Keepin' at CardArtin'

When Ruby is at doggy daycare-- because otherwise she'll rarely let me focus on a project for long-- I still spend much of my spare time working on CardArt ideas. I'm now in my 4th year of being a dedicated wanna-be "artist / creative-type" and while I would have liked to be in a better position by this point (grown a little fanbase, see consistent sales, etc.), I keep at it. It's humbling when I whip up something I think is really cool, but then I can't find anyone who wants it. I make a sale from time to time that keeps me from getting too down about the situation overall and I'm still optimistic my stuff might "catch on" at some point, but even if this never becomes a financially-rewarding use of my time, it's a hobby-within-a-hobby that I don't plan to quit anytime soon.

Recently it hit me that it's probably some sort of midlife crisis thing driving me. Like.. I never had children, or had a profession/role that really positively impacted anyone, or even done much charity/volunteering. Realizing I don't have much of a "legacy" to remember me by has started to weigh on me as I get older. And so I guess I figure if I can tweak a baseball card in an interesting way and it finds a "forever home" filed away in some guy's massive player collection, then in some small way I'll have made a mark that will live on after my time on earth wraps up. Or something like that?

And as long as I'm opening up...

June 2026 saw some turnover in my extended family. My uncle Ed passed away the first week of June after months of declining health. He had been semi-estranged most of my 20s and 30s, but thankfully reconciled with the family in the past few years. The last time I saw him was at my cousin's kid's wedding last summer. That happy young couple just now welcomed their first child, son Lewis, on June 30th. 

Real "circle of life" vibes for me, losing the family's de facto patriarch and gaining a new baby boy within the same month. And believe it or not, I've been the "baby boy of the family" my whole life. Baby Lewis is my first male blood-relative who's younger than me, after a few girls leading the way for the next generation. I know it's a long shot these days, but fingers crossed little Lewis grows up to be a baseball fan, as it'd be nice to have somebody penciled in to leave my card collection to once I'm no longer around to enjoy it. (It really seemed like my wife's brother was bound to pop out some kids [unlike my wife who's always been quick to shoot down any talk of her ever becoming a mom] -- and I was excited to be the fun uncle-- but now he and his wife are deep into their 30s, and travel the world whenever they have time off, no indication of settling down as parents, so it's not looking good as far as an heir on my wife's side who might want my shit.)

But enough introspection, let's check out some junk wax I've gussied up!

Here's a page worth of Griffey, specifically his 1991 Topps All-Star card reimagined into some parallels-that-never-were.

 
Ryne Sandberg getting the '91 AS treatment too.

And here's fellow Cubs great, Andre Dawson. 1993 Topps Black Gold inserts are fun sentimental favorites for me to mess with.

Here's a page of Robin Yount 1988 Topps remixes. 

Late update to the post: 1987 Topps Ozzie Smith. Love doing the "full wood" treatment with '87 Topps (and they often look better with rounded corners).

 

1988 Donruss like you've never seen it! Imagine back in the day if these things were randomly inserted one per case or something. That'd be a fun chase.

Tony Gwynn minis! Did you immediately clock the source of this Tony? It's from the 1988 Topps "Padres Team Leaders" card, with apologies to Benito Santiago who gets cropt out for the mini refinement.

Maybe you remember a few years ago when there was a stack of 1990 Leaf Tony Gwynn cards making the rounds from Rod to Fuji to me? I've finally started doing something with them!.. 

Only doing a smaller segment like that as opposed to covering the full card means these are quicker and cheaper to create, which should help me work through the stack.. Still like 50 "blanks" left! I think my plan is to make a listing for Gwynn cardart like these where I ask $3.94 for each (maybe $6.19 for the fuller ones), with the majority of the profits going to a San Diego area charity.

 

Your mental health probably just bumped up a notch after seeing that many smiling Rickeys. I might try to keep these together as a 9-card display. Sometimes a group of Rickeys just looks cool together. Like..

This 4-card display of a blinged-out 1992 Score is likely bound for eBay eventually, but I liked it so much that I'm enjoying it up on my own wall for the time being. I need to get better at making videos so you can see it actively shining in the light. It's a treat for the eyes!

There you have it, highlights of my creative efforts from the past several weeks. If something caught your eye-- or you think to yourself, "I bet Gavin could make some cool versions of my favorite junk-era cards for my PC..." and want to trade me something cool to make that happen.. just let me know. The Younts are already up in my eBay store, and I'll likely get around to adding the rest soon enough. (But again, I prefer trading for stuff on my wantlist, and I really only sell cardart on eBay because that seems like the distribution method of least resistance.) And as always, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.

