WEDNESDAY EVENING POST - OCTOBER 27, 2010

Hey All!

BOO!  Happy Halloween Week!  Anything creepy happening with any of you????  I'm so loving all the decorations I'm seeing throughout the city when I'm out.  It brings so many memories of my kidhood and Halloweens past.  This entire blog post tonight is dedicated to Halloween (sorry Bonnie).  LOL  In my last post I said I wanted to share some 3-D items I've made along with an amazing "Pic of the Week".  Come on, give me your hand and I'll walk you through safely. . .MUHHHHAAAAAAAAAA

I'll start with a card:

I've created another scene card.  You can't see it clearly in the pic, but the ghost is covered in glitter from head to bottom of sheet!  LOL  It is really sparkly.  The wonderful trees are by Paper Trey and the fence is a Martha Stewart clear stamp.  Bats and pumpkin are by There She Goes".  I drew and cut out the ghost so that is my own design.  The headstone is a tag punch cut in half and I drew the little skull and distressed it.  The grass and night sky were sponged with distress ink.

OK, now for the next stop on this horror walk. . .

This is a double pouch candy holder or tea holder.  See it opened below:

Once again, you can't see it in the photo, but the inside pouch card stock is very glittery.  This one holds two Ghiradelli squares.  So quick and easy to make too.  If you'd like to try one, you can see the video tutorial HERE.  


Last stop on our walk of terror is here at this spooky magical box that turns into a frightening scene. . .

Do you dare open the box????   Hmmmmmmm????  Are you sure you want to??????  OK, here goes. . .

EEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!  This is my own take on this style of box.  They usually have all four panels fall open, but I wanted more of a scene in the background, so I made it where those two panels stay up instead of falling open.  I love how this turned out if I do say so myself!  LOL  I again drew the ghost myself and cut it out.  I covered it in glitter.  The "dead grass" is real floral moss.  The tombstones are miniatures I got at Michaels.  They are poly-resin and the perfect size for this box.  I used various stamp sets to create all the little scene panels.  I attached the moss and stones with a hot glue gun.  Here is a little closer view:

I honestly don't know why I can't get a good shot of "glittery stuff", so just pretend the ghost is really glittery because it is.  If you want deets on how I made this box, just email me!


Now, it is almost time for us to part company, but before we go off into the night, I would like to point your attention to the "PIC OF THE WEEK" below:

This was taken on October 22ND with my little sweet camera.  I honestly can't get over the fact that I took this with my little Kodak and you can actually see craters!  I was just blown away when I uploaded this and saw the detail my camera captured.  CLICK ON THE PICTURE - you won't believe what you can see.


After I saw how cool this moon pic was, I ran out to take another, but with a twist. . .take a look at this one:

I took this picture with the moon behind a tree branch for a spooky look.  


I hope you've enjoyed this Halloween edition of the Wednesday Evening Post.  I hope you all have a fun, safe, and happy Halloween.  Thanks for coming by.  I'll be coming by to see you all in the next few days.  I'm always excited to see what you've done.


Bugs and Hisses to all of you!   MUWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (changes to a bat and flies away into the misty night)


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

HIGH HOPES CHALLENGE - BIRTHDAY

Hey All!

Today is Tuesday so that means it is another High Hopes Stamps' Challenge!  This week's challenge theme is "Birthday".  Fortunately, my birthday "month of hell" is just about over, and I've survived all of the family and friends birthdays.  There is only one more left before the end of the year.

Anyway, here is my challenge card for this week:

This is Elmer!  Elmer comes by himself (and that is all the cute you need) but I needed to make him more "birthdayish" LOL  So, I added some balloons from another stamp using my Stamp-a-majig and then drew (not very well I'm afraid) the strings so it looks as if they are tied to his trunk.  The background (both "grass" and "sky" were sponged with distress inks (Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint).  I popped up the balloons and sentiment circle with foam tape for a little dimension.  Elmer and the balloons are colored with my colored pencils and oms.  I matted him on navy blue card stock and done!

