Twilight Gold & Acetate Customs

If you are like me and you collect a specific popular player, you look online (and sometimes obsessively) for cards that you do not have.  Thanks to the explosion of inserts in the 90's - on, there is no shortage of gems you can find.  My son will sometimes say "Dad, what are you doing?  Looking on ebay for Canseco cards ... again?"

Quiet, boy ... don't you have some homework to do?

It is equally exhilarating to find a card you never knew existed as it is maddening to find out that the card you wished you had owned is way beyond what you would be willing to pay for it.  I can't tell you how many times I put in a bid on ebay for a Canseco that I thought I had for $30 or $40, only to find it ended up going for $150 - $200.  Seriously?!?!?  Who are these people???  Do they think there is a piece of game used finger nail that comes with the card or something?

These customs are inspired in part by this non custom card that I saw for sale yesterday for a mere $650.

I have NO qualms with the cost of this (mainly because I simply don't know the value) - it just simply is not for me...for that price, anyway!  UGH I woulda died 10 times over, if I ever busted a pack and found this card, or a Canseco equivalent!

Another way to have rare a card like this in your possession would be to either bust old wax now, or have busted wax a few decades ago.  I don't open many cards these days, but I lived for it back as a child.  My favorite place to go to was the Bullpen in Fresno, California.  I went there each weekend, without fail.  When I moved to Texas, I would ride my bike every allowance day to the card shop down the street, and spend it on cards as well.

Truth be told, never once did I pull a monster card as a child.  It is probably easier to pull a 1 of 50 card now, than it was then to pull a 1 of 500 just due to the sheer volume of cases the card companies were pumping out.  13 year old me didn't stand a chance with my $5 / 2-4 packs of cards a week ritual.  The big pulls for me were base cards  of Griffey, McGwire, Thomas and of course, Canseco.  Every once in a while would I pull an insert, but nothing serial numbered.

Last year, I sold off 99% of my child hood collection of Canseco cards (which I am now rebuilding).  As I went through them, not one of them were over $10 in value, if I recall correctly.  That kind of gives you an idea of what I was working with.  I can't imagine the kids these days - and you know the type I'm talking about - crooked hat on with a flat bill with their own you tube channel.  Rap music going on in the background while they bust through Triple Threads boxes.

My, how times have changed.

OH!  I'm sorry, I think I got too wordy without a pic.  Here you go:

BARTMAAAAANNNNN!!!!

He's gonna be my assistant in a bit, so hang tight and all will become clear (pun intended).  BAH - you don't even know what the pun is of...just keep reading, will ya?

With the uber pricey Jeter as inspiration, I started thinking of a few things.  What if I could do something

I had an idea in my head, and started to work it.  This has been the first time in over a week that I have been able to mess around with a custom for my own personal collection, so I was quite eager to dive in, head first.  It has been a mega busy week.

First, we know the subject:  Jose Canseco.  But how should I approach this?  Do I go for an A's card like I normally do?  Nah.  I want something a little more funky.  AHA!

What about the Angels?  Jose never played for Anaheim, but he did have a few cards with them.  The pics of him on the Halo squad are slim to none, so I had to get a bit creative.

Using him as an Angel AND a Blue Jay would be so loserly.  (Reference to hilarious Twilight video clip here)



#youslappedafeeeiiishhh #thatissoloserly

Okay, let me get back on track here.  As I was saying ... Angels + Blue Jays on the same card = no thank you.



You know how when you are looking for something, but can't find it - makes you want it more and more?  That is what happened to me with this Angels scenario.  Ahhh, if only I could find one of him like this Blue Jays picture, but only in an Angels uni.

I didn't want to just use the big-face Canseco pic.  Don't get me wrong - Canseco Big-face is a great pic, but it kinda sorta reminds me of a Fat Elvis.  The man isn't fat in this pic, but compared to his action shots, he didn't look like an athlete.  No, Canseco Big-face almost looks like he could pull off being a coach, or something.

So, I had an idea.

Being the photoshop ninja that I am, I got a little creative.  I found an Angels jersey online.



Then ... BAM!  Canseco knocking one out of the park as a member of the Anaheim Angels.

So now, we have Canseco Big-face AND Canseco the athlete for my new fancy 90's faux pc insert card.

