SURPRISE!!!! I'M BACK!!!!

Hey All!

I have so missed you all, my blogging, and my craft so much these last few months!  You have all been so wonderful with checking in on me and leaving comments, sending emails and cards etc.  I just love you guys so much!

The move was hard on us, but we made it. . .The new house is now starting to feel like home.  "The boys" had absolutely no problems adjusting to their new surroundings.  They LOVE the pool and have spent many, many hours in swimming bliss.  Gunther has become quite the diver too.  Here are some swimming pics:

GUNTHER CHILLIN AT THE POOL

"POOL BOYS"

SWIMMING WITH DAD

POOL FOOTBALL

CHAMPION DIVER

MAKING A BIG SPLASH

STANDING ON THE BOTTOM

DAD WITH FURRY DOLPHINS

The back yard pool area is lush and parklike.  It is a wonderful place to sit and have coffee or a "beverage" and just relax.  Lots of little creatures too. . .

CHECKING THE TIME

HUNGRY HUMMING BIRD

STOPPING FOR A DRINK

We moved in on the first day of Summer and I simply can't believe that we are now a few days into Fall.  It is all a blur.  I've been working hard on getting the inside of the house the way I want it.  So far, I have painted the kitchen, dining room, breakfast room and entry hall.  There is a lot more work that needed to be done than I had previously thought.  The owners were not completely upfront with some things and that was disappointing.   Hopefully the next post will contain the interior pics.  I'm hosting an open house on October 13th for all of our old neighbors  so they can see the new place.

My craft room is up and running and I've made my first Halloween cards of the year.  Take a look:

I sponged the background masking a moon then stickled it.  All the rest are dies.  The tree, ghosts, and graveyard are all Memory Box.

 All of the images on this one are from the $1 bin at Michael's.  I mounted the image squares onto sparkly black cardstock for extra glitz.

 You all know how I love to make card sets.  This is one for Halloween. . .the box I made is from  a Gina K. Designs free template and is one I use often for card sets.  Here are the cards inside:

 These are also all $1 bin stamps from Michael's.

This one again uses a die.  This one is from Impression Obsession.  To make the scene stand out a bit, I put a dimensional right under the hill under the house to give it more of a 3-D look.

So, there you have it.  I'm back and I love being back.  Now I've got tons of catching up to do on all of your blogs!  I truly can't wait to see what you have been up to.  You'll be seeing me soon!

PICK OF THE WEEK:

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you are all doing well and everything is wonderful in all of your little corners of the world.

Hugs,

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

Hey All!

Gosh I've missed each and everyone of you!  I wanted to give everyone a quick update as to what is happening.

Right now it is 1:47 AM on Wednesday morning as I write this.  I'm taking a break from loading all my boxed stuff on a rented truck.  My sister took the day off to help me tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure I got a head start.  It is pure adrenalin that is keeping me going right now!  But I'm so worn out that I just had to take a break and write to you all!

Thanks to all of you who remembered me on my birthday!  Wow did I feel majorly special.  I even got the birthday song sang to me on voicemail from my dear, sweet friend Bonnie in Canada.  Others sent cards and emails and I can't tell you how much it meant.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart. . .

We successfully closed on both houses Tuesday.  It was touch and go on our new house for the last 3 days, and we didn't think we were going to be able to close on time.  But a guardian angel named Russ, posing as a loan officer, worked some miracles and saved the day.  I don't know what we would have done with out him and all the work he did to make this happen.

Tomorrow my sister and I will move the small furniture and boxes.  Then the "big move" will happen on Thursday.  We will be done as of Thursday night with the moving process, but then comes the unpacking phase!  LOL  But I'm really looking forward to that.  That is when the house really becomes "ours".

OK, I won't bore you any longer with all of this, but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate everyone checking up on me and making sure I'm OK.  More after the move!

Love you all!

Curt

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

I'M SO VERY LUCKY

Hey All!

