WITH A SEVERELY BROKEN HEART

At this moment, I feel as if my heart has been ripped from my chest.  It is with indescribable  sadness that I let you all know I lost my beautiful Shotsy this morning.  He was suffering from breathing difficulties and was really struggling.  I rushed him to his vet and it was determined that he had a disease called Laryngeal Paralysis which causes them to struggle with breathing.  Because of his age (12 +) and few options for him, I had to say good bye.  He died peacefully in my arms as I cradled his head against my chest and held his paw.

Shotsy was such an amazing dog and was so much a part of our lives.  He was so smart and was so helpful.  He would pick up things that Jay would drop and hand them to him, he would carry groceries into the house from the car, and would even carry in the mail for me each day.  He was always so ready to please and he was such a happy dog.  I don't know what I'm going to do without him.

As you might imagine, I am devastated and my heart is broken.  All I've been able to do is walk through the house sobbing.  I just can't believe that he is gone.  But I wanted you to know because so many of you shared my dogs with me through this blog and I wanted you to know.  I also want you to know that I won't be blogging for some time to come.  I'm going to need quite a bit of time before I am able to resume.  I know you all will understand.  I'll miss you, but know I will think about you all.

REST IN PEACE MY HANDSOME BOY

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Hey All!

I survived my oral surgery and even have a couple of cards to post.  For those of you who want the details on how I survived, I've posted it at the bottom of this post.  I just want to thank you all for the kind and positive comments you left me.  They meant a lot and helped me get through this ordeal.  I can't thank you enough.

For Halloween, my good blogging friend Mark who owns Deadbeat Designs, sent me a gift of some of his latest stamps.  So I thought I'd make a couple of cards showing some of them off.  Take a look:

These glasses are so fun and retro.  The timing of these two stamps was perfect.  Jay had his yearly eye exam last week.  They are so kind to him when he is there and take good care of him.  They go out of their way to accommodate his big power chair and try to make him as comfortable as possible.  So I wanted to send them a card thanking them for their kindness.  I stamped the little glasses at various angles to create the background then colored in the "spots" on the rim with red marker.  The big glasses are stamped with Versamark then embossed with clear ep for the shine of plastic rims.  I added jewels for sparkle.  I came up with the sentiment and it is computer generated.

 One of the many things I love about Mark is his sense of humor.  This sentiment stamp of his is a great example of his humor.  You can't tell in the photo, but both the sentiment box and "Leaning Thelma" are popped up with dimensionals and I fussy cut her out.  The background is just designer paper.  I have a friend in mine for this birthday card.

Now please don't look too close at either card. . .I've been on pain medication on and off for a week, so things look a little crooked. . .have mercy.

Pic of the Week

This is a view from the back yard of our 30+ foot sweet gum tree in our front yard.  It is massive and so beautiful in the fall.  It has reds, oranges, yellows, and greens.  I actually see this beauty from my bedroom window.  It is so vividly colored that my bedroom walls appear yellow/orange when the sun hits it.

OK . . .for those interested in my dental ordeal:

I ended up having 14 teeth extracted as well as some bony areas filed down.  I was in the chair for almost 2 hours.  What most people find appalling is that I was awake through the whole procedure.  Really, I was. . .of course they completely numbed me and I asked for "laughing gas" to relax me, but I was completely aware of what was going on.  Believe me, I heard every crack and pop as the teeth came out.  My only real complication was excessive bleeding.  If any of you are familiar with the show "The Walking Dead" on AMC, that is what I felt like.  Since my mouth was completely numb, I didn't realize that I was bleeding profusely as I was driving home.  At a stop light, I looked in the rear view mirror and realized with horror that blood had been oozing down both sides of my mouth.  It had dripped all over my leather coat, the front of my shirt, and the seat belt!  LOL  I seriously looked like one of the "walkers" from that show.  The bleeding didn't slow down much for the first 12 hours, but finally got to a "trickle".  I took pain pills a lot for the first 24 hours, and now sporadically for the last week.  The only real pain I have now is in the hinges of my jaws.  That pain is from my jaw muscles trying to adjust to a new position since I have no upper teeth to keep them at the level they are used to being.  But that too is getting better.  I had my follow up today and he said that it looked great and was healing nicely.  I've been spitting out stitches for the last couple of days (which is supposed to happen).  I go for my impressions on December 30th and should have my new smile by the second week of January.  I swear, I'm so tired of eating mashed potatoes, apple sauce, scrambled eggs, etc.  I am craving meat so badly!!!  LOL  But I can't even eat macaroni yet without mashing it into paste! 

