I'M SO VERY LUCKY

Hey All!

As the title of this blog post implies, I truly am a very lucky guy.  I want to thank all of you for the incredible support you have given me as I traveled through this change in my life.  It's just not the selling a house you love, buying another house to start again, and moving, it is all that and the reasons for having to do so.  This is really a new chapter in my life, and as the journey begins, I know I have all of you traveling it with me. . .thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here's the news. . . .Our house sold in 12 days and we bought our "pool house" the very same day.  It was touch and go for awhile because the day we received our offer, the pool house received an offer.  We ended up in a bidding war, but the war was won!  We close on the properties at the end of June and I couldn't be more happy, excited, and relieved.

Someone asked if I would supply the link to the new home and I would be more than happy to.  You can see pics of our new house HERE.  When you see the main picture of the house, click on it and you'll see the pictures in a bigger format.  I'd love to know what you think.

Again, thanks for your prayers, positive comments, and good wishes.  They, as you, mean the world to me.

Hugs,


Curt


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

Hey All!

Gosh I've missed you guys and blogging, and creating, and. . .well, I can tell you I haven't missed painting! LOL  Just wanted to let you know the deed is just about done.  The house went on the market today.  I'm still "finishing up" on things around here and then it is just a matter of it being shown.  If you are interested, here is the LISTING.

I have kind of mixed emotions.  I will miss this house a lot, but the house we have our eyes on is still available and that makes this a little bit easier to take.  I'll keep you all posted.

Again, thanks so much for all of your encouragement and wonderful supportive comments.  This has been a ton of anxiety for me, but your thoughtful, caring comments have really made a difference.

I love you guys, and can't wait for things to settle down and get back to "normal".  I'm going to try and sit down this week and visit you all to see what you have been up to.  I hope you are all well!

Hugs,

Curt

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

A QUICK UPDATE

Hey All!

I'm so sorry to have been missing in action these past few weeks.  Thanks so much for wondering about me and the wonderful notes checking in.  I thought I better get on here and at least tell you what is going on so that you don't need to worry.

As you know, Jay has MS and I'm his caregiver.  Quite honestly, the medical bills/insurance is getting to be a bit much for our financial situation.  Because of this, we have decided to sell our beloved home and find something a bit more affordable.  So we are, for all intents and purposes, downsizing.  It has been quite the undertaking for me.  Trying to get the house in "showing" status has been and is a ton of work for me.  Jay is not the best "driver" of his electric wheelchair, so walls and such need repair and painting.  I've hired contractors for what I can't do and I'm doing all the rest.  I want the house to show well, so I'm repainting several rooms.  I'm also going through all of our "stuff" to get rid of all the crap that has built up over these past 12 years in this house so the impending move will be easier.  So, dealing with all the contractors, meeting with agents, and all the physical work that I need to do, I've just not had the energy or the time to "create".

I wanted to let you know what was going on so now you know.  I'd appreciate all the "keeping good thoughts" for us.  We have our eyes and hearts set on another house, but we must sell ours first.  So we need you to keep your fingers crossed that our house sells fast and the other one doesn't!  LOL

Thanks for thinking of us.  You don't know what it means to me.

Hugs,  Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR MARCH 14, 2011

Hey All!

Top 'O The Morning/Afternoon/Evening to ya now!  Tis good to see you lasses and laddies.  I'm afraid that I may disappoint ya a bit for I have nary a thing to shows ya.  Me thinks that the wee Leprechaun folk played a trick on me and made time speed up so that it was Wednesday before I could blink me Irish eyes (and they ain't a smilin I can tell ya!)

But me and me Irish Schnauzers up there, O'Shotsy and O'Gunther O'Brien wanted to be sure to wish you the very happiest of St. Patrick's Day.  We also wanted to leave ya with an old Irish blessing in honor of old St. Pat.  It is bestowed on you from the bottom of our Irish hearts.  Please be sure to watch it. . .it is less than two minutes but is filled with what I wish for you!



I'll see you next Wednesday!

Curt O'BRIEN

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

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 FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Hey All!

How the heck are ya?  Really good from what I'm seeing. . .you look totally awesome!


I'm sorry I copped out of last week's post, but I just wasn't there and I know you know how that is.  But I'm here now and with a ton to show you.  I've decided to scrap the video blog posts for now until I can get a "real" video camera to do it properly so I'm back to the blah blah post for awhile.  I'm looking at the Sony "Bloggie".  Does anyone know about it?  It is on sale right now at Costco for a great price, so if you have something to tell me about it, I'd love to know. . .I'm getting mixed reviews on the web about it.


OK, enough of soliciting your help, here are my cards for tonight's post:

This was the Valentine card I made for my Sister.  This is my very first Lillie of the Valley image.  Boy are they tiny!  If I didn't have my reading glasses I would have never been able to color it, but they are certainly cute!  I do love all of the detail that is on this image.

