DESIGNING - Behind The Scenes Video

It's not often a card company opens its doors and allows a person in to see just how some of their favorite cards are made.

With the launch of the Panini blog last year, some of my favorite videos they've posted have been of just that.

Normally they have no dialogue or interesting editing, instead it's more of a 'fly-on-the-wall' feel presented.

This recent video really caught my eye as I've never really seen much of the design process at work.

NOTE: It's not the most exciting video, but I think it's a neat glimpse into something that I'd jump at if I had the chance.

RAISE THE CUP - The Ideal Card

This little gem was an unexpected addition to the bulk lot that came in last week.

While the Bossy was clearly the highlight of the lot (and one can never go wrong with a Linden RC), this simple subset snapshot caught my eye and has quickly become one of my favorite cards in this project.

2006/07 Power Play
Cup Celebrations
#CC4 Mike Modano

For a while, I thought I had discovered a brand new set to chase. Funny thing is, I had already posted a card from the set way back in the day (granted, it was from the 05/06 set).

Sadly, Mr. Messier didn't make the cut with that one. Ha ha ha.

What I did find out about this insert set is that it consists of 7 cards. Guys like Martin St. Louis, Mario Lemieux, Eric Staal and Patrick Roy make for a cool list of cards to search for.

Take a second and look at the photo. When I said 'ideal card', this is what I meant. The pure jubilation and sense of accomplishment is etched all over his face. What a fantastic photo.

I wish more hockey cards had photos that had as much impact as this one. What a great set that would be.

Current Collection - 35 cards

MAILDAY: Bulk Lot Goodness

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across an ebay auction during my daily......err, hourly Trevor Linden card searches. Mixed in a lot of 50 cards was a Trevor Linden RC.

Nothing to write home about since I already have a copy of the massively overproduced piece of cardboard, but nonetheless I kept tabs on the auction.

Why? Well, buried well withing the list of cards was a nice little gem. I thought if the price was right, I'd go for it.

A $10 bid and the cards were mine. They arrived today.

2006/07 SPx
Flashback Fabrics
#132 Mike Bossy
Spectrum Jersey/Auto /25

I'd say it was worth it. This card books for $60 alone. And I've got 49 other cards to sift through. Granted, some of them are junk base, but there are a few neat inserts some rookie cards and a couple jersey cards.

The Bossy though is by far my favorite. A great looking autograph and a nice piece of jersey. A solid photo from his prime and this card alone exceeds the price of purchase.

In addition, I landed a great card for my 'Raise The Cup' project. Stay tuned.

It just goes to show that if you do a little digging, sometimes you hit some treasure.

WHO AM I? - Adios Amigos!

Who Am I???? Should be more like WHERE Am I?

It's been a crazy week at work. There are just not enough hours in the day it seems. That said, I made it a point to watch a couple of my niece's softball games. It was a nice escape from everything else.

Still hoping to get a good review of Between The Pipes in this weekend, and I've had a couple cards for my projects trickle in. But for the most part, it's been a quiet past couple weeks card-wise. Which is ok since the big card show is coming up in a little over a week. The last one of the season.

With that out of the way, here's another group of sigs for you to figure out.






As always, I'm looking for the names of all three players as well as their connection to one another. This time, there are two connections (but the one is sheer coincidence).

Good luck!

TTM: Twilight's Jackson Rathbone

It has been months now since my niece has received a TTM success for her Twilight custom cards, but you know the ol' adage...Never Say Never!


At the time she created this card back in July 2010, Jasper was her favorite character. But, that since changed. This TTM success might have swung the pendulum back though.

Very cool to see the personalization and for the first time, she only received one card back (we always send two....one for them to keep). I think it's pretty cool to know that he has a copy of this one-of-a-kind card.

This is her third Twilight success (out of seven cards sent). That's not too bad at all.

Hopefully this year we can spend some more time and build some new cards to send out. I miss building customs.

Congrats kiddo!

JACKSON RATHBONE– Actor (Twilight)
Date Sent: July 30, 2010
Items Sent: 2 custom cards
Address Sent To: Jackson Rathbone
Cutler Management
13043 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
90049-2527
Date Received: April 28, 2011
SUCCESS/FAILURE: Success
Notes: only one custom card received (he kept the second one); personalized; added ‘much love!’

MAILDAY: Another Redemption Arrives

Got home from a long work day only to watch one heck of an exciting game 7 between the Canucks and Hawks.

I won't babble on about the result....but what a game!

Walking to the front door, I noticed the always welcome brown bubble envelope staring back at me. It was from the folks at Panini...I knew exactly what was inside.

2010/11 Certified
Freshman Signatures
#186 P.K. Subban /899

I was really happy to see this card arrive all safe and sound. Only because I am 2 for 2 with Panini redemptions being sent in what I would consider 'less than adequate' shipping packages.

I'm all for the bubble envelope, top loader and penny sleeve, but when that's it - I cringe. A little reinforcement to the card would have been appreciated.

I guess if it had shown up mangled, the guys at Panini would have been on top of things (I'd like to hope). After all, they did a nice job getting to my two requests so far.

While I'm not a huge P.K. fan (or a Habs fan....sorry), this is one really nice card (although these darn things are tough to scan). Hard signed auto and numbered to 899, this should make for some solid tradebait.

On to the second round!

PACK WARS: 2010/11 SP Authentic

Another one of my pack war victories this past week garnered me some of the new SP Authentic product put out by Upper Deck.

I've never been a collector of this set, but thought I'd join in.


The one round victory gave me 10 or 11 packs worth. Not bad at all.


Except that the base cards are not really my style. There's some good, but a lot more bad for my liking.

First, the good. When looking at the card and letting the light reflect over the surface, you get the great effect of the glossy photo popping out of the matte background. It's a really nice look.

Great card stock and a clean look. Too clean if you ask me.

The over-abundance of white just makes the card a little boring in my books. The 'fog' effect really takes away from what is a decent photo selection. Some cards show players virtually disappearing.

The names along the right hand side are also a miss for me. Tough to read in the scan you say? Tough to read up close too. Cards just shouldn't be that way.


I ended up getting more base than I originally had won since I helped someone finish off the base set...so he gave me all of his doubles.

In total, I came home with 150 base cards. Not too bad a haul.


Did pretty well with the inserts too. These HoloFX cards run 1:12 packs and I ended up with 3. The cards look nice and they reek of reflective goodness.


This card.....reeks of something else.

Numbered out of 1999, these SP Essentials have a horrible design flaw. Why go with the black & white photo? I've seen it done a few times recently (Artifacts comes to mind) and I hate the look. Give me some color on my card (unless you were made in the 20's).


Cool. A Future Watch card. These are a tough pull coming 1:48 packs. Too bad I have no clue who Mark Dekanich is.


Even cooler! A Future Watch Auto. These must be even tougher to pull.

What? Excuse me? They're not?

1:24 packs you say? What gives?

Maybe it's the terrible player I received. Never heard of Chad Kolarik.

Well, at the end of the day, this SP Authentic pack war victory didn't land me too much (considering in a different round there was a hard signed Bobby Orr won....but hey, I got.....Chad Kolarik). The design isn't for me and neither is the breakdown of the various inserts.

I guess it could have been worse.....I could have not won the round. That's debatable though.