HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE BLOG HOP!!!!

Hey All!  Hope you are all well!  Today is a really special day for House Mouse And Friends Monday Challenge Blog.  For the first time ever, we are having a BLOG HOP!!!!  There is so much that is "new" today.  Not only are we going to see the creations of our brand new designers, our blog has changed to a new look too.  Wait till you see the blog hop candy!

It is awesome.  PLUS, some of the blogs have even MORE HIDDEN BLOG CANDY!  (You can see the pics of those prizes on the main blog)  So much fun!  The theme of the challenge this week is "Saying Good-bye".  Here is my card for this week's challenge:

We are heading into the official vacation season here, so I thought this was a good card for saying "good-bye".   Don't those little mice look perfectly comfy and ready for their long road trip?  The stamp is called "Are We There Yet?"  I colored this image with my colored pencils and oms.  I sponged the sky with light blue Colorbox ink.  I've never used the teal and chocolate brown color combo before, and I kinda like it.  The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink and then embossed with detail ep.  That's why it looks so shiny in the photo.

OK, time for the blog hop directions.   

1. Enter a card or creation for this week's theme and link it on the main blog as always.
2. You need to sign up as a follower of the House Mouse And Friends Monday Challenge blog if you are not a follower.
3. Leave a comment on each individual design team member's blog as well as the main one!
4. To be eligible for the "Hidden Blog Candy" (pictured on the main blog - you just don't know who's blog it comes from) you have to have left a comment on that person's blog who is giving it away to win it.
5. The main blog candy winner will be selected by Random.Org and will be announced on the main blog on June 7th.  If you are a winner of the "Hidden Blog Candy" you will be notified by that design team member.

If you came to me first, then you need to start at the House Mouse And Friends Monday Challenge blog HERE.  If you came here from Christine's blog then you are right on track, and your next destination will be Heather's blog HERE.  

So off you go!  Thanks for looking!  Have fun and good luck to all of you!!!


Best,


Curt O'Brien

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR MAY 19, 2010

Hey All!!!!  I'm back!!!!  My computer is running like new, and I feel so connected again.  Honestly, I felt isolated without it.  I want to thank all of you for sticking with me and sending me emails of hello and encouragement and leaving such supportive comments on my last post.  I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

So, I've got some time to make up.  In all of my upheaval the past few weeks, I have stolen some time in my craft cave to make some cards.  So I'll show you a few of them that I've done.  Here is the first:

This is a fun technique called a folded frame.  It's super easy to do and I like the effect.  This was a birthday card I made for a friend of my Mom's.  The main image is from Flourishes, the viney stamp is a Hero Arts background stamp, and the butterfly is punched with a MS punch.  Here is a side view to show you the dimension:

This folds down beautifully to put into an envelope and pops up by itself when removed.  You can find a tutorial for this technique HERE.


The next card I made was for our next door neighbor who broke her foot:

How perfect is this image for that!?!  The House Mouse Stamp actually has nothing on the cast when you stamp it, so you can put anything on it.  I drew a smiley face on the cast, and had this great $1 stamp with a smiley face on it so I created the background paper with it.  I colored the image with my colored pencils and oms.  The inside says "Sending Happy Thoughts for a Speedy Recovery".

The last card I'm sharing with you tonight is one I made for another neighbor who's two daughters got pregnant at pretty much the same time, and ended up having their babies together while being in the hospital at the same time.  So here is the card I made for her:

I so love this House Mouse stamp. . .However, since she is a Grandma only twice, I had to alter the original image.  Here is what the stamp actually looks like:

You can see that I removed the third bunny so only two showed.  I just put a piece of cut paper on the stamp when I stamped the image so the third bunny did not stamp.  Here is a close up of the bed:

If you click on the picture, you'll see that I used a gold glittery pen to give it the look of brass.  Obviously the blue represents the two boys that her daughters had.  

So, I've shown great restraint by not showing all of the cards I've made over the last few weeks.  They are being saved for next Wednesday's post.  I hope you've enjoyed the cards tonight.

I want to again say thank you for continuing to visit me and leave me wonderful comments, even though I've not been able to do the same for you.  You are truly wonderful blogging friends, and I appreciate you all so much.  I hope you all know that.  I'll be visiting you all in the next few days.  Boy, do I have a lot of catching up to do!  Thanks again to all for staying with me!

Don't forget the Pic of the Week below.  This duck was standing on a rock in the middle of a creek and this sun beam was highlighting him like he was a messenger from the heavens!  LOL  It looks like he is posing for me.

Take care all!  Hope you are all well!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

COMPUTER DOWN

Hey All!  My computer has been overheating for the past 4 months.  It is either one of the fans going bad or thermal paste that has broken down.  In order to operate my computer these last few months, I've had to leave the side cover off and use a desk fan to blow air into the computer from keeping it from shutting down as often.  But even that is not really working anymore!  As an old boss of mine used to say, "Poor people have poor ways."  LOL  With the desk fan going and the loud sound of the internal fan of the computer going, I'm going deaf in my left ear!!!

So, I've finally broken down and called a repair place and I'm taking it in this afternoon.  They said their turn around time is 1 to 3 days.  OMG!  The thought of being without my computer for 3 days!!!!!  I'll go nuts!

So, that has been a main reason for nothing posted for awhile.  Every time I try, and I take too long, the computer shuts down in the middle and I lose stuff.  So, cross your fingers and send good computing thoughts my way so that I get my computer back quickly and it is nothing more serious than I am thinking!

Miss you guys!  Hope you are all well!  This computer problem also explains why I haven't been posting comments on your blogs.  Can't wait to get back to normal!

Take care all!  Hope to see you in a few days!

Best,

Curt

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."