Sunday Verse

PSALM 116:1-2

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

Been a long week for me, but I got a chance to finally open my hobby box of 2013 A&G and a hobby box of 2013 Topps WWE.  Now to find the time to collate the cards and scan the goodies found inside!  Anyone else running into the problem of just not having enough time during the day to accomplish what you need to / want to?

Not a Mini Beachy

Earlier this week I finally sat down with my hobby box of 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter...but this post isn't about the box.  Not to spoil the box break post I plan to do, I didn't get a Braves hit so off to eBay I went.  I only did a search to see what cards Tim Hudson and Brandon Beachy had in the set and walked away with one relic of Beachy for just a buck or so.

Nice design and all, but the framed mini relics are just so much cooler.  I won't complain too much as I'm just happy Topps included Brandon in the set, esp. seeing how he just returned to the active roster a few weeks ago.

Sunday Verse

It's time I get back on track...

Romans 14:8

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

In the midst of everything my family and I have had going on, my wife's family has had a few rough spots with illness and her grandparents.  Thankfully both are doing better and seem to be bouncing back faster, and stronger than anyone first thought.  I was very happy to hear however that my father-in-law lead his father to accept Christ laying in his hospital bed.  The doctors kept saying they would surprised if Roland (my wife's grandfather) made it out of surgery.  Both my father-in-law and his dad felt so much better going into the operation knowing that his future has now been secured up above.

I hope everyone has a great week.  NFL is almost here and the baseball pennant chases are getting exciting...go Braves!

Pack Break - 2013 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Chrome

I know I've been out of the loop these last few months and I may have lost some readers, but I'm still here and messing with cards...just not nearly as much as I used to.  This is for many reasons, but I do have something new to share for a change!

Last week while getting a few last minute items for the big local Transformers convention I had been helping with the last 12 months prepare for, I stopped into Target and of course peeked at the card section before leaving.  I was half curious to see if retail Allen & Ginter had landed yet (it had), but I resisted thanks to having a hobby box coming in a matter of days.  What caught my eye was some shiny pink Garbage Pail Kids packs.  They looked different and upon further inspection I found them to be Chrome versions of the very first series from 1985!  Sold!  I had to see what these were like.  With being out of the game for awhile these completely caught me by surprise.  Enough talk, let's rip!

Only 4 cards per pack, but that's typical for any Topps Chrome product.  Inserts include: Refractors 1:3, Prism Refractor 1:50, SuperFractor 1:9,967, Printing Plate 1:2,490, GPK Redemption 1:21,900, Chrome Concept Sketch 1:3, Chrome Concept Sketch Printing Plate 1:3,340, Artist Autograph Base Parallel 1:498

The scan makes these really sharp and shiny cards look blurry and dull, but man oh man do they look good in hand!  The Dead Flora card is one of those Lost GPK cards that was never published in the 80's, similar to what they did w/ the GPK Flashback series.

...and speaking of the Lost cards, here is another.

The last card of the pack was one of the Chrome Concept Sketch cards!  Boy, Blasted Billy sure did undergo a big change from conception to final image.  Nice touch Topps for inserting these images.

All in all, I love these!  I'd love to tackle building the set (or at least the A set), but one of the reasons I've dropped off a bit from collecting cards is 1) I'm so far behind on cataloging what I have, 2) Price of new cards and 3) Just being a little burnt out.  I have to say opening this pack was a lot of fun and takes me back to my childhood.  Don't be surprised if you see a few more packs opened here in the near future.  Up next (I hope), a box break post of 2013 A&G!

Sketch cards - Who actually draws them?

Last month I approached a local friend of mine who I knew was a great artist to draw and donate something to a charity auction I'm overseeing next week.  He recently told me that he had finished the piece and also asked me if I still collected trading cards.  I told him that I've backed off the cards a little, but yes, I was still collecting.  He then proceeded to tell me that Topps had contacted him about supplying several sketch cards for an upcoming Topps UFC set of cards!  Since being told the news, I haven't actually had the chance to ask him how all of that came about.  I figured Topps used famous artists or whatever.  Guess not.  Here is a test sketch he just finished of Hershel Walker who went 2-0.  Can't wait to see the final product once he's given his actual assignment by Topps.