This is the one I made for my Mom.  The only thing stamped is the sentiment.  I punched out the hearts and the envelope.  I wanted it to look like the hearts flew out of the envelope that had been opened.  Some hearts were just plain cardstock the others were punched from glitter cardstock.


My friend Mark at DEADBEAT DESIGNS has been doing some great stuff with a stamp he calls a "Shadow Stamp".  You can go HERE and see his great video using it.  Well it inspired me to say the least, and I wanted to give it a try.  There was also a challenge going on at SCS to do CAS cards that sort of used this technique.  So I plunged right in and made this set of 4 note cards:

These aren't "pure" CAS cards, but they are close for me anyway.  I used his "Shadow Stamp" for the square elements inked with combos of Distress Inks.  Two of the images are by Inque and two by Stampabilities.  I do love how this set turned out and I am loving his Shadow Stamp.  I've got more ideas on using it, and if you visit his blog on the links above, you'll see how he uses it to create backgrounds too.  Thanks Mark for your wonderful inspiration and for this wonderful stamp!


And while we are on the subject of Mark's stamps, the next card uses one of my favorite sentiment stamps of his:

This is an Art Impressions stamp and I thought Mark's sentiment stamp went perfectly because it sounds like something she would say.  LOL  She's colored with my cheap colored pencils and oms.


The last card I wanted to share (yep lots of cards to make up for not being here last week) is here:

I saw an old clip of Willard Scott (the Today show) saying his famous throw to line "And here's what's happening in your neck of the woods."  I had this thought of making a "world" using the caption on the card above (computer generated).  You can't see it in the photo at all, but the circle is covered with acetate.  Here is a side view:

The little houses are from the Memory Box die cut which I cut 3 times to get the different colors (afterwards I thought "Why didn't you just color one die cut?" What a dork!) Oh well, live and learn.  Also, after making the card, I realized I couldn't write anything on the inside because of the window. . .Dork #2.  So I created that little folded thingy to act as a stand and I can just write my message on the back of the card.  It's more of a "display" piece!  LOL  I freehanded the clouds and outlined them and the "sun" with Stickles.


Pic of the Week

Army Choppers Caught in Flight

OK, that's it. . .I'm off to take a look at what you all have been up to!  I'm still slow (still having arm problems) but making it all the same.


Thanks for stopping by. . .I will never stop being amazed that you do so.  Thanks for all of your kind support!


Love you guys!


Curt


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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Hey All!!!


Is that you who is wearing that amazing perfume???  You smell great!


There will be no video tonight. . .For some reason, my video is taking way to long to upload to YouTube.  So it's the old format for tonight.  Can you tell I just don't have the patience to deal with technical problems tonight?


Here are my cards that I would like to share with you.

Remember the card I made with the fireplace that used a battery operated tea light?  Remember the little tiny portrait of a little black pug above it?  Yep, this is another card for that neighbor lady.  I made this card for her to give to her from her beloved Marley.  She is kind of alone and I wanted to be sure that she got a Valentine.  This is a Mo Manning image and it so looks like her little Marley.  It's colored with my colored pencils and oms.  I put on some gloss on her nose for a shiny, wet look.

I made this thank you card for a very sweet neighbor who just gave me two giant grocery sacks full of stamps!  She is giving up stamping for now and wanted me to have them.  I am so grateful and wanted to make a thank you card to let her know.  The image is from Hero Arts colored with Bic markers with glitter added for sparkle.  I USED MY SEWING MACHINE AGAIN!  Simple straight stitch, but I think it looks pretty good for only my 3rd time using it.

This last card is for her sister who lives just a couple of houses down from her.  I watched her sweet dogs for her while she was away for a few days, and she was very generous with compensation.  I just wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it.  This card is out of my comfort level because I combined 3 different patterns of DP (all The Paper Studio).  I added liquid pearls to the image for texture.  The ribbon used to be black and white, but I "dyed" it with Antique Linen distress ink to go better with the color scheme of the card.


Well that's it for now. . .I've had to stop several times in typing this because typing makes my forearm feel like it is on fire.  The elbow is better (for the most part), but it is taking a lot of time to heal because my care for Jay requires me to lift him out of bed to get him into his chair each morning, and other various uses during the day.  So it is slow, but I'm going to keep going to see if I can't do this on my own without another shot.


Pic of the Week

This sweet little fox is new to the neighborhood.  This was taken in my side yard this past weekend.  It is hunting voles.  From his size and face, I can tell he is a young pup and still hasn't learned to fear humans as much as he should.  He has certainly made himself famous around the neighborhood.  He drives my boys nuts!  LOL


Well, thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm SO SORRY that I haven't made it to everyone's blogs in the last couple of weeks, but I swear I'm working on it.  It just kinda hurts (it has taken me over two hours to type this!)  It is all YouTube's fault!!!  Anyway, I will be catching up with all of you in the coming week!  Promise!


Hope you are all doing well.  Hugs to everybody!


Love you guys!


Curt


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