Thanks again for your support.  It really meant a lot.  Even though I had to deal with all that I was going through, I still had to take care of Jay and the boys, and I can't lie, at times I just wanted to scream.  There is nothing like throbbing mouth pain that just makes you want to crawl into bed and die.  But I'd read your comments and knew I had friends out there thinking about me.  I love you guys!

Hugs,

Curt

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

Hey All!

No normal post for today. . .Reason?  I'm having a major dental procedure done today.  At 2:40 this afternoon I will be having all of my upper teeth removed and 4 bottom wisdom teeth as well in anticipation of a full upper denture.  I have wanted this procedure done for years, and now the time has come.  After taking care of other people, it is time to take care of me.  My father's side of the family (whom I take after) was cursed with bad teeth.  My father had dentures by age 46.  I've just gotten so tired of not smiling, not wanting to go to functions, etc. because of my failing teeth.  For years I've endured painful procedures (i.e. root canals, crowns, extractions, etc.) to no avail.  I've always been terrified by dentists because of some horrible experiences as a kid, so going this afternoon, is almost like driving myself to a nightmare.  The other thing that will be tough to deal with is having no upper teeth until the first week of January!  OMG I can't imagine that, but hopefully the final outcome will be well worth it.

So please think about me today and tonight (I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a rough one).  Send out positive thoughts that I get through this rough part and that today goes well!

Thanks everyone!  I appreciate your positive energy!

Hugs,

Curt

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

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hey All!

It is HALLOWEEN!!!!  I waited until today to post because I just wanted to wish you all a very safe, spooky, and happy Halloween.  The weather here is perfect for a creepy Halloween night.  It is rainy, windy, dark and grey.  Perfect for the creatures to come out and haunt.  Trick or Treating has been postponed here in Indianapolis until tomorrow because of the stormy weather.  So I'm going to curl up and watch a scary movie in peace tonight.   HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Harrowing Hugs!

Count Curtis

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR OCTOBER 23, 2013

Hey All!

Glad to see that you are back safe and sound.  I've enjoyed my visits this week with all your wonderful stuff!  I've noticed, there are a lot of you who love Halloween like I do.  I've really enjoyed your Halloween creations so much.

Speaking of. . .(close your eyes Bonnie!)

Skeletons are one of my most favorite characters during Halloween.  Isn't that cut out circle feature cool?  I got my inspiration from THIS CARD. When I saw the card that inspired me, this one came into my head.  I used various stamps for this: The big skull and Halloween ticket are by Craft Smart (wood mount), the skeleton is by My Minds Eye, and the skeleton hand holding the ticket is by my buddy Mark at Deadbeat Designs, and the French script background is Stampabilities.  This is a 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 square card.

                         

I'm sending this one to my Vet's office.  I used real gauze to wrap a piece of beige colored card stock.  The image is by Stampendous.

Love this Halloween martini glass by Impression Obsession.  Super quick and easy card to make for those "adult" Halloween lovers on your list.  Colored it all with Bic markers.  The background paper is My Mind's Eye.

OK, Halloween stuff shown, now my Fall project (You can open your eyes now Bonnie):

I bought the template for this box months ago and just now got around to using it.  It is a great box with a drawer for cards (holds 6 A2 sized cards perfectly) and a shelf for the envelopes.  The template is by Creations by AR which you can find HERE.  These are a sample of the cards that are inside:

Same stamp, just colored differently.  The first has just solid color trees and the bottom has variegated colored leaves.  I colored the bottom by just making lots and lots of dots with different colored markers.  On both, I added the dots at the bottom of each tree to simulate fallen leaves.  The stamp is by Memory Box.  There are 3 each for a total of 6 cards in the set.  Each says something different.  I'm giving this set to my Mom and sister.

Pic of the Week:

 

Even weeds are beautiful in the Fall!

Well, that's it for this post.  Sorry I put in so much, but I've had lots to share.  I know my posts are like epic journeys!  LOL  Thanks so much for always coming to see me and leaving me such great comments.  You all are truly the highlight of my week.

Hope you are all well and happy!

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR OCTOBER 16, 2013

Hey All!

