Bloghop Winners!

Thanks to Random.org - these two lovely ladies will be getting a package from me!

#18 - Jan Hunnicutt
#59 - Shelly from Inky Hugz

Ladies, can you send me a message with your snail mail address? Thanks so much!!!

Operation Write Home - Spring Bloghop 2010!

Hi Hoppers! Thanks for stopping by my blog! I am honored to be a part of this 3rd bloghop for Operation Write Home. I have been involved with OWH for almost two years now, first as a cardmaker, then for a year as a shipper, and now back to being a cardmaker again! It is a great organization and I really encourage everyone to visit the website, there is a wealth of information available for you to browse and learn more!

The "mission" for this bloghop was to create a springy, thinking of you card. Being a bit of a rebel, I didn't do it. LOL! I actually created two cards, and really neither of them are springy or thinking of you-ey. But I liked them, and both themes fit really well for the types of cards that OWH is looking for.

Without further ado...


This fun little card was made using a JoAnn's $1 bin stamp, some assorted papers from my stash, some Prima flowers with Liquid Pearl centers (Thanks Diane!) and my Stampin Up Big Shot Top Note Die.

I wanted to feature this card as a reminder to think of our military kids! When I was a shipper, one of the top requests I would get was for cards for the men & women to send home to their kids. I thought this would make a cute card for that purpose - HA! Thinking of You!!!! LOL!


OK, so butterflies are springy, right? HA! This card was made using some found paper, but best of all - I used some OLD rub-ons that I found in my stash. I have NO idea where they came from, but I really loved the butterfly - just goes to show that sometimes found objects can make the neatest cards! There is nothing fancy about this card, just thought it came together really nicely and that someone would love opening their mail and finding this on a beautiful spring day!

I'm so honored that I can be a part of this wonderful organization, and watching it grow has been an enormous joy.

I will be choosing two random commenters to get a little care package/blog candy from me. However - there's a catch! I want to inspire you to find something in your own stash to use to make an OWH card. Preferably something old that you never thought you'd use, or maybe even landed in a giveaway pile. Type in your comment what this item is, and you will be entered to win! Spring cleaning! HA! Another spring reference. Enjoy the search for something fun and forgotten to use, and let Operation Write Home be the benefit of your spring cleaning!

OK, so enough yammering here....let's move on to the next blog!

Megan has a great story on her blog honoring her brother, and you can learn more about why she joined up with OWH! She has a FABULOUS Shabby Chic style, and I just love the cards she created for the blog hop! Check her out here:

Megan Bean

If you get lost on the bloghop, visit the Operation Write Home website to find your way! Happy Hopping, Happy Spring Cleaning, and thanks for stopping by!

Fabre

Creative Mojo Coming Back, Slowly But Surely...

Hey Everyone! Thanks for checking in on my blog! I have been a little slow on my updates, but hoping to get better as my creative mojo seems to be coming back again. The first few weeks that Camille was here it was really difficult to get anything done, but now she seems to be settling in without feeling the need to constantly be in my lap - giving me time to get some crafting done!

I'm going to keep this really brief, as I'd like to get in to the craft room tonight to finish up a few projects...but here are some cards that I have completed recently. I hosted a cardmaking party at my house for Operation Write Home a few weeks ago, and together we made over 100 cards to send to our military in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the Middle East. It was a BLAST and we loved it so much that we're planning on getting together once a month! Hopefully by the end of the year, we'll have a very impressive number of cards sent to report!

Without further ado, here are some of the cards that I created that day...

The above card was made with a new set I bought as a special treat from Papertrey Ink, called Tiny Valentine. The Set is fantastic with lots of different options for general cards, not just for Valentine's Day.

This card really is much cuter in person than it appears on screen. I used the Stampin Up set, Double Line Doodles, and made the flower, which I colored in with copics and highlighted with stickles. Not sure where the sentiment stamp came from....but it just seemed to work!

This card came out so much cuter than I ever thought it would....I had the paper which is 6x6 and has the VERY square pattern shown - I had this cute sentiment stamp which was a dollar bin find at Michael's - I paper pieced the tiny hearts on it, and it was my favorite card of the day! Stinking cute!

This tree was purchased by my friend Marcy on a recent visit to Bella Art in Johnston, RI. It is a Memory Box stamp. My friend Diane brought a bunch of bottles of the "Got Flowers" by Prima and challenged us to use them up - she found they are sitting around for her. I combined them with this stamp and was thrilled with the results. I used perfect pearls as a center for the flower - if you haven't used this product, check it out immediately! I loved it, and a great, cost-effective way to add pearls to your cards! A beautiful patterned paper added just the final touch, and voila!

Thanks for looking - hope to do more updating soon!

Where Have I Been???

Well, it has been a LONG time since I have posted....I haven't been crafting a whole lot for the last few weeks, mostly because we have a new family member! Here she is....



Her name is Camille, and we adopted her from Cocker Spaniel Rescue Worldwide in Chapin, SC. She is a Jack Russell Terrier & Dachshund mix, and she is a LOVE! We are having so much fun getting to know her! She weighs about 15 pounds and so far appears to have the best of both breeds in her. I can't *WAIT* to make a scrapbook all about her, and our journey to get her.

