THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR AUGUST 4, 2010

Hey All!

Happy Hump Day to one and all.  I wanted to start this post with some fun, exciting news. . .take a look at this:

I was the lucky winner of this awesome candy from Jodi over at Inked Inspirations!  I am so excited.  Can you believe she had 4 of these prize packs?  Jodi was one of my early readers and I have so been inspired by her work.  She is so talented and a master at coloring images.  Hop over to take a look - she will inspire you.  Thanks Jodi!  I love that I won!

OK, on to the rest of the post.  As promised, there will be no Halloween projects this post.  However, I am working on more and I will sprinkle them in my future posts all the way to Halloween.  Here is the first card I'd like to share:

Here's the story.  Our sweet Japanese neighbors across the street are moving to Osaka, Japan at the end of the month.  I didn't really "neighbor" with them a lot, but I was so fond of them just the same.  The husband was such a friendly guy, and the wife so very sweet.  When they were in Japan, she sent a couple of gorgeous origami cards to me.  What impressed me most about them is that when they first moved in, they walked around to our houses and presented us with food gifts from Japan to introduce themselves.  I've never forgotten that.  So, I wanted to do something special to let them know that I wish them the very best.  I went online and did research as to what the symbol was in Japanese for good luck.  I then printed it off and hand drew it for this card.  I wanted the card to be clean and simple and also have an Asian feel to it.  I love this technique that I used several months back on another card.  This is a labels die from Spellbinders.  I used the largest die and the smallest die to cut out the windows out of the first one.  Here is a close up:

                                                                  Click on Picture for Detail

The large die cut piece is raised up over the images which gives a great recessed look.  I added a little bling and glitter to give it a more finished look.  The flower images are from Artful Inkables which I have had forever but have never used.  I think they have an Asian look.  I actually "built" the flowers because every piece (stems and flower heads) is an individual stamp.  Inside, I have a computer generated sentiment in Japanese that I also looked up the reads "Gokouun o inorimasu" which means good luck.

My next card is also a neighbor related card.  Here it is:

I made this card for the new neighbors who just moved in to a house here on our cul-de-sac,  This image is from Paper Tray Inks' Board and Beams stamp set (a gift from my super sweet blogging buddy Chris).  I sponged the background sky and used a mottled green paper for the grass.  I stamped the trees, fence and house out on white card stock and then cut everything out and created the little scene.  I took it over with a fresh baked pineapple upside down cake.  Turns out, the new residents are a guy and his two sons.  I know he didn't know what to really think of this guy bringing over a freshly (still warm) baked cake and a handmade card over to welcome him to the neighborhood!  It was such a Martha Stewart moment. . .LOL  It felt very awkward to say the least, and I snickered as I walked back across the street.  Oh well, such is the life of this gay guy.  LOL

The last card I'd like to share for this post is a thank you card I did for a neighbor lady who was so sweet to take me out to dinner for my birthday:

I used two stamp sets for this card, and I'm sorry to say I have no idea who they are by.  These were stamps I purchased when I first started card making over two years ago.  At that time, I didn't know that lots of people were interested to know sometimes what stamps you used.  So forgive me.  The paper is by The Paper Studio.  I used two different colors of inks on the flowers, cut them out and popped them up on the stamped leaf thingies with pop dots.  Matted everything up with Bazzil card stock, added the sentiment on the little banner tag I made using a corner of a square paper punch.  I really like the colors on this.

So, that's it.  I'm sorry I was really windy on this one, but the cards needed some extra explanations.  I want to close this post with a couple of pictures that I would love to share with you.  Take a look:

I love this little couple.  See the little heart they are forming with their beaks in the first pic?  They stay around the house quite a bit, and are always together.  I watched them this Spring give life to two beautiful offspring.  The top pic is of them on my roof one evening, and the second is of them on my fence one morning.  I honestly believe that animals feel what we call love.  And I point to these little sweeties as proof.  I always tell my boys I love them and have since they were pups.  I've taught them to show me they love me back by giving me their paw.  I say "Do you love your Daddy?"  And they will raise that paw so gently to hand it to me.  The amazing thing is that with Shotsy, I will be petting him as I pass by, and without asking, he will extend that paw as if he is initiating the "I love you Daddy".  It simply melts my heart.

OK, mushy stuff over!  LOL  Just had to share.  There is also a pic of the week below for your enjoyment too.  Thanks for spending A LOT of time with me on this post.  Again, I'm sorry I blathered on so.  I'll be on my tour of your blogs to see what you've all been up to this week!  Can't wait to see.

Love you guys!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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