OWH Winter and Valentine Cards

Miscellaneous cards for the December 31 deadline...

These are some of the cards I've been working on since I sent my Christmas box to OWH.  The deadline for Valentines/Winter cards is fast approaching and I need to buckle down and get the box filled!

Operation Write Home Christmas Cards 2013

Sometime early next week I hope to get these cards in the mail to OWH 

and beat the deadline for Christmas cards.

These are some of the 30 Any Hero cards I made and my friends helped write notes to the heros serving in our military on deployment in remote areas..

Christmas in July 2013

It wasn't until someone asked me about a card making session for Operation Write Home that I realized I had not posted these cards from Emily's last card making event on July 13th. (She will have another Christmas card making event in November). Unfortunately, I cannot use glitter for any cards we make for OWH as this would endanger the military personnel who get them to send home to family and friends. I like sparkle on cards but if it gets on a uniform, it makes the person wearing it a target in the dark.

Operation Write Home (continued)

These are the cards no one wanted to try on Saturday.

After working on the one card (the birthday cards with the stacked flowers in yellow & blue) off and on all day to make 24 of them, now I know why. They didn't seem to be so time consuming when I made the samples...learned my lesson! There was a lot of cutting out of flowers, etc., because I don't have a punch for the stamp and for some I should have used the Cricut to cut out the nose and eyes for the dragon card (that would have saved a lot of punching). I had cut all the other pieces for that card; Helen inked all the edges and assembled about half the cards which I finished today.

Cards for Operation Write Home

Last Saturday, Bonnie, Patricia, Esther, Helen, Beth, Margie, Eva, Ida, and I finished making 182 cards to be sent to Operation Write Home. I'd like to be able to do this about every other month; unfortunately, we plan to leave in April for the Oregon coast (nine weeks on the road in our RV)so that puts paid to that plan. We had some cards left over from the last card making session that wouldn't fit into the large Express Mail box provided by the Post Office so I put them in this box and managed to get 285 in to be mailed tomorrow. I believe I have enough cards no one was brave enough to attempt on Saturday to probably fill a small box. Hopefully, I can get them finished and mailed before we leave on this next trip.

Smiling Pumpkin Card

For November, the children in the Pediatric Ward in the local hospital will each get one of these "smiling pumpkin" cards. I found the pumpkin through Google's image search, printed them out as 3"x5", then cut them out to place on homemade woggles. The cards say, "You make me smile...all over my face".

Reverse Iris Folding Cards

The instructions for making these cards are found under the "Operation Write Home" web site. You will also find over 100 card templates with the measurements for the A2 size cards they prefer. Unfortunately, I misread the instructions so the first card was a little wonky.

September 2012 Secret Pen Pal Cards

Found this little guy by Googling 'monkey' images. The cards were quick to finish once I figured out how to feed the cardstock into the new printer.

January 2012 Secret Pen Pal Cards

This is my version of Cathy Blackstone's creation. I had found it online some months ago and printed out the instructions with the patterns. First I created the card front and inside which says, " I think U R the cat's meow!". The cat's face was made cutting the oval using the Coluzzle cutting system; then I used Cathy's pattern for the ears. I ran the ovals through the Xyron Create-A-Sticker in order to have a good solid sticky surface for the pieces of ribbon used on the pieces. I then used miscellaneous buttons, gems, etc., to form the eyes and nose. The mouth was cut by hand. I hope the kids enjoy them!

Secret Pen Pal Monster Cards

These are some of the cards I made over the last few days using Cricut's Wild Card cartridge. Everything was cut from page 71 of the instruction booklet included in the box the cartridge came in. I was trying to use fall colors except for the flowers.

Operation Write Home

Have any left over greeting cards you have made? This organization welcomes greeting cards that they will then ship to troops serving overseas. Go to the web site and check out the 'rules', then sort through your card stash, or make some new ones, and mail to the organization.

http://www.operationwritehome.org/index.html

Little Dresses for Africa

These are some of the eighteen little dresses that I've made so far for the Little Dresses project. They requested that they be packaged a dozen of one size in a two-gallon zipper seal baggie.

Change Lives One Little Dress at a Time

I received a mailing from Nancy's Notions which had an ad for a kit to make three dresses for little girls in remote villages in Africa. You can purchase a kit to make three dresses ($24.99 + free shipping). After checking out the web page, I decided it would be an excellent use of some left over fabric I have and also when I go to yard and estate sales I can pick up pillow cases to make some of these dresses (directions are free on the web page). They are to be mailed to Nancy's Notions and they will forward them to the distribution points. Check it out at: www.creativekindness.com. Today I picked up a new looking queen flat sheet ($1.00), three pillowcases ($1.50). Now all I have to do is follow the simple, easy directions and soon I will be mailing several little girls' dresses to Nancy.

Send a Sick Child A Love Letter

A couple days ago I happened onto this web site: http://www.loveletterscares.com/ This 501(c)(3) organization in nearby Altamonte Springs, FL, has a wonderful project to send uplifting "Love Letters" to sick children (up to the age of 18). Visit this site to find out more about how you can contribute some of those cards in your stash, plan a "Love Letter" card making session with your crafting friends, or send the organization a book of "Forever" stamps to use on the cards.