THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR JULY 6TH, 2011 (ON THURSDAY!)

Hey All!

I swear to you that I must have this mental ailment where you have blackouts and days pass without you being aware!  Where does the time go?  Honestly, the only excuse that I have for this post being late were my priorities for last week.  I helped my Mom move last week, and when you add a major item like that to your already hectic schedule, something has to give.  Anyway, enough whining!

Now, instead of "whining" how about some "winning"?  I have a WINNER for my blog candy which I had posted last week.  Only I'm going to make you work to see if you are the winner. . .I'm such a brat aren't I???  I'm hiding the name of the winner somewhere in this post!  LOL  Since I didn't really make you work to enter, I'll make you work to find out if you won.  When you find your name, send me an email (curt.obrien@gmail.com) with your snail mail address and I'll get your prize right out to you.  You have 4 days from the date of this post to respond or I'll have to choose another winner.  And to all those who didn't win, I'm sorry and I wish you could all have won.  OK, on to the post (happy searching)!

First card to share:

The only thing stamped on this card is the sentiment on the mat (Waltzing Mouse).  I needed a "new home" card, and was looking for inspiration and this is what I used (CLICK HERE) I didn't want to do the standard "little house" stamp and I thought what a great idea to just do a "door".  I made it kind of "rustic" looking.  The "siding" was strips cut out and ran through my CB.  Everything on the door (except the brad for the door knob) was either hand cut or die cut.  I made the flower pots from scratch, and all those little flowers are hand cut from some printed paper I had.  Talk about my fingers hurting!  But I do like how it turned out.  I'm not a big fan of "punch out" cards, but sometimes they can be cute.

Second card:

This is quickly becoming one of my most favorite color schemes.  On the left panel, I heat embossed the feather image after stamping it with Versamark and using clear ep.  The right panel I dry embossed with my CB.  Colored the bird image with my pencils, added a ribbon and made a double bow with my Bow Easy.  The feather and bird image are both by Inkadinkado.  I made this for a young neighbor woman's 81 year old Mom who broke her femur!  Ouch!

Last card to share. . .

As any of you who have been following me for awhile know, I'm a HUGE Fall/Halloween fan.  So I'm thinking that since time seems to be flying by so quickly, it is time to get a jump start on the Fall season cards.  I sponged the background after stamping and embossing the wheat image in clear ep.  That way, the wheat resisted the ink and maintained the original color.  The little "strap thingies" came out of my head. . .(well, not literally!)  I used the SU word window punch and just wrapped them behind the card after putting a little dark copper brad in each.  I kinda like 'em. . .

One quick project:

Don't forget you can turn the above into this:

I made this little recycle project for my friend Nina here in the neighborhood for her birthday.  It was filled with Ghiardelli (sp?) chocolate squares.  I just wrapped the can in dp, cut the top panel with a circle (Cardscrapper you are the winner!!!!  Congrats!!!!!) with my Nesties, added a ribbon and bow, done!


PIC OF THE WEEK:

SUMMER FUZZ BALLS

Well, there you have it.  I didn't take the time to take pics of my craft room.  I need to clean it up first before I let you see it, so that will be for next week!  Congrats to the winner!!  After taking out the one multiple comment and the one's that said to exclude them I ran random.org and the winning number was 36.

Hope you are all well!  Thanks for visiting me.  I'm on my way to see what you've been up to.  I always enjoy my visits with you!  Hope you had a safe and happy 4TH!


Hugs,


Curt


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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR FEBRUARY 16, 2011

Hey All!

First and foremost, thank you so much for all of your wonderful words of encouragement regarding my week from hell.  Each and every one of them meant the world to me.  I feel like I was being such a whiner when I posted that.  There are others out there far worse off than I am, and I need to remember that and be grateful for that. . .

OK, I'm going to start off with cards, then I will unveil the BLOG CANDY at the end of the post.  I not only hit 250, I'm now at 260 at the time of this post.  Welcome to all of my new followers, and I hope you find this blog worth your time.  On with the post. . .

