WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR MARCH 17TH, 2010

Hey All!  HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!  I hope the luck of the Irish has been with you all day and for the rest of the year!  I have a lot for this post tonight, so I'm going to get right to it!

I've been on a creative streak these past couple of weeks.  I'm still working on my "easel box" and will have it ready for next Wednesday's post.  However, there are other things that I have designed that come from my head and ready to share with you tonight.  Here they are:

Coffee Bag Holder

This is the front of it.  To give you an idea what it reminds me of, it's like a giant matchbook.  Here is the side view:

And here is the view when it is open:

You may notice that the "open" picture has a different punch border!  LOL  It is a picture of another one that I made that will be shared below.  Here are the other two that I made:

They are really quick and easy to make.  I simply measured the bag of coffee and then cut a piece of card stock to cover it with enough of a flap to bring over the front.  I then decorated the fronts, used various border punches to make the border on the flap, and then used a hole punch to punch a couple of holes to run a piece of ribbon through to keep them closed.  The coffee bag itself is adhered to the inside with glue dots to keep it in place.  I love how these turned out and how easy and fast they were to create.  These would make great items to put into a gift basket

The next project I wanted to share was a note card set I made.  Remember the physical therapist who sent me an email with help with Gunther's injury?  Well, I wanted to do something to thank her for her help.  She had mentioned in  a comment about how much she enjoyed my House Mouse colored images, so I decided to do a note card set with them.  Here is the set, the box, and each individual card in the set:

I did the card set in Spring colors.  Again, I used that "Memory Box" found on Gina K Designs' that I highlighted on a previous post.  This once again proves how very versatile this box is.  All four of the note card image panels are raised with foam tape.  So even with the thickness of the combined cards and envelopes, they fit perfectly.  Below is the card I sent along with this gift.  In it, I played on the image and said that it was thanks to her that Gunther was on the "Mend".

I just got an email from her that she received them and she was so pleased with them.  I was happy that she liked them.

That's it for now.  Next Wednesday, I'll be showing a ton more, including highlighting a very generous blog friend that blew me away with her generosity.  Part of what I have to show you next week is what I made for her, so until I know she has received them (should be tomorrow) I'll wait to do it all at once!

Again, thanks so much for coming by.  I love that you come here to see me.  I know how much effort and time it takes, and I am humbled that you think my stuff is worth it.  I'll be by to see what you've been doing in the next couple of days.  As always, I get my inspiration from all of your wonderful work!  Can't wait to see what you've done.  Don't forget the "Pic of the Week" below!

Stay well and take good care of yourselves!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST ON SUNDAY!

Hey All!  I'm so sorry I didn't get Wednesday's post up, but I've been dealing with some "stuff" and just haven't been myself.  But I'm "over it" now LOL and I've got stuff to post!  (Thanks Patti J for your sweet email!)

As I mentioned in my last post, I got this great stamp set as a gift from the artist herself.  It was such a generous gift, and the note she sent with it and the things she said were so very sweet.  But one thing she did say was there were no strings attached and she didn't expect me to do anything with it or to post anything but to just enjoy the set.  But did I listen to her???? Hmmmmmmm????  LOL  I'm here to tell you that her stamp set is one of the best I have ever owned.  SERIOUSLY!  I've NEVER seen such quality!  The polymer is really thick and they are so sturdy.  The impression that you get with them is effortless.  Add to that the fact that the set is stunningly gorgeous, and you have got one of the best sets around!

I decided to make a note card set, complete with holder and give it away.  You know the saying "Pay It Forward"?  So, here is the note card set and each note card up for grabs":

Here is the note card holder I made for the set.  The wreath is one of her stamps in the set.

Here it is open.

This is the first card in the set.  Isn't this a great image?  I colored it with my ccp/oms and embossed it and cut  it out with my Nestie ovals and matted it on scallops.  Then I attached that onto great woodgrain paper and added a red satin bow.

Here's a close up of the image.