This was my final card as a "Guest Diva" at High Hopes.  It was such an honor and a privilege to be able to be a part of such a wonderful group of people.  You guys have been absolutely wonderful to me, and I can't thank you enough for allowing me to be a part of your dynamic, talented team.  Thanks Karen for recommending me!  I had a blast!

I hope you get a chance to play this week.  If not, at least go take a peek at the wonderful cards my "co-divas" created for this challenge.  You can find them HERE.  


Thanks all for coming by.  I'll be seeing you (hopefully) for my Wednesday Evening Post tomorrow night.  I have an incredible "Pic of the Week" to share with you then amongst other things.


Hugs to all of you.  I hope you are all well and happy!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

WEDNESDAY EVENING POST - OCTOBER 20, 2010

Hey All!

Sorry to keep you waiting, but it has been a killer week for me.  My computer got a VIRUS called "System Defragmenter" and it was HORRIBLE!  It actually caused me to become nauseated and I acquired a major headache from dealing with the stress of it.  It would actually battle everything you did to get rid of it.  If you tried to download software to kill it, it would stop it and shut your system down.  It took me over 6 hours to get it out of my system!  You would not believe all of the evil, horrible things I wished on the person that created it.  I won't tell you what I wished, but suffice it to say, you would have never seen it even in the worst horror movie. . .it was that bad!  LOL

OK, on with the post for this evening.  My first card is gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday.  This is a CASE of a CASE.  Here is the one that I saw that inspired me.  Laurie did a beautiful job with hers, and here is my version:

I really love the shape of the leaf panels.  They are simply squares with two opposite corners rounded.  It reminds me of petals on a flower.  When I saw Laurie's card (and the one she cased) I knew immediately mine would be for Thanksgiving.  This was fairly a quick card to make.  The leaves and the sentiment are from Waltzing Mouse Stamps.  The set is called "Peace & Plenty".  TIP on this card:  To get the panels perfectly spaced, I used one of those spacers that you use when you are laying tile floors.  How fun is that?  I just calculated the center of the card, placed the spacer, then lined up each panel.  It was so easy!  BTW, I colored the leaves with distress inks and a water brush.

Next is another Halloween card (Sorry Bonnie!)  I did a jar full of candy corn a couple of posts back, but while I was making that one, I looked over at a stamp set that was sitting on my desk and it had an eyeball stamp in it.  So. . . .I filled the jar with eyeballs!  LOL

This sentiment (There She Goes Stamps) makes me laugh every time I see it and it so fit this card's theme.  I wish I could recreate the bow on some other Halloween cards because it reminds me of a bat!  The ribbon BTW, started out brown and green.  So, I used a black marker and painstakingly colored the brown parts black so it would better match the card.  I used some sparkly black ep from Zing for the sentiment.

The last thing I want to show you is two more tags I made.  Here they are:

I don't know why I really like making these tags, but I do.  They are like mini collages that tell a story or describe something familiar.  Someone asked in a posted comment regarding the last tags I made as to "what do you do with them?"  I'm actually going to attach them to cards in a way that they are removable.  They are kind of like keepsakes or they could be used for a bookmark for your scariest horror novels.  If you want to know about any of the stamps I used, let me know in your comment and I'll get back to you.  The tags used images from multiple sets.

OK, that's it for this edition.  Hope it was worth your time.  I am so pleased that you want to come to see what I share.  I'm working on some really fun 3-D projects to share with you next time.  So I hope you come see me next Wednesday.


Here is the "Pic of the Week":

I call this one "Grasshopper on a Giant Schnauzer's Ass"  LOL  This little guy hopped on Gunther's butt and road along for the ride for quite some time, and Gunther didn't seem to mind his little uninvited passenger.


I'll be coming round soon to see all of your creations as well.  It is such a fun time for me.  I usually have a big cup of coffee and I come "a visitin". 


Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

HIGH HOPES CHALLENGE - RECIPE

Hey All!

Tuesday is once again upon us and that can only mean one thing. . .it's time for another High Hopes Stamps Challenge.  Today's challenge is a recipe challenge.  Here's the recipe for the challenge:  One Circle, Two Squares, and One Scallop.  Sounds delicious doesn't it???  LOL  OK, so let's get cookin'!