There you are!  Come on in and get out of that rain.  Here, let me take your umbrella.  Glad you made it despite this rainy evening!  Would you like something to drink?  Tea, coffee, alcohol?  LOL

I have to apologize up front for the photos on this post.  I tried to take some of them in very dim lighting to show the candle light, so they didn't come out to my standards. . .

This is a card I made for my Mom's doctor.  My Mom asked me to make a card for her to give to her doctor for Halloween.  This is a "Tunnel" card.  As you will see below.  The only stamping I did is the "boo".  The rest was already on the paper.  The swirlies and the spider are all done in black glitter.  I just chopped up the paper and paneled it, raising each section with dimensionals.  Here is the inside:

Now, I've added my own touch to this tunnel card.  Where there is supposed to be the sentiment there in the raised center cutout, you can only see a piece of vellum.  That is my twist. . .and here is the surprise revealed:

Set the card over an electric tea light and it reveals a spooky scene.  The scene was created using a die cut from Impression Obsession.  I attached it behind the vellum.  What do you think?  And I couldn't just send her in to her doctor with just a card now could I?  Heck no!  I had to make her a little treat box too:

With treats inside:

I made this eyeball box I think a couple of years ago.  So I got my instructions out and made it again for her to give.  Don't you love the eyeball candy?  They are peanut butter filled!  LOL  The box with insert is very simple, and if you want the instructions, send me an email and I'll send them to you.

So, I liked the Halloween Tunnel card so much that I made one as a birthday card for my Mom:

The leaves were punched out from various foil and glittery papers.  Inside:

You can kind of see the light from the electric tea light there at the bottom.  This vellum was already pre-stamped with the leaves so it made this one so easy to do.  The message to the recipient is on the back panel.   The tutorial for the tunnel card is HERE.  Where I deviated from the tutorial is putting vellum over the opening.

I also made this for my Mom's birthday from Shotsy and Gunther:

See that belly band?  Here it is from the back:

And when you open it up:

Tah Dah!  A gift card for Grandma!  

Pick of the Week

These are pumpkins some friends, family and I carved. . .Can you guess which one is mine?

Hope you enjoyed your visit today.  I'm always glad that you come for a visit.  I'm still making my way around to visit all of you.  So if I haven't seen you yet, I'm on my way!

Enjoy the upcoming weekend and the rest of your week!

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR OCTOBER 9, 2013

Hey All!

Welcome back to another edition of the Wednesday Evening Post!

I wanted to start by telling you that I celebrated a milestone this week. . .On October 4th, I celebrated 1 year since my heart attack!  Can you believe it has already been a year????  I had an ultrasound done on my heart on September 28th and a cardiologist appointment on October 3rd.  He said everything looked great and my heart was 20% stronger than right after the heart attack.  I had even lost more weight (total 38 pounds) and the ultrasound showed nothing abnormal.  I just wanted to share the good news with you all!

Here are my cards this week.  And can you believe it???  No Fall or Halloween!!!  GASP!

My best friend's birthday was last week, and I made this for him.  I really like these treat box cards.  This one is stuffed with Hershey's toffee nuggets.  This is a House Mouse image which I colored with my colored pencils and oms.  Here is the pic with the tag pulled out:

The paper looks like cake frosting with sprinkles.  I fashioned the candle and then attached it with a dimensional.  I wrote my message on the back of it.

My next card you will need sunglasses for!:

I was so thrilled this week.  Melanie Muenchinger (a stamp designer from Stamp TV) sent me 3 sets of her stamps.  She had noticed on my profile that I was a caregiver for Jay and she said that touched her heart and she wanted to send me some "happy mail".  So I used one of the sets she sent to make this thank you card for her.  This flower comes from her set "A Year of Flowers 2".  She is so talented!  I Stamped the floral images in Versamark ink, then embossed them with white embossing powder.  I created the background by covering the card stock with Mustard Seed Distress ink, then stamping it off twice to achiever a very light image.  I then colored the petals of the main flowers with my water brush and Spiced Marmalade Distress ink to achieve the various shading levels.  I cut the stems from green card stock.  Thanks so much for your kindness Melanie. . .it was so appreciated!!

Last card:

I did this card for my sister who loves that insurance commercial where the camel wanders through the office asking everyone what day it is. . .What's even funnier about the commercial is that the camel actually uses my sister's name (Julie) and her ex-husbands name right after (Mike).  I must have been drinking when I made this because I'm noticing in the picture that stuff is kind of crooked!  Dang!  Oh well, it was just for laughs anyway.  The image is a digital from Doodle Pantry.