Here is the next card in the set:

I so love this wreath image.  I formed the background by cutting the four panels with my Nesties from the same paper I used for the front, back, and inside of the card holder.  I lined them up and attached them to chocolate brown card stock.  The image is colored with you know what and I cut it out again with Nesties and mounted it with foam squares to the front of the card.  The sentiment on both the card holder and this card are also part of her set.  Here is a close up of the image:

Here is the next card in the set:

I love this image too!  I'm actually a tree/leaf freak!  LOL  When I was showing my Mom my stamp collection, she said "Boy, you sure like leaves and trees."  So no more boring with details.  Card was made like the rest. . .

Here is the close up of the image:

You can see that I used a stardust glitter pen and went over the leaves for some shimmer.  I did the same for the wreaths in the other two.

Here is the last of the four cards in the set:

Another wonderful image.  Here is the whole set together with the holder:

These make great Thanksgiving or general Autumn note cards.  I can't wait to use this set some more!  Thanks again Claire for this treasured gift.  I hope I did you proud with this  card set!

I've not told you her name yet have I???  What a dork I am!  Her name is Claire Brennan and her website is called Waltzing Mouse click HERE.   You can find the stamp set I used here:  Peace & Plenty  It has 10 images and 6 sentiments.  You can see all of her stamp sets HERE.  And talk about a genius, she has stamp sets that work in conjunction with some of the Nestabilitie die sets!  How cool is that?  OK, to wind my note card set, all you have to do is the usual.  Just leave a comment, and I will randomly choose a winner with Random.org next Sunday (November 15th at 6:00 PM Eastern Time) and will post the winner on my Wednesday Evening Post on November 18th.  Good luck to all!  I can't wait to give this set to one of you guys!

Next on my agenda is another little project of mine.  I kept seeing this cute luminary on SCS and I wanted to give it a try.  Here are two shots of it.  The first is unlit and the second lit:

I couldn't believe how easy and fast this was to make and how beautiful it looked when lit.  If you can notice, again I used the same paper that I did on the note card set (can you believe I got all the cards and this project out of 1 12 X 12 sheet!)  on the outside of the base.  The vellum paper I used for the windows was already pre-stamped with those beautiful leaves.  I bought two sheets of it on clearance over a year ago and knew that this was the perfect use for it.  You can find the a pictorial tutorial and video tutorial for this project HERE.  I plan on doing some Christmas ones down the road.  The one above is not really decorated like the ones they showed at SCS.  I wanted to keep this one simple because of the beautiful vellum.  But I can think of lots of decorating ideas for the outside of them for Christmas.

My final card today was kind of used for an inside joke with my Mom.  My Mom, sadly, has macular degeneration.  It has gotten worse over the years, and we kinda noticed that she is having some difficulty putting on her makeup properly.  Sometimes the rouge is way heavy on one side or she is wearing an extremely bright shade of lipstick that doesn't go with her "style".  So, even though it may seem a little evil on my part, when I saw this image I COULD NOT RESIST GETTING IT FOR THIS CARD I MADE FOR HER:

Here is a close up of the image:

On the inside the sentiment says, "You May Look a Little Funny, But We Still Love You."  LOL  When she first saw it, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, then when she read the inside, she laughed.  She knew I was trying to be sweet in a funny way.  This is a perfect example of why I love the House Mouse images so much.  They have an image that you can apply to just about everything!

Well kiddos, that's it for this post.  Except for one last little thing.  Some of you may have noticed that I finally posted my picture here on the blog.  The people at the House Mouse challenge kinda hinted it would be nice. I have never liked any picture of myself, but I pulled this one from the following magazine article that was done on me and Jay a while back:

I'm sure if you click on the picture, you'll be able to read the short article on us.  Our story was a part of a series of stories of how our pets are so much more than just pets.  How some are heroic or like in our case can have a healing effect on people.  But anyway, I just took a photo of the photo above and cropped it down.  It's as good as it's going to get unless someone has a miracle camera to make me look better!  LOL

OK, that's really it except for the Pic of the Week below!  Thanks again to everyone for their joyous responses to my being picked for the HM design team.  I can't wait to get started and I'll let you know in an upcoming post more details about that first post.  Again, thanks so much for your awesome support and good luck with the draw!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

HUGE, GINORMOUS, POST!!!