Here's my card:

I know, I didn't warn you that it was another Christmas card!  LOL  This image is called "Dapper Dan".  Isn't he cute dressed up in his Christmas finest?  Really, this is a simple very simple card.  I colored the image with a combo of colored pencils/oms/distress inks.  I tried something new with the inks this time.  I did the shadowing with the inks.  I love using the combo.  The panel with the sentiment is distressed with a Tim Holtz distressing tool to look snowish.  I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the snowflake background right on the card base.

OK, that's it!  Hope you hop over to see what the other Divas have done with this challenge.  You can find them HERE.  I'd love to see you play along too!

I'll see you tomorrow night for the next installment of my Wednesday Evening Post.  Loaded again!  (No, not me, the post!!!)  LOL  Hope to see you back tomorrow night.  Thanks for all the wonderful comments.  I do read and appreciate every one of them!  BTW, you all have been doing some awesome work!  I had a blast visiting last week, and can't wait to see what you've been up to!

Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt 


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

WEDNESDAY EVENING POST - OCTOBER 13, 2010

Hey All!

I swear these Wednesdays come fast and furious don't they???  Well, since it is Wednesday, it's time for another Wednesday Evening Post.  Believe it or not, there are NO Halloween cards in this one!  However, I do have a short tutorial to show you.  I believe it has not been done before, but if it has, it was something I came up with on  my own anyway.  I've not seen it anywhere and I go to lots of places.  LOL  OK, so on with the post!

Here is my first card to share:

These stamps are by Hero Arts and they came in the same package.  I really love them.  We had a new neighbor move into the rental property right across the street from us so I made this card for her.  I colored the houses with my colored pencils and oms, cut them out and placed them on the green leafy printed paper and sponged blue paper I pieced together.  I then stamped the trees and fences (from PTI), cut each out and added to the scene.  I popped the tree tops up with foam tape for some added dimension.

I knew immediately that she was going to be a great neighbor when I saw her two dogs romping in the yard!  Yeah!  Another dog person!  So along with the spice cake cupcakes I baked and took over, the pups needed something too.  So I made this up really quick:

Just a simple brown paper lunch bag I stamped with various dog stuff, punched a couple of holes in the top for the dog paw ribbon, and filled it with dog cookies and "Pup Corn".   She seemed to be pleased, and she seems very nice.  She is also a physical therapist and even offered to help my with Jay if I ever needed it.  So nice of her.

Ok, the next two cards (photoed together) were cards I made for my Mom's birthday from her "GRAND DOGS"!  LOL  Here they are:

Don't they look like Shotsy & Gunther?!?  LOL  The one on the left is of course Shotsy and I created him by piecing parts of dogs from an Inkadinkado stamp set.  I added the studded collar as well.  Gunther on the right is a stamp set that was made by Jami at "Stamp Happy".  Most of you I'm sure remember when Gunther was selected to be put into rubber many months ago.  I paper pieced his bandanna from the same background paper.  I popped up both images with dimensionals for depth.  Mom loved them!

OK, now for my last card which leads to the tutorial of what I came up with.  Here is the card:

I've decided to start making cards like "thinking of you", "get well", etc. in Fall colors for when I need them this season.  You see the little "buckle" on the card?  Well, that again is a coke pull tab, but with my own twist on it.  I started to color it with a marker and wasn't happy with it, so I thought "Why not try embossing it?"  And that is what I did and it turned out really neat.  Here is a close-up:

Here is a quick tutorial:


Here are the supplies you need:


Versamark ink (or any pigment ink - just needs to be sticky - I used a Versamark pen)
Embossing powder (any color)
A pop top
A heat gun
Pair of tweezers

I started by coating the top of the pop top with Versamark ink (you could smoosh it on a pad too):

Then using a pair of tweezers, I drop it right into the jar of embossing powder:

Take it out and gently lay it on your scrap paper.  Using your heat gun, start to melt the embossing powder:

It doesn't take but a few seconds because the aluminum really conducts the heat.  Just leave it on long enough to where you see the embossing powder is not only melted, but it is nice and smooth.