I don't want to bash the Canseco Big-face, because that part came out pretty freaking sweet.  Check this out:

Meh, I guess it doesn't look as good as it does on the card itself.  As you can tell, I was getting a little artsy on this one.  I didn't want to do anything like the Jeter gold card I posted above.  I wanted this to be more original.

Before I show it, did I mention I got to wear a MASSIVE hat while eating dinner with friends and family last night?

Early birthday din-din at my favorite mexican restaurant.  The dessert was free, but I have to admit, I'm not a flan.  Wah wah wahhhh.  (In case you missed it, it was flan.  The dessert was flan.)  I decided to wear the (surely) lice-ridden hat throughout the rest of the 30-45 minutes we were there.  Which reminds me, I probably should get the hat I was wearing beneath it washed.

Okay, so on with the show.  I created these custom cards and named them "Twilight" - btw, I *PROMISE* it had nothing to do with the movie.  I'm not a Twilight freak, nor am I much of a fan.  I do not have a crush on any of the characters, nor do I have an Twilight tattoos on my person.  #teamedward - gotta give props to my fellow pasty white brotha.

I named the card insert type "Twilight" because this is when Canseco was in the very end of his career.  I feel that there is a potential to do one of Jeter, Griffey, Thomas, etc as well at some point.  Card makers tend to do remakes of the superstars from the 80's and 90's with pics of them while they were in their prime.  Why not celebrate them while they were in the Twilight of their careers?  Not many are doing that.

So, here they are - the two latest pieces in my collection:  See Bartman, and get the pun now?  I used him to show that the one on the left is partially clear.

Not impressed?  Here is a pic of the cards being held by UFC fighters Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin:

The material used for the left card, and the left part of the right card is a gold glittery type of material like Topps uses for their gold paralleled cards.

I'm really not sure which I like best ... the gold / clear version, which has my wife's vote:

or the full gold version, which has my son's vote:

In case you couldn't see it:  WHAMMO -

1 of 1, baby!

I look forward to making more different types of cards in the near future, as time allows.  BTW, If you haven't checked it out, please take a look at my Flip Quest link - I'd love to trade with ya!

So that leaves me curious - which version do you like best?  The full gold or the gold / clear version?

Craig's lister calls me a scammer and crook ... yay!

After a fine dinner with my family, my wife and I did the dishes, and I decided to hit up Craig's list to see if there are any killer deals.  To my astonishment, I found the following post:

BEWARE OF GUY SELLING RARE CARDS IN TOMBALL BY SILVERADO

Uhmmmm wait ... I'm a guy in Tomball by Silverado!  

There is someone that does live close to me that is a scam artist.  Surely, this posting was about him!

WRONG.  <Enter torrid thunder and lightning sequence here.>

It was about yours truly.  Rather than tell you what he said, let me just show you a screen shot:

Note the lack of evidence and inability to contact this person.  This drives me nuts!  Why would someone ever do this?  

I made a post refuting this letting everyone know that all my boxes and cases are factory sealed, and that I only create custom cards for people who come to me asking for them as works of art ... and only of cards that don't exist.  

I guess in the end, there really is nothing that can be done.  Anyone can say anything about anybody at anytime.  It just sucks that someone decided to do this - it is bugging me to not know who it was, and if it was just to spread a bad name or if it was that they were merely jumping to conclusions.  Oh well, either way ... not the coolest thing I've seen on the internet.

If anyone cares to flag this scumbag's post - have at it!  http://houston.craigslist.org/cbd/4454215936.html  I'd be grateful :) 

First family baseball outing = lots of goodies

It has been a *very* busy week, so I am just now posting this.  As an early birthday present, my family and I went to the game last weekend since my team, the Oakland A's were in town.

I was really going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to go or not.  I mean, when you watch a game on television, you have the play by play, a better view, it is free, and if you have to pee, you don't have to use a urinal next to uncle creepy.

The day of, I decided to finally get the tickets.  I wanted good seats, since it has been a good decade plus since I went to a game, so I decided to get some seats on the 3rd base side by the visiting dugout.

I was amazed that Astros tickets were so expensive, I mean - c'mon people.  This is the Astros - 3 100+ losing seasons in a row?!?!  Oh well, I bit the bullet.

I didn't expect to get any autographs, but JUST IN CASE, I figured I'd whip up a few customs ... who knows when I'll get this chance again!

