THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR AUGUST 4, 2010

Hey All!

Happy Hump Day to one and all.  I wanted to start this post with some fun, exciting news. . .take a look at this:

I was the lucky winner of this awesome candy from Jodi over at Inked Inspirations!  I am so excited.  Can you believe she had 4 of these prize packs?  Jodi was one of my early readers and I have so been inspired by her work.  She is so talented and a master at coloring images.  Hop over to take a look - she will inspire you.  Thanks Jodi!  I love that I won!

OK, on to the rest of the post.  As promised, there will be no Halloween projects this post.  However, I am working on more and I will sprinkle them in my future posts all the way to Halloween.  Here is the first card I'd like to share:

Here's the story.  Our sweet Japanese neighbors across the street are moving to Osaka, Japan at the end of the month.  I didn't really "neighbor" with them a lot, but I was so fond of them just the same.  The husband was such a friendly guy, and the wife so very sweet.  When they were in Japan, she sent a couple of gorgeous origami cards to me.  What impressed me most about them is that when they first moved in, they walked around to our houses and presented us with food gifts from Japan to introduce themselves.  I've never forgotten that.  So, I wanted to do something special to let them know that I wish them the very best.  I went online and did research as to what the symbol was in Japanese for good luck.  I then printed it off and hand drew it for this card.  I wanted the card to be clean and simple and also have an Asian feel to it.  I love this technique that I used several months back on another card.  This is a labels die from Spellbinders.  I used the largest die and the smallest die to cut out the windows out of the first one.  Here is a close up:

                                                                  Click on Picture for Detail

The large die cut piece is raised up over the images which gives a great recessed look.  I added a little bling and glitter to give it a more finished look.  The flower images are from Artful Inkables which I have had forever but have never used.  I think they have an Asian look.  I actually "built" the flowers because every piece (stems and flower heads) is an individual stamp.  Inside, I have a computer generated sentiment in Japanese that I also looked up the reads "Gokouun o inorimasu" which means good luck.

My next card is also a neighbor related card.  Here it is:

I made this card for the new neighbors who just moved in to a house here on our cul-de-sac,  This image is from Paper Tray Inks' Board and Beams stamp set (a gift from my super sweet blogging buddy Chris).  I sponged the background sky and used a mottled green paper for the grass.  I stamped the trees, fence and house out on white card stock and then cut everything out and created the little scene.  I took it over with a fresh baked pineapple upside down cake.  Turns out, the new residents are a guy and his two sons.  I know he didn't know what to really think of this guy bringing over a freshly (still warm) baked cake and a handmade card over to welcome him to the neighborhood!  It was such a Martha Stewart moment. . .LOL  It felt very awkward to say the least, and I snickered as I walked back across the street.  Oh well, such is the life of this gay guy.  LOL

The last card I'd like to share for this post is a thank you card I did for a neighbor lady who was so sweet to take me out to dinner for my birthday:

I used two stamp sets for this card, and I'm sorry to say I have no idea who they are by.  These were stamps I purchased when I first started card making over two years ago.  At that time, I didn't know that lots of people were interested to know sometimes what stamps you used.  So forgive me.  The paper is by The Paper Studio.  I used two different colors of inks on the flowers, cut them out and popped them up on the stamped leaf thingies with pop dots.  Matted everything up with Bazzil card stock, added the sentiment on the little banner tag I made using a corner of a square paper punch.  I really like the colors on this.

So, that's it.  I'm sorry I was really windy on this one, but the cards needed some extra explanations.  I want to close this post with a couple of pictures that I would love to share with you.  Take a look:

I love this little couple.  See the little heart they are forming with their beaks in the first pic?  They stay around the house quite a bit, and are always together.  I watched them this Spring give life to two beautiful offspring.  The top pic is of them on my roof one evening, and the second is of them on my fence one morning.  I honestly believe that animals feel what we call love.  And I point to these little sweeties as proof.  I always tell my boys I love them and have since they were pups.  I've taught them to show me they love me back by giving me their paw.  I say "Do you love your Daddy?"  And they will raise that paw so gently to hand it to me.  The amazing thing is that with Shotsy, I will be petting him as I pass by, and without asking, he will extend that paw as if he is initiating the "I love you Daddy".  It simply melts my heart.

