BIRTHDAY BLOG CANDY!!!!! WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR JUNE 16, 2010

Hey All!!!!  Happy Hump Day, and welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Evening Post.  As I explained to you all in last Wednesday's post, I'm celebrating a birthday on Saturday, and in honor of the occasion, I thought it would be fun to give YOU a chance to win some blog candy.  I also missed my 2 year Blogaversary in April, so I'm celebrating that too with this post and candy give-away.  The blog candy that I'm giving away is valued at about $85.00!!!!  So read through the blog and see what you can win and all the details regarding my birthday give-away!

I'd like to start the blog as I always do by sharing a couple of cards with you.  Besides June being the month of my birth, it is also known for the "month of weddings".  I have a friend that said she needed a wedding shower card so I made her one.  This is what I came up with:

I got this great dress and tux template from Lynn Pratt's blog HERE.  She is so talented and was so kind to share a downloadable template.  As with her card, mine is a gatefold too, but as you can see I altered mine to have a sentiment on the front and the card is square and bigger than hers.  I bought the wedding dress paper special for this card.  It is by The Paper Studio and you can see the beautiful scrolling which is done in silver.  The paper itself is sort of like felt, but it is a really gauzy see through material.  So see through that I mounted this paper onto white card stock so that it was really white.  It really does feel like cloth.  The front flaps are separate pieces and attached with dimensionals so they stand out from the dress.  I added a small ribbon to the waist and added a row of pearls for more detail.  For the tux, I simply added white pearls for the buttons that I colored black with a marker.  Here is the inside:

The sentiment was computer generated and the scrolly brackets on the inside were stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Silver Tinsel ep.  It sort of matches the dress scrolls.  This was a fun card to make and I plan on making more variations of it in the future.

June is also followed by July, and July 4th will be here before you know it.  So I thought I would get a jump on those cards.  Here is my first for the holiday:

Aren't they adorable???  This is a birthday present to myself.  LOL  This, of course, is a House Mouse stamp and it's called "Patriotic Wrap".  I made the red and white background paper by cutting strips of white card stock and glittery red card stock and piecing them together and securing them to another piece of card stock so it became one piece.  The glittery red really makes the card pop.  I colored the image with my colored pencils and oms as usual, but colored the background stars with a silver glitter pen and then added little lines coming from each star as if they are exploding behind them.  You can see them better if you click on the picture.  I added a bow and done.  The background paper is really dark navy blue IRL but in the picture it looks black.  The sentiment is inside on this one and simply says Happy 4th!

OK, now for the blog candy . . . . . .drum roll please. . . . . . . . . . .

Here is what's included:


Stampabilities Happy Hoppers Stamp (Buzzy Friends)
325 sheets of 6 X 6 papers! (big block with the bow on it)
1 bottle of Robins Nest dew drops
1 package of square metal embellishments
3 packs of mini brads in taupe, turquoise, and yellow
1 package of Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangles Large (valued at $25.00)
1 package of Nestabilities Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large (valued at $25.00)
1 Rubber stamp from Paper Pretties

How's that?  Would you like to be the lucky winner of this loot?  As I told you in my last post, I'm not going to make you jump through hoops to win it.  All you need do is leave me a comment on this post.  That's it, NO posting a pic on your blog, NO becoming a follower, NO clicking your heals three times, NO standing on your head and reciting poetry.  LOL  Although, I would love to see a pic of that!  LOL  There will also be no long wait either.  You will have until MIDNIGHT (EST) Sunday, June 20th to get your comment posted to be eligible for the drawing.  A winner will be randomly selected by Random.Org, and I will post the name of the winner on next Wednesday Evening's post.  Good luck to all of you!  I wanted to do this to say thank you for all the wonderful support that you all have given to me over the past two years.

Don't forget the pic of the week below!  I hope you are all feeling good and doing well.  I'll be seeing you on your blogs this week!

Love you guys!


Curt


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

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."

HOUSE MOUSE MONDAY CHALLENGE #71

Hey All!  I'm so sorry that this post is up so late, but Blogger was having problems nationwide, and it has just now gone back up.  Have no idea what the issue was, I'm just glad that I can get this posted.

We have a new challenge this week and I'm also announcing the WINNER of my hidden blog candy for the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge blog's Blog Hop.  The winner is listed at the end of this post and also on the main challenge blog along with the rest of the winners.