You have probably seen these posted before, but they are relevant to this story, so here they are again.  I decided to go with a 2011 Topps Update style Cespedes rookie, 2009 Topps Donaldson rookie and a 2010 Topps Sonny Gray rookie.  Obviously, Cespedes didn't show up until the '12 series, Donaldson not until '10 and Gray was in a team USA uni in '10.

I love making cards that don't exist, so I figured I'd give them a whirl.  Oh, and since I'm a big fan of color coordinating my refractors, I did gold-green-gold in a canary material.  I call them lime-canary refractors.  Part of me wishes Topps made this style of card, because they look amazing in person, but then again - if they did, I wouldn't have made them.

I brought a few blank 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 cards with me as well to get signed, since I didn't have time to make customs of the whole team (that would have taken a LONG time).  I figured I could get their autographs and do something crafty with them later.

I also brought other cards as well.  To make sure the autos didn't smudge, I did the ol' baby powder trick.

I absolutely LOATHE driving downtown, but I found a place that sells parking tickets online.  I grabbed one, and to my surprise, we had NO issues getting there or back.  We parked 2 blocks away from the stadium - easy peasy.  That nearly erased any and all memories I had of battling for a parking spot and walking for miles through gang territory just to get to the game from the last time I went.  Maybe, that was a bit embellished, but that is how it felt at the time.

There we were ... at the gates of heaven ....

Oooh, OOooooooOOH!!! BIG BASEBALLS!  C'mon, son!  Let's pose in front of them.  Who knows when we will get this opportunity again!

As we walked in, it was really amazing.  I had forgotten how incredible the ballpark could be in person.  As we entered the center field area, the players were taking in some batting practice and the crowd was gathered at the edge of the fence, trying to snag a souvenir.  The halls were lined with a mural of former Astros legends.

Uhh, dad?  Who's Big-e-oh?  QUIET SON!  I'll tell you later.  (He isn't the biggest of baseball fans, and though we have baseball on here quite often, we don't speak much about former Astros players ... though I am a big fan of Biggio!

As we made it down to the third base line, I figured in order to get autographs, we should go down with a small crowd.  One of the players came over ... you may have heard of him - Jim Johnson?!?!!?!  Well, he signed for a few kids.  A few very young kids.  Another player came out, and did the same.  Argh!   Shame on all these men using their children to get autographs!  Wait ... that is an idea.  Why didn't I think about that?

Well, that didn't work out for me.  My son is very shy, so I decided to try my own method.  No one was saying anything at all.  It was odd, and kind of quiet.  Kind of like the fans were in the presence of greatness and they didn't want to be loud or crazy.

As Fernando Abad was signing, I just stuck my hands out "Hi!  Could you please sign my card?  All I have is a blank one."  He took the bait!  He signed!  My first in person autograph at a game.

YESSSSS

Then, Jesse Chavez came up and started signing.  My method worked last time, so lets try again.  He did.  Yeah!  Another.

Finally, Craig Gentry came up.  He started signing.  He didn't seem to look like he wanted to.  He kind of huffed and said "Okay, two more."  So I put my arms out and gave him my same line.  He hesitated, then seemed to almost reluctantly take the card and sharpie to sign.  I don't have any ill feelings toward the guy.  I may have read him wrong, or he may have been having a bad day.  In any event - In yo' face, 5 year old next to me!  Oh, he signed for you too?  Never mind then.  Good for you!

I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but I'll figure out something.

Next, we decided to get some food.  $4.50 for waters, seriously?  $300 for a hot dog?  Okay, maybe $300 is an exaggeration, but the prices were stupid high.  Nevertheless, we got 2 dogs, a pretzel and 2 waters.  I mean, how can you not - it is a baseball game!

I saw a Nolan Ryan brisket sausage dog, so of course I had to try it.  Not the best I had ever had.  As a matter of fact, from the 5th to 7th innings, I wished I had some of this:

Yeah, I wasn't feeling too swell.  That is okay though.  It was Jason Castro bobblehead night and we got three of them!  We are down to two now, as I put one up on ebay and sold it already.

The game started, and I've got to say, it was fantastic - even though I was clearly behind enemy lines.  There were a few A's fans ... actually, much more than I thought.  I refrained from booing the home team (because I'm not a jerk) but boy did I whoops and holler when my A's did something good.  I apologized to my wife and son for the embarrassment, to which they responded it was okay, and they were used to me doing it in front of the television anyway.

