I Think I Get This Coloring Thing Now!

Hey All! Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. I'm glad you haven't given up on me! I have several cards to post today. My first is the reason for the title. I'm dedicating this card to my good blogging buddy Sue Kment at Sue's Stamping Stuff. Go visit her blog to see a true artist! Her coloring of the House Mouse images are jaw-dropping gorgeous. Awhile back, she very generously sent me a ton of stamped images which included the one I feature on today's card. No matter how hard I tried to emulate her coloring, I failed miserably. She told me that she uses blending techniques and what supplies she used. Well, I went out and got some, and boy, what a difference it made! Here is what I made after her coaching. . .



Sue had done this image, and I was just in awe over it. When I tried to color with just my colored pencils, it always looked like a 3rd grader did it. Now, with her help, the use of blending stumps, and odorless mineral spirits, I think I have the hang of it now! Here's a close up view:



At least I'm so much more happy with the results, and because of her, I can't wait to tackle some more of these! The dp is from the Fall Stack from DSCW. I mounted the image on green and mustard cs and attached it to the paper. Stamped and embossed the sentiment cs and then cut it out with my circle and scallop Nesties, and mounted it on the card using foam squares. Added the little dew drop thingies and ribbon. Thanks again so much Sue! You are my official "Coloring Mentor"! Honestly, I can't thank you enough!

My next cards are some I have made specifically for Pat's "Cards for Kids" project. Click on the link if you want to learn more and how you can help! The first card is a Halloween card. I figure since it is coming up soon, that would be a good theme. Here it is. . .



This is such a "boy" card! Catching bugs in jars. . .LOL. The jar stamp is by Inkadinkado and the spider stamp is a Martha Stewart stamp. I used my white ink pen to draw the spider web and to dot the photo corners. I added the red jewel to the spider for bling effect (see close up) below:



I don't know who the paper is by. Stamped the sentiment on orange cs mounted all stamped images after matting with foam squares, tied the ribbon and done.

So I figured that if this one was "boyish", I guess I'd better make one a little more softer for the girls. . .



This was an image that Tammy at Stamp Happy (another incredibly talented person!) sent me too! I colored the image with colored pencils and used the blending again. I then took a wet paper towel and blotted it on my Colorbox ink pad and blotted it to make the purple background. I like how it turned out. I did the same thing for the white cs that the sentiment is stamped on. The image and the sentiment are from My Favorite Things. I matted both, mounted them on the dp with foam squares, added an eyelet for the ribbon, and also added brads to the sentiment cs. Here is a close up of the image. . .



My final cards for today's post are more for the younger kids. I made 3 cards, each with a different center image.



These are simple cards, however they took me forever! These were cards that I bought that were already embossed with round looking bubbles. So I thought they would be good to use for the fish stamps I got from Stampin Up. I used my Versamark embossing pen, and colored every one of those "bubbles" on the front of each card. I then sprinkled with turquoise and glitter embossing powder and embossed. THAT is what took me so long, and THAT is what nearly sent me over the edge by the third card LOL! I then colored each image with colored pencils, added glittery highlights to each (see detail shot below), and mounted each on to the center of the card with foam squares.



The sentiments are on the inside, and were computer generated. The one for the seahorse says "Happy Birthday"; the one for the starfish says "You are a Super Star!"; and the crab card says "Just Beclaws". So Pat! If you are reading this, I have 10 cards now to send off to you. I'll be going to the post office tomorrow, so watch your mail!

Well, that's it! I am so glad that you stopped by! Don't forget the pic of the week below. It is a picture of my Mom's dog Chunk. We all went for a walk yesterday, and he was sniffing around and looked up and had those leaves stuck to his face. Thought it was a cute picture. . . Thanks again for visiting! I'll see you on your blogs!


Best,
Curt O'Brien

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

HAPPY WORLD CARD MAKING DAY!!!

Hey All! Happy World Card Making Day! This is really kinda cool! A day just for us to celebrate our craft! By the way, I've added someone to my blog list over there to the right. Her name is Marie and her blog is Aloha and Mabuhay. She is so talented, and I love visiting her blog. Go take a look, and I think you will agree that she has some fabulous cards to share. Her detail is incredible!