Hey All! How the heck are ya? Happy Friday to each of you! I have tons to share with you today! I mean TONS! LOL I don't know what's gotten into me, but I have been one card making crazy person. There are a couple of things that I just can't wait to tell you about, so let's get started!

I have found the coolest challenge site! I normally don't play in challenges, but this blog is a blast, and the owner is such a generous person! It is called "Midnight Madness" and you can see the link over there to the right. They give away really wonderful prizes, cash, and other fun stuff! They have a HUGE give away going on right now that is totally awesome! Click on the picture of all the stamps over there to the right that is labeled "Midnight Madness Blog Candy". There, you'll find all the exciting details. Here is the sketch for this week followed by my card:

I'm really getting into the Fall mood and can't wait for the Autumn season to start. I used my CB to do the leaves in various metallic papers. The card stock is Bazzill and the printed paper is by ProvoCraft pad called "earth tones". Here is a close up of the leaves:

I played in their last sketch challenge for the first time last week. Here is the sketch they had followed by my card:

Is that not a great image??? It is a digital image by McMahon Five Designs. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and had to have it. I colored it with colored pencils and OMS and sponged the background of the image with distress ink. The background paper is from DCWV Fall Stack . The punched border is a MS punch. I added copper ribbon and dew drops to finish it.

Next, (yes, yet another card to share) I want to share with you a new card technique I found on SCS. Well, it's new to me and I LOVE doing these cards! It's called a "recessed window" card and you can find a wonderful video tutorial here. Here is my card:

I hope you can see the dimension of the card in this pic. I just can't get over how cool this recessed window card turns out. I followed the measurements in the video, but I came up with my own way (easier in my opinion) to do it. I simply cut 2 squares as templates for the recessed window. The first one is a 3 inch square and the inside one is 2 3/4 square. I then simply place the card on a cutting mat, place the first square onto the front of the card and trace around it with an embossing tool. I remove that square then center the second smaller square in the center and trace around it with my embossing tool. Works like a charm (you'll understand better after you watch the video. I made the pumpkin by using my Nesties ovals and cut out 3 and put them together after using ink around the edges for depth. I used punches for the leaf and vine, and free handed the "stump". The leaf is again created from my CB and I added copper glitter to the veins of the leaf. The background in the shadowbox part is done with the Core'dinations paper and a CB folder. I stamped the leaves on the outside of the frame with Versamark ink then embossed them with clear ep. I forget who the sentiment stamp is by.

These recessed window box cards have a million ideas going on in my head. I have a Halloween seen in my head right now that I will be making for the next post. Just got a bunch of new Halloween stamps that will be perfect for this. Can't wait!

Finally (whew), I want to show you is my newest note card set. I can't tell you how frustrating it was trying to photograph these! It's because of one of the materials I used on the cards and the holder. Here is the holder:

As you can see, the background mat and the corners, and the Nestie cut out are all done in "mirrored" paper. This stuff is super shiny and you can actually see yourself in it. I first saw paper like this on Sharon Johnson's blog months ago. What gave me the idea for these cards was that gold, mirrored bee up there. It was on a set of note cards that I bought at Michael's at the beginning of Summer. I'm always buying stuff like this thinking that I can alter it on a later project. Here is the holder open:

You can now see the cards inside. Here is one of the cards by itself:

I cut the embossed bee from the ready made note card set with my Nesties. I then matted it with the mirrored paper that I got at Hobby Lobby. It was actually in the matting section in framing. It was a huge piece (I believe it was 3.5 feet X 2.5 feet). I just cut it down to pieces I could work with. The background paper is embossed with a new Quik Cutz embossing folder called diamonds and dots (I believe). It reminded me of a honey comb, sort of. . .LOL. I then used a honey colored ribbon to give it a finished look. The ribbon is actually darker IRL and does go with the paper. Here is a pic of the complete set:

You can see in this shot how shiny they are because of all the reflected sun shimmering off of them. Working with the mirrored paper is a pain though, because it really picks up your fingerprints, and I was forever wiping them from the shiny surface. But oh so worth it! I wish you could see these in real life. They have such a great "feel" to them.