And here is the finished result:

The one on the card above is copper, this one is gold, I've made one in shiny black and also in red.  The color choices are only limited to the number of colors of embossing powder.  They also color up well with markers too, but not as nice as the embossing powder.

So, there you have another Wednesday Evening Post.  Again, thanks for stopping by and taking a look see.  Hope I gave you some ideas along the way.  I'm behind on my blogging but I'll be catching up in the next few days, so if I've not visited you yet, I'm on my way!

Here is the "Pic of the Week":

I took this a couple of days ago at a park where I meet my Mom and her little dog Chunk to walk the boys.  We are finally getting some beautiful color.


Hope all is well in your worlds!  Again, thanks for coming and I'll see you on your blogs soon!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

HIGH HOPES CHALLENGE - RED AND GREEN

Hey All!


Hope you are well and happy this good Tuesday morning!

OK, WARNING **** WARNING ***** WARNING    If you are drinking coffee while reading this, put your coffee cup down and swallow before proceeding.  Make sure you are firmly planted in your chair.  You might want to call someone into the room with you just in case you faint. . .Are you ready. . . . . . . ?

It is my first Christmas card of the season!!!!  LOL  I'm still whirling!  LOL  It could not be avoided because of the challenge this week at High Hopes Stamps!  The challenge this week is RED & GREEN.  Yeah, I know, I could have done something else with those colors, but come on!  RED & GREEN????  You're kidding me right???  OK, here is my card:

Now there's some red and green!  This little snowman cutie is by Laurie Furnell.  I love snow "people" and I know this is not really a traditional Christmas image, but I still think it works as a non-traditional Christmas card.  Maybe choosing this image was my subconscious was telling me this was a way for me to get around making a Christmas card before December 1st!  LOL  You can't see it really well in this shot, but it is really glittery and dimensional.  His sweater and hat trimmings are done with liquid appliqué, and the snow too.  The snowballs are glittered up with MS coarse crystal glitter.  I used Stickles to create the little holly berries on the corner of the sentiment panel.  The background paper is by The Paper Studio.  

So, there you have it.  Another High Hopes challenge.  I hope you get to play along.  I have to admit that I'm a little relieved that I have my first Christmas card completed!  There is kind of a sense of accomplishment!  LOL  So hop on over to High Hopes' blog to see all the other wonderful creations from my fellow Divas!

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll have another full post for you in tomorrow's Wednesday Evening Post.  I also think I discovered a "new technique" to share with you with a mini tutorial!  Hope to see you then!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!  Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR OCTOBER 06, 2010

Hey All!


There you are!  I've posted this a little later than usual, but I had some last minute stuff to do before I posted.  So, on with the post!


As I told you a few posts ago, October was a huge month for birthdays.  My little sister's was October 1st, so I wanted to show you the card that I made for her.  Here ya go!

I've been seeing several of these type cards using a pocket stamp.  Well, I wanted to make a card with a pocket, but I didn't have the jeans pocket stamp, so I made my own.  I had bought this jean paper for another type of card.  I wanted to build a pocket on the front of a shirt with a frog in it (it will come).  So, the paper came two ways:  1.  plain jean material (main background) and 2 jean material with rows of seams.  So I cut strips of the seams and created the pocket and the belt loops.  I used copper brads for the jean studs on the pocket.  For the belt, I just ran a strip of beige card stock through the CB with an embossing folder.  Then I went over it with distress ink (walnut stain).  I then quickly covered it with clear embossing powder and heated it.  While it was still hot, I gave it another dusting of clear ep and heated it again making it really shiny and looking like gator skin!  This was a surprisingly quick card and my sister loved it.  This would make a great card for a guy too!

OK, next card is another Halloween card.  I'm starting to gear down on the Halloween cards, but I couldn't resist making this one:

Again, this is a simple card, but fun all the same.  When I saw this set of stickers I immediately thought of creating a "wall scene" using this sticker as a picture hanging on the wall.  It is one of those things that if you look at it one way, it looks like a normal picture.  If you look at it in another angle, it changes to a horror shot.  Take a look:

Makes a fun card doesn't it?  The stickers are by Recollections.  I first saw these at my friend Nina's house when I went over last to see some more of her crafting stuff.