As the title of this blog post implies, I truly am a very lucky guy.  I want to thank all of you for the incredible support you have given me as I traveled through this change in my life.  It's just not the selling a house you love, buying another house to start again, and moving, it is all that and the reasons for having to do so.  This is really a new chapter in my life, and as the journey begins, I know I have all of you traveling it with me. . .thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here's the news. . . .Our house sold in 12 days and we bought our "pool house" the very same day.  It was touch and go for awhile because the day we received our offer, the pool house received an offer.  We ended up in a bidding war, but the war was won!  We close on the properties at the end of June and I couldn't be more happy, excited, and relieved.

Someone asked if I would supply the link to the new home and I would be more than happy to.  You can see pics of our new house HERE.  When you see the main picture of the house, click on it and you'll see the pictures in a bigger format.  I'd love to know what you think.

Again, thanks for your prayers, positive comments, and good wishes.  They, as you, mean the world to me.

Hugs,


Curt


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

Hey All!

Gosh I've missed you guys and blogging, and creating, and. . .well, I can tell you I haven't missed painting! LOL  Just wanted to let you know the deed is just about done.  The house went on the market today.  I'm still "finishing up" on things around here and then it is just a matter of it being shown.  If you are interested, here is the LISTING.

I have kind of mixed emotions.  I will miss this house a lot, but the house we have our eyes on is still available and that makes this a little bit easier to take.  I'll keep you all posted.

Again, thanks so much for all of your encouragement and wonderful supportive comments.  This has been a ton of anxiety for me, but your thoughtful, caring comments have really made a difference.

I love you guys, and can't wait for things to settle down and get back to "normal".  I'm going to try and sit down this week and visit you all to see what you have been up to.  I hope you are all well!

Hugs,

Curt

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

A QUICK UPDATE

Hey All!

I'm so sorry to have been missing in action these past few weeks.  Thanks so much for wondering about me and the wonderful notes checking in.  I thought I better get on here and at least tell you what is going on so that you don't need to worry.

As you know, Jay has MS and I'm his caregiver.  Quite honestly, the medical bills/insurance is getting to be a bit much for our financial situation.  Because of this, we have decided to sell our beloved home and find something a bit more affordable.  So we are, for all intents and purposes, downsizing.  It has been quite the undertaking for me.  Trying to get the house in "showing" status has been and is a ton of work for me.  Jay is not the best "driver" of his electric wheelchair, so walls and such need repair and painting.  I've hired contractors for what I can't do and I'm doing all the rest.  I want the house to show well, so I'm repainting several rooms.  I'm also going through all of our "stuff" to get rid of all the crap that has built up over these past 12 years in this house so the impending move will be easier.  So, dealing with all the contractors, meeting with agents, and all the physical work that I need to do, I've just not had the energy or the time to "create".

I wanted to let you know what was going on so now you know.  I'd appreciate all the "keeping good thoughts" for us.  We have our eyes and hearts set on another house, but we must sell ours first.  So we need you to keep your fingers crossed that our house sells fast and the other one doesn't!  LOL

Thanks for thinking of us.  You don't know what it means to me.

Hugs,  Curt

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR MARCH 14, 2011

Hey All!

Top 'O The Morning/Afternoon/Evening to ya now!  Tis good to see you lasses and laddies.  I'm afraid that I may disappoint ya a bit for I have nary a thing to shows ya.  Me thinks that the wee Leprechaun folk played a trick on me and made time speed up so that it was Wednesday before I could blink me Irish eyes (and they ain't a smilin I can tell ya!)

But me and me Irish Schnauzers up there, O'Shotsy and O'Gunther O'Brien wanted to be sure to wish you the very happiest of St. Patrick's Day.  We also wanted to leave ya with an old Irish blessing in honor of old St. Pat.  It is bestowed on you from the bottom of our Irish hearts.  Please be sure to watch it. . .it is less than two minutes but is filled with what I wish for you!



I'll see you next Wednesday!

Curt O'BRIEN

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

THE WEDNESDAY EVENING POST FOR MARCH 7, 2012

Hey All!