OK, mushy stuff over!  LOL  Just had to share.  There is also a pic of the week below for your enjoyment too.  Thanks for spending A LOT of time with me on this post.  Again, I'm sorry I blathered on so.  I'll be on my tour of your blogs to see what you've all been up to this week!  Can't wait to see.

Love you guys!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #75 - Vintage

Hey All!

Happy Monday to all of you!  I hope for those of you who work this week, that your week flies by, and for everyone else, I hope you have a great week too!

It's time for another House Mouse Monday Challenge!  This week's challenge was just that for me . . . a BIG challenge!  This week it is simply called "Vintage".  As those who visit me often, you NEVER see "vintage" in my work.  So, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do.  I have 107 House Mouse stamps, and I looked at everyone of them scratching my head.  My first thought was to stamp one of the images in sepia ink but that didn't work really well.  I finally came up with something that I'm sure everyone who sees it will be scratching their heads over.  Here it is:

There is something about this House Mouse image that reminds me of "vintage".  This will come as no surprise to those of you who know me, but I love Halloween, and as a child, it was such a fun holiday for me.  It has supplied me with a rich treasure chest of wonderful memories.  The scene above reminds me of a Halloween coloring book that I had when I was 6 or 7.  It was all Halloween scenes and I loved coloring in it.  So, anyway, that's my explanation for this being "vintage", and I'm sticking to it!  LOL

I created the above scene using some new stamps from Stampscapes.  I LOVE these stamps and will definitely be getting some more.  The House Mouse stamp is from a clear Halloween stamp set.  The ground, sky, and moon were all sponged using Distress Inks.  I am starting to be a HUGE fan of the distress inks.  They are so versatile and so great at what they do.  When they dry, they leave such a smooth, blotchless look.

If you have some time, jump over to see what my Teamies have done with this challenge (HERE), and if you are inclined, play along.  You have two weeks to do this challenge, so give it a try.  I would love to see what you come up with.

OK, that's it for this post.  I'm working on Wednesday's post and I can tell you, there will be NO Halloween cards.  LOL  I don't want to burn myself out.   Thanks for stopping by.  It is so appreciated.   See you on Wednesday!

Hugs to all of you!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR JULY 28, 2010

Hey All!


Happy Hump Day!  Hope your week is progressing nicely with no bumps in your road.  The heat here has been unbearable.  It is so hard on people and animals.  I think I hate super hot/humid weather as much as I hate the bitter cold weather we have.


Before I continue, I want to share a little exciting news with you. . .I've been asked to be a guest designer over at High Hopes Rubber Stamps!!!!!  My very good blogging buddy Karen over at "1 Wacky Woman" actually tracked me down and called me from Canada to ask!  I am so flattered.  I will design for a 3 month period starting in August.  I'm so very excited.  I hope you'll check in to see how I do.  I'm very nervous!

OK, on with the post.  I have to WARN YOU!  I have several things to show you as usual, but there is one very DISTURBING Halloween card that I made that might creep some of you out!  LOL  After all, isn't that what Halloween is all about???? hmmmm????  I've saved it to the last so be forewarned!  BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.

Now, the first card is a cutie.  I made this as a thank you card for a very talented and super nice neighbor lady named Nina here in my neighborhood.  She has a crafting room full of stuff to die for.  I went over to her house for the first time last week, and our intent was to just share ideas and have a look see at all of her wonderful supplies.  Well, almost 6 hours later, I couldn't believe how fast the time flew!  It was so much fun.  She had this stamp that I just fell in love with and she was nice enough to let me borrow it (she doesn't know how lucky she is that she got it back LOL!)  I stamped off several of the image to tide me over until the one I ordered arrived.  Here is the card I made with it:

Is he not the cutest???  His name is "Fuzz Butt" and he is from Bugawumps.  By the way, I called and placed my order and the lady that answered (owner) is one of the nicest people to talk with.  We share a huge love for Schnauzers, so you know I love her right?  LOL  This stamp was fashioned after their Miniature Schnauzer named BJ.  Their current Mini's name is Bella and she is adorable.  I stamped Fuzz on white card stock and colored him with colored pencil and oms.  I stamped paw pads on the background strip, added the ribbon loops (they remind me of leash material), and used a sentiment that was computer generated.  I can't wait to get him in the mail!

