Visual Designs by Chris

Chris Durnan

Join My E-letter List!
For Fun Files & News!

This is an email list with general updates used from to time. If you want an email every time I post, please enter your email on my Subscribe to my Blog form on the lower left or at the bottom of every post. 

Archives for June 2008

It’s my Birthday It’s My Birthday!!

By

So today is my birthday and I am trying to take it easy this afternoon. I’m almost finished painting at the new office which I did all morning. And now I am going to sit down and try to send out all the links for the challenge. So if you don’t have it yet. You should today or tomorrow. And don’t forget to stop by the sale and check out watch you need or just join the QMC for next quarter. Thank you to everyone for their well wishes! You have made my day.
Enjoy!
Chris

I found this on YouTube and it made me smile but it really made my little one roll on the floor and giggle which was even better because it just made me giggle to see him enjoy it so. He has such an infectious laugh.

Almost Father’s Day

By

Okay so I don’t want to interrupt the flow of the challenge so if you are here for that scroll down and see the previous post for details.

If you are here because I ramble and tell crazy stories about my life with a 4 year old, hubby and a heard of animals, then tune in on Monday. We are headed all over this weekend and I plan to spend as much as possible with the awesome men in my life.

For those checking the dates of the sale… Here is some other good news… There are a few sales going on by many designers. So hit mine and then see the other ones to. My Section is HERE

My Friend Lori is celebrating my Bday with me. So don’t forget her section.

Then there is Jan my closest designer neighbor who is celebrating Father’s Day!

And Ileana who is also celebrating her birthday and her daughters I believe.

And with all these great files on sale. Don’t forget my section as well.. 🙂

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN if you are trying to get to the challenge info…

Okay so now I gotta run to get working n the Father’s Day gift!!

Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be responding to emails on Monday probably to spend time with the hubby for Father’s Day!

Enjoy!

Chris

PS CHECK OUT THE CREATIVE TEAMS BLOG. They are all Awesome!!! There are new posts from Vicki and Karen and Sussann… Did you see did you see???

A lovely page for my album . . .

By

This uses Chris’s “Colors of Fall” File which is fairly new to the store. I am ready for fall temperatures already and summer just started. Oh well, I just prefer that season I think. This file cuts smooth and easy – even the leaves. I did just a little chalking on them for some added depth and love how this page looks. The pages in this particular album are all black. It is one volume of my Book of Me (BoM) and this section will be pictures from the Washington National Zoo. I didn’t go, but a friend did and sent me her pics on a CD to get prints. Isn’t she sweet?

You can find Chris’s file in the store here: http://www.paperthreads.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_77&products_id=3612

Have a great week and weekend. Chris and I are both celebrating birthdays this weekend so I know she is having a great sale starting at Saturday Midnight (that’s Friday night at 11:00 p.m. for those of us in Central Time Zone)!

Vicki

Challenge files almost ready… taking emails.. sore sore sore

By


I am taking emails for the challenge files. (pretty please put the word Challenge in the subject so your email goes right away to the right folder.) Here are the finished pieces. I am still working on conversions, but will have the file links ready to go hopefully by Friday or Saturday. I will send them out in the order I get the requests. July 7th is the due date for submissions.

I added a page to my main site with the rules and there aren’t many. The main one is to use your cutter in some fun way using one of these files and submit by the due date. But if you want more in depth results. Here is the link. (the link is also on the right of my blog)

This time around you can do anything. Scrapbook, alter, atc, cards…. it’s yours to do as you wish.

File formats are: SCUT, GSD, AI, WPC, KNK

I have gotten a ton of emails about those who couldn’t complete last time around. I am not trying to be a pain, but trying to be fair to all of those who did participate. If you didn’t complete then you will need to skip this challenge and wait for the next one. However, for this time around, if you send me your finished piece using 2 files from last times offerings, I will send you the link for this one. Hope this makes sense. And I know some of you I have spoken with and we have worked things out. So no worries, but if I haven’t heard from you. That is what I have to offer. I want everyone to be able to participate and be creative with their machines.

Don’t forget the Sale this weekend! And I have no more files ready for upload so create your shopping list… While you are there consider the QMC. It reopens in July and I am still loading the files in the current one. So I always try to pack them full. I even have a hard time keeping the list of files up to date on my blog but we are almost to thirty files again for $10.00.