Pic of the Week

That's all I've got. . .Hope you are all doing well and enjoying this gorgeous Fall weather we've been having.  I'll be seeing you on your blogs this week!

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR OCTOBER 2, 2013

Hey All!

October is finally here!!!  For those of you who are observant, you noticed two new elements that I've added to my blog.  The first element is the YouTube video of the song This Is Halloween from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Just press the small play button and enjoy my most favorite Halloween song!  You'll also see right below it the Halloween countdown clock!  Both are located to your right in the side bar at the top.

On to the post. . .

My sister's birthday was yesterday and this is the card I made for her.  I created another one of those punch pumpkins from an oval Spellbinder's die.  However, I got a little creative with this one and embossed that great leafy swirl pattern across the front of it.  It is embossed with Zing sparkly copper glitter embossing powder and it is so sparkly.  Added two patterned paper panels behind it and a 3-D happy birdaty banner (made from scratch and embossed with the same ep).  The card is a 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 square.  I love how my pumpkin turned out.

Ahhhh. . .the dark side of House Mouse. . . .BBBWWWWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA.  There is a lot of fussy cutting going on here!  Both main images are cut out and attached with dimensionals.  The fence is a die by Spellbinders as are the grave stones.  The specialty box is called a Flat Backed Treat Box and is a tutorial on SCS by my own blogging buddy Patti J. from Cherrish Each Precious Day.  You can find the tutorial HERE.  It is a great, well written tutorial and these have so many ways to use them.  I added some mini Reeses in the little box.  Can you imagine this with a (dare I say it now) Christmas scene?

This is just a simple Autumn note card.  I started with a scratch piece of card stock and stamped the script writing on it.  Then I used a leaf punch and punched 3 leaves from it.  Then just distressed them a bit with Distress inks.  Ran the background piece through in a CB embossing folder for a wood grain look, attached the leaves with dimensionals, added the copper brad and twine, and completed it with the little hello tag.

Pic of the Week

SHOTSY THE GIANT VAMPIRE SCHNAUZER

Hope this post finds you all well and happy.  I'll be back to visit you again this week to see what you've been up to. . .I hope I find that there are lots of Halloween and Fall projects to look at!

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Hey All!

Hope this post finds you well and happy. . .

I have some EXCITING NEWS that I found out about on Sunday night.  I received an email from Splitcoast Stampers informing me that I had been chosen as their STAMPER OF THE WEEK!!!!  I couldn't believe what I was reading.  It started Sunday, and runs through the end of the week.  There are 55 cards in the gallery of cards people have made in honor of me using the cards in my gallery as their inspiration.  I even got that nifty badge over there on my sidebar as recognition for this.  I've been floating all week because of it.

Here are my cards/projects for this post:

When I saw this free digital image at Chi Chi Memories I had to snag it.  I usually don't go for images with "people" in them, but this one was too cute to pass up.  The background paper is from DCWV and I colored the image with my colored pencils and oms.  This is a 5 1/2" square card which is one of my favorite sizes.  And speaking of square cards. . .

I got my inspiration for this card from this CARD.  I stamped the ghosts and cut them out and popped them up with dimensionals.  I actually traced the envelope from one I had bought because I only had two of them.  So I traced one on the back of the printed paper and cut it out to assemble it back into an envelope again.  Added the distressed piece of paper in there with the greeting.  Put some Diamond Stickles around the ghosts for some sparkle and done.  The ghosts are by Recollections.

Here is my last project for this post:

I've loved this Treat Box Card for a long time and finally got around to making one. They are pretty easy to make and if you want to give it a try the tutorial can be found HERE.  I made the pumpkin from ovals I cut from dies then sponged them and put them together.  The vines and leaf are also punched.  The tag is a standard size with a popped up leaf I punched out and inked.  The attached box is filled with Reeses minis in Fall colored foil.

Pic of the Week

NEWEST MEMBER OF MY BACKYARD COMMUNITY

This picture of a female Cardinal was literally taken through the window in my craft room.  I have a small tree right outside of the window where this little girl was watching me while eating berries.  She still has some "baby fluff" on her.  If I would move the camera about a foot to the right of where she is sitting, you would see the nest where she was born.  I watched the mom build the nest, sit on the egg, and feed this little beauty virtually standing at my window.  It was awesome.  I feel like I'm her uncle!   LOL  I've named her "Little Red".