I've made 4 cards for today's special occasion! So on with the cards! My first is an Autumn card:

I used my new Spellbinders Shapeabilities for these leaves (except for the little bitty ones, those are punches). I love this new set! I love how it embosses the leaves and gives them veins. I used my glitter pen to go over them to make them sparkle. I attached the 3 main leaves with foam mounts to give it depth, and glued the others flat on the card stock. I used my corner punch to do the scalloped edge and then pierced each scallop, mounted all of that onto chocolate brown card stock, added the ribbon, the bling to the ribbon, and dew drops to a few of the leaves. Here's a close up of the Spellbinders leaves:

See how the leaves have the embossed veins? Love this!

My next card is a Halloween card. I just can't stop making them! I was cruising blogs the other day and came across a card that I just had to case. However I could just kick my butt, because now I have no idea who's blog it was on to give them credit! I'm such an unorganized dork! Anyway, this is my version of that card. . .

I started with a watercolor card stock. I then took my ink pads (all Colorbox) and started at the bottom rubbing the ink pads on the card stock. I started with yellow first, then orange, then purple, then dark blue, then black. I then used my Aquapen to mute it and blend it all together so the colors graduated into the next. I used a heat gun to dry it, then stamped the tree line with the bare tree stamp from Rubber Stampede. I used my Nesties to cut out the circle for the moon. This paper is from Doodlebug and it is called sugar coated card stock. It really sparkles and comes in lots of colors. I got it at Archivers. Anyway, I stamped the witch image right on the sparkle stuff using archival jet black ink. The stamp is from Martha Stewart. The ink did not really come out well because of the granular surface, so I went over it with a black marker to make it darker. I then attached the moon to the card, and then used a glitter pen to dot in the stars. This was a pretty easy card to make. Here is a close up:

Even after going over the image in black marker, the sparkles still shined through! I was really amazed by that!

My next two cards are birthday cards. One is for a friend of mine and the other is for the batch of cards I'm making for Pat for the Cards for Kids project that she started. I'll start with that one first.

This one was a little time consuming because of all of the cutting out and assembly, but I think it is really cute if I do say so myself. The stamps are from Stampin Up. They were part of my prize package that I won as blog candy from Rita's blog. I stamped the packages and balloons on white card stock with different color inks by Colorbox, then embossed them with clear ep. I cut them out and attached the bling to the balloons and then attached the color coordinated yarn to both pieces. I attached them all to the matted card stock with foam squares. I then used my glitter pen to do the background "swirlies". Here are a couple of close ups:

I wanted something suitable for kids and whimsical.

My last card is also a card I kind of cased from Catherine at Inksomnia. I loved the card she posted, so here is my version:

I like her card way better, but this served its purpose. I used various stamps to fill in the squares which were cut out of the paper using a plastic template. I then adhered the paper to white card stock. The images (I have no idea who makes these stamps) were colored with colored pencils, cupcake was glittered, hats had bling attached, and the sentiment was embossed with red tinsel ep. Pretty quick and simple card.

Well, that's it for this post! Whew! That was a lot of pics! I set a record for pics in one post! And speaking of pics, don't forget the pic of the week below: Thanks for visiting, and I'll see you on your blogs later tonight! I have a birthday dinner to attend to this evening, then back to the blogs!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

New Puppy Card

Hey All! Hope everyone is doing well on this first day of October! I still have been really busy with every day "stuff", including still some doctor's stuff with Jay, but he is way better! Again, thanks so much to all of you who sent such sweet, encouraging emails. They were so appreciated!

