THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR NOVEMBER 23, 2011

Hey All!!


Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  I hope this post finds you surrounded by friends and family and filled with love and happiness.


Today's post is simply about thankfulness.  No matter what your situation is in life, there is always something to be thankful for.  Sometimes it's hard to remember all the blessings that fill our life on a daily basis, but that is what Thanksgiving is for.  To reflect on all of those gifts that are big or small that we are grateful for but generally take fro granted.


I could go on and on for all the things that I am thankful for, but I've narrowed it down to the top 10:

1. My health-even though I have a few issues, overall I have great health.
2. Jay-he's always an inspiration in how he deals with so much.  I've learned so much from him.
3. My Mom and Sister. . .they are always there when I need them.
4. My "boys".  I can honestly say I would be on medication if it weren't for their unconditional love.
5. Freedom - We are so blessed to live in this country (despite the politicians!).
6. My craft room, all my supplies, and my ability to create.
7. My great neighbors and my neighborhood.
8. Dr.s and nurses who dedicate their lives to the sick and injured - Where would we be without them?
9. Walks with my boys every day.
10. And last but not least, all of my wonderful blogging friends.  You all make my life so rich and I am so very grateful.  Grateful for your support, your wonderful comments, and just the pleasure of "knowing" you.

I'm going to leave you with an incredible video that I was fortunate to find.  I have watched it several times and each time I am more inspired.  This is one of those videos that the five minutes you spend watching it will change something in you - the words are amazing.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Hugs,

Curt O'Brien

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2011

Hey All!

Can you actually believe that it is a week before Thanksgiving????  Didn't Halloween just end last week???  Where does time go?  I feel frazzled but like always, you all look incredible and calm.  Amazing!


OK, on with the post.  I ADDED A NEW VIDEO TO THE SIDE BAR!  Many of you said you enjoyed the walk with Shotsy & Gunther that I did last Winter and asked if I'd do another one.  So, I now have recorded an Autumn walk.  So, if you are so inclined, go take a hike. . .err I mean a walk with us!  LOL

Now for my cards and project.  Take a look:

These are small boxes that I created to sit at each setting at the dinner table for Thanksgiving.  I wanted them to be functional, so each contain chocolate dinner mints (Andes) for after the feast as well as a decorated toothpick!  How's that for functional?  The two boxes on the side were done with DSP (don't know, didn't look) and the middle one is done with plain cardstock and decorated.  I stamped the turkey and colored it with Bic markers then attached it with a dimensional.  The leaves on the other two were cut with Nesties and the CB, added Stickles, a button, and some twine.  Filled each box with natural shred then added the mints and decorated toothpick.  Each mint was painstakingly wrapped with matching DSP.


Here's a card:

Another one of my beloved House Mouse images.  This one is new to my collection.  I splurged and bought it at Hobby Lobby.  I got it for 40% off!  Colored with my colored pencils and oms.  The sky was sponged with distress ink.  I did a lot of fussy cutting of the leaves on this one so it would look like he is throwing them out of the picture and onto the card.  I also cut out the 3 above him and popped them up with dimensionals for a 3-D effect.  I really do love how this one came out.


Last card:

My first Winter card!!!  Yikes!  The snowman and sentiment are by Crafty Clear stamps.  Colored with a combo of Bic markers and colored pencils/oms.  There is lots of glitter on this one, but you can't see it unless you click and make it bigger.  The white background is also embossed with the Swiss Dots ef, but you can't see that very well either.  Oh well. . .you are probably tired of looking by now anyway!  LOL


Pic of the Week

I just loved this shot when I got it uploaded.  I believe that this is an Ornamental Pear tree sprout coming up wild in the field.  Even the "sprout" was dressed for Fall in the midst of the browns and beiges.


Video of the Week

This video makes me laugh every time I watch it.  And who says dogs don't have feelings!?!


OK, that's it for another post.  I hope you are all well and happy.  Again, I'm so pleased you joined me for another Wednesday Evening Post and I hope you have enjoyed yourself.  It's always good to have you here and you are always welcome!


Love you guys!


Curt


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

WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

Hey All!

Happy Hump Day!  I wanted to say thanks to all of you who left me such wonderful comments regarding my father's death and my brother's birthday.  You all are so wonderful and I honestly don't know what I'd do with out you!

I also wanted to let you know that I've resigned from my House Mouse Design Team position.  I am just trying to lessen some of the complication in my life.  I also just want to concentrate on my own creativity and crafting for me.  You'll still see HM cards on my blog because I love them so much.  I'm just jot on the DT any longer.  It was a fun stint and I am honored that I was a part of such a wonderful group of women.

OK, it's time for another Wednesday Evening Post, and as has become almost traditional, I have 3 cards to share with you tonight.  So, here they are. . .

My first is a birthday card for a great neighbor.  She turned 70 last week, and I'm taking her to lunch on Friday to celebrate.  Here is the card I made for her:

I love this Penny Black stamp and I've had it for quite a while.  This is its debut card.  Since it was her 70th birthday, I thought this card was so appropriately funny.  Look at that one chicken getting ready to blow out the candles and the one's look of worry on his face with the fire extinguisher LOL.  This is a technique combo where I "painted" the ground, table, cake and extinguisher with Distress Inks.  The beaks and red thingies are colored with colored pencils/oms.  I used a Sizzix EF for the background because it looks like chicken wire to me.  OMG!!!!  I just looked at the picture and noticed I didn't color one of the beaks!!!!  LOL  I can't believe that!  Good thing I haven't given it to her yet!!!!

My next card is an Thanksgiving card. . .