First card is a card I'm entering into a challenge.  As many of you know, this is very rare, but the host of the challenge berated me miserably into playing along. . .   :P  Ted at Happily Ever Crafter has a challenge this month which is to create a Valentine for someone special in your life.  HOWEVER, the stipulation was that the sentiment on the front AND inside the card had to be done in your own handwriting!!!  I hate my handwriting as many of us do, so this was definitely a challenge for me.  Here is my card:

As if you can't tell, the "Always" is in my own handwriting. . .here is the inside sentiment:

OK Ted!!!  I played. . .are you happy now?!?!?  I have been seeing loads of these flag stamps and I really do like them a lot.  I also created  the background paper simply by stamping Versamark ink on plain red paper to create the watermark effect.  Moving on. . .

This is my attempt at the "Zindorfian" techniques.  I Love Michelle's work, and when I saw this tree stamp at Michael's on sale a couple of months ago, I knew I would use it for this type of card.  If you are not familiar with Michelle Zinidorf's beautiful work, you can visit her blog HERE.    


Next is this one:

This card used 4 different stamps.  I don't know why this card was stuck in my head, but I'm glad it is out.  I had pictured a bird on a limb with a little balloon in its beak to go with Mark's "Happy Bird Day!" from Deadbeat Designs.  It's still a little plain and I feel it needs something, but it is now out of my head!


Last but not least. . .

This is a box I came up with to hold this. . .

This is just a sheet of paper scored and then a pocket added inside to hold the large size chocolate bar.  I made one each for my Mom and Jay's Mom for Valentine's day.


OK, now for the blog candy.  Here is the picture followed by the list of what's in it:

It includes:


1 - Cuttlebug embossing/die cut set (includes 4 mini folders and mini dies)
1 - Package of Tim Holtz Tissue Tape
1 - Ranger Distress Ink Forrest Moss (my personal favorite color)
5 - Laurie Furnnel unmonted rubber stamps (winter themes)
2 - 1 Pound Scrap Packs
1 - Crafter's Workshop 6 X 6 Template
1 - Sweet November rubber stamp
1 - Sugar Nellie rubber stamp (Strawberry Tea)
1 - Elizabeth Bell rubber stamp (Sugar Plum Rainy Day Emma)
1 - Hero Arts Sparkle Clear Stamp set with gems
1 - Quickutz Embossing Folder - Plants
1 - Pink Poison rubber stamp
1 - Decorated 5 X 7 journal
1 - Package of 2 mini frames
A few unlisted surprises


How's that?  Here's what you have to do to win:


1.  Jump up and down on one foot and say booga booga
2.  Stick your index finger in your mouth and make a popping noise
3.  Twirl around over and over until you are dizzy
4.  Point at a perfect stranger and start laughing hysterically
5.  If you have more than three ears, you get a second entry
6.  If you have ever worn two different colored shoes out in public you need not enter


LOL, that's about what I feel other blogs put you through just to win some stuff.  Not here.  Just leave a comment on this post and I will use Random.Org to choose the winner.  You have until next Tuesday (February 22nd) at 11:59 PM EST  I will announce the winner on the next Wednesday Evening Post.  Simple enough?  Good luck to all of you!


PICTURE OF THE WEEK

CAN SPRING BE FAR AWAY???

Thanks very much for taking the time to visit me.  I know how busy you all are and I am humbled that you spend some of your valuable free time with me.


All my best to you guys!  You are the best!


Hugs,


Curt O'Brien


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

CHALLENGE, NEW CARD, AND EXCITING NEWS

Hey All! How have you all been? Happy Friday!!! Hope you all had a great week and a wonderful Valentine's Day. As you can see, my blog is all decked out for St. Patrick's Day as are my boys above. Honestly, they have bandannas for every holiday and season. I love my guys so much! And with my last name being O'Brien, I would lose my Irish card if I didn't decorate my blog for the holiday.