On to today's card! We had a new puppy move into the neighborhood. . .and you know me. . .being the huge dog lover that I am, I had to get a "baby gift" and make a card to welcome the new bundle of joy! LOL He is a mixed breed pup who she rescued from the street. His name is Winston (God I love that name!) and he is absolutely adorable. He was in pretty bad shape when she got him, but he has certainly found a wonderful home and a great Mom who is taking great care of him! Here is the card and gift:



Is that a cute porcelain canister or what? I got it at a garage sale for .75 cents! I'm always looking for dog stuff at garage sales for things like this. I filled it with puppy treats and hung the dog bone tag on it after writing his name on it. More detail on the card below:



The card measures 5 X 7 (which is normally the size of card I make). The card base is white cs and I used an Inkadinkado stamp set to stamp the background with the paw prints, bones, and "puppy". The border at the bottom is from the "Pet Stack" from DWCS or whatever those letters are (I never get them right and was too tired to go back upstairs to look LOL)! The fire hydrants are very sparkly. I created the sentiment on my computer, cut it out with Nesties, mounted it on black card stock with dimensionals, added the bling, and added the gingham ribbon. The paw prints kind of went nicely with the porcelain canister. The "Mom" loved the gift. She told me that the neighbors warned her that there was this guy in the neighborhood who would probably stop by with a new "baby" gift. Guess I've got a reputation around here for being nuts about dogs! LOL

Couple of other things I want to share. First, did you all know that October 4Th is "World Card Making Day"? I had no idea, but what a great thing to have! For more information, please visit Julie Koerber's site Out to Impress for a lot of great information on the many ways everyone is planning on celebrating it. Thanks Julie for the info! So, I plan on following one of the suggestions and will be posting a few new cards that I'm working on, on October 4Th! Join in the fun!

Speaking of working on cards, I'm also busy working on some cards for a very worthy cause, and to help out a great blogging friend with her wonderful work. She does volunteer work at a local children's hospital. She has started a program called "Cards 4 Kids", and the cards are for the caregivers and parents to give to their sick children. I wanted to help, so I'm making several cards to send. If you are interested in helping out with cards for these sweet kids, you can find all the information on Pat's blog, The Rubber Maid. I'm sure that she would really appreciate it, and so do I! I know the kids and their caregivers certainly will!

Well that's it for now until October 4Th. Don't forget the pic of the week below. I was so excited when I spotted this "subject matter"! Now, don't think that I'm naive and don't know what they are "doing". However, I chose to ignore that and give it a much cuter title and interpretation! So you all get your minds out of that gutter, and think more cutesy! LOL Enjoy, and I'll be seeing you all on your blogs!


Best,

Curt O'Brien


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

Welcoming A New Neighbor

Hey All! HAPPY FALL!!!!! Hope all is well with you! I'm so sorry it has been over a week for me to do a new post, but sometimes life tends to get in the way of best laid plans! We had some unexpected medical issues with Jay, but everything is good now. Thanks to several of you who sent me emails wondering if I was OK. You are all very sweet to think about me and worry about me! Also, Please read the part about what my dogs did close to the bottom. I think you will be surprised. So on to today's post. . .

We had a new neighbor move in on our Cul-de-sac last week, so I made a card to take over along with some baked goods! Here is the card:



I tried a couple of new things with this card. First, I stamped the butterfly image directly onto designer paper (don't know what the paper is, sorry), then cut it out. The stamp is from Inkadinkado, and the way the stamp is made, the part that isn't inked allowed the paper to become part of the wings. I love how it looks. I then used the same paper to make the first background mat. The second new technique I used was to use my ink pad and cover the inside of the Cuttlebug embossing folder with ink. I used Colorbox black. I put a plain pale orange paper in the folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug. It gave a really cool distressed look to the paper with the embossed image. I've seen this done on many blogs, and I had been wanting to try it. I matted it with black card stock. I then added another small rectangle of the DP with another black mat piece, attached the butterfly with dimensional foam tape, printed the sentiment on the same DP with my computer, added bling to the butterfly and some black grosgrain ribbon and was finished. Below is a detail shot:



I received two RAKs this past week, and I have to say that I don't know what I have done to deserve such kindness! But I will say that they certainly came at a time when I needed a little lift, and I can't thank both of you enough. The first one came from my blogging buddy Jane of Scossie Jane from Australia! It was so cool to get a package from half way around the world! Jane's specialty is scrapbooking and she does an amazing job with them (click on link above). Her layouts are incredible. She also does beautiful cards too as is demonstrated from what was enclosed below:



Jane, this was so generous of you, and I will put it to good use! You really made my day the day it came! THANKS SO MUCH!