This week's challenge over at House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge is "Sweets".  Pretty self explanatory huh?  If someone says "sweets" to me I already start drooling!  LOL  So, here is my card for this week's challenge:

This is exactly what I look like after polishing off a handful of donut holes!  LOL  This House Mouse image is called "Donut Bliss".  It's colored with colored pencils and oms as always, and the sentiment was created in word using Word Art.  I added diamond glitter to the frosting of the donut and the brad, but it doesn't show up too well in the photo.  I hope you play along with us this week!

Now for the winner of my part of the blog hop blog candy. . .the winner was selected by Random.org and the lucky person is. . . .BECKY from A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH!!!!  Congrats Becky, here was my hidden prize:

This is a gorgeous ceramic tall mug perfect for both coffee and tea.  The picture is not that great, but the outside of the mug says "Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."  The word "create" is also on the inner rim of the mug.  The colors of the mug are turquoise and brown.  Perfect for drinking your favorite coffee or tea while "creating"!  Congrats Becky!  Please send me an email (curt.obrien@gmail.com) to give me your address so I can get this out to you right away.

Again, thanks everyone for making our first blog hop so terrific, and congrats to all of the winners!  If you don't know if you won something, be sure to run over to the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge Blog to see!

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll see you on Wednesday for the Wednesday Evening Post!

Best,

Curt O'Brien

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

WEDNESDAY EVENING POST - JUNE 2, 2010

Hey All!  How are ya???  I want to apologize first and foremost for being a horrible blogging friend.  I have neglected so many of you.  I have not meant to, but my time taking care of Jay has been so much more in demand, it has been hard to keep up with all the blogs I regularly visit.  HOWEVER, things have been getting better slowly but surely, and I am now pretty much back on schedule.  So I WILL BE SEEING YOU IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS!  Thank you for being so supportive and understanding.  You have been wonderful!

As I stated above, I'm finally getting back on track hence my Wednesday Evening Post is on time!  LOL  I HAVE A WONDERFUL TECHNIQUE TO SHARE WITH YOU TODAY!!!!  Take a look at this:

The sky and grassy hill is done with a technique called MELTED CRAYON.  This was such a blast for several reasons.  First, doesn't it have a Van Gogh feel to it???  Can you believe that sky and hill were done with ordinary crayons and a travel iron????  Take a look at the close up below:

If you click on the pic above, you'll see the texture (which looks like paint) and the glossiness of the finished background.  The "trees" are actually a two-step leaf stamp from Memory Box.  The scale of the leaf made it a perfect tree stamp for my scene.  I stamped the "trees" with Staz-On ink because the finished surface is slick.  I also stamped the sentiment with Staz-On as well.  I just can't believe that you can get this effect with a travel iron!  Look at these great backgrounds I created for future use:

Doesn't this look like granite?  I used brown and pink for this one.  Here is another:

I think this looks like a piece of jade.  The other thing that was fun about this project was going out and buying a big box of Crayola 64 Crayons.  Boy did that bring back memories for me.  When I opened the box and smelled that unmistakable smell of crayons, I was immediately transported back to my childhood.  Wow, the memories that crayons brought back to me.  It was like opening a magical time machine.  Some of the images and memories that it invoked were so vivid and fresh and not thought of in many, many years.

If you are interested in learning this fun technique, check out the great tutorial complete with a video HERE.

The next card I want to share is a card I made for ME!   LOL  I'm always making note card sets for others, and when I saw this stamp, I knew that this would be used for the following note card for me:

I love this Gruffies stamp!  The way the card turned out is exactly what I had pictured in my head when I saw this stamp.  I colored it with my colored pencils and oms.  The paper is by The Paper Studio.  I got another stamp that is nothing but piano keys, and I plan to make a different one using that stamp to create a background paper.

The final card I want to share is on a sadder note.  One of my teammates on the HM design team has a sister who is terminally ill.  She asked if we would send her a card.  She said that she loves frogs.  I don't have many frog stamps, but I did have this one from Anna Wight's "Fish Friends" by Whippersnapper Designs, so I made this card for her:

This was marker colored and the sentiment was computer generated.  I used a CB folder for the background because this one reminded me of frog skin!  LOL  I hope it cheered her.  I also enclosed a small frog charm inside the card for her.

Well, that's it for this post.  Can't believe it is June already!!!!  HEADS UP!!!!  My birthday is this month and to celebrate, I'm going to have a blog candy give-away!!!!  I think I've got some great stuff to offer up, so keep checking back!

Hope you enjoyed the post.  I'll be seeing you on your blogs over the next few days.  BTW, you still have time to enter for the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge Blog Hop blog candy give away.  So click HERE for the details!

Take care all!  I love you guys!  Don't forget the "Pic of the Week"!

Best,


Curt O'Brien


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

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