BLOG CANDY & NEW CARDS!!!

Hey All! Well, as promised in my last post, I am celebrating my 10,000 blog hits (way over now)! I put together something a little different than the usual blog candy. This prize is more for enjoying while one stamps instead of using it to stamp. Intriguing? OK, first you have to look at my cards! LOL That's surely what you came here to do, right? The blog candy thing was only secondary, right? Hmmmmmmm? LOL So here are my new cards. . .


This one is for my old director where I used to work. She is leaving the company, and I wanted to give her a card to wish her luck on her new job. Here it is. . .



I love this new stamp that I just got form Impress Rubber Stamps. They have so many cool things, and their prices are very reasonable. The stamp is by Memory Box. It is a wooden stamp, and the main stamp is where you would think it should be, but the secondary stamp the little thing that floats away is stuck to the side of the stamp, so they are both actually one stamp. Very cool. I stamped this with Staz-on Timber Brown ink on cs by Scrapworks called Light Coffee. The black is Bazzill cs. Here is what is amazing to me. I stamped the main image in Versamark embossing ink on the cs as a background image and just heated it with my heat gun to get this effect. Usually embossing clear ink gives a much lighter "watermark" effect, but for some reason it looks like a brown ink! I loved how it turned out. I also stamped the little floaty thingy multiple times on the strip for a background. I used my glitter Gelly Roll pen to put the silver glimmer on each. I then used my round and scalloped Nesties to cut one of the floating thingys out as well as the dandelion and adhered them with foam dimensionals. The tag thing with the sentiment (which was computer generated) is from a stamp set that I have no idea who made. I stamped it on the same card stock, cut it out, used my slot tool, then added black grosgrain ribbon. Here is another shot:



I also made her a second card. When she sent me the email that told me she had gotten another job, she also informed me that she got a new puppy and attached a picture. The picture was not very good (the pup's eyes were all glowing yellow orbs, and it was a little fuzzy) so I doctored it up in Photoshop and printed it out.








I used one of those photo cards that you buy in packs to insert the picture, then embellished it to make it more "puppy appropriate". I added ribbon and stamped the bones and paw prints on the card. Is this puppy adorable or what? It is a Cavapoo and her name is Sam.

OK now for the blog candy prize. I wanted something really grand for my 10,000 hits prize so to start it off, this card goes to the winner along with the prize. The card actually sets what the theme of the prize is. Here is the card you will get with the prize. . .



The main image and sentiment is from the Flourishes set called "Coffee With Friends". I wanted to get a wintry feel for the card, so I stamped the coffee cup image directly onto the snowflake paper. It is by K & Company. I cut the coffee cup out using a combination of scissors and an Exacto knife (for the handle). I mounted it with foam dimentionals on plain white cs that I sponged with Colorbox Aqua Blue ink. I used my silver sparkle Gelly Roll pen to get the shimmery effect on the steam. I then mounted that onto more K & Company paper which is the other side of the snowflake paper. I then mounted that onto black cs and shimmery blue cs by the Paper Company. Did the same thing for the sentiment, mounted it on dimentionals, added the bling at the bottom, and done. It is yours along with this prize. . .



I put together what I think is a really nice wintry "pamper me" gift box full of stuff. Here is another shot of everything out of the box:



Here is the list of items:

1 package of Southern Comfort flavored coffee
1 package of Ghiradelli Chocolate Caramel coffee
1 package of Land O Lakes Cocoa Classics Caramel Chocolate flavor hot cocoa
1 package of Land O Lakes Cocoa Classics Hazelnut Chocolate flavor hot cocoa
1 Gingerbread Man candy tin filled with Hershey's Holiday Hugs candy
1 scented candle in a frosted glass jar with top in a shimmery drawstring bag
1 two-pack of holiday self stick note pads
1 holiday magnetic list note pad
1 long spiral bound holiday note pad with polar bear picture on front
1 tin of Starbucks After Coffee chewing gum cinnamon flavor
1 tin of Starbucks After Coffee mints vanilla flavor
1 tin of Starbucks After Coffee mints spearmint flavor
1 ceramic snowman coffee mug with ceramic lid
1 gorgeous snowman motif holiday gift box

How about that???? No stamping stuff, just stuff to enjoy while you are stamping! Picture it now . . . sitting at your crafting table, a scented candle burning, the smell of caramel hot cocoa wafting up from your adorable snowman mug. As you watch the snow falling softly just outside your window, you unwrap a chocolate hug. . .LOL I should write commercials!

Anyway, to win this gift box full of goodies, you need to leave a comment here on this post and you will get one entry. If you are one of my regular comment posters (those of you who consistently visit me, post after post and leave such wonderful comments) you will automatically get a second entry as a thank you for being such a loyal commenter. You will have until Sunday, November 23rd at 6:00 PM EST to leave your comment in order to be entered. I will put every one's name on a list (my loyal posters twice) and will run it on Random.Org. The person who comes out #1 on the list will be the winner. Good luck everyone!

On a final sad note, my blogging buddy Glee at Gleefully Done, is very ill. Her husband posted for her and has let us know she is on a respirator in the hospital. She has pneumonia. She was just healing from a recent eye surgery, and now this. Please if you would go visit her blog and leave her a comment of best wishes. Her husband has said he will make sure that if you leave a comment on her blog he will make sure to get it to her in the hospital. At the very least, please keep her and him in your thoughts and prayers. She is a very sweet lady who needs our support right now!

Thanks again for reading this very long post (but hey, what's new huh?). Also don't forget to take a look at the pic of the week below. I'll see you on your blogs!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

"God help me be the person my dogs think I am."