I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to my blogging buddy Sue (Sue's Stamping Stuff). I have always admired her use of the House Mouse stamps, and her coloring is absolutely AMAZING. I was thrilled to receive in the mail a TON of stamped images from her! Look below:



I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the envelope!!!! So many images! Go take a look at Sue's work on her blog (click the link above). She has one posted now that is just amazing! Thanks again, Sue for your wonderful gift! I started coloring the first image, and I don't think I will ever be half as good as you when it comes to coloring these images! These take real talent to make them look good! Thanks for sending so many of the images, it will give me lots of practice. I just received my first House Mouse stamp that I ordered, and boy is it going to be a MAJOR project! It is called "Don't Leaf Without Me" and it is amazing. Your images will help me get brave enough to tackle it! And Sue, when I make that first card with the new stamp, I'm making that card for you! You really made my day!

Final thing. My "boys" have some painting talent!!! I've been meaning to share this with all of you for some time now, and so here it is. I had my boys paint "masterpieces" last summer. I saw that this was done at an animal shelter fund raiser one time, so I thought "My boys could do that!" Here is what they created!:



I matted and framed them and they are hanging in my breakfast room. I know I'm a proud Dad, but aren't these amazing? Shotsy did the one on the left and Gunther did the one on the right. Here's how they did it. I put there plastic swimming pool out in the backyard. I got Styrofoam bowls and poured several different colors of poster paint (because it is non-toxic) into each bowl. I then put an actual canvas in the empty swimming pool, dipped their paw in one of the colors and told them to get in the pool. I held up a treat and kept moving around the pool, and as they walked around the pool to follow me, they "created". I would repeat this step with each color. I never once grabbed their paws and helped them "paint". This was all random. If you are a pet owner, I strongly encourage you to do this with your pet. Not only does it create great conversation art, it will be something you will always have from them after they are gone. Guests just marvel at the artwork. Some swear that they can see different animals in Shotsy's painting, and Gunther's has been described as looking through a garden with the sun peeking through at the top center right. LOL Click on the photo to see what you can see!

Well, that's it for this post. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget the pic of the week below. This beautiful girl was looking up at me and the boys as I took this shot from a boardwalk over a lake. It actually looks like she is smiling at the boys! This was taken this past weekend. I'm off to take a look at all of your creations! I'll be posting soon in the next few days if nothing else happens! See you on your blogs!


Best,


Curt O'Brien
"God help me be the person my dogs think I am."

Blog Candy Winner Announced!

Hey All! Today's post is dedicated to 3 things: 1. Announcing the winner of my blog candy 2. Posting two new cards, and 3. Saying thanks to a couple of wonderful people who sent me RAKs last week. So, on we go. . . .Thanks so much for playing this edition of my blog candy contest! We have a winner! Remember, it was the person who came up number 13 on the Random.Org list. Can I have a drum roll please? Bumbumbumbumbumbubumbumbumbum. . . and the winner is. . . .Toni from Whimsical Thoughts! Congrats Toni! Send me your address so I can send you your stuff! Everyone should go take a look at her blog (whimsical thoughts). She has some awesome, adorable Halloween cards going on! Here is the list of names as it was drawn on Random.org:

1. Belas Creating Place
2. The Rubbermaid - Pat
3. Sue
4. Margie
5. Tammy Hershberger
6. Sena
7. Cardcrazy
8. Cogghe
9. Denise (Denise Love Stamps)
10. Jan
11. Monika Reeck
12. Glee
13. Toni (Whimsical Thoughts)
14. Catherine
15. Deedee
16. Jan Scholl
17. Scossie Jane
18. Lauri
19. Karen (Six Wacky Women)
20. Deb Neerman
21. Erin
22. Bunny B
23. Denise W.
24. Juliann
25. Julie
26. V Colbourne
27. Judy
28. Jamie Martin
29. Jean
30. Rita
31. DPKennedy

And speaking of blog candy, head over to Wild Dragonfly Designs for a chance at some very cool blog candy from my good blogging friend Danielle.