Refractor Friday #1: 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Andre Dawson

Happy Refractor Friday.. here we go!

2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #29 Andre Dawson refractor parallel.

Here's another view of it. It's a nice looking card. 

I really like refractors like these, as with Heritage, where they've got the "vintage" paper feel to the backs (that is, matte instead of glossy). Perhaps anachronistic, to drop a big word, but I like it paired with a refractor front.

A minor pet peeve with Topps All-Time Fan Favorites is how on the back they ignore other teams the guy played with, like how this card doesn't include Dawson's stats with the Cubs and later stops of his career. Just seems like they're trying too hard to be team-centric, such as how that blurb really didn't need "as an Expo" tacked on the end.

But yeah, I've been smitten with ATFF refractors lately, keeping an eye out for low-priced examples, and this Andre is one such score. Funny how even though I don't chase current cards, I always seem to find new old cards to get excited about collecting. (If you have any ATFF refractors available, I'd love a shot at working out a trade.)

Pretty sure Topps has used this same photo on several Andre Dawson cards over the years, and if I had more time I might try digging around to find some more examples. But hey, the goal is to keep these Refractor Fridays posts quick and easy, so I'll simply reiterate that it's a nice card and call it good.

Thanks for admiring that neat refractor with me. I was originally gonna call these posts something like "Refraction Appreciation Society" posts or something like that, but Refractor Friday does the job at half the price.

By the way, have you checked out the new Prize Pool yet? Probably nothing that'll blow you away, but a decent selection of various cards available for lucky winners to choose from. 

This Bobby Jenks Bowman X-fractor leads off the first "page" of refractors available in the pool. 

Let's take a look at the back-- oh no!

Looks like some bad hombre passed out drinking a 40, rudely obscuring the back of card.

There are 172 of this particular Bobby Jenks parallel in existence. Which serial number in the print run do you think this one is? First correct answer in the comments below wins their pick of any 4 cards from the prize pool mailed PWE to the US-based address of their choice. Anonymous comments need to include your city to be eligible-- for example, "My guess is 1, signed Dave in Flagstaff"-- to discourage any funny business. But yeah, just pick a number between 1 and 172. I could EVEN give you another hint to make it easier, but is that even necessary? wink wink, lol. Then check back next week to see if you won and we'll play a new round of guess-the-number.

Doug and GCA trade packages

In the past few days I've gotten quality trade packages from Doug in Canada and GCA.

First up are the Sportscards From The Dollar Store:

Some great additions to my Tatis Jr PC! He sure did give Padres fans something to be excited about this year, though he had a hard time staying on the field. Hopefully his injury issues this season were just a fluke and he comes back strong in 2020.

A few more interesting Pads from Panini. I believe the Urias is #/50.

Some more young Padres. Chris Paddack had an impressive rookie year for San Diego.

We close out this package from the great white north with a selection of 2019 Heritage High Number Padres and a Kevin Kouzmanoff auto.

Thanks, Doug! Great stuff. I'm putting together a nice return for you.

 -   - - - -o

Now here's some stuff from GCA.

A couple numbered Andre Dawson cards, plus Pops and Bird.. very nice.

Big-name needs for my 1974 setbuild! Chugging along there.

But the bulk of Greg's package was a big lot of Pedro Martinez.

So many Pedros!! I think this gets him up into the Hundred Card Club and off my main wantlist.

Thanks a lot, GCA! I always seem to be trying to catch up returning the favor for all the great cards you send my way, but I hope to balance the scales soon!

Cards from Doug, Greg, Matt, Billy, and Jeremy

We're entering that ol' season of giving, and while in the past I've done mailing-blasts and blog-events leading up to Christmas, it always ends up being an exhausting undertaking, what with all the other stuff going on this time of year. So this year, I'm thinking a nice post-xmas giveaway. It'll likely be a card "draft" giveaway not too unlike Night Owl's recent event, with lots of prize options and multiple winners. I've been a lucky winner in a few recent cardsphere contests (not to mention greedily calling dibs on a bunch of primo slots in Wes's big 12/25 event), so I feel the need to give back. So stay tuned for that and be sure to take a moment later in the month to check in with the blog for a chance to win some cards.

Got a few different incoming mailings to cover in this post, and this first one is from Doug at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. This card is one of those gimmicky but fun cards from Panini where they take a photo of a guy wearing a Santa hat, then make relic cards from the hat. Nice card to spice up my modest PC of this guy I went to high school with.

I think these are the first 2018 Heritage Minors cards in my collection, maybe. Good selection of future Friars, highlighted by a blue Logan Allen.

Some 1970 Padres.. imported from Canada....

O-Pee-Chee! Always fun.