I also wanted to make her something to express my thanks for her hospitality.  I'd just seen this project on SCS as the project for the week and I thought I would give it a go.  It is called an accordion card holder.  Here is my attempt:

As you can see, you make little divider cards with labels for the types of cards you can store in it.  I put 10 cards in it and they held beautifully.  You can see the accordion sides there in the pic.  I deviated from the original design a bit.  It was supposed to have a flap lid that closed with a magnet in front.  However, I didn't have a magnet so I made a slide over box lid which works just as well (Keeps the dust out better).  The card stock I used was really heavy so the box was much sturdier than using standard card stock weight.  The card stock is by Gartner and it is called "Bon-Voyage Postcards". For the dividers, I used glossy photo paper and computer generated the index names.  If you would like the tutorial for this box see it HERE.  

OK, to the first of my 2 Halloween cards for this week:  Here is the first:

When I first saw this stamp, I immediately pictured the card I would make with it in my mind.  And sure enough, it is just like I pictured it.  The stamp is from Hero Arts and is called "Distressed Frame".  I stamped the image with Archival Jet Black ink.  I then sponged the background masking off the area for the big glowing yellow moon.  Stamped the spider and the bats, added bling to the spider, matted it and done.  The inside says "Hope You Have A Creepy Halloween".  I love it when cards turn out exactly like you pictured they would.  It doesn't happen often with me, but it did this time.

WARNING * * * WARNING * * * WARNING!  Here comes the disturbed, twisted mind card. . .

LOL  How sick is this?  ROFL  This card did not start out this way, I swear it.  I ran the piece of black card stock through my CB with the spider web folder.  I then used Kraft White ink from SU using the "pad to paper" technique to highlight the webbing.  I punched out the spider using a MS punch and used fuzzy brown flocking powder to give the spider some fuzz.  So while I was flipping through my stamp catalog deciding what else I could use for the card, my eye caught this butterfly from Stampendous and, as they say, the rest is history.  LOL  I used white embroidery floss to wrap around the butterfly.  The inside of the card says "HOPE YOU GET ALL YOUR FAVORITE TREATS - HAPPY HALLOWEEN".  LOL   I guess you have to have a twisted sense of humor to appreciate why I love this card!

Well, that's it.  I'm so glad you stopped by to visit.  I really enjoyed all of your creations that I viewed this week!  That is why I appreciate your stopping by each week.  I still can't believe that all you talented people take the time to stop by and look at my "stuff",  let alone comment on it.  I love you guys!

Have a great rest of the week.  Don't forget the pic of the week below!

Hugs to All of You!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR JULY 21, 2010

Hey All!

Happy Hump Day to each and every one of you!  Glad you stopped by for my Wednesday Evening Post!  I hope you find some inspiration and feel that it was worth your time to spend a little time with me.  On with the post!

I've been seeing a ton of Christmas cards showing up everywhere.  I honestly don't know how anyone can make Christmas cards in July.  Can't do it, can't do it, can't do it!  I know it's a great idea to have all your cards done before the holidays, but give me that last minute rush!  LOL  Must be the guy in me.  However, I don't think it is too early to start thinking about Halloween!!!!  My most favorite holiday of the year!  So, I thought I would start doing some Halloween cards for a change.  Here is my first:

I've hardly been able to wait to use these stamp sets from There She Goes.  Each component in the above scene was stamped separately and painstakingly cut out.  The fireplace, the skull candle, the basket of bones, the hat, the jack-o-lantern, the broom, the picture, well you get the idea.  I colored everything with a combination of colored pencils and Bic markers.  Everything but the spider and the sentiment (There She Goes) is set up on dimensionals for a 3-D look.  If you click on the picture you can see the detail and the shadowing from the popped up images.  I created the floor myself!  I took a piece of wood grain paper and used a ruler to create the planks.  Then I put little nail marks for detail.  I really do love how this card turned out.  Puts me so in the mood for more Halloween cards!