Today's card I did for no special reason. I bought this paper at Hobby Lobby with this card in my head. Now it is out of my head and on my blog. . .here it is:





I pictured using turquoise with the black and cream color of the paper. I love those colors together. I also love butterflies. The paper is from The Paper Studio. I used my Nesties for the circles, and my Cuttlebug for the butterfly. Stamped the sentiment with black Colorbox ink, added the little turquoise jewels, tied the ribbon and done!

The next card is another Halloween card. I remember seeing a card somewhere where they had stamped an image all along the side, then cut the edging along the stamped image. I immediately got the idea to use this technique for a Halloween card. Here it is:



I stamped the spider webs (Inkadinkado) along the bottom of a long card, then cut them out along the bottom to give the effect above. I used a glitter pen to go over the main part of the webs (see detail below), added a jewel in the center of each, stamped the spiders and the sentiment (Inkadinkado), then added a black strip of card stock at the bottom for contrast.



The card stock is actually orange, however I shot these outside in direct sunlight, and it appears the card stock is yellow.

Now finally, I wanted to say a HUGE heartfelt thank you to two sweet, sweet people for the nice RAKs they sent me for absolutely no reason! I'm just blown away by it! The first is from Janine at 2bKrafty. Go visit her to see how elegant and classy the cards are that she creates! I LOVE visiting her blog, and she so inspires me. Here is what she sent:



Along with that super cute card she enclosed were tons of sticker sheets, an adorable Halloween stamp and a package of Halloween embellishments, texture plates, mini mini albums, a set of clear stamps, well you see it all up there! Thank you Janine! I appreciated it so much and I'll put them to good use!

The next was from Denise at Denise Loves Stamps. Her creations are so sweet, and I don't get to see enough of them! This is what she sent:



Her card was just beautiful and tucked inside was a really cute clear stamp set! Denise, thanks so much! It was so so sweet of you!

I'm a lucky, lucky guy. I have so many great readers who take the time to stop in and comment, and it just makes me very humbled to know that I am visited by some of the most talented stampers in Blogsville! Thanks to all of you! I appreciate you all very much!

Well, that's it for this post! Stay tuned for some Autumn cards coming up and a couple of other projects I'm working on. Don't forget to take a look at the "Picture of the Week". Is this little guy cute or what? Look at those huge doe eyes, and if you look really close you will see that long "tongue" sucking up that nectar. I'll see you all on your blogs!

Best,

Curt O'Brien
"God help me be the person that my dogs think I am."

BLOG CANDY TIME AGAIN!!!

Hey All! Wow, has this been a week for blog candy! Sharon at No Time to Stamp has been celebrating her 1 year Blogaversary and has had several give aways (some still going on so head on over!) and then there are others that you will learn are helping the celebration with blog candy of their own! So I guess mine is right on time, huh? I'm celebrating my blog going over the 5,000 mark! And it's all because of you! So to say thanks for being so loyal and coming to see me, I'm giving away some more blog candy. And I think it is pretty good blog candy too! But first to the card. . .

Yes, it is another Halloween card. . .When I was cruising around Splitcoast a couple of weeks ago, I saw the stamp I used on today's card for the first time. It was one of those moments when you say "I have to have that stamp!!!!" It is a Stampin Up stamp, and I don't know anyone locally who sells Stampin Up. So I saw my good friend Tammy Hershberger online and asked her if she knew anyone. Sure enough she did and she hooked me up. So here's the card. . .



How cute are these guys?!?!?! I LOVE EM!!! This stamp is called Tableau of Terror and comes with the main stamp and the sentiment stamp. Don't forget to click on the pictures to get more detail. This one was so much fun to color. The stamp itself is just the characters. I added the moon background. Take a look at the picture of them close up below:



I can't think of any stamp that I'm more fond of! Every time I look at it I just smile from ear to ear. They are so adorable. Can't you just see opening your door on Halloween to see this group standing there? LOL I used colored pencils to color the image, drew the moon on the same paper, cut the image out and matted it on standard card stock. The paper is from The Paper Company (I think). I used my corner rounder on one of the mats, and used orange brads from Making Memories. I then mounted the whole thing with foam squares on both the mat and the image. I then mounted the sentiment with black embossed photo corners, added some orange crystals, and done! Here is another close up of the sentiment detail:



If you go to Splitcoast and search for "Tableau of Terror", you'll be able to see a few other creations made with this set. It is so new, there aren't that many out there yet. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the card.