More nice Padres cards of promising guys who failed to become quality major leaguers or are on their way to such a fate (prove me wrong, Francisco, prove me wrong!). Sean Burroughs bat relic, in case you can't read the tiny text. Keyvius Sampson made the majors with the Reds in '15-16, but looks like he was out of baseball last year. Neat auto. Like most Padres 1st round picks, Donavan Tate washed out of baseball after an unimpressive minor league career. The former two-sport star tried to return to football last year, but doesn't look like that panned out.

Some other PC cards. Good stuff.

And cards of lady wrestlers I collect. I think my Alexa Bliss PC doubled thanks to this mailing!

Very appreciated, Doug! I think this return makes the Felix Millan auto you traded me for pale in comparison, but I'll try to hit you back next time.

- - - ----o

Next up is my prize from Night Owl's recent 10 Year Anniversary giveaway. I was lucky enough to get into the list of eligible players, though the randomizer threw me down near the bottom of the draft board. By the time I was on the clock, most of the cards that caught my eye were gone, though I was able to add a nice Andre Dawson 2011 "legend variation" to the PC.

Greg was kind enough to throw in a bonus card for my recently-begun '72 Topps setbuild. I am at 6.6% complete with this godforsaken set and already know it will be the Baines of my collecting existence for the next several years. I just need to keep telling myself it's a long term project. Just moving along with a random card here and there, such as Jim Brewer here, and eventually down the road, I'll have it in my sights.

Thanks, Greg!

-  - - ---o

Next up is a PWE from Sport Card Collectors.

Lovely pair of cards here. Billy Hamilton was surprisingly let go by the Reds recently and picked up by the Royals. Best of luck to him in KC.

Some Astros and Bellingers.

Thanks, SCC! Hope you like the return PWE I sent.

-  - - ----o

Here's a surprise holiday PWE from Billy at Cardboard History.

A half-dozen basketball dudes I collect. Tim Duncan trio, Dirk, TJ Leaf, and Manute Bol.

Thanks, Billy! I've been working on sending some cards your way soon.

 - - - -----o

Lastly for today is a contest win from Jeremy at Topps cards that never were.

I wasn't expecting this lot of Brian Giles cards.. and though my PC of his is pretty large, pretty sure I needed just about all of these!

The prize in the contest was Jeremy would send you a few customs he made of your choice. I was a little confused if he had already made them or not, and I asked about Chris Jones, a guy from my high school who played in the bigs but never got a real card from his MLB career. Jeremy kindly obliged. Glad to have these whipped up for me!

I also asked about some missing Rod Beck cards that Topps neglected to make, and he came through big there, too! (Beck has a Gold '92 Topps card-- a replacement for a checklist-- but not a standard issue in the set.)

Of course I'm partial to the San Diego era cards, but all are appreciated.

Thanks so much, Jeremy!


Thanks again to everybody who's sent me cards. And thanks for reading.

Cards from John, Kerry (though still nothing from John Kerry)

I was lucky enough to get a "Christmas in July" package from John Miller a few days ago.

I hadn't seen these before. Cool acetate Simpsons cards from Sykbox that you can apparently stack to create a completed image. Anybody got more of these to trade? Would love to add the missing piece(s) to this.

HOF relic!

John can always be counted on to send me a few Gileses.

Heck of a Josh Donaldson lot, with a couple shiny ones in the upper right.

End of Story; I just recently took Trevor Story off my wantlist and replaced him with teammate Nolan Arenado. Gavin Floyd is also fresh off the wantlist, though I did need that blue parallel. Nice Bird.

Here's some Padres cards, highlighted by a Wil Myers black parallel from '17 Stadium Club.

And a few miscellaneous odds and ends, including relics of Josh Hamilton, Juan Gonzalez, and Todd Helton.

Thanks, John! Always a pleasure.

-  - - - ----o

Next up is a surprise package from fellow Portland dweller, Kerry at Cards on Cards.

A Hawk sighting. The red parallel is #'d 3/25. Impressive!

It's the aforementioned Nolan Arenado, just added to my wantlist like 3 days days ago. Quick!

Bryce is having another solid year. Love that rookie cup xfractor!

Donaldson and Pedro representing Canada.

Manny Margot and Michael Conforto.

A couple legends.

Mookie!

Trout!

A few more cards, with Kerry even sneaking in a basketball card. I don't have many (any?) San Diego Clippers cards, so that World B. Free is pretty cool to get.

We close out with a couple nice relics; Adam Jones bat chip and a Chris Sale jersey swatch.

Awesome.. thanks, Kerry! I'm rounding up a return package for you and will get that out to you soon.