On to life…

What a day yesterday. My son and I headed into the new office which is now in the ready to paint stage. We vaccuumed up the drywall dust from sanding and prepared to paint. Have you painted with a 4 year old before? very interesting. I did the accent wall completely. two coats painted to the edges so it would dry enough to be masked off when the other color backs up to it. Then I painted all the other walls and part of the ceiling with one coat. And I am sore. sore. sore. My legs, arms, back, and neck just ache, but we are on our way. Our new office had wood paneling so we ripped that down and redrywalled and put in a french door. It is a cute little mini french door. I love it. It needs to be stained still, but it can wait. Trying to get all the walls painted before the carpet goes in which I was hoping for today and we found out probably won’t be until tmorrow at the earliest. I am crossing my fingers that it is tomorrow. Otherwise my office staff is in limbo for a few days because of no office. hmmm.. crossing my fingers very tightly.

Either way painting with a 4 year old is an adventure. Especially since you have an accent wall and don’t want to put away the last of the paint in case there is a mishap with paint. Watching where that little roller is going to and making sure it is hitting the right wall and not the brand new wood doors that are gonna be stained wew! I think I got more done when my hubby showed up to do cleanup then the hours before. But I like working with my son. You don’t need any background noise because he is a running commentary. Who knew at 4 you could have soooo much to say. I must admit at some points i am done, but at others I love to listen to it. I brought toys (which are now painted) and I handed them out slowly throughout the day so he would different things to play with.

I better get moving and converting for the challenge. Thank you to those who visit my blog and take an interest in my designs and what I do! I really appreciate your support.

Enjoy!
Chris

Tuesday’s Terrific Coupon…. Count those blessings..

By

Did you get the coupon code for this cute file in the yahoo group. If not join the group through the link on the right and search the past messages. The coupon code is listed there for the below file. 50% off the price of the file. Available in GSD, KNK, WPC, AI and SCUT version. If you purchase and would like the SCUT file email me the receipt showing your purchase and I will send you the SCUT file. I just haven’t gotten the SCUT version in the store yet. I know I am a slacker.


Today a police office, Eric Hite, was mourned in funeral services here in Tucson. He was killed in the line of duty with a fatal gun wound. The first one in 5 years in Tucson according to the reports. His family was surrounded by approx 3,000 Tucsonans at the services and the procession from the church to the cemetery was lined with people for about 10 miles in 102 degree weather. It did my heart proud to see all of those people take the time out of their day to stand and bow their head in silence as the numerous vehicles filled with people followed him to his last resting place. I listened to the last call for the officer they play over the radios. It was a chilling sound and gave me goose bumps. A tear crossed my face for the finality of such a call and the emotion his family is feeling. I didn’t know this man nor do I know many of the men who work in law enforcement or in our militaries, but thank goodness they are there. My prayers go to all of them for their safety. May god bless this man’s family and feel the support those in Tucson are trying to show them.

*** On that note, I am going to sign off. Have a wonderful rest of the day and count your blessings for I am sure they are many.

Enjoy!
Chris

Thought I would share!

By


I just made the cutest Gift tag for Dh’s Father’s Day present and thought I would share with you. I used a scaled down version of Chris’s Fern Card file. Even at the smaller size, it cut beautifully!

card with Hot Cup of Java and Simple Borders

By


Have I mentioned how much I love the versatility of Chris’s files? Here’s a card I made using part of her Hot Cup of Java file. I used one of the borders from her Simple Borders and Patterns file for the background. The Hot Cup of Java file can be found here:

http://www.paperthreads.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=hot+java

and the Simple Borders and Patterns file is here:

http://www.paperthreads.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=simple+borders

If you haven’t checked out the borders file, I highly recommend it. The possibilities are endless.

Saturday…

By

I am a working away on the new office, but wanted you to know if you stop by there are a few WAD files still open to the winner of the description so look at the previous post and if you are a QMC member I have uploaded a bunch more Dad/Father/Papa/PopPop/Pop files. So head on over and get them downloaded.

Enjoy your weekend!
Chris

WAD – SCuba files, Native american files, and teaching about money??? any tips??

By

You guys Rock! I have had some great descriptions for files. I have now chosen the winner of the Rock Climbing WAD file. I will be sending those out as soon as I get it completely converted. Here are the next few files. If any of them inspire you for a creative description. Email it my way and if it is the one I chose for the store I will send you the file. Make sure to put description or WAD in the subject so it catches my attention in email. These are the files I want to get into the store before the weekend of the 14th. So I will be choosing the description winners right away. Thank you soooo much for all your help!

Update: We have a description winner for “the deeper you go..”

Thank you to everyone who participates in helping me out with a description for the store! My words are stale and old and your new creative words inspire me to do more and more!