Now, on to the BLOG CANDY! Here's what's up for grabs:



A set of 16 botanical stamps from See Ds! I LOVE this set! I can't believe the quality of the stamps. You'll also get the ribbon box shown up there (ribbon not included - I put it in there for display purpose). Ribbon comes out on both sides and it's great to organize the ribbon you use the most. You'll also receive a stamp set from Inkadinkado up there on the bottom right of the photo. I have all of the stamps in this series, and I love them. You will be seeing some upcoming cards in the near future that I made using this series. You'll also receive a package of Karen Foster's Boot Loopy brads. There are 40 pieces in the package and it comes with scrapper's floss. All items are brand new and purchased for this give away.

Here's what you need to do: Leave a comment for this post. In the post, tell me what your favorite Halloween character is. From all of the posts, I will use the Random site to choose a winner. There person who falls out 13Th on the list will be the lucky winner. You will have until Monday, September 15Th at 11:59 PM Eastern to enter your comment. I'll post the winner on Tuesday the 16Th.

That's it for this post! Thanks again so much for all the nice comments from the last post and for taking the time to go vote for me. You are all terrific, and I so appreciate your support. Don't forget to look at the picture of the week below! I'll see you all on your blogs!


Best,

Curt O'Brien
"God help me be the person that my dogs think I am."

A CONTEST ENTRY

Hey All! As you can see, my blog is all dressed up for Fall! My favorite Fall picture of the boys, Fall colors, Fall leaves. . .can you smell the cinnamon? LOL Now that Labor Day has past, I consider Summer officially over and Fall has begun! Yahoooo! Can't wait for the cooler weather and the color and smells of Autumn to begin! My post today has to do with three things. One, my card has a Fall theme; two, my card is an entry into the You Know You Rock contest sponsored by the ever talented and ever beautiful Julie Koerber and Deb Neerman; and three, I have another surprise in store. . .so, let's get to it!

The card below is my entry into the "heavy metal" contest at the above. The challenge was to make a card using metal. Here is my entry:



I used several pieces of metal on this card. First and most obvious is the copper sheet with the embossed pumpkins and vines. This is actual copper sheeting that I bought at Michael's over a year ago intending to use it for embossed images. It comes in a roll and it is pretty heavy. I used my Cuttlebug embossing folder for it, and then cut it to size. I then used brass square brads to attach the stamped image to the matting. I then added more metal by attaching the heavy metal leaves right under the matted image. And I'm thinking this counts too, because even the ribbon has wire in it! LOL You can see all the detail in the two photos below:





This is one heavy little card! I weighed it on the food scale and it comes in at a whopping 1.5 ounces. The stamp is by paper inspirations, and I colored the image with markers. It was stamped on water color paper and then embossed with clear ep. And there you have it! I have to get this posted and up on their blog by 10:59! It is now 10:32. . .Yikes!

If you like it, I would certainly appreciate you going over to vote for me. You can click here to do so! Thanks in advance!

Lastly, I can't believe I have already hit over 5,000 on my blog counter! It just seems like yesterday that I was celebrating 1,000! Anyway, the announcement is BLOG CANDY to celebrate! My next post will have the pic of the goodies and what you need to do to enter to win! So come back in a few days to see what is up!

Don't forget to look at the picture of the week! The local water park here in Carmel hosts a dog swim for all the local dogs after their official close. The boys went, and I took lots of shots, but this was a fun one! There were over 380 dogs this year. It was so much fun for them and such a magical time for me.

Take care! Thanks for stopping by and for all of your support. I'll see you on your blogs!

Best,

Curt O'Brien
"God help me be the person my dogs think I am."