THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR AUGUST 29, 2013

Hey All!

Sorry that I'm late with this post. . .what is the saying. . ."A day late and a dollar short."?  I'm usually both.  But here I am and I do have cards to show.

I have to give a warning (Bonnie), this post does contain a Halloween card, the first of the season for me!  So let's start with that one shall we????

I got the idea for this card HERE.  The card that was the inspiration was done in Halloween colors and screamed to be done for Halloween.  The coffee cup is from Gina K. Designs which I fussy cut out with an exacto knife.  The saucer was paper pieced and the skull/cross bones was a small dollar stamp.  You can't see it in the photo well, but I added steam rising from the cup by embossing it with silver tinsel embossing powder for a nice sparkly steam.  If you click on the photo you'll see it much better.  The harlequin background paper is from My Mind's Eye (Mischievous) and I created the paper behind the cup with a Stampabilities script background stamp and then "dirtied" it up with some distress ink.  The cup is set up with dimensional tape.

Can you tell I'm gearing up for Fall???  This card in my version of Gina Ks video of a card she made.  I used to have a favorite show where these interior designers would show a decorated room like in a mansion that cost thousands of dollars and then recreate it on a budget of $1,000.  I LOVED that show.  Well this card reminds me of that.  I duplicated Gina's card from her video HERE using what stamps and paper I had on hand to come up with the same look.  How'd I do?

This card was totally inspired by the seahorse.  This was a stamp in the wooden set that also had the ship stamp that I showed you a couple of weeks ago.  The plant life are stamps from Inque, and the shell stamps are in that same set as the ship/seahorse.  I created the panel by blending different shades of blue distress inks then spritzing it with water.  After it dried I stamped the images to create the scene.  I fussy cut out the shells and placed them in a cluster and added turquoise glitter to them for some sparkle as well as to the main sea weed image.

Pic of the Week

Well, that's it for this post.  Hope this finds all of you well and happy.  I'm sorry that my week got away from me and I didn't get to all of your blogs as I had hoped, but I'll be there soon.  I always love the inspiration I get from all of you.

Hugs,

Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR AUGUST 21, 2013

Hey All!

Really nice to see you!  Thanks so much for the warm welcome back you gave me on my last post.  And it is so nice to be back.  I went around to all of your blogs (those that left a comment on last post) and you all have been doing amazing stuff.  You are all truly inspiring!

On to the cards for this week:

For this card, I used the negative of a die cut.  I took a piece of scrap card stock and sponged various colors of distress ink to get a gradient effect.  Then slid it behind the negative cut out.  Stamped the word "dream" and done.  Very quick and easy to do yet it makes a great looking card.

I really like silhouette stamps and I love the set this one came in from Sweet & Sassy.  The set contains several different silhouette landscapes.  I sponged the morning sunrise color scheme with distress inks, then stamped the image on top of it.  Added the sentiments in Archival jet black ink.  I used to have trouble with these solid images not coming out right and looking splotchy.  But the trick is two fold: 1. Make sure your ink pad is freshly re-inked and 2. Using a sanding block, lightly sand your stamp before inking it for the first time.  Makes all the difference!

 This is a 50th anniversary card that I made for a neighbor in our old neighborhood.  The dies are from Memory box and I used them on gold glitter paper.  Put them on red card stock then matted that with the same gold glitter paper.  The 50 is a sticker.

Pic of the Week:

This is a flower which vines that is in our backyard.  It was planted by the previous owners and I have no idea what it is called.  I am thinking it is from the orchid family.

Well that's it for another post.  Again, thanks so much for all of your kind words.  Still having shoulder issues (but that is expected for a year and I'm only 4 months into it).  But I am learning to tolerate the pain and know what my limitations are as far as movement goes.

Hope all of you are well and doing great.  Can you believe Summer is almost history?  But you know what that means right?  HALLOWEEN is right around the corner!!!!  LOL

Hugs,

Curt

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

SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

Hey All!

I'm back!!!! Gosh I have so missed all of you.  Some of you may have gotten a surprise visit from me already as I'm trying to make my way back to all of your blogs to see how you've been and what you've been up to.  Thank you too for all of you who have sent me comments, emails, and get well cards.  You have been wonderful and I have felt very cared about!

Can you believe it has been exactly 12 weeks since I've been away????  It has been a combination of things, the pain in my shoulders, and a sever situation that happened with me and Shotsy.  I was playing with him in the pool with his tennis ball.  I reached down to pick it up at the same time he did.  As he clamped down on the ball, one of this teeth nearly went through my right index finger.  Long story short, emergency room, wrong antibiotics prescribed, trip to my own doctor, more antibiotics, two painful trips to the hand surgeon, and my predominant hand out of commission for almost 3 weeks.  That combined with my shoulder issues kept me from doing any crafting at all.  Then, you know how it is, when you've been away from it for so long, it is hell to get back into the swing of it again.

But this last week I've been busy at it again!  I've made enough cards for 5 weeks of posts! Ha!  So we can say that I'm officially back.  I'm back up to 80 words per minute typing again, so my hands and fingers are working. 

Here are my cards for this week:

 I love how this card turned out (the map especially).  I believe the map is a Hero Arts cling.  I stamped the map in Vintage Photo distress ink, cut it out, distressed and inked the sides, then crumpled it up several times before smoothing it out and matting it.  The map has such great texture (you'll see it if you click on the photo).  The ship stamp is from Michael's.  Paper is by Fancy Pants.  Added two copper brads and some heavy twine to complete the "nautical" look.

This card combines a digital image and a stamped image.  The planet surface is digital from Hambo, and the alien is a stamp from Recollections.  I colored the planet surface with colored pencils and the alien is colored with Bic markers.  I fussy cut him out and added googly eyes.  The sentiment is computer generated.  I also used a silver glitter pen and went around every one of those stars (Paper Studio) to give it some sparkle.

The last card to share is a House Mouse image colored with my colored pencils and oms.  I added some glitter to the base of the logs and a few little flecks in the flames as if the sparks were flying.  This is the first time I've ever used this image.  It was time consuming to color, but so worth the result.  I'm entering this into the House Mouse Monday Challenge over at House Mouse & Friends.  Their challenge this time is "Liquid Refreshment".  I think their little cups of hot cocoa qualifies.

Pic of the Week
 

TINY VISITOR

 Gosh it is is good to be posting again!  I hope you all still remember me!  Heck, I've almost forgotten how to do this posting.  Had to stop and think for awhile.  LOL  I'll be continuing now with my visits to all of you again.  Can't wait to see what you have all been up to these past weeks.

Hugs to all of you!!!

Curt

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