My next is this one:

I've wanted this stamp ever since I first saw it on Addicted to Rubber Stamps.  So I used some of my birthday money and bought it.  The stamp is by Heirloom stamps.  I colored it with colored pencils and Bic markers.  I cut out all of those strips you see behind the window and ran them through my CB to give them more of a wood look.  I then sponged them with distress inks to give them an old wood siding look.  I then taped them together making sure I left cracks to give it the look of an old house.  The sentiment is from a $1 stamp.  I love how this one turn out too!  I've got way more in the works so stay tuned.

I didn't want to leave you with all scary cards, so I included this next card in the post so that you wouldn't have nightmares from the above two cards  LOL!

I love this Happy Hoppers stamp.  I made some alterations to the image however.  The original image has another little bunny next to the one above asleep in an empty cone.  So I masked that one out.  Also, the original image only has one scoop on the cone.  I stamped two more cones and cut out the ice cream part to make it a triple scoop.  Who the heck only gets one scoop anyway???  Certainly not me!  LOL  I coated them with Liquid Diamonds to give a "wet" look to the ice cream, but the lights I used in the photo kind of bled out the color of the ice cream scoops.  I also made the tag using a small Nestie oval and punched two small slots with a slot punch on each side.  Slid the ribbon through and attached to the card.  The image is, of course, colored with my colored pencils and OMS.

I hope you've enjoyed your time here.  I love that you come by to see me and leave me such great comments.  I'll be coming by all of your blogs in the next couple of days to see what you have all created.  I love seeing your wonderful work.  You all so inspire me.

I hope you are all well and doing fine.  As always. . . .

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #74 - THE LETTER "B"

Hey All!


Can you believe that two Monday's have passed and it's time again for another House Mouse And Friends Monday Challenge?  Wow, the weeks are such a blur anymore.  I can't believe that July is already more than half over.


OK, on with the challenge. . . . .As my title indicates the challenge is to do a card that revolves around or has something to do with the letter "B".  This week it was my turn to come up with the challenge, and I thought just using a letter of the alphabet would not only be easy, but would allow for a whole range of ideas.  So, to get you started, here is my challenge card:

Can you find all 6 "B" tie ins?  Buttons, babies, blue, bunny, buggy, boys (I'm pretending all the bunnies are boys!  LOL)  This adorable image is called "Bunny Buggy".  I colored the image with my colored pencils and oms.  I paper pieced the buggy so that it matched the background paper.  The over-sized buttons I made from scratch.  They are really easy to make.  You simply punch out 5 or 6 scrap circles and 1 circle of the paper you want your button to be.  Then just glue all of the circles together and make sure the last circle glued on top is your colored/patterned paper.  Use a tool to punch the holes (I used a silent setter for mine).  Here is a close up of the buttons:

This technique gives you the ability to have "buttons" that match your card perfectly.  It is a fun idea that I saw somewhere on the net quite awhile ago but I can't remember where.

Anyway, there you have it!  I really do hope you take the time to play in the next couple of weeks.  At least run over and take a look at my talented teamie's challenge cards this week.  I've seen them, and they are amazing this week!  Take a look HERE.

OK, thanks for coming by and taking a look.  I'm always so grateful that you do.  I have a  great post coming up on Wednesday (I promise, God forbid anything unforeseen!)  So I hope to see you then.

I usually don't do the "PIC OF THE WEEK" on my HM post, but I couldn't resist this week because the picture fit so well with my card project this week.  GO TAKE A LOOK BELOW!  LOOKS LIKE ONE OF HER BABIES FELL OUT OF THE BUGGY!!!!  LOL  I took this photo through the glass at my front door.  This little one was munching leaves right by the porch.  Such a cutie!

