THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR MARCH 7, 2012

Hey All!

How the heck are ya???  Sorry I was missing in action last week. . .Actually no excuses this time.  Simply had a week where I let myself be lazy.  I do have a couple of ANNOUNCEMENTS at the end of the post, so be sure you check them out!

Lots to post this time so here we go:


First card:

I had to stamp this #&!@# image 9 TIMES!  OMG!  You name it, it happened to this image. . .thumb print, smeared ink, incomplete stamped image, etc. . .  But I persevered and won!  Take that you stupid birds!!!  Bwwwahhhhhhh!  I actually built this card around the sentiment which is from the ever so talented Mark over at Deadbeat Designs.  The image is by Inkadinkado.  I stamped the background paper, cut it into strips, and created the panels.  I also made the little bird hats out of glitter paper.

Card #2

This is a new home card I created for a friend which is way over due. . .The house and trees are from PTI.  I drew in the curtains and colored with pencils.  The fence is an MS punch.  The fun part about this card is that the "floral trim" is done with the Spring mix of FlowerSoft.  Here's a close up:

Looks like little flower beds doesn't it???


Next:

Very simple birthday card.  I created all the squares and placed them then added the ribbon and cut out the ribbon tag and stamped the sentiment on it.  For some reason, this paper really appealed to me and I envisioned this card when I saw it.  The Paper is by The Paper Studio.


I saved the best for last (at least in my opinion).  Take a look:

I haven't made one of these stationery boxes in forever.  I made this for a birthday gift for my very sweet neighbor across the street.  I call this one my "Vintage Postcard Set".  How snooty huh???  LOL  Here's what is in it:

Here's more detail on each group of stuff. . .

Gift tags were made using two inch strips of cardstock with the tops only ran through the CB with a Spellbinders die. The stamps used were Hero Arts and SU's French Foliage then distressed with Walnut Stain distress ink.

The gift enclosure cards were stamped and distressed in the same ink.

The note cards are done very simply.  The large area is paper from the Paper Studio.  I created the "just a note" to look like a postage stamp and placed it where the stamp would go on a letter or postcard.  There are 8 of them in the set.  Here is the singular close up:

I cut the paper so that each card is a little different based on the print of the paper.  The box itself is made out of printed cardstock with old postcards on it by Gardner (never heard of them).  Don't be hatin on the pen OK???  It is all I had on hand. . .


Now on to some exciting news. . .I finally got my BLOGGIE!!!!  Here is a picture of it:

Small isn't it?  I put the quarter next to it to give you a reference point.  It is about the size of a small phone.  It takes still pics (12mp) and records up to 2 hours in HD video.  The little silver thingy on the bottom is a USB port which pops out to plug right into the computer to transfer pics and vids.  I got a great deal on it (was $179 at places on the Net, on sale at Costco for $149 PLUS a $50 instant manufacturer's rebate. . .so $99!  I'm impressed with it so far, but still reading up on uploading videos and looking at free video editing software to edit the videos.  So, hopefully, the next blog post will be an HD video staring yours truly!

ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!!!

My wonderful blogging buddy Karen and her husband are the proud new owners of HIGH HOPES STAMPS!!!  Congrats Karen!!!  I've always loved their images, and Karen is even doing some of her own artwork!  I've added their logo over on my sidebar so go click on it and take a look.  I wish her and her husband all the best with this new endeavor!

I also have a new blog to tell you about.  My new blogging friend Jean has joined us with her first ever blog at my prodding!  It's called "My Raspberry Room" and she does beautiful work!  Will you please stop over and give her a friendly welcome to this blogging world of ours?  I'd appreciate it and I know she will too.  I'm so proud of her that she took the big plunge!  You did a great job kiddo!

Pic of the Week

Took this photo this evening of the full moon rising over our neighborhood.

Well, that's it for this edition. . .I know it was a lot, but I'm glad you waded through it.  I'm off to start my journey to all of your wonderful blogs and can't wait to see what you've been creating!


Hope you are all well!  Love you guys!


Best,


Curt


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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Hey All!!!

