WEDNESDAY EVENING POST - JUNE 9, 2010

Hey All!  Happy Hump Day!  It's Wednesday and time for another Wednesday Evening Post.  I have a couple of cards to share with you tonight, along with the ANNOUNCEMENT of my upcoming BIRTHDAY BLOG CANDY!!!  So read on for all the details:

My first card is an original design born out of trying something that I'm not good at.  That would be called a "NO LAYER CARD".  Well, I thought I would go out of my comfort zone and try one.  Well. . . . . . .I have to tell you I had to cheat!  LOL  I couldn't help it.  I just didn't know what to do with the sentiment so I had to pop it up.  Here it is:

See what I mean????  There was no room on the card to put it.  Besides that, it was computer generated so what the heck!  The tree is a huge background stamp from Hero Arts.  I stamped it directly onto Gina K. Designs Pure Luxury 120# card stock with forest green Staz-on ink.  I then went over parts of the main trunk and some branches with a dark brown Sharpie.  I used a MS punch for the little birds, punching each from a different colored scrap piece of card stock.  I really like how this turned out.  With the birds being just a punched out little blob, I had to draw beaks and eyes on them to make them look a little more like birds.

My second card is a case of a card I recently saw on Splitcoast.  I cased this card:  Here is my version:

I believe I followed the "rules of casing" by changing at least three things about the card.  My first change is the orientation of the card from vertical to horizontal.  I changed the colors from yellows and oranges to greens and whites, and I gave each leaf a pattern.  I really do like this card and its theme can be used for so many things.  The leaves are actually the "negative" of the punch.  Once I punched the leaves out, I cut the negative into squares and then mounted the square onto the patterned paper.  I like the effect it gives.  The scalloped bottoms are done with an EK Success border punch.  The sentiment is from a set that I have no idea who makes it.

OK, now for an announcement for my upcoming blog candy.  I will start the blog candy on next Wednesday's Evening Post.  I'm NOT going to make you jump through hoops to win it either.  This is in celebration of my birthday this month and the fact that my blog turned 2 a couple of months ago and I missed it!  So I'm combining both celebrations!  So be sure that you come back on June 16th to enter.  I'll be drawing a winner on my birthday, which is JUNE 19TH!  So no long wait.  It is going to be a really nice prize pack too!

OK, that's it.  Thanks so much for coming by.  I love that you visit me, and I can't wait to see what you have all been up to.  I hope you are all well and having a wonderful week!  Don't forget the "Pic of the Week".  It is updated with every Wednesday Evening Post.

Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

A POST THAT IS HARD TO TITLE

Hello Everyone.  I have been missing in action for awhile, and I'm OK enough today to let you know what has been going on.  I'll share the story then post a couple of the cards I made last week.

My beloved Gunther was severely injured a few days ago, and I am heartsick over it.  He was at the park sliding as he always does having a great time.  It was to be the final slide of the day as we were getting ready to go home.  As he came down the slide, he got too much momentum going and lost control as he exited the slide.  As he hit the ground, he let out this horrible scream of pain, and he was holding his right front leg up at a horrible angle.  He was screaming for what seemed to be an eternity.  I ran to him and held him to calm him down, and it was evident that he was in a lot of pain.  He also couldn't put any weight on it whatsoever.  Thankfully, my Mom was there and we got him to my van.  She drove as I held him in the back and we rushed him to my vet's office.  After an exam and x-rays, it was determined that the main injury was to the "wrist" area of his right front leg.  There are so many small bones in that area, but they feel confident that nothing is broken.  His shoulder is OK (thank God) and the other parts of his leg seems to be fine.  They feel that he has a severe sprain of the area, and there is a possibility of some ligament or tendon damage, but they can't be totally sure right now.  So it is a wait and see how he does over the next week or so.  It is so awful to see him hobble with only 3 legs.  Today has been the first day that I haven't cried whenever I see him try to walk.  He is on pain/anti-inflammatory meds, and I am putting ice packs on his leg several times a day for the swelling.  He is such a trouper though.  He lays so still for 30 minutes will the ice packs are on his leg.

So, no more sliding for Gunther.  I feel like such a horrible "parent".  I feel this is all my fault for allowing him to slide.  It just seemed like harmless fun for him and I didn't see the danger of such a serious injury.  I'm also grateful, because it could have been so much worse.  The initial vet bill was $235 so, you won't be seeing me use any newly purchased stamps or other new things for awhile!  LOL  So any way, please send good thoughts in Gunther's direction.  I never had any children, so he is the closest to that for me, and I am really heartbroken over this.

I'm going to share a couple of cards I made and had planned to post earlier before Gunther's accident.  Here they are:

This is a Happy Hoppers image from Stampabilities.  This was one of many images that were sent to me by my very thoughtful blogging buddy, Lorraine.  She sent me a ton of House Mouse images and some other things which I will highlight on my next blog post (Thanks Lorraine!!!).  Here is a close up of this image:

I think the reason I love these images so much is that they are so magical to me.  I colored them with colored pencils and oms.  The background paper is from The Paper Studio.  I chose this because it reminded me of kitchen wallpaper.  I tried to make it look like bead board at the bottom by scoring the card stock at 1/2 inch intervals.  It doesn't show up very well in the photo.  The sentiment is what came to mind the minute I saw this image, it is computer generated.

Here is my second card:

I have always loved this color combination.  This image is by Hero Arts and it is a reverse image or negative.  This stamp gives a very dramatic look.  After I stamped the image, I simply colored the one flower with a marker and then added the little glitter sticker to the center.

OK, it's time for an ice pack on Gunther's leg.  Thanks for stopping by and for all of your support.  Honestly, when I'm going through something like this, I feel like I have a ton of friends out there to send good thoughts, and that is so comforting.

Don't forget the "Pic of the Week".  This week it is of my funny Gunther.

Best, 

Curt

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