Take care all!  Hope you are well!  See you on Wednesday!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR JULY 7, 2010

Hey All!  Happy Hump Day!  I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.  I took the boys and my Mom and her dog Chunk to the local fireworks here in Carmel.  They were spectacular.   The boys haven't ever been that close to fireworks before.  When they started with these huge BOOMS, Gunther crawled in my lap and Shotsy went behind me and leaned up against my back.  Eventually, they got bored and sprawled out on the grass.  Such goofy dogs!  LOL


This post is going to be picture heavy, so you'll have lots to look at.  I wanted to share with you a note card set that I've made.  Here is a pic of each of the cards in the set:

Here is the box I made to hold the set:

The stamp set I used for this set is by Stampendous.  I love these bright colors.  I was just going to do one of my standard note card holders, but this morning when I went to SCS, they had this box featured for the project of the week.  The box is super easy to make.  You can find the tutorial here: BOX TUTORIAL.  There is a written tutorial as well as a video tutorial.  I used Bazzill card stock for this project.  I stamped the fruit images with Versamark ink then embossed it with clear ep.  I added crystal glitter around each fruit to give it a "sugared" look.  I then cut each out and placed it on the card with a dimensional.  The base card is kraft card stock.


My next project is not a card but something for the boys.  It falls under the altered category.  Here is a pic of the project:

These are wooden letters with little metal hook thingies attached to the bottom.  I got them at Michael's for $1 each.  I used Staz-On black ink to stamp the bones and paws on the surface.  These make great leash holders for the boys.  I also made one for my Mom's dog Chunk.


Something really weird happened last week.  A beautiful hot air balloon made an emergency landing right next to my house in the middle of the street.  I grabbed my camera and took these pics:

I'm standing in my driveway taking this picture; my house is right there in the foreground.

Look at it right there at my house!!!

Here they are deflating it.  One eye witness said that before it landed there by my house, it hit the roof of the house across the street before landing.  No one was hurt, but the guy operating the balloon was acting like that was where he was intending to land.  Yeah, right.  But it made for an interesting evening.


And since we are talking about my house, I wanted to share a pic of the front of it with all of my flowers blooming.  Here it is:

I've never had this many flowers in bloom before!  I HATE gardening, but for some reason the flowers are doing it to spite me!  LOL  Thanks for indulging me on this.  But this is just not something I see every year!


OK, that's it for now.  I've bored you enough!  LOL  Thanks for taking time to look.  I'm working on all kinds of new projects so next Wednesday's post will have lots more to show you.  I'll be stopping by all of your blogs in the next couple of days.  As always, can't wait to see what you've been doing.  I hope all is well in your world!


DON'T FORGET THE PIC OF THE WEEK BELOW!!!  I got a great shot of a wonderful turtle in a pond at a local park the other day.  I was so excited to see how well the pic turned out.


Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #73 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!

Hey All!

Today was a surprise challenge for our Teamie AMERICA KUHN.  America was born July 4th obviously making yesterday her birthday.  Mary (another Teamie) thought it would be fun to surprise America and make it a birthday challenge in her honor.  America is traveling across country to settle into their family's new home.  So she had no idea that we were doing this!  Surprise America!!!!  I hope you can play along with us at House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge.  If you don't play along, at least run over there and take a look at our tribute cards to America.  My Teamies did a fabulous job as always!

So this week's challenge is a birthday theme or project in honor of our very own America!  Here is my card for her:

This is a Gruffies stamp called "Beary Nice Celebration".  I colored it with my colored pencils and oms.  I used a star punch for the stars, outlined them with my Versamark pen, dipped them in silver tinsel embossing powder and heated them up for that glitter all around the edges.  The "happy" and "birthday" were stamped, and I computer generated the "America".  I attached them with foam squares so they popped of the card.  The "white" streamers were colored with a clear glitter pen as was the cake plate so the card really sparkles.

America, we love you and hope that your day was as special as you are.  It was wonderful to talk to you yesterday!  Again, Happy Birthday!!!!

Thanks all for coming by.  As you can see, I've finally gotten my blogger issues worked through.  I'll have a big post on Wednesday!  Hope to see you then!

Hugs to all!

Best,

Curt