My five for May...

HA!  I bet you thought I'd forget since my month started out so insane BUT here are my five Christmas cards for May.  It was hard to break away to do these since I've been on such a roll to fill my current OWH box (77 cards and 26 Any Hero as of last night).  BUT, Sandy's not even IN Seattle right now (just her elves) so what's the rush?!!

 

Anyway, I used the cutting formula I learned on the Blog Hop (original post HERE with the link to the formula).  As you can see, there are FIVE cards, not four.  That's because I don't use that 8.5" x 5.5" piece as my whole card base.  I cut it in half and have TWO fronts which I later put on card bases.  SO, I used those four extra pieces to create a fifth card, thus fulfilling my challenge obligation of five Christmas cards a month.  And all in the nick of time... get it, "Nick" of time (you know, St. Nick, nick of time).  Ok, ok, ok, so it was cheap humor.  But you smiled...  :)


SO, what did I do with them?

I'm talking about all those "Any Hero" fronts I made for the OWH Bloghop...

see original post HERE

 

This was the process used with the students in Zack's Communication class at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University just before the semester ended this year.  Each student who was "persuaded" (LOL), took one of these.  Back when we were doing this for the high school two years ago, my husband (then fiancé) took the suggested "Coloring pages for older kids" sheet off the OWH website and shrunk it down so we got four to a page.  Now, he's updated it to include a "landscape" layout for those cards I make that are landscape...

 

 Zack brought back to me all these notes...

 

 

 I trimmed them, stamped my email and colored them in...

 

 

Then I adhered them to the backs of the fronts I had made...

 

"Backs of the fronts", isn't that a riot?  Anyway, yes, it is alot of work but to me it is worth every second I spend on the whole process.  Some of these will be around forever and I want the appreciation of the students and myself to always be evident for our Heroes' sacrifice...



Happy Birthday...

This is a card I CASE'd from our own Pam Tetreault whose work I truly admire... 

 

I am dedicating this group of twelve to my Aunt Georgia who passed away yesterday afternoon.  She was the first cardmaker I ever knew.  All through my childhood, I would look forward to her Christmas card that arrived every year with it's greetings to our family.  I was always in awe of her attention to detail and craftmanship.  But more amazing to me was learning she made hundreds of the same design for her extensive Christmas card list.  Rest in Peace Aunt Georgia, and know these balloons are floating away to our deployed heroes in your honor...



Scrappy "missing you"...

Pulled out my previously made Scrappy backgrounds and voilà, six more cards for my box!  Yay! 

I always emboss the Scrappy panel before adhering it to the base and I think it makes the whole card have such a richness to it.  I have a huge, HUGE amount of strips of paper to make more Scrappy backgrounds so clearly, it's time for another "Scrappy" session.

I often wonder if the recepient ever truly "looks" at the card and sees the detail of each piece of paper.  Yeah, I know, I think weird.  But I also know, my cards will live on LONG after I'm gone... so it makes me wonder... :)

Sketch #178...

Very late last night, while I was waiting for Ernie to make it safely back to Ohio, I made six of these. It's based loosely on OWH's Sketch #178.  The colors I picked really make this a masculine card.  That pleases me since masculine is not my forte...

 

My goal this week is to add another fifty cards to my box before I ship it.  I have 54 in the box now and that does not include my "Any hero" notes.  Finishing those off would definitely fulfill the goal...

 

I was happy to use up the "Road Trip" paper since I never got around to doing what I had originally planned to do with it.  And before you ask, I have NO IDEA what I was thinking of doing with it!  Really!  I definitely should write my thoughts down on a sticky pad and put it with the paper when I have the thought.  Then maybe, just maybe, there'd be a fighting chance it would happen as thought... :)



Blog Hop Inspiration...

As I was hopping along the OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop, filing away thoughts in my head, I got stuck at the Efficient Crafter's post.  She has a pretty cool formula (see HERE) for using four sheets of 12" x 12" paper to create four cards.  I had to stop, right then and there, to try it out.  So here you see the results... LOVE this!  Without much thought, I've got four cards to add to my box!

 

NOW, back to the hop... :)



It's Bloghop time!!

Happy Memorial Day!
Join me as we honor those who have fought for our freedoms...

All of my cards in this post will be used as fronts for "Any Hero" notes that I have to forward to OWH during this month of Military Appreciation.  This first set of cards is using paper from a 12" x 12" pad called "Americana" that I acquired at a Yard Sale for a mere $2.  Talk about score!  All the sheets were still in it and in perfect condition...

This second set of cards are ones I CASEd many moons ago, when Zack ran his campaign to have every student at Marblehead High School write an "Any Hero" note.  I loved it so much, I've made it many, many times since then.  I don't know where the digi is from so if anyone can fill me in, I'd be grateful...
Update:  Click HERE for the link to the digi, thank you Elsie B.

And of course, what's a Blog Hop without the trusty old Scrappy Background and Starburst.  This last set of cards used only scraps from my "Any Hero" box.  That includes previously stamped images, stickers and digis.  Once again, if you know where the "Star Spangled happiness... " digi is from, please enlighten me... :)

SO, why so many "Any Hero" fronts?  One of Zack's final assignments in his Communications class at Embry-Riddle this past semester was to give a Persuasive Argument.  Zack choose to persuade his audience on why they should write a note of encouragement to a deployed hero.  Three quarters of his class obliged.  Sandy, if you're reading this, you would have beamed.  Zack showed me the link of the "argument" and I could not be prouder!  It overwhelms me to know my passion is his passion...

Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day!  Enjoy your time... and remember our heroes, past and present.  To get back to the beginning of the Blog Hop, click HERE


To our favorite couple...

Our favorite couple is tying the knot the first weekend in June.  TODAY is the "Girl's Afternoon" for the beautiful bride.  I have no idea if this is a secret, or not... but I'm having this post go live well after I have arrived in West Haven, CT so there is no danger of her seeing it ahead of time.

 

Ernie and I wish you many, many years of happily wedded bliss and look forward to sharing future anniversaries with you two... :)

On a mission...

I made six of these before I left for Cozy Crop and this is the first opportunity I've had to post it to my blog.  While at Cozy Crop, Sherry said she has challenged herself to only use paper in her stash for the month of May.  I've been thinking about it ever since, and I think I'm going to challenge myself the same for the month of June.  Cards like this really fit the bill.  All the banners were from my scraps stash... (wish me luck)

This is my "signature" on the back of all my cards.  I take great pains (the OCD in me) to be sure the back stamps are color coordinated with the front of the card.  This particular card seems to show that perfectly.  Also, that smiley face stamp... was left behind by my husbands ex.  I loved it so much it has been incorporated into my signature.  Any card of mine, whether for OWH or my personal stash, has that smiley face... :)

Sending you a smile...

Sometimes you run into people who just want to rain on your parade.  That happened to me today and instead of letting it get to me, I came home and made a happy card.  Bright colors and happy sentiment and my parade is continuing...

I followed a tutorial by Sandy... see HERE