Cardboard Creations: Country Stars

Between my recent Frontmen II custom set and stumbling across some Panini country music cards on eBay, I decided to go ahead and make myself a set of card featuring some of my favorite country artists. I've been into country music since I was a kid back in the 90's so this seemed like another fun way to work in some of my other interests here.

I used the same basic template as the Frontmen sets, but made some tweaks here and there. Considering these went from just an idea to a completed concept in less than a day, I'm pretty happy with the results. My favorite new feature for this set has to be the marquee lights that follow the borders on the top and bottom. 

I even worked in a little hockey with a new version of the Predators shoulder patch logo. I figured with it being a guitar pick and all, it would work perfectly here. I just changed the colors and the initials at the bottom are for the name of this set. The first one of this new set features my favorite new country artist Luke Combs.

The other really neat feature that I randomly added at the last minute is the faded silhouette of the Nashville skyline at the bottom. Since I was not using that area for a band logo this time, I needed to do something and this seem like a cool idea. 

Here are the rest of them together: 

I really like how these turned out. I have one other music themed set idea I'm working on so hopefully I'll be able to get that posted here sometime soon. I do in fact plan on posting about hockey cards again, I just really got into designing these things for the moment.

Cardboard Creations: Frontmen II

One of the things I really enjoyed back when I was blogging about cards more frequently was creating my own custom card designs. Even through the last few breaks I've taken from collecting, I was working on several custom sets. At this point its actually been more than four years since I last posted a custom design here on the blog. 

You might think I would jump back into this with a hockey set, but that is not the case as you can probably tell from the title of this post. It is in fact an update on the "Frontmen" set I posted all the way back in August of 2011. Click here to see that post for reference. Basically its a set featuring the lead singers from some of my favorite rock bands.

Since the focus of the set is the same as last time, I decided to keep the design relatively the same. I experimented with some radically different designs, but in the end settled on something that was similar to the first set, but not exactly the same.

As with most of my Cardboard Creations posts, I will show a larger version of a single card then all nine together. I chose to show this one of Rick DeJesus because his group Adelitas Way is by far my current favorite band. They've been putting out albums since 2011 and have a great overall sound as a modern hard rock band. Here's a look at the card:

I wanted to keep the same basic details as the first version, so I have the name of the set at the top along with the little singer silhouettes, the name below that, then the picture and the city name below that. At the bottom is the name and/or logo for the band. The biggest differences are the font and the background texture.

Here are the rest of them together:

While this isn't a hockey design, going through the process of finishing it combined with a look back at some of my other sets has me wanting to do more on the hockey side of things. Hopefully I will be able to put a few things together in the near future. I've already got some ideas, so we'll see what happens.

SCE Super Script Update

Wow, its hard to believe that its been over two years since I last posted a Super Script update. I guess that goes to show you how rare these things are these days. Even though I haven't posted much here in the last couple of years, I've always been on the lookout for these things on eBay. Usually they are listed for more than I want to pay.

This time I found a good deal and put in an early bid when I found the listing. I was the only bidder and won this one for $10 including shipping. It features Andrei Nikolishin of the Washington Capitals. It is card #192 in the set and is serial numbered 04/25. 

This one brings my Super Script total to 59 out of 220, which is just about 27% of the entire set. That doesn't seem like a big number, but that's ok as I realize a set like this will take some time to put together. Hopefully I can find some more this year.

Thoughts: Fixing Up The Place

While I've been busy with life and my model railroading over the last year or so, I still have not forgotten about collecting cards or this blog. I will occasionally visit this site just to check out other sites from my blogroll. Sometimes when I'm doing that I will even take a look back at my older posts just for fun. 

Well, I happen to be doing that other day and realized that something was up with all of the older posts that link back to my Photobucket account for the scans. Turns out they eliminated free 3rd party hosting for the type of account I have there. Now they want $399 a year for 3rd party hosting, so I am in the process of going back and replacing all of my Photobucket links with pictures from my Google account.

This is going to be a real pain, but I guess that's what I get for using a free service for this long. On the plus side, it has me going back and reading a lot of my posts from years ago, which is actually kind of fun. I've even found a few spelling and formatting errors which are also in the process of being fixed.

I believe all of the broken links are for scans from my old scanner so the pictures aren't even the best quality. Maybe I'll pull out as many of the cards as I can from those old posts and just re-scan them for better quality pictures.

Anyone else dealing with this Photobucket issue right now? If you are using 3rd party hosting for your blog pictures, what are some good sites for that?

Box Break: Inkworks Jericho Season One

It seems like forever since I've done a box break. After taking a look back, I realized the last time was over three years ago. Anyway, for whatever reason I've been interested in my small collection of entertainment cards again recently. That made me do some searching online for more sets I could get into. Then I happened to stumble across the listing on eBay for this box and decided to go for it since Jericho is one of my favorite shows. I got a great deal and this only set me back $20 including shipping.