Well, there you go! I've worn my little self out! LOL I hope you liked what I have shared today. I want to tell you too, that right after dinner tonight I'll be visiting all of you to see what you have been up to. I'm sorry I haven't been by sooner, but with the DT I'm on, the new challenge blog I'm playing with, and the jolt of creativity I'm experiencing, plus taking care of the house, Jay, and the boys, I've had precious little time for anything else. But I promise, I'm coming to see you tonight and tomorrow morning.

Again, thanks so much for stopping by. Sorry for the long post, but I just had so much to share with you, and that's what this blogging thing is all about, huh? LOL Can't wait to see what you have been up to and your latest creations! Don't forget the pic of the week below! Also don't forget that I'll be posting on Monday morning for "There's Magic in the Air". You are going to love next week's image! And again, it's FREE!"

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

NOTE CARD SET

Hey Kiddos! Happy Weekend to all of you. I hope you had a great week and you are planning to have a great weekend.

Today's post is short and to the point today. I have a note card set to share with you today. I made this for another neighbor who I talk too every so often when I'm out walking the boys. I have found that she had a very similar past life that reflects so much of what I am going through with Jay now. Her husband was very ill, in a motorized wheelchair, and eventually passed. I could not get over all the things that she went through that I'm going through now. It's nice to find someone who actually understands the frustrations of taking care of someone and to be able to just "talk" about it sometimes. She has been a great help to me in that respect, and I wanted to show her how much I appreciate it. She also has a wonderful sense of humor and drops some "hard" language sometimes which always makes me laugh. The funny part is that she is an English teacher by trade.

Did I say this was gong to be short??? LOL OK, on with the card set.

OK, I know this was not the best choice for ribbon. HOWEVER. . .I tried 8 different ribbons trying to match the "overall" color of this card stock. I found one that was almost "perfect", but it was majorly wrinkled. So, I tried to iron it, and it shriveled up and melted! So, this was the only one that didn't look totally horrible.

I made four cards for the set. Here is the first one:

This is a Gruffies stamp from Stampabilities. The paper is from The Paper Studio. I used my cheap colored pencils and OMS to color it, and cut the image out with my Nesties labels die.

Here's the next one:

This is a House Mouse image from Stampabilities. Again, pretty much of the same info on the supplies as the first one.

Next:

This is a Happy Hoppers image from Stampabilities. Colored pencils & OMS, blah blah blah. Accept on this one, I sponged the sky background with Colorbox ink (much darker IRL, sun washes it out), and I did something I've not done before on the balloons. First, I double stamped them, but before I added them on the card, I tried a technique that I've seen on several blogs that I never think of doing. I turned the cut out balloons over in the palm of my hand and used an embossing tool to "round them out" and poof out more. I LOVED how they turned out. So 3-D!! I then attached them with foam squares. I also coated them with Diamond Glaze for the shine factor. I again also added cotton batting for his little fuzzy tail!

Last card in the set:

Another Gruffies image. How sweet is that face!?! Again, colored pencils/OMS. I used a new product (new to me) that I got at JoAnn's called "Fabric Tac" to make the ribbon loops. This stuff is great! Tiny drop on one side, lightly touch the other side to stick, and tah dah. . .ribbon loop to add. (I know, little things like this seem to amuse me.) LOL

Here is the whole set all together:

So, that's it. She loved them and I was glad for that. However, she said she didn't think she could send them to anyone, because she wanted to keep them for herself. LOL

OK, that's it for this post. 9 more days until the DT announcement. I'll have one more post before it's announced.