On to Life…
well it has been a crazy time here as usual. We went to the new office space to see what was behind the dreaded paneling. It has been up there so long that the paneling just fell off the walls when we got the trim off. But there is the crummy black glue they use but it is all dried up. So when you hit it with the corner of the screwdriver it crumbled off. So this evening will be working on getting as much of it off as possible. Last night I told my hubby. If I could I would hire someone right now to tape and texture it this weekend so we didn’t have to. Having done a whole new wall and t&t’d it ourselves all last weekend I am just exhausted! My awesome MIL offered to come help paint on Sunday. I am worried about my son being tired to. He asked yesterday if he could just stay home and watch tv. So cute. Now that we got rid of cable, he would give up tv for anything else to do which is awesome. but we have been doing so much, he just wants to vedge.

He got to spend time swimming with Nana and Boppa, my parents, last night so he chatted about that alll the way home. He got to empty out Boppa’s change jar for Disneyland Monies. This little boy is rocking it in the change. We had to start squishing the monies into his piggy bank from the bottom and I already took 100.00 out and put it in my cabinet from visiting Grandpa in Wisconsin from all his change. Trying to figure out how to help him understand the value of the dollar. So if you have any tips let me know. I thought about giving him the same amount of Monopoly money in a little wallet that he has in real dollars and as we shop through Disneyland I can pay for stuff and he can give me hisMonopoly money so he knows how much is left. My hubby thinks I should give him a 5.00 bill. A friend of mine suggested a check register or running tab of how much money is available and subtract from it at each stop so he knows how much he has left, which would show math, and give him a real 5.00 bill to hold onto as well. Well if you have any other creative ideas let me know. I’d love to hear it.

And if you made it this far… June 14th-17th all my files are on sale at Paperthreads to celebrate my birthday! I could do one day, but why not spread it out a few days. We aren’t havin’ a squirtgun party this year. So who knows what we’ll be doing. Hopefully getting some rest. I am tireddddd. 🙂
Have a wonderful day! and Weekend!
Enjoy!
Chris

Well It’s Thursday! Yeah we are almost to the weekend

By

It has been an eventful week of working on moving around spaces to better accomodate. Lots of painting and sanding still going on. Tonight we go to see the new office and cross your fingers pull back the woodpaneling to see what is on the wall behind it. Then I will know how much work we are in for.
Thank you to those who sent in their entries for the Hot Cup of Java and Colors of Fall file. I have sent the winner the file. I haven’t found one for the rock climbing one yet, but will probably come up with some thing today. If one doesn’t work. Thank you thank you to those who participated to win the file.

I added the two files above to the QMC yesterday. Thank you to those who helped me come up with some verbage for the scuba cards. Hopefully these will make great Father’s Day and Birthday Cards. I have a few more files, but these are the two I added yesterday and will be coming to the store soon… Speaking of the store… Did you know it’s my birthday on the 16th. So guess what that means.. hmmm… I am sure most know, but I’ll let you know in the next days.

So did you see Dana’s post at the creative teams blog. Not your typical Christmas colors for a layout and I think that is why I love it. If you haven’t seen it. Check it out.

On to life….

So this section is my little tidbit stories about life with a 4 year old, a handsome hubby, 5 horses, a cow, three dogs, and a huge goldfish named mater. Wow I typing that I just realize that the animals have totally outrun us on our little ranch.
Shopping adventures are always interesting with my little one and this totally held true this past week. I needed to run to Target and pick up a bathing suit for my bambinos summer camp and a new towel. So we ran around the store looking and shopping. And you know how that parent thing is. You can see them out of your eye. You know where they are, but you aren’t looking at the seven hundredth thing that they have said. Look Mom. Look Mom. Well my wondeful boy is doing the same and repeating over and over “Look Mom. Look Mom. It’s little baby ones like yours. For little girls huh. Look Mom. Look Mom. It’s Little baby ones. Like Yours. Like Yours. MOM MOM.” I am saying ah huh ahuh. then I realize there is giggling from a lady next to me. and this lady and I are of the well endowed nature when it comes to cleavage and now she is not giggling but turning red, covering her mouth and trying not to just laugh. I look at my son to see what the focus is. I realize that he is pointing at the Women’s Bras. Regular Women’s Bras. Apparently compared to Mom’s they are baby size in proportion. And now the lady next to me is laughing with me and saying that was the best laugh she has had all day. My little one says to the lady ” THANKS” and continues on his merry way to scout out the toys as I follow behind smiling. Love how he makes my life slow down for a moment when I am rushing through the store to get on to the next thing. Love my life.
Have a wonderful rest of the day!
Enjoy!
Chris