Another one that I "painted" with my Aqua Brush and Ranger Distress Inks.  It seems that I'm slowly but surely moving away from my beloved colored pencils and moving more towards those wonderful distress inks.  I chose this sentiment (by Stampendous) on purpose because it is usually used for Christmas cards.  However, I think it is a great sentiment for Thanksgiving too.  The image is by Penny Black and the papers are by Recollections.  

My last card to share tonight is a Halloween card. . .You know I rarely do Halloween cards (eyes looking up at the ceiling looking very innocent) LOL  This one is pretty generic but I like how it turned out. . .

I don't even like candy corn!!!  And I don't like it even more after stamping and coloring all of these!  I did several to fill the jar by masking several of them.  This is my first attempt at faux stitching.  How did I do???  I can't determine if I did it well or not.  The jar stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and the single candy corn stamp is by Recollections.  I punched the two corners with a MS punch and added bling.  Candy corn was colored with colored pencils/oms.  The lid was colored with a silver gel  pen.  I tied a little bow using some orange jewelry cord.  Sentiment is by Studio G.

OK, that is it!  Another Wednesday Evening Post is at a close.  Don't forget to look at the "Pic of the Week"!

Thanks again for stopping by.  I'm so pleased that you do!

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 SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Hey All!

It is Wednesday again, and time for another Wednesday Evening Post.  I've got a TON to share with you, including 2 projects with RECYCLING.  You won't believe what I used!  I've also got what I think is a really cool "Pic of the Week" at the bottom of the post, and a photo to share.

I also want you to meet a brand new blogger!  Lee and I "met" when she sent me an email wanting to know if we could be "pen pals".  Lee lives in St. Agnes, Cornwall and was such a sweet lady I immediately agreed.  She sent me several emails and we corresponded back and forth for several weeks.  Then I got to see a card she did and it was wonderful.  I started bugging her to start her own blog, but she kept telling me she wasn't computer literate blah, blah, blah.  So, long story short, she agreed to start a blog because I offered to help her set it up.  She is now up and running and I know she would love for you to visit.  Here is the link to her blog:  LEES CRAFTY CORNER.  She has already got quite the following and has only been up a few days.  Happy blogging Lee!

OK, on to my cards. . .

The first one is a sympathy card I did for a very sweet neighbor.  Her father passed away recently, and I wanted her to know how sorry I was.  Here is the card:

If you click on the picture, you will see that I added Flower Soft to the silhouetted images.  I stamped the image several times and left the space for the sentiment.  I did my own mix of Flower Soft for this card.  I had a jar of Nut Brown and a jar of Bright Orange.  So I mixed  up a little of each to come up with what you see. The stamp is a Penny Black.  Now, here is the RECYCLED part of the card. . .can you see it?  It's the little buckle on the ribbon. . .can you tell what it is????  It is the pop top from a can of Coke!  I got this great idea from one of Gina K's videos over at Stamp TV.  I think it is one of the best sites on the Web.  You can color them with markers and I made mine look like tortoise shell with a copper and gold marker.  The last thing I did was color the white of the ribbon with a tan marker to soften the white.

My next card is my first Fall card of the season. . .

This card started out as a different technique using bleach.  "How did that work out for you Curt" you ask????  Not so much!  Gina K made it look flawless, but mine just looked like I spilled bleach.  Oh well. . .So I started all over and went to a new technique.  Painting with Ranger Distress Inks and an Aqua Brush.  I am so in love with the Ranger Distress Inks.  I honestly believe they are the best and most versatile inks on the market.  I stamped this Hero Arts image with Versamark ink, then embossed it with fine detail black ep.  I used Rusty Hinge, Crushed Olive, and Fired Brick inks to color them.  I stamped the Ranger ink on a clear acrylic block then picked up the color with my Aqua Brush.  The colors are so vibrant.  Your going to see lots more projects where I'm using the Ranger inks.  The sentiment was computer generated.

My last card that I want to share with you is again one with some RECYCLED material.  It is also the first of the Thanksgiving cards I've made this year. . .

Can you tell what is the recycled piece on this one????  Here's a clue, it is part of the pumpkin. . . take a look at the picture below for another clue. . .

LOL, do you think I've lost my mind????  The picture below is the backside of the above. . .

Is this fun or what???  A blogging friend of mine in Texas had made a great card using a pumpkin made out of this.  I went nuts over it, and she surprised me be sending me some of it!  So, I made my card using the pumpkin I made out of it.  Makes you kinda want to start pulling other packaging apart doesn't it???  LOL  My pumpkin was created by cutting out 3 ovals with my Nesties and then I distressed the edges with distress inks and then glued them together.  The "stem" is ribbon obviously, and the sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse Designs "Peaceful & Plenty" stamp set.  I forgot to look who did the paper.  Sorry.  It's a simple card but I think it is really sweet and has a country/folksy kind of look.

That's it for the cards, but I am hoping your will indulge me for just a moment.  I took the boys to a local park today for their daily jaunt.  When we take a rest, Gunther has this thing he does where he plops down and starts rolling back and forth (no, he is not rolling in anything smelly - LOL).  As he rolls on his back, back and forth, he makes this guttural, growling noise as if he is frustrated about something.  He has done this for years. However today, he really was into it and when he finished this is what he looked like:

OMG it made me laugh right out loud.  He had all those sticks and leaves stuck all over him, and his bandanna had come up and hung sideways on the top of his head.  I was laughing so hard that I could barely hold the camera still to get the photo, and I was so thrilled at how it turned out.  He is such a HUGE CLOWN!  Thanks for indulging me on this picture, but I just had to show it to you all.

OK, all done.  I hope you've enjoyed your visit!  Please don't forget the "Pic of the Week".  I think it is really a unique one.  Not the greatest shot I've taken but still unique.


I'll be visiting you all in the next few days to see what you've been up to!  Can't wait to see.  I hope you are all well and having a great week.


Hugs to all of you!


Best,


Curt O'Brien


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