The game was great.  Even in between innings, my wife got an Astros shirt from the Astros girls throwing them into the crowd!

We even got a souvenir plush baseball from the folks in the next row.  Okay guys, I forgive you for mocking my A's each time they were at bat.  (Each time Nick Punto ... who's jersey is #1 was up to bat, one guy would shout POONTOH IS NOMBER WAAANNNNN!!!!).

He also did a number of other things like "COCOCRISP I LAWV YORE CEREAL!!!!!"  and "NORRIS NEEDS TO BUY A SHAVER....errrr....RAZOR"  He sure did a fantastic two minute straight dance while standing on his chair between innings when the jumbotron was looking to put people on the screen.

Here is a pic of the ball ... and the back of the guy who was sitting in front of us.  Thank you for the entertainment, sir!

About the 8th inning or so, the jumbotron was looking for "enemies" (those in A's jerseys) to use their magical graphic handiwork to appear like they are bombing us.  They put me up on the screen for quite a long time.  My life is complete!  Seriously was cool.  Someone came up to me at church and said "Hey dude!  I saw you on the jumbotron at the game last night!"  So yeah ... I'm kind of a big deal now.

We even got *close* to a pop up in foul territory.  As I was getting ready to dive, I realized it probably wouldn't be a good idea, with all the hard chairs, concrete, and stuff.  I did my due diligence though, and stood up, watching the ball come from what seemed to be a thousand feet in the air.  Stretching as far as  I could, I was still a good 15 feet short.  The ball ended up nestling itself between the seat back and the back of an A's fan.  Next to his wife who wasn't looking, and just covering up as if she was about to get hit with a dodge ball.

The game was great fun.  It got interesting in the 9th inning though (as all A's games seem to get) when Moss hit a 3 run bomb.  Myself and the gentleman who got the foul ball a pitches earlier (also an A's fan) stood up and cheered as two of the only A's fans in our section, yelling as loudly as we could.  As we exchanged an uber-awkward long distance high five in front of everyone, I wondered ... is this about to be a comeback win?

Nope.  The A's lost :(

That's okay though, it was a blast and we now have several good memories as a family.  Oh, and not to mention on the way out, we found the cover of a ball from the game on the ground!

*strokes chin* ... hmmm I wonder what this could be used for?  Coming soon to a custom card near you.

As we walked out of the ballpark and back to the crowd, a drunk fella came over and offered me his condolences about the A's losing, and gave me a hand shake and hug.  Such a nice embrace from a stranger.  My son said "Who is that?"  I said "That's Bill.  Bill is crazy."  My wife said "Dad is joking ... he has no clue who he is."  In the background, you could hear him yelling after me "VIDA BLUUUEEEEEEE!!!!"

Really?  You couldn't say like ... Dave Stewart?  Sonny Gray?  Barry Zito?  Oh well.

With all that goodness that came our way, I just may have to ensure that it doesn't take us over a decade to get to the next game.  It was an absolute blast.

Well, folks - I am overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you who have helped me on my flip quest. For all the deals I have made so far, half of you have given me freebies! I certainly do appreciate it.

Many times whenever I do a deal with someone, I try to slip in a free unopened pack of cards ... why?Because everyone loves to open cards, right?

 It reminds me of a guy came over a while ago to look at some cards I was selling, and we agreed with each other - ain't nuthin' like sitting down to open a box of baseball cards! He took it a step further. I love opening packs with my family, but he apparently doesn't.

He told me his wife sat down to open some with him and he responded sharply with a "What do you think you are doing, woman?!?! If you open some of these, then that means less for me!" I LOL'ed quite hard at that, and apparently, this "argument" went on for a while until she finally gave up and walked off.

 So, onto the goods! Here is the latest update - this is about 4 deals, 3 of which came in the mail today. LOVE when that happens! DEAL #1: If you don't know already, I'm a big sucker for these multi patch shiny cards like Triple Threads, Museum, etc. Here is a deal I got from someone yesterday:
 





Deal #2 Well, this is actually the first deal I made for my flip quest, but it came in! AWESOME!!! Thanks @natespringfield !