You made it safe and sound!  Gosh it is good to see you. . .what have you been up to this past week?  As I visited your blogs this week, I saw some wonderful stuff, read some happy news, and some sad news, and just lots of stuff going on.  We are one amazing little group aren't we?  I'm certainly proud and very happy to call you my blogging family, cause that's what you feel like to me!

Have you noticed that blogger has added a great new feature when viewing blogs????  As you read through my blog, try clicking on one of my photos here in the blog.  It puts them all in a really nice photo viewing mode.  I love it!

On with the post!  Again, I've created some more Halloween cards to share with you this week.  BONNIE!!!  Stop that groaning back there!  LOL  I think you will like these.  Take a look at the first one:

Now see Bonnie, this one is kind of sweet isn't it?  LOL  I created this scene using several different stamps.  I first masked off the moon and sponged the background sky as well as the grassy area.  The cat is by Artful Inkables, the tree is by Deadbeat Designs, the pumpkins are peg stamps by Tapistry, and the bats are a Hero Arts mini stamp.  I used a dark grey colored pencil to  create the shadows behind the images and a white gel pen to give the effect of the moon reflection. I love creating scenes with a variety of different stamps.  The possibilities are endless.

I think the next card is going to end up being my most favorite of the Halloween cards I've made so far:

Again, I've combined two images to create one scene.  The witch and the cauldron are both separate images from CowTown Stamps.  I love their images and they are reasonably priced and well made.  When I saw the two images I knew immediately that they were going to be used together.  I colored them with my colored pencils and oms.  Then added glitter to the flames, stuff she is sprinkling in, and the liquid content of the cauldron.  Sponged the whole background afterwards.  The sentiment is by (I believe) Inkadinkado, and thought it perfect for the scene.  The background paper is DCWV.

My last card is a birthday card which I made for a sweet neighbor lady.  As I told you in my last post, I like to make occasion cards in the theme of the season in which they occur.  Take a look:

You gotta click on this one to see the glittery leaves. . .I stickled every dang one of them!!  LOL  It really was worth it because the whole card just sparkles.  I created the background paper using the Trendy Trees stamp set by Stampin UP.  I've had this set for quite awhile now, and have never used it.  I'm glad I did for this card.  I used a Stampamajig to position the trees as I went along so they would create the pattern.  They are stamped with several colors of distress inks.  I don't know how I lived without my distress inks!  Added the sentiment strip and the cute Fall brad and done.

OK now time for the pic of the week!  As stated in the last post, the pics I post from now through Halloween will have something to do with the holiday.  Take a look at this gorgeous guy!

This, I'm sure, is a common crow, but for all intents and purposes, this is a raven!!  LOL  Did you know these guys are super intelligent?  There is a video on YouTube of one that they used in an experiment.  They put just enough water in the bottom of a long glass tube where the Raven couldn't get to it to get a drink.  As you watch the video, the Raven goes and picks up small rocks and drops them in the tube raising the water level to the point where it can drink.  That is just amazing to me!  I love these birds!

OK, that's it for now. . .Thanks so much for stopping by to say hello!  Love that you did, and you know my blog is always open for you.  Thanks too for leaving such sweet comments!  Have a great week!  Love you guys!

Hugs,

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 FOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

Hey All!

Happy Hump Day!  I wanted to say thanks to all of you who left me such wonderful comments regarding my father's death and my brother's birthday.  You all are so wonderful and I honestly don't know what I'd do with out you!

I also wanted to let you know that I've resigned from my House Mouse Design Team position.  I am just trying to lessen some of the complication in my life.  I also just want to concentrate on my own creativity and crafting for me.  You'll still see HM cards on my blog because I love them so much.  I'm just jot on the DT any longer.  It was a fun stint and I am honored that I was a part of such a wonderful group of women.

OK, it's time for another Wednesday Evening Post, and as has become almost traditional, I have 3 cards to share with you tonight.  So, here they are. . .

My first is a birthday card for a great neighbor.  She turned 70 last week, and I'm taking her to lunch on Friday to celebrate.  Here is the card I made for her:

I love this Penny Black stamp and I've had it for quite a while.  This is its debut card.  Since it was her 70th birthday, I thought this card was so appropriately funny.  Look at that one chicken getting ready to blow out the candles and the one's look of worry on his face with the fire extinguisher LOL.  This is a technique combo where I "painted" the ground, table, cake and extinguisher with Distress Inks.  The beaks and red thingies are colored with colored pencils/oms.  I used a Sizzix EF for the background because it looks like chicken wire to me.  OMG!!!!  I just looked at the picture and noticed I didn't color one of the beaks!!!!  LOL  I can't believe that!  Good thing I haven't given it to her yet!!!!

