WEDNESDAY BIG POST

Hey All!  Hope everyone's Hump Day is progressing nicely.  I have another full post for you today.  So off we go!

As a cardmaker, I try to use my craft to help brighten someone's day, send kind thoughts, or help lift spirits whenever I can.  A couple of the cards that I'm posting today are specific to that philosophy.  I'll start with the one that I think deserves first attention.  While I was blog hopping, I ran across this blog:  Jennifer McGuire Ink.  There I found the story of Kate.  Kate is a little girl with a very serious brain tumor.  You can read more about her and her story by clicking on the link above.  They have a great gig going on called Cards for Kate.  So I decided to participate and send a card to her.  Here it is:

I don't have many stamps that apply to children, but I thought this would do the trick.  I made it very "girly" with pink and white background paper and printed heart ribbon.  The image is a Happy Hopper and I think is perfect for her card.  Inside it simply says "Sending You Big Hugs".  I hope it brightens this little girl's day.   If you go to their blog (link above), you'll also find that they are giving away a HUGE blog candy package (it is unbelievable!).  Just read on how to enter.  I'm not doing this for the prizes, I just wanted to brighten a little girl's day.

My second card is for a person who lost their beloved pet cat named Elsie.  One of my good blogging buddies had put out a request for people to send a card to her to cheer her up.  Well, you know me and my love of animals!  So today, I sent this card:

I didn't have any cat stamps (big dog person you know), but amazingly, I found this free digital image from Mo's Digital Pencil Too.  How lucky was that!  And it is such a great image.  I colored it with my cheap colored pencils and oms and mounted the center panel on the card with foam squares.  I then used some yarn to continue the yarn in the image there in the right bottom corner to create sort of a yarn frame.  To attach the yarn, I used this great stuff called "fabric tac" that I got at JoAnn's.  It stays stuck, let me tell you!   The inside is blank where I wrote a small note letting her know I was sorry for the loss of her cat.  I hope it brightens her day.

My next card has two purposes.  First, my Mom wanted me to make a card for her new doctor that she likes really well.  She just wanted it to be something that expressed her thanks for such good care.  So, again I went to my HM stamps and created this card:

This is one of my most favorite HM images.  Again, colored with my CCP/OMS.  Now for the second purpose.  See those buttons up there?  I made those.  See side view below:

There is a tutorial on how to make buttons of any size or shape to go with any card.  They are really easy and fun to do.  It's basically punching 5 ovals (in my example), gluing them together and punching two holes in the center and then coating them with something like Diamond Glaze.  The possibilities are endless.  For the tutorial and links to samples, go HERE.   Mine turned out looking either like wood or leather.  I love this technique.

The final thing I would like to share with you today is my very first Halloween project for the season.  Take a look:

I was so excited to find these glass hinged bottles at Michael's.  Even more excited that they were only $1!  To give you an idea of their size, it takes a full bag of M & M peanuts to fill two.  So they are really a great size!  The top of the jar was the perfect size for one of my Nestie circles which I used to cut out the sentiment for each jar top.  The sentiments are all from $1 wooden mounted stamps that I got at Michael's last year.  I embossed each sentiment to give it a glossy look.  The images on the tags I made are from the Martha Stewart Halloween wood mounted stamp set.  I stamped them on Bazzill card stock with black Archival ink.  I cut them out with my oval Nesties and added the scalloped black edge also with my Nesties.  I finished each off with some bling:

I used my Silent Setter to cut the hole in the top and then fed the ribbon through and attached to the jar.  These were so easy and took so little time.  Each are filled with either M & Ms plain or peanut in Halloween colors.  These jars are large enough that you could put all kinds of different candy in them.  They are simple yet full of Halloween charm I think.  

There you have it.  I'm poppin out stuff like crazy.  LOL  It's because of the Fall season, and I love the energy I get from it.  I hope this stuff inspired you a bit.  I love the comments you guys leave and you are too kind in doing so.  Even though my cards and projects are made for others, they are made because of your encouragement and kindness.  Again, I can't thank you enough for what you do to my spirits.

Please take good care of yourselves.  In reading posts this week, I've read of sickness, and husbands losing jobs, and other sad things that are going on.  I'll keep all of you in my prayers and good thoughts.  I'll be seeing you on your blogs in the next couple of days!  I can't wait to see what you've done this past week!  Don't forget the "Pic of the Week" below!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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