 

Deal #3 Love these cards. These came from @scurvey90 Tribute Willie Mays



and ... WHAMMO
 

JoFer power! @scurvey90 didn't just stop there. He also sent me these beauties for FREE:
 

Thank you once again - you rock! Deal #4 to report for today, and this one is crazy. Brought to you by @DbackskcabD I traded for these 2 items: 2007 Masterpieces set
 

... which, by the way ... absolutely STUNNING set. I have a feeling that Upper Deck produced it with the intention of it being a one-off or something. It looks like they didn't leave any in the tank for other years after this. The photography, feel, player selection, etc. is just amazing. I think this set had to have won some sort of awards. The Babe, Gehrig, Ripken, Griffey, Pujols, Jeter, etc. are all in there, and in many cases in iconic action shots / poses, and multiples of many of these players!

 And .... 2011 Topps Blue Sparkle Hope Clayton Kershaw #/60 :)! It is the last one too making this what? An ebay 1 of 1! (wah wah wahhhhhhh) Now, here is where it got crazy. DbackskcabD sent this note:

 

Well, mission accomplished! Bonus points awarded for the Star Wars sticky note! He sent: A bunch of A's stars, rookies, inserts



54 minis and 2 original Roberto Clemente newspaper clippings from 1971



 Various short prints, inserts and serial #'ed cards



A 1/1 sketch card (DbackskcabD - did you do this? This is really great work! I wished its beauty could be shown in the picture better, but man ... great job!)
 

and finally, this beauty - 8x swatch UD Ballpark card of Adam Jones Curtis Granderson Nyjer Morgan Juan Rivera Chris Young David Murphy Jeff Francoeur and Nick Markakis
 

I guess I can safely say my flip quest is in full swing - thanks everyone. If you want to deal for the 89 ud puig, (or someone other than puig) or of course, any of the cards in the deal list on my flip quest post hit me up - this has been a blast!

 Before I wrap this posting up, I wanted to show off one of my latest creations. It is a 2011 Topps Update Yoenis Cespedes Lime-Canary Rookie Refractor: Pity his rookie was in 2012 ... 2011 is a much better design.

 This project required the use of some latex medical grade gloves, for reasons I'd rather not say.
 



I hope to take my family to the A's / Astros game tomorrow and get his autograph. If it doesn't happen, I'll probably attempt to ttm it, as I hear he signs that way. Wish me luck! Oh, and the money shot of my custom and 2 of the Cespedeseseses I have received during this flip quest:

 

Mailday - You aren't gonna BELIEVE this one!

As many of you know, I started my Flip Quest for my 89 UD Puig.

The first offer I had was from a dealer friend of mine. I turned down the deal, but went ahead and sent him a Puig anyway, just for the heck of it. Well, yesterday, he went ahead and sent me a little "mystery" package to deal for the Puig.

I looooooove mystery packages.

 To make things better, he sent me a pic of this package just before he sent it out, like I did to him.   

  

Do you see how many stamps are on this puppy??? This ought to be good! 

As I was humming along at my work desk today, I hear the postal worker's vehicle start and stop its way closer and closer. 

Could it be? Is it possible? A minute passed from the time I heard him to the time I went out to the mail box to see. 

YES!!!! Wait, ... NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

   

The side had been slit, and the cards had been taken.  

And there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

 At least, the thief left the note that he sent along. 

 I sadly reported this to my dealer friend, and while grimacing asked: "What was in the package?" 

"A fleer Griffey, Donruss Gwynn, and one other I think) and about 5 older (but nice cards) like Brett, reggie jackson, Johnny bench, a 2nd year Ripken (i think) and a hank aaron (4th year--but a dinged corner)--along with the 89 UD Nolan Ryan." 

So, to whatever postal worker turd did this ... SHAME ON YOU. 

As Topps has their commemorative patch cards, I figured it is high time to create a commemorative card myself. 

Behold: The invisifractor -

 

 

A true beauty, and quite possibly every one of you reading this can relate, and deserve one of these in your collection. Not just those of us who have been ripped off by postal workers, but those of us who have been scammed by other collectors, and those who have gotten the raw end of the stick with redemptions, missing/damaged box hits, etc. 

So you see, this puppy is up for trade as well, if anyone would like it. This will definitely go toward my Flip Quest if anyone has any interest. Plus, you know you and your collection deserve one!