How the heck are ya???  Sorry I was missing in action last week. . .Actually no excuses this time.  Simply had a week where I let myself be lazy.  I do have a couple of ANNOUNCEMENTS at the end of the post, so be sure you check them out!

Lots to post this time so here we go:


First card:

I had to stamp this #&!@# image 9 TIMES!  OMG!  You name it, it happened to this image. . .thumb print, smeared ink, incomplete stamped image, etc. . .  But I persevered and won!  Take that you stupid birds!!!  Bwwwahhhhhhh!  I actually built this card around the sentiment which is from the ever so talented Mark over at Deadbeat Designs.  The image is by Inkadinkado.  I stamped the background paper, cut it into strips, and created the panels.  I also made the little bird hats out of glitter paper.

Card #2

This is a new home card I created for a friend which is way over due. . .The house and trees are from PTI.  I drew in the curtains and colored with pencils.  The fence is an MS punch.  The fun part about this card is that the "floral trim" is done with the Spring mix of FlowerSoft.  Here's a close up:

Looks like little flower beds doesn't it???


Next:

Very simple birthday card.  I created all the squares and placed them then added the ribbon and cut out the ribbon tag and stamped the sentiment on it.  For some reason, this paper really appealed to me and I envisioned this card when I saw it.  The Paper is by The Paper Studio.


I saved the best for last (at least in my opinion).  Take a look:

I haven't made one of these stationery boxes in forever.  I made this for a birthday gift for my very sweet neighbor across the street.  I call this one my "Vintage Postcard Set".  How snooty huh???  LOL  Here's what is in it:

Here's more detail on each group of stuff. . .

Gift tags were made using two inch strips of cardstock with the tops only ran through the CB with a Spellbinders die. The stamps used were Hero Arts and SU's French Foliage then distressed with Walnut Stain distress ink.

The gift enclosure cards were stamped and distressed in the same ink.

The note cards are done very simply.  The large area is paper from the Paper Studio.  I created the "just a note" to look like a postage stamp and placed it where the stamp would go on a letter or postcard.  There are 8 of them in the set.  Here is the singular close up:

I cut the paper so that each card is a little different based on the print of the paper.  The box itself is made out of printed cardstock with old postcards on it by Gardner (never heard of them).  Don't be hatin on the pen OK???  It is all I had on hand. . .


Now on to some exciting news. . .I finally got my BLOGGIE!!!!  Here is a picture of it:

Small isn't it?  I put the quarter next to it to give you a reference point.  It is about the size of a small phone.  It takes still pics (12mp) and records up to 2 hours in HD video.  The little silver thingy on the bottom is a USB port which pops out to plug right into the computer to transfer pics and vids.  I got a great deal on it (was $179 at places on the Net, on sale at Costco for $149 PLUS a $50 instant manufacturer's rebate. . .so $99!  I'm impressed with it so far, but still reading up on uploading videos and looking at free video editing software to edit the videos.  So, hopefully, the next blog post will be an HD video staring yours truly!

ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!!!

My wonderful blogging buddy Karen and her husband are the proud new owners of HIGH HOPES STAMPS!!!  Congrats Karen!!!  I've always loved their images, and Karen is even doing some of her own artwork!  I've added their logo over on my sidebar so go click on it and take a look.  I wish her and her husband all the best with this new endeavor!

I also have a new blog to tell you about.  My new blogging friend Jean has joined us with her first ever blog at my prodding!  It's called "My Raspberry Room" and she does beautiful work!  Will you please stop over and give her a friendly welcome to this blogging world of ours?  I'd appreciate it and I know she will too.  I'm so proud of her that she took the big plunge!  You did a great job kiddo!

Pic of the Week

Took this photo this evening of the full moon rising over our neighborhood.

Well, that's it for this edition. . .I know it was a lot, but I'm glad you waded through it.  I'm off to start my journey to all of your wonderful blogs and can't wait to see what you've been creating!


Hope you are all well!  Love you guys!


Best,


Curt


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