WEDNESDAY EVENING POST - APRIL 28TH, 2010

Hey All!  I know it is Thursday, but before I could finish my post to publish it last night, I had an allergic reaction to something I ate for dinner, and welted up like a blowfish!  My face was so welted that I looked like a space alien!  I had to go to the store to get some Benadryl, and walked into the store with my head down so no one would see me.  It was awful!  And of course the Benadryl knocked me completely out and I didn't wake up until 10:00 this morning!  So, sorry for the delay.  I swear, I think I'm under a curse!

I do have stuff to share with you today.  In all of the chaos that has ensued over the last couple of weeks, I forced myself to get upstairs and have a little "me" time.  As most of you know, my sister is going through a rough time and I've been so proud of her for the strength she has exhibited through it all.  So I made her this card:

Here is the side view for the 3-D dimension:

I loved this card idea when I saw it on Dawn's Stampin' Studio.  She has a great video tutorial you can see HERE.  This is really quite a simple card to make.  On the inside I used the sentiment "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade."  I used liquid diamonds to make the water drops on the front of the glass, and used diamond glitter on the rim of the glass for a "sugar" effect.  I used the Stampendous stamp set to make the lemon background and colored them with my colored pencils and oms.  The vellum was inked with yellow ink.

I also made her a note card set as a pick-me-up gift for her.  Here it is:

Here it is opened:

Here are the components:  Gift cards with envelopes

                                                       Gift Tags

                                    Note cards, 2 each of each design:

The note cards were made using the DIY Topiary stamp set from Flourishes.  I colored each with colored pencils and oms.  The gift enclosure cards were made from various stamp sets that had butterflies included.  The gift tags are from a SU set.  I love this box and have used the design many times.  I love how you pull up the box top and the whole thing falls open to reveal all that is inside.  You can find a great video tutorial HERE.  

Just a quick update on what's been going on. . .Jay had complications with his surgery and had to stay in the hospital longer than expected.  Once brought home, he became dehydrated (in less than 24 hours-hospital's fault) and I had to take him to the emergency room because he was delirious.  That hospital kept him for another 3 days.  Just crazy. . . .But things are better now and we are getting back into a routine again.  Gunther is doing better as well.  His little claw is healing nicely, but now I'm in search of a new groomer.  It's never ending. . .

But thanks to all of you for the sweet emails and comments you have left me.  I do read each and everyone of them.  I would be so depressed and worn out, but then I would check my email and find such sweet and awesome comments from you all and literally would feel so much better.  Thank you so much for that!  You all really helped me through it.  Don't know what I would do without you all!

Well, that's it.  I'll be by in the next few days to catch up with all that you've been creating.  Can't wait to see!  Don't forget the "Pic of the Week" below!

Love you guys!

Best,

Curt

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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #68 FLOWER POWER

Hey All!  Happy Monday to all of you!  Today is another House Mouse Challenge.  The challenge is called "Flower Power".  The idea is to use flowers, whether it be in the image, on the paper, adding flower or flowered embellishment, etc., you get the idea.  As you also know me well, I don't use a lot of flowers on my cards but I do use a lot of flower images.  So, here is my challenge card:

I've always loved this particular image, although if you think about it, it is a little disturbing.  I'm not so sure anyone would be happy finding a mouse in their lemonade!   I created the background paper with a stamp set from Stampendous.  It has various fruits on it and the lemons were perfect for this card.  I colored the image and the lemons with Koh-I-Nor colored pencils and oms.  I stamped an extra lemon and cut it out, added a yellow eyelet threaded with yellow ribbon and attached it to my bow (which was made with the Bow Easy).  This image makes for a great summer card.

I hope you get a chance to play along in the next couple of weeks or at least hop over to House Mouse Monday Challenge and take a look at my very talented teamies' cards.  They are such a great group and I can't wait till we add our new team members!

This is a short post.  But I wanted to thank all of you for your outpouring of concern and thoughts/prayers over the last couple of weeks.  And thanks to to those who sent still more cards to Jay.  They really do brighten his day.  The cards have been wonderful and beautiful.  You all are so thoughtful.

I plan on doing a Wednesday Evening Post this week.  So I'll fill you in on what's going on.  I'm sorry that I haven't been by to visit you lately, but know that I will be back soon to take a look at all that I've missed.  And speaking of "missed", I've missed all of you so much!  See you all on Wednesday!

Best,

Curt

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

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #67

Hey All!  Two weeks have passed already and it is time for a new House Mouse Monday Challenge.  Sorry I'm late posting this, but as most of you know, my life is in "crazy mode" right now.  I actually didn't even think about what day it was and just realized that I missed posting it yesterday.  Sorry about that!

This week's challenge is by my teamie Lisa.  It is a recipe challenge.  You are to use your House Mouse image with 1 ribbon, 2 different papers, and 3 flowers.  Well, you know me, I am always challenged when it comes to using two different papers on the same card.  Add to that, that I rarely ever use flowers on my card, and well I was driven nuts.  Here is what I came up with:

I did a technique on this one that I love.  If you look at the image, you'll see that part of the image is outside the die cut, but still intact.  This is simple to do. . .you simply use scissors to cut out the part of the stamped image that doesn't fit inside the die cut area.  You then slide the die over the image and then pull the scissor cut area outside and over the die.  When you run it through your die cut machine, your image is still intact and looks like it springs off the die cut.  I colored my image with colored pencils and oms.  The flowers are Prima, but they were white.  I colored them with a marker, because I didn't have any purple flowers.  Popped the image up with dimentionals and done.  This is a Gruffies image.

There is also some exciting news over at House Mouse Monday Challenge Blog!!!  We are looking for new members of our DT!!!  So if you are interested get over and apply!

Jay update. . . Jay is still in the hospital.  He has some complications with an infection at the surgical site.  So we are dealing with that and not sure when he gets to come home.  On top of that, Gunther was injured at the groomers on Sunday and required medical attention.  It involved one of his claws and was very painful for him.  He is now running around with a bandaged paw and daddy is having to make sure he doesn't chew it off.  So far so good.  2 more days till we can take it off. 

So, that is what is going on.  A BIG THANK YOU to those of you that were so sweet to send Jay cards!  It was so thoughtful and they have brightened his days in the hospital.  He thanks you very much and can't believe how people that don't know him sends him cards.  

Hope you all have a great week.  Hopefully I'll have something to post later this week!  Don't forget the Pic of the Week below!

Best,

Curt

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

No Wednesday Post This Week

Hey All!  I hope this post finds you well.  Just a quick post today to let you all know why you haven't seen my Wednesday Evening Post.  Jay had a major surgery yesterday.  So between the preparation for the surgery and now the after care and being at the hospital all day and evening yesterday, I just didn't have the time.  I'm on my way back to the hospital after this post, so I will keep you posted.  He sailed through the surgery with flying colors and will be in the hospital for at least the next 5 days.

Thanks all for stopping by.  Hopefully I'll have something to post soon.

Best,

Curt

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