Thanks again for taking the time to look at my stuff! I still can't believe that people come to see me! I'll be seeing you all on your blogs! Don't forget the pic of the week below!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

NEW NOTE CARD SET

Hey All!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I want to start this post by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who sent Jay a get well card. WOW they were wonderful. And a couple of you were thoughtful enough to include a little something for me! LOL You are all wonderful! They really meant so much to Jay, and he said he couldn't believe that people who didn't even know him would send him cards. He told me to be sure to let every one know how much he appreciated the well wishes. I'll be posting them next post. For some reason, I'm having trouble getting them from the memory card to the computer. All the other pics uploaded fine, but this batch of your cards that I took this morning for this post won't upload no matter what I've tried.

Today, I've got a note card set to share and a card using a new technique (new to me) that I saw at Stamp TV with Gina K. So, on with the post:

Here is the card I made using the technique called "Pullin' Pastels". Take a look:

This is kind of fun to do. You take a dark piece of card stock and and rub it with different colors of chalk (not ink). Then you take silhouette style stamps, ink them up with Versamark ink, and stamp the image right on the chalked card stock. The Versamark on the stamp literally pulls the chalk off of the card stock which creates the image. This card has an almost Asian feel, and I love how it looks like the images are silhouetted by twilight. I used EK Success chalks on black Bazzill card stock. The hummingbird stamp is by Stampabilities and the rest of the flora stamps are from Inque. The set is called Silhouettes. I don't know what the deal is with the color of the border. This photo was taken in direct sunlight outside, so the "yellow" border you see is actually the color of the pale green you see in the chalked area. You can find the video tutorial here.

My next project is another note card set. I made this for a neighbor who was so good to us during Jay's recent illness. She came over to offer to plant my flowers for me, and brought us food after Jay came home. She is wonderful and a wonderful cook too! Here is the set:

I call this one the "Summer Notes" card set. The note card holder is the same design I used in my last note card set, and again, you can see the tutorial here. I LOVE this card holder so much. I altered this one a little by not using the eyelets on the inside sleeves. They really have no purpose, and you really have to be careful to cover them up on the front. So this time I simply used red line tape to secure the flaps. I love how this turned out so bright and cheery. I wanted the outside to reflect "summer" and the note cards inside to reflect "summer things". Here are the inside cards:

The image is from Happy Hopper from Stampabilities. All the images for this project were stamped with Archival Jet Black ink. I colored it with my cheap colored pencils and OMS. I used my Nesties Labels dies to do the mat. I wanted to get the feel for home plate and these were close. I took white brads and used a red Sharpie marker to make them look like baseballs. Don't laugh, it is hard for a guy to work with small pieces! LOL I then added the corner brackets which I punched out and put those on DSP that resembles a grassy field.

This is also a Happy Hopper image. I colored it like I always do and then used my Nesties to cut out a frame for it. I used a black colored pencil to draw in the watermelon seeds on the frame and then attached it to watermelon paper. This paper came in one of those "stacks" but it wasn't by DCWV. I don't know who makes it, but it was perfect for this card. Added the rhine colored ribbon to finish it off.

Again, another Stampabilities House Mouse image this time. Colored it like I always do and then matted it with a piece cut out with my rectangle scalloped Nesties. I used foam squares to attach it to the card. The lemon paper was from the same stack above. Again, it was perfect for this card. If you look close (click on pics to make them bigger) you can see the "droplets" of water I added using Diamond Glaze. I also attached the yellow dew drops to each corner and then added my ribbon.

The last one is also a Happy Hopper. How sweet is this bunny eating an ice cream cone??? This is simply matted and attached with chocolate brown brads, attached a strip of DP matted with chocolate brown card stock, ribbon added and done!



Another shot of the whole set out of the holder.

Well, that's it for this post. I hope all is going well in your worlds. Again, thanks to all of those of you who showed such kindness to us. I'm such a lucky guy to have you! Don't forget the pic of the week below. I'll be seeing all of you on your blogs! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving comments! They mean so much!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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