My next card is an Thanksgiving card. . .

Another one that I "painted" with my Aqua Brush and Ranger Distress Inks.  It seems that I'm slowly but surely moving away from my beloved colored pencils and moving more towards those wonderful distress inks.  I chose this sentiment (by Stampendous) on purpose because it is usually used for Christmas cards.  However, I think it is a great sentiment for Thanksgiving too.  The image is by Penny Black and the papers are by Recollections.  

My last card to share tonight is a Halloween card. . .You know I rarely do Halloween cards (eyes looking up at the ceiling looking very innocent) LOL  This one is pretty generic but I like how it turned out. . .

I don't even like candy corn!!!  And I don't like it even more after stamping and coloring all of these!  I did several to fill the jar by masking several of them.  This is my first attempt at faux stitching.  How did I do???  I can't determine if I did it well or not.  The jar stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and the single candy corn stamp is by Recollections.  I punched the two corners with a MS punch and added bling.  Candy corn was colored with colored pencils/oms.  The lid was colored with a silver gel  pen.  I tied a little bow using some orange jewelry cord.  Sentiment is by Studio G.

OK, that is it!  Another Wednesday Evening Post is at a close.  Don't forget to look at the "Pic of the Week"!

Thanks again for stopping by.  I'm so pleased that you do!

Hugs to all of you!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

SNEAK PEAK FOR HIGH HOPES STAMPS NEW RELEASE!

Hey All!

Happy Monday!  I'm so excited to bring to you a sneak peak of a brand new artist's work for High Hopes Stamps!  Her name is Laurie Furnell, and she does wonderful work!  Her style has been described as "an amazing mix of cute, funky, sweet, quirky, whimsical, country, and folk."  I have truly had a blast working with her images, and I know you will love them when you see them.  Well, this is the reason we are doing sneak peaks, so here is my sneak peak image:

Is this little mouse cute or what?  When I first saw him, it made me think that he was balancing himself on something.  So, the first thing I thought of was a stack of presents.  I cut the "gifts" out from different scraps and wrapped them in ribbons and bows.  The small bows were mad with my Bow Easy.  I colored him with my colored pencils and oms, then cut him out and placed him on the stacked gifts.  Wouldn't this make a great Christmas card as well by swapping out the birthday gifts for Christmas presents, and then dressing him up for  in Christmas colors?  Can't wait to use him for that.  I stamped the sentiment on white card stock and then "arched" it so that it stuck out like a banner.  The card is a long card (if you haven't figured that out yet!  LOL)

I really do hope you take a look at the other wonderful work of the design team on the High Hopes blog.  I think you will fall in love with this artist and her images.

Now, I'll be posting the next sneak peak tomorrow, so be sure to come back and see another wonderful image.  Then the blog hop will be on Wednesday, September 1st.  If you participate in that, you will be eligible to win some of the new images!

I hope to see you tomorrow!!!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #76

Hey All!


It's another House Mouse Monday Challenge.  This two week challenge is based on the following picture:

Here is my take:

I've never done this before. . .mixed House Mouse images with a Gruffies image, but I'm so glad I thought to do it.  I LOVE how this turned out, and I have to say this is one of my most favorite House Mouse cards I've made to date.  It was a lot of work with all the cutting out of the images, but I think it was worth it.  The images are colored with my colored pencils and oms and then individually cut out and placed in the scene.  The floor was created by cutting a strip of paper that had a wood grain to it.  I then cut a strip of dark brown card stock for the molding.  I used the pink polka dot paper for the "wall paper".  The bear is attached flat to the card, but all the mice have been popped up with foam tape to give more dimension.  I have so many new ideas floating in my head now that I have combined these images.

Hope you get a chance to play with us over at House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge in the next two weeks!  You could win a House Mouse stamp of your choice from our very generous sponsor Simon Says. 

Thanks again for stopping by!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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