BIRTHDAY BLOG CANDY!!!!! WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR JUNE 16, 2010

Hey All!!!!  Happy Hump Day, and welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Evening Post.  As I explained to you all in last Wednesday's post, I'm celebrating a birthday on Saturday, and in honor of the occasion, I thought it would be fun to give YOU a chance to win some blog candy.  I also missed my 2 year Blogaversary in April, so I'm celebrating that too with this post and candy give-away.  The blog candy that I'm giving away is valued at about $85.00!!!!  So read through the blog and see what you can win and all the details regarding my birthday give-away!

I'd like to start the blog as I always do by sharing a couple of cards with you.  Besides June being the month of my birth, it is also known for the "month of weddings".  I have a friend that said she needed a wedding shower card so I made her one.  This is what I came up with:

I got this great dress and tux template from Lynn Pratt's blog HERE.  She is so talented and was so kind to share a downloadable template.  As with her card, mine is a gatefold too, but as you can see I altered mine to have a sentiment on the front and the card is square and bigger than hers.  I bought the wedding dress paper special for this card.  It is by The Paper Studio and you can see the beautiful scrolling which is done in silver.  The paper itself is sort of like felt, but it is a really gauzy see through material.  So see through that I mounted this paper onto white card stock so that it was really white.  It really does feel like cloth.  The front flaps are separate pieces and attached with dimensionals so they stand out from the dress.  I added a small ribbon to the waist and added a row of pearls for more detail.  For the tux, I simply added white pearls for the buttons that I colored black with a marker.  Here is the inside:

The sentiment was computer generated and the scrolly brackets on the inside were stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Silver Tinsel ep.  It sort of matches the dress scrolls.  This was a fun card to make and I plan on making more variations of it in the future.

June is also followed by July, and July 4th will be here before you know it.  So I thought I would get a jump on those cards.  Here is my first for the holiday:

Aren't they adorable???  This is a birthday present to myself.  LOL  This, of course, is a House Mouse stamp and it's called "Patriotic Wrap".  I made the red and white background paper by cutting strips of white card stock and glittery red card stock and piecing them together and securing them to another piece of card stock so it became one piece.  The glittery red really makes the card pop.  I colored the image with my colored pencils and oms as usual, but colored the background stars with a silver glitter pen and then added little lines coming from each star as if they are exploding behind them.  You can see them better if you click on the picture.  I added a bow and done.  The background paper is really dark navy blue IRL but in the picture it looks black.  The sentiment is inside on this one and simply says Happy 4th!

OK, now for the blog candy . . . . . .drum roll please. . . . . . . . . . .

Here is what's included:


Stampabilities Happy Hoppers Stamp (Buzzy Friends)
325 sheets of 6 X 6 papers! (big block with the bow on it)
1 bottle of Robins Nest dew drops
1 package of square metal embellishments
3 packs of mini brads in taupe, turquoise, and yellow
1 package of Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangles Large (valued at $25.00)
1 package of Nestabilities Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large (valued at $25.00)
1 Rubber stamp from Paper Pretties

How's that?  Would you like to be the lucky winner of this loot?  As I told you in my last post, I'm not going to make you jump through hoops to win it.  All you need do is leave me a comment on this post.  That's it, NO posting a pic on your blog, NO becoming a follower, NO clicking your heals three times, NO standing on your head and reciting poetry.  LOL  Although, I would love to see a pic of that!  LOL  There will also be no long wait either.  You will have until MIDNIGHT (EST) Sunday, June 20th to get your comment posted to be eligible for the drawing.  A winner will be randomly selected by Random.Org, and I will post the name of the winner on next Wednesday Evening's post.  Good luck to all of you!  I wanted to do this to say thank you for all the wonderful support that you all have given to me over the past two years.

Don't forget the pic of the week below!  I hope you are all feeling good and doing well.  I'll be seeing you on your blogs this week!

Love you guys!


Curt


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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #62

Hey All!  I have an update on Gunther at the end of the blog for those of you who want to know what's going on with him.

Well, it's another Monday and that means it's time for another House Mouse Monday Challenge!  Since we are so close to Valentine's Day, my teammate America has challenged us to use "Love" as the theme of our cards.  Anything goes as long as it has to do with love.  So, here is what I came up with:

OMGosh I love this image so much and was so glad I could finally get to use it.  I originally bought it just to have in case someone got married or someone wanted me to make a card for a wedding.  Well, that has not happened, so this was the perfect opportunity!  Are they not the sweetest little couple?  This House Mouse Stamp is called "Playing Dress Up".  I took some of the great suggestions I got from you all for coloring "black" things, and I really am pleased with how his little tux came out.  Here is a close up of the image:

I had to hold the card at an angle for you to see the glitter on her dress.  I used a glitter gel pen and just dotted her dress to make it look like it had sequins on it.  You will also see that I put a little pearl headband on her veil.  I used colored pencils and oms to color them.  His tux is colored with a black pencil and then blended with oms.  So just the one pencil did it.  I used a MS punch for the lacy border.  I wanted the card to reflect both feminine qualities and male qualities so I made the upper half with swirly paper and the bottom half with a formal "tux stripe".  LOL  I then punched out the heart and attached it with the little silver chain and stamped the word "love" on it.

I really hope you have time in the next couple of weeks to join in the challenge over at House Mouse Monday Challenge blog.  I would LOVE to see what you create!  If  you don't have time for the challenge, at least hop over to see what my fellow design team created.  They are an amazing group!

OK now for a Gunther update.  After the accident and the initial xrays, the vet said that I could walk him for a short walk five days after he had total rest.  So that's what I did.  I guess "short" is a relative term.  I walked him for what was a way shorter walk that he normally gets. . . just around the block.  He started out OK, but by the time we got home, he was having great difficulty.  It set him way back.  As of today (Sunday) he is at an 8 on the limp scale of 1 - 10.  I'm so disappointed.  So now the vet says no exercise for two weeks!  He is going to go nuts!  And poor Shotsy.  I'm going to have to get over my guilt and take Shotsy for his romp in the park without Gunther, and that just breaks my heart.  Gunther is not going to understand, but on the other hand, Shotsy shouldn't have to suffer two weeks of not going to the park.  God I can't wait until Gunther heals! So, that is the scoop.  He is off pain meds and on to Ascriptin.  It seems to take the edge off for him.  So keep those good thoughts coming his way!  Thanks again for all of your sweet comments and support for my beautiful boy.

One last thing. . .I'm working on Valentine's Day cards for Pat over at The Rubber Maid.  Every year she takes the donated cards to the kids over at the Children's Hospital in Michigan.  This is such a worthy cause and I participated last year as I am this year.  I'll be posting the cards on my Wednesday Evening Post along with other stuff.  So, if you would like to help, here is the link to the info.  There is blog candy involved!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I love you guys!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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