Curt's Best Shots Slideshow

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Hey All!

How the heck are ya?  Really good from what I'm seeing. . .you look totally awesome!


I'm sorry I copped out of last week's post, but I just wasn't there and I know you know how that is.  But I'm here now and with a ton to show you.  I've decided to scrap the video blog posts for now until I can get a "real" video camera to do it properly so I'm back to the blah blah post for awhile.  I'm looking at the Sony "Bloggie".  Does anyone know about it?  It is on sale right now at Costco for a great price, so if you have something to tell me about it, I'd love to know. . .I'm getting mixed reviews on the web about it.


OK, enough of soliciting your help, here are my cards for tonight's post:


This was the Valentine card I made for my Sister.  This is my very first Lillie of the Valley image.  Boy are they tiny!  If I didn't have my reading glasses I would have never been able to color it, but they are certainly cute!  I do love all of the detail that is on this image.
This is the one I made for my Mom.  The only thing stamped is the sentiment.  I punched out the hearts and the envelope.  I wanted it to look like the hearts flew out of the envelope that had been opened.  Some hearts were just plain cardstock the others were punched from glitter cardstock.


My friend Mark at DEADBEAT DESIGNS has been doing some great stuff with a stamp he calls a "Shadow Stamp".  You can go HERE and see his great video using it.  Well it inspired me to say the least, and I wanted to give it a try.  There was also a challenge going on at SCS to do CAS cards that sort of used this technique.  So I plunged right in and made this set of 4 note cards:


These aren't "pure" CAS cards, but they are close for me anyway.  I used his "Shadow Stamp" for the square elements inked with combos of Distress Inks.  Two of the images are by Inque and two by Stampabilities.  I do love how this set turned out and I am loving his Shadow Stamp.  I've got more ideas on using it, and if you visit his blog on the links above, you'll see how he uses it to create backgrounds too.  Thanks Mark for your wonderful inspiration and for this wonderful stamp!


And while we are on the subject of Mark's stamps, the next card uses one of my favorite sentiment stamps of his:
This is an Art Impressions stamp and I thought Mark's sentiment stamp went perfectly because it sounds like something she would say.  LOL  She's colored with my cheap colored pencils and oms.


The last card I wanted to share (yep lots of cards to make up for not being here last week) is here:
I saw an old clip of Willard Scott (the Today show) saying his famous throw to line "And here's what's happening in your neck of the woods."  I had this thought of making a "world" using the caption on the card above (computer generated).  You can't see it in the photo at all, but the circle is covered with acetate.  Here is a side view:
The little houses are from the Memory Box die cut which I cut 3 times to get the different colors (afterwards I thought "Why didn't you just color one die cut?" What a dork!) Oh well, live and learn.  Also, after making the card, I realized I couldn't write anything on the inside because of the window. . .Dork #2.  So I created that little folded thingy to act as a stand and I can just write my message on the back of the card.  It's more of a "display" piece!  LOL  I freehanded the clouds and outlined them and the "sun" with Stickles.


Pic of the Week
Army Choppers Caught in Flight
OK, that's it. . .I'm off to take a look at what you all have been up to!  I'm still slow (still having arm problems) but making it all the same.


Thanks for stopping by. . .I will never stop being amazed that you do so.  Thanks for all of your kind support!


Love you guys!


Curt


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

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Hey All!!!


Is that you who is wearing that amazing perfume???  You smell great!


There will be no video tonight. . .For some reason, my video is taking way to long to upload to YouTube.  So it's the old format for tonight.  Can you tell I just don't have the patience to deal with technical problems tonight?


Here are my cards that I would like to share with you.
Remember the card I made with the fireplace that used a battery operated tea light?  Remember the little tiny portrait of a little black pug above it?  Yep, this is another card for that neighbor lady.  I made this card for her to give to her from her beloved Marley.  She is kind of alone and I wanted to be sure that she got a Valentine.  This is a Mo Manning image and it so looks like her little Marley.  It's colored with my colored pencils and oms.  I put on some gloss on her nose for a shiny, wet look.
I made this thank you card for a very sweet neighbor who just gave me two giant grocery sacks full of stamps!  She is giving up stamping for now and wanted me to have them.  I am so grateful and wanted to make a thank you card to let her know.  The image is from Hero Arts colored with Bic markers with glitter added for sparkle.  I USED MY SEWING MACHINE AGAIN!  Simple straight stitch, but I think it looks pretty good for only my 3rd time using it.
This last card is for her sister who lives just a couple of houses down from her.  I watched her sweet dogs for her while she was away for a few days, and she was very generous with compensation.  I just wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it.  This card is out of my comfort level because I combined 3 different patterns of DP (all The Paper Studio).  I added liquid pearls to the image for texture.  The ribbon used to be black and white, but I "dyed" it with Antique Linen distress ink to go better with the color scheme of the card.


Well that's it for now. . .I've had to stop several times in typing this because typing makes my forearm feel like it is on fire.  The elbow is better (for the most part), but it is taking a lot of time to heal because my care for Jay requires me to lift him out of bed to get him into his chair each morning, and other various uses during the day.  So it is slow, but I'm going to keep going to see if I can't do this on my own without another shot.


Pic of the Week
This sweet little fox is new to the neighborhood.  This was taken in my side yard this past weekend.  It is hunting voles.  From his size and face, I can tell he is a young pup and still hasn't learned to fear humans as much as he should.  He has certainly made himself famous around the neighborhood.  He drives my boys nuts!  LOL


Well, thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm SO SORRY that I haven't made it to everyone's blogs in the last couple of weeks, but I swear I'm working on it.  It just kinda hurts (it has taken me over two hours to type this!)  It is all YouTube's fault!!!  Anyway, I will be catching up with all of you in the coming week!  Promise!


Hope you are all doing well.  Hugs to everybody!


Love you guys!


Curt


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

Thursday, February 2, 2012

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Hey All!!!!


I'm back!  I feel like I haven't posted in months although it has only been two weeks.  My arm still hurts and I think I'm just learning to live with it and avoid whatever makes it hurt worse.  I'll eventually end up going to the doctor for one of those awful shots in the elbow, but not until I can help it.


Without further ado, here is my blog video:





Here are the still photos of the cards/projects:



Yes, as I said, it does hold a dozen of these cookies, but I ate one after finishing the video!  :P


Pic of the Week
SHOTSY'S BATH TIME
OK, that's it for this post. . .I'm slowly but surely catching up on your posts. . .if I have not been there yet, I'm on my way.  Thanks for being patient!  And again, thanks so much for your well wishes!  You guys are wonderful!


Hugs,


Curt


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