The last "show and tell" is my first attempt at tags.  I've never done them, but have wanted to try them for a long time.  I actually got my inspiration from a new talented blogger I found named Sue Ann at "Simply Sue Ann.  Take a look at her beautiful things if you get a chance.  You can find her tags that inspired me HERE.  Here are the three I've finished and I'll follow this picture with a picture of each separately:

Well, what's the verdict???  I'm surprised how much fun I had making them.  I saw some great demo tutorials by Tim Holtz on You Tube using his inks.  These 3 tags represent 3 different techniques.  The first one's background was done by putting three different inks on my work mat, spraying the inks with water, and then smashing the tag into the mess!  LOL  I then used my heat gun to dry it.

The second tag was done by crumpling the tag up in a ball then rubbing the ink pad directly onto the raised crinkles.  Then I strayed it with water, ironed it out flat, then sponged additional inks onto it.  I then stamped the witch (MS) directly onto the background and embossed it with black ep.

The third was simply sponging the ink on for the background and then stamping onto the tag. Every image on this tag is from a MS clear Halloween stamp set I got at Michael's with my 40% coupon!  Such a deal  The casket was stamped on a separate piece of paper, colored, cut out and attached to the tag with dimensionals. I think I'm going to make these into cards by adding them to decorated card bases.

Well, that's it for this post. . .I hope I've given you some ideas or at least made it worth your time.  I still can't imagine why you all keep coming to see my "stuff".  But whatever the reason, I love that you do, and then on top of it you leave me the best comments ever.  I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, I LOVE YOU GUYS!  I've also noticed that I'm fast approaching 250 followers!  Wow, that just blows my mind!  LOL  When I get there, it will have to be time for some candy!!!!

Blogger is also giving me trouble with the "Pic of the Week".  So I'm going to give it to you here:

This was taken the other day . . . it is a path that the "boys" and I take almost every day.  It just looked prettier that day than usual.  I've got new video of us walking this, and as soon as I figure out how to get it on here, I'll share it with you all.


OK, take care of yourselves everyone!  Thanks for coming by and I'll be looking at all your "stuff" in the next few days.


Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt

HIGH HOPES CHALLENGE - HALLOWEEN

Hey All!


Don't you look amazing today!  Glad to see you here!  So glad that you took time out of your busy life to come see me.  I love having your here!


Today is Tuesday, and it is once again time for a High Hopes Stamps challenge.  Today's challenge is simply "Halloween".  Gee, is that right up my alley or what!?!  LOL  We were to use some of the new release stamps from Laurie Furnell.  Here is my card for this week's challenge:

I built all of this from scratch.  I knew I wanted to use the frog in the cauldron and that cool broom, but I wasn't sure how to use them together.  Then I thought of a fireplace theme.  I could put the cauldron in the fireplace and lean the broom against then mantel.  However, I didn't have a fireplace stamp large enough, so I had to make one from scratch.

I used a rectangle cut piece of beige card stock and then "colored" it with distress inks.  I then drew in the stones and colored them with colored pencils.  I made the hearth out of dark grey card stock, colored the black stripe across the front to give it dimension and drew lines around to look like blocks.  The blocks are mounted on foam squares as is the broom for dimension.  The floor is just a piece of paper that had a wood look to it.  And the "wall paper" is from a DCWV stack.  I stamped spiders to give it a spookier look.  I colored the frog, cauldron, and broom with colored pencils and oms and used Stickles on the fire.  I also accented the green bubbles in the cauldron with some MS purple glitter.  The inside says "Brew'in Up Some Treats" which is also from this series of stamps.

I love building scenes, and I did have fun with this.  I hope you get a chance to play with us, or at least take a look at the great work of my fellow "Divas" at the High Hopes Stamps blog.  


Thanks so much for taking a look.  I so appreciate you coming by and your support.  I'll see you tomorrow for the Wednesday Evening Post!  Got lots to share!


Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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