If you are not familiar with Jericho, click here for more information. Basically its a post-apocalyptic action-drama that focuses on a small Kansas town in the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the US. It ran for two seasons on CBS from 2006-2008. 

This set was produced by the now defunct Inkworks company back in 2007. There are 72 cards in the main set along with some insets, autographs and memorabilia cards. This box has 6 cards per pack and 36 packs. On average there should be one autograph and one Pieceworks card per box. Here is a look at the box top:

I'll start things off with the title card. This is card #1 in the set and the front has a generic promo shot of the main cast of the show. I really like the font on the word Jericho as well as the textures and color fade from top to bottom.

The back has some generic info about the show and a promo shot of the four members of the Green family. It also lists the producers and creators of the show, which I thought was a nice touch. The texture and color fade is similar to the front.

Here is a look at the checklist. The front is an image of the flag for the new Allied States of America from season two. It's obviously based on the real United States flag. The stripes were made vertical to represent the new fictional nation going in a new direction.

The back lists all of the cards in the main set, which is comprised of three subsets: characters, episodes, and behind the scenes. There are only 72 cards in all, so not the biggest set, but enough to nicely capture the first season of Jericho.

The first of the character cards is Jake Green, who is played by Skeet Ulrich. The front has a nice almost half body image that fills out the center of the card nicely. The overall design is a bit of a departure from the title card, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I like how there are some nice straight lines and then some eroded lines, it gives the overall card a balanced look while not being too gaudy.

The back of the card is similar to the front with the same color scheme and parts of the same perimeter design. There is a new picture on the back along with a brief write up on the character. Not a bad looking design at all if you ask me.

After the character cards, there are 44 cards focusing on the episodes of season one. Each of the 22 episodes has two cards. This one is the first card for the pilot episode. These cards look much more like the header card, which is a good thing. I like the horizontal setup since the images are taken right from the show.

One interesting thing to note about the back of this card is the opening Morse code listed below the paragraph. Each episode starts with the word "Jericho" displayed on the screen and the only audio playing is Morse code, which means something specific to each episode. In this case for the pilot, "JERICHO PILOT" was the message.

After the episode cards, there were seven of these Behind the Scenes cards. These cards have some additional information about the show that wasn't necessarily in one of the episodes. This one focuses on the cities that were bombed during the initial attack.

The design of these cards is somewhere between the character cards and the episode cards. definitely not a bad overall look to them. The back of the card lists all the cities from the first attack. Looks like there's a few hockey cities on there.

Now onto the inserts. There are several types of inserts available. The first one is the box loader card. There are three of these available. I got the second card in the set that features the Green family of Jericho. This one was really foily so it didn't scan the best.

The back of the card was not foil, so it looks much better in the scan. This one has a nice write up on the Green family who are the primary characters in season one.

Then there was the "Survivors" set and I was able to get two of these: this one featuring Robert Hawkins and another featuring Dale Turner and Gracie Leigh. These are also really foily so the scan looks pretty bad. I do like the design of the front though.

These cards focus more on the actors than the characters, as evident by the write up on the back of this one. That's ok though, I think mixing in this kind of information is a great idea for a set about a TV show, which wouldn't be what it is without the actors.

The last insert set called "Fallout" is a cool one that is made up of a nine-card portrait. I got three of the nine, so I have a ways to go. These are also foily so the scan isn't the greatest.

The back of the card shows the entire portrait, which would look awesome all together in a nine pocket page. It also has a short write up about the scene depicted.

As far as true "hits" this product has autographs and Pieceworks memorabilia cards. The stated odds were one of each per box on average, so I had my hopes up for at least one of each. Well, I did get of each and couldn't be happier. I'm just really glad I didn't hit one of the autograph cards that were only available via redemption since Inkworks has been out of business for years now.

Up first is a hard-signed auto of Sprague Grayden, who plays Heather Lisinski on the show. It's a good looking card with a nice promo shot of Grayden and a nice blank space for a signature. Even her signature is nice looking, which is always a good thing.

Last but not least is my one Pieceworks card from the box: a dual costume card of Ashley Scott who plays Emily Sullivan on the show. There are pieces of her top and jeans specifically from the second episode of the show's first season.

I love that card because its awesome to have a piece of memorabilia from a specific episode. Any time I watch that episode now, I can enjoy the fact that I have a small part of it in my collection. This is much more appealing to me than your everyday hockey jersey card, unless it mentioned exactly which games the jersey was worn in. I know sometimes on rare occasions they do, but not all the time.

So that's it for my second entertainment card box break. I have to say I really enjoyed this one as Jericho is one of my favorite shows. I did end up with a complete base set as promised, so I can mark this one complete. Now I would like to maybe work on the insert sets and possibly the autos and memorabilia sets.