I have a few things to share with you today. A couple of cards, an update, and some EXTREMELY EXCITING NEWS! So, on we go!

My first card is my submission for the House Mouse Monday Challenge #25. This one was a little different because they had a sketch you had to follow. I'm not big on sketches, but this one was kinda cool and I really loved the layout. Here it is:



Here is my interpretation:



How perfect for St. Pat's Day. As most of you who have followed my blog for any time, you know that when I do a sketch challenge, I literally follow the sketch - no variations. I think this HM image is so cute. I like how this turned out, except that bare spot up there in the upper left hand corner. But, like I said, I follow the sketch as given. Here is a close up of the image:



I'm listing all the details of the cards at the end of the post if you are interested. But I have to say, I colored this image with colored pencils and OMS with blending stumps. I'm not kidding you when I say this. . .the pencils I use for my coloring of all images are simple Crayola colored pencils. I also use these other super cheap colored pencils called "Cran". Makes me laugh every time. Remember when you were a little kid and you called crayons "crans"? Anyway, these pencils cost $7.99 for 72 colors! LOL Can you believe it? My Crayola pencils were like $6.99 for 48 colors. And I get these kind of results. And trust me on this. . .I know some 5 year olds who can color better than me! The secret to the coloring turning out is the odorless mineral spirits and choosing the correct colors. That's it. So, I'm just telling you my little closeted secrets because if you think you can't color. . .if I can get results like this, you can too!

My next card is one that I had in my head the minute I saw two of the stamps that I used for it. The bird and the nest stamps just inspired a card in my head. Here is what came out:



Whenever I see a nest with eggs, I always picture them blue or speckled. When I saw these stamps, I immediately thought of beige and robin egg blue. The background paper is speckled with the browns, blues, and the light greens that I used for the tree just budding. Here is a close up of the bird:



I also did something that I have never tried. That is coloring an image on colored card stock. I always thought that the color of the paper would alter the color. I was so pleased with how it looked, and plan on doing it more in the future.

OK, now on to my EXCITING NEWS! Did you notice the "2 Red Bananas" logo on the right side of my blog near the top? It's there for a reason. I know many of you know Jami of Stamp Happy. If not, go see her. She is so very talented! Anyway, she has designed some wonderful stamp sets for 2 Red Bananas. She emailed me and asked if she could design a stamp set with my boys as the inspiration. She had seen a card I had done previously, and took inspiration from that too (you can see it here). I was so honored and pleased and, of course, said ABSOLUTELY! So, a stamp set was born which will be released next month. The are going to sneak peak it on February 25Th, and I get to play along. I will be posting (proudly I might add) my card using the new stamp set. I was also so excited to find out that the stamp set includes a likeness of my sweet Gunther and the stamp set is called "Gunther's Greetings". I hope I didn't spill too much, but I'm just on cloud 9! My little boy is now a stamp set!!!! LOL I've really been doing the happy dance ever since I received the set. I can't wait till you see it. So be sure to come back on the 25Th to see my card and get links to the other designer's cards.Finally, Pat gave me a final count of her cards for the kids at the hospital. She received, are you sitting down. . . 5,675 Valentines. Doesn't that just knock you over. Job well done, thanks again for all of your help!

OK, that's it for this post. As always, thanks so much for stopping by. I just can't believe that you take the time to do it, but I'm so very grateful that you do. Don't forget the pic of the week below! I'll see you on your blogs this weekend!


Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

Card Details:

HM Card:

Stamp: "Oh Lucky Day" Stampabilities

Ink: Archival Jet Black

Paper: DCWV; Bazzill Card Stock

Accessories: Nestabilities; ribbon; gem stone

Bird Card:

Stamps: Tree - Memory Box; bird and nest - Inkadinkado wood mounted

Ink: Staz-On Timber Brown

Paper: Bazzill card stock

Accessories: Nestabilities; grosgrain ribbon; foam squares.