This week I am having a craft day at my house for OWH - I am really excited about the opportunity to craft for a day. It will be really fun - and spending time with good friends is always a good thing!

The past few weeks I have also been reorganizing my craft room / home office. It has been a lot of work, but I think the end result will be worth it!

Hope everyone is enjoying their 2010 so far, more soon, I hope!

Happy Holidays from The Miller Family

Happy Holidays! It has been an interesting few months around here, with lots of changes...but we will march on and move forward. I wanted to share our family holiday photo with everyone - our friend Angela Moen of The Button Farm (www.TheButtonFarm.com) was here visiting, and we had a small snow accumulation. At about 9am before she left to return to her home in Maine, we threw on some clothes and went out to the backyard to snap some photos. This was our favorite - and the one that is going to be on our holiday cards.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday - I look forward to be back to making cards right after the holidays are over, and will share more of my designs in the new year.

Veterans Day Blog Hop!

Happy Blog Hop #2, Operation Write Home! Thanks for visiting my blog! I am one of the volunteer shippers for OWH, located in the Boston area. You can learn more about Operation Write Home at our website, OPERATION WRITE HOME

Things have been crazy busy for me, we've packed up 53 holiday boxes here to go to the middle east, and we have about 10 more to go this weekend. My personal goal was to pack about 50, so I am thrilled! Thank you SO MUCH, cardmakers!

This blog hop was a challenge for me, yet fun, as I'm still having a hard time gearing up for Thanksgiving, let alone Valentines day! Knowing the need that we are going to have for great Valentine's Day cards, however, I brought out the hearts and created 2 cards today...

The first card was created as a reminder that we are going to need Valentine's Day cards for kids as well as adults. A cardmaker recently RAKd me this dinosaur, and I just fell in love with him (her?). I was lucky enough to purchase my first Copic markers recently, so he was colored in with those, and a chipboard button tied with a ribbon makes the heart. The sentiment was just printed in MS Word. It's a simple card, but I liked it...



The second card is one that I made with a young couple in mind. As some of you know, I have a little..umm...penguin fetish! I just adore them! If a scrapbooking supply comes out with a penguin on it - I buy it! I loved this stamp from River City Rubber Works! The background is cuttlebugged with the hearts embossing folder. The three red "dots" are brads, and the sentiment was from the same set. I have a stitching template from Hot off the Press that I used for the doodling. Another simple card.

I hope these two cards have inspired you to go make some Valentine's Day cards for our service men & women who are working so hard for us!

Leave a comment on my blog with a goal that you have for making Valentine's Day cards (remember, they have to be mailed by January 5th to one of our shippers) and I will enter you into a drawing for an envelope full of goodies!

Finally (nobody ever accused me of being short-winded), your next stop on the blog is one of our fabulous cardmakers, Seongsook! She makes some amazingly lovely cards - please be sure to check out her blog here:

Seongsook's Blog

Some new cards...please don't fall off your chair!

Phew! What a whirlwind the past few months have been....a few getaways - one to Washington DC with my husband, and one to Ocean City MD with our whole family....not to mention the whole back to school routine, and getting in to the holidays swing for my business.....wow! I've also had the great privledge of taking some great scrapbooking classes in the last few weeks - an Alcohol Inks class with Tim Holtz, and two Copics classes with Sally Lynn Macdonald! It has been a lot of fun!

We're hitting RECORD NUMBER of donations for Operation Write Home, which is really exciting! Each week I am shipping 10-12 boxes of cards to the Middle East, which is really wonderful! Thank you to all my blog followers who donate cards - you are really making a difference!

I've been making cards here and there, and finally got around to taking some photos. Will share them in dribs and drabs over the next week or two, now that I have a little lull between getting the last of the Halloween boxes packed up, and getting the Christmas cards out to our heroes!

Card #1 is a tribute to one of my favorite sports....FOOTBALL! I'm really a college football fan at heart (PENN STATE!), but this one is done in the colors of my favorite pro team, the Pittsburgh Steelers! I love making cards that our troops can send to their kids, and thought this one would be perfect:

This was such a fun card to make, using a Memory Box Penguin Stamp, American Crafts Rub-on, random gold star brad from my stash, and the cuttlebug folder that looks like snakeskin.

Card #2 is a tribute to one of my favorite cities, Paris. The stamp is from Tim Holtz, and the background is misted with walnut ink, over which I embossed the stamp. The paper is DCWV Travel Stack.

I am trying very hard to make masculine cards for my OWH boxes - they are always a challenge for me!

The third and final card for today is a fun, funky little card. I bought the stamp about 9 months ago and have never used it (sound familiar?) so I pulled it out to have a little fun...

The background was done using one of the new CuttleBug folders, and I simply stamped the image and cut it out, and pop dotted the young lady on the scooter! FUN!

Thanks for reading - I promise to be better now that life is a little more...uh...less hectic?

Have a great weekend! Go Penn State!