Red Wings: Trade Pickups (Part 3)

Time to show off some more of the Red Wings trade pickups I mentioned in my last post. I've found it easiest to show these off nine at a time. All I have to do is load up a single nine-pocket page and throw it into the scanner. 

Up first is this Steve Yzerman base card from 1999-00 Pacific Prism. This one actually has a great looking rainbow foil background, but its a bit difficult to see in the scan as it looks rather plain. Plus, you can never go wrong with a new card of the Captain, right?

Another Gordie Howe that I forgot about when doing my Mr. Hockey post yesterday. This one comes from 2002-03 Upper Deck Foundations. I've never had any cards from this set and there were several included. I'm glad to have them in my Wings collection now.

One of the cool parallels I got was this Holo-Gold of Slava Kozlov from 1999-00 Pacific Paramount. It is serial numbered 060/199 in the upper left corner.

 This one featuring Kevin Hodson is from the 1996-97 Flair Wave of the Future set.

So much red on this card, I like it. This Nicklas Lidstrom comes from 2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update. Another set that I didn't have much of in my Wings collection.

When it comes to retro parallels, 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee is one of my favorites.

 This Pavel Datsyuk is from 2006-07 Flair Showcase.

This Nicklas Lidstrom card originally came from a can, remember those Pinnacle Inside cans from back in the day? Those were the coolest thing when I was a kid.

Last but not least we have this Norm Ullman from 2001-02 Topps Archives. Definitely like the solid red background and cropped action shot. Not a bad looking card overall.

That's it for today. Definitely a nice mix of new stuff for my Red Wings collection. Now I just need to sit down and get all of these entered into my master spreadsheet so I can get an updated count on the collection. I haven't done that in a very long time so it will be interesting to see where I'm at now.

Mr. Hockey

While I was never lucky enough to see Gordie Howe play during his career, I can still appreciate the legend he is and what he means to the Red Wings and the hockey world. I may be a little late in doing this post, but I still thought it was a good idea to post all of my Gordie Howe cards in remembrance of Mr. Hockey.

My favorite is this one from 2005-06 SP Authentic. Its got a great color photo with Howe cropped from the background so the picture really stands out. The primarily red and white card also helps make this my favorite of the few I was able to find. 

Up next is one from 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's.

Then this was this one from 2009 National Hockey Card Day.

Here is one from 2006-07 Parkhurst. While it's got a cool action shot, this one would probably look so much better with a color photo.

Here is a Legends card from 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee.

This Memorable Seasons card is from 2002-03 Upper Deck.

This one came as part of a nine-card giveaway set from a Red Wings game I went to back in 2011. it commemorates the first 100 point season in Red Wings history.

Lastly we have this one from Panini's 2012 Father's Day set.

Those are all the Howe cards I could find for now. I should probably have a few more of his cards since I do collect Red Wings stuff, so that's something I'll be on the lookout for next time I hit the dime and quarter boxes.

Rest in peace Mr. Hockey...

Red Wings: Trade Pickups (Part 2)

My last post highlighted some of the Red Wings stuff I received from a recent trade. This post will be more of the same as I go through some more of the great stuff I got from Marc B. a little while back. Since the trade was a ton of cards going each way, I have a lot of neat things to show off here, so I will just jump right into it. 

It was hard to pick a favorite out of all the remaining base and inserts, but this UD promo card of Henrik Zetterberg from 2005-06 Upper Deck is it. I've never seen promos before for this set and the stamp is done in red foil so it looks that much better on a Red Wings card. 

Up next is a sweet die-cut from 1999-00 Omega Electro-Optical Portraits. Its hard to tell from the scan, but there are a ton of tiny holes cut through the portrait on the right side of the card. This is one of many great looking inserts sets from the good old Pacific Days.

Then there was this Marian Hossa from 2008-09 Upper Deck. Hossa was a player I really liked during his time with the Wings. I wish they would've have kept him around back when it was decided that Johan Franzen was more important.

Another Hossa just because. This one is from 2008-09 UD Collector's Choice.

Back to Pacifc again. This Nicklas Lidstrom is from 2001-02 Private Stock.

Another LIdstrom, this time from 2005-06 Parkhurst. There were several of these cards included, which is nice because I never had any Wings from this set until now.

Another Pacific, this time from one of my favorites sets of theirs: 1998-99 Dynagon Ice.

Jumping forward a bit, this Datsyuk is from 2014-15 OPC. I love the overall look of this card with a nicely centered action shot and the unique accent colors.

This last one featuring Chris Osgood comes from 2001-02 Heads Up and has a crazy rainbow foil background that does not show up very well in the scan.

That's it for now. I think I will show off some more of these in nice card batches since those are easy to pop into the scanner all at the same time. There are so many more cards to get to that it might take me a few posts to do so. Thanks again Marc for the great trade.