush on the star, hat, and balloon. I printed out Happy Retirement, which I added to one of the balloon die cuts on the card. The balloons were made with Whimsy balloon dies, and the corner die cut was made with a Whimsy corner die. I added a bit of SU Baker's Twine, white gel pen, and bows made of netting to the balloons. A little dragonfly in the bottom corner finished my card.

I am going to enter the following with this card:

Bunny Zoe's Favorite Color Combo Challenge
Simon Says Stamp and Show Color Challenge
The Corrosive Life's Special Occasions Challenge

Do check out the darling cards my teammates made! And let's see how creative you can get with your DP! Have a great week!