Cards for Heroes....

This is a group of over 1000 people who are cardsmakers and papercrafters. They have joined together to show support for our troops who are serving so far from home and family. These people make handmade greeting cards, left blank, to be sent to our troops stationed in various parts of the world. The purpose of these cards is so our troops have special cards to send home to their families for birthdays, holidays, or to tell someone they miss them.

These cards so far total 101,463 shipped to american troops in these ten countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Kosovo, Bahrain, Serbia, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Qatar. The shipping cost totaled $4,440.07.

There has been many letters of appreciation sent by our troops. Some have even told what their plans are for the cards. There is a blog set up to share these great and heartwarming letters.

The Hero Blog

These people have sacraficed so much. If these handmade cards can bring a few smiles to our service people and their families then it's well worth the efforts. They deserve so much more.

I mailed my first package of cards today, (pictured above). I plan to send a monthly package with a minimum of a dozen cards. More when I can. I will include atleast one 'Any Soldier' card in each package and a small cash donation to help with shipping costs.

For those who may not know, An Any Soldier card is a card of appreciation and encouragement sent to Any Soldier. When a military unit receives a shipment of cards for heros, all cards addressed to Any Soldier are handed out to members of the unit that don't get much mail. It just thanks them for all they are doing, wishes them well and let's them know we support and have not forgotten them.

If anyone is interested in supporting this effort, card donations are always appreciated, especially handmade cards. If cardmaking isn't your thing, a couple of Any Soldier cards would be a different idea or an occasional small cash donation to help with postage.

cardsforheroes.org

My first card challenge

This was alot of fun.

This sketch was drawn by Deanne Burton in Newfoundland. She posts her sketches at her blog called A Scrap Addict's Sketches. This is a really fun place to visit.

This is her Lucky, Friday the 13th. sketch.

I think this is a great sketch with lots of options for plans and ideas.
It can be made into a scrapbook layout or a card. The choice it up to each participant.

I used three colors of cardstock, one type of designer paper, watercolor paper, stamps, watercolor pencils and a blender pen.
It's simple, but I think it's nice. This card is going to cardsforheroes.org as a Any Soldier card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Valentine's Day !!

'Nothing but Hearts'

I made this valentine for my sweetie, Don. I love the red paper. We will have our 14th. wedding anniversary in April.

Paper Piecing......I love these little paper characters

Paper piecing is one of my favorite papercrafts. I love scrapbook embelishments made this way. I'm getting ready to start on a new scrapbook so I have been playing with making a few unique page decorations for my layouts.

Here are a few of my latest creations.

This Tweety is for my step- daughter, Jessica. She is working on her first SB and is a huge Tweety fan.

I can't remember where I found the pattern for this totally cute little bear.

This little bee is one of my favorites. I found this pattern offered on the internet. I'll find it again and add the link. I think he's adorable.

This is a 5 x 7 birthday card I made for a family member who is a drummer with a rock band. This was originally a picture from a children's coloring book. I scanned and printed the picture. I then cut out the individual pieces. Those pieces became my pattern. He has alot of pieces. He took a whole evening to put together, but I thought the end result was worth it. Gerry seemed to really like him.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm branching out into new things.

After setting my cardmaking aside for a couple of years due to other commitments, I have decided to resume my much loved hobby.

I'm not new to cardmaking. In fact, I've made many cards over the years, but mainly they were cards made by combining pretty papers and ribbons. Althought they were simple in comparison to many of the gorgeous cards I have seen on the internet, I was pleased with many of them. This time, however, I want to learn new techniques. I plan to try things I have not done before. I've been visiting the blogs of other cardmakers. I'm also armed with a new subscription to cardmaker magazine. I love, love, love it. So full of great ideas.

This is one of my first attempts at watercolor pencils. It's not my very first attempt. Or.....even my second. Those two ended up filed away in the kitchen garbage can. This is the first one where I am reasonably pleased with the way my colors blended together. Originally, I intended for the rabbit to turn out a little bit lighter brown, but atleast he ended up looking like a rabbit.

I'm just beginning to get a feeling for the results I can get by blending certain colors together. I can definately see my own improvement. I started out with a basic, but good quality, set of a dozen watercolor pencils and a blender pen. I actually think I'm ready to graduate to a larger set. Guess I'll be heading for the crafts store again next weekend.

Thanks for visiting.