Well, that's it for another post.  I'll be on my way for a visit, so be sure everything is picked up, tidy and ready for company!  Hope you all have a good rest of the week and a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Hey All!

I can't believe that it is Wednesday again!  And it is the last Wednesday of the Summer!  Is time flying or what?  I've even scheduled the pool's closing date for October 14th.  I've also purchased my first pumpkins for the season!!!  I'm just glad to see you here and I have to tell you, you all look amazing!  I've never seen you look better!  Whatever you are doing keep doing it because it is working!

Here are my cards for this post:

Look at their funny little faces!  Just as happy as they can be.  I'm entering this card into the HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE.  I'm also entering it into the Pinspirational Challenge. This challenge's theme is "Autumn Leaves".  As always, I've colored the image with my colored pencils and oms.  The "sky" is sponged with distress ink.  That is one thing I really love about using colored pencils to color images. . .the wax in the pencils repels the sponged ink.  I stamped out the two large leaves ($1 stamps) and then embossed them.  I then used distress inks and water to paint them.  Fussy cut them then attached them to the card and added an oak leaf brad to finish it off as if they are pinned to the card.

Next. . .

The inside says "The Dangers of Hexing While Flying".  LOL  The image is by Northwoods Stamps and is colored with my colored pencils and oms.  I added the spell book to make it go more with the sentiment inside.  I found the clip art and cut the book out adding the "spells" by hand.  The background paper is from a DCWV stack.

Last card. . .

I've always wanted to try this shadow technique.  I stamped the first image in Distress Ink Walnut Stain and waited for it to dry.  I then stamped the same image on top of it slightly to the left of the original image in Versamark.  I then embossed the image with white ep.  I love the look and it was really simple to do.  Quick card for a quick need anytime.  The image is by Inque. 

Pic of the Week

BUG DRESSED FOR AUTUMN

Another post has come to an end.  It's been fun visiting with you!  You are welcome here anytime.  I'll try to have some apple cider and Krispy Kreme pumpkin spice donuts for the next time you visit.

Hope you are all well and safe!

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

Hey All!

Before I say anything else in this post, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the special significance of today and remember all of those souls that were lost 12 years ago.  Some of the scenes from that day are forever burned into my memory and I'll never forget.

I hope this post finds you all well and safe.  Summer's end is fast approaching and I'm so getting into the Autumn mode.  It will be evident when you see this post's cards.  Here they are:

Acorns and fiery colored oak leaves are such ambassadors of Fall.  I had forgotten how nice a job Versamark does as a watermark.  The patterned background is done using only Versamark clear embossing ink. The stamp is by Hampton Arts and only has 3 rows of the diamond pattern so I had to use my Stampamajig to line it up all the way across.  The leaves are from a die (I believe Spellbinders) and the acorns stamp is by Inkadinkado.  I fussy cut them out and popped them up along with the leaves using dimensional tape.  I highlighted the acorn tops with a copper pen and the leaves with a Stardust glitter pen along their veins.  The little straps were made by punching out two word windows (StampinUp) and bending them around the card stock.  I then added copper brads to finish them off.  The sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts.

 These two were done with the same stamped image but in different ways.  All of the flower heads (Hero Arts) are dotted with Stickles for some sparkle.  I stamped them in various Fall colors using Distress Inks.  Sentiments are Hero Arts.  These were quick and easy to produce.

And what's Autumn without some Halloween????  I think Bonnie will even approve of this one.  When I found this clear set by Inkadinkado at Michael's, this card popped into my head.  I colored them with Bic markers then "painted" the beakers/test tube with Crystal Glaze to give them a glass look.  Added some glitter to each where appropriate and finished the card with my computer created pun sentiment.

 My last card was made with such a fun stamped image.  It is by Rubber Stamp Ave.  I've had it for quite some time and thought I could use it for Halloween and for birthday cards ("You can't hide from another birthday!" LOL)  Talk about a quick and easy card.  I created the sentiment in Word using a really spooky font.

Pic of the Week

FALL COLORED FLOWER

Well, another Wednesday another post.  Hope it was worth your while stopping by.  You know I always love to see that you've visited me.  I'm off now to take a look at everything you have been up to the previous week!  Always love visiting you guys too!

Hugs,

Curt

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