Update to Cards for Heroes Blog Post

Without further ado....our big winner is Heather, blog post #58....

Heather said...

Wow that flower card is absolutely darling-- I just called my mother in from the other room to look at it!!!
You did an amazing job!

May 23, 2009 8:46 PM

Heather, please e-mail your address to me and I'll get your goodies out right away!

And in another update....
I have joined Lisa Hacker in her challenge to make one card for each post left on my Cards for Heroes blog post this summer. I will be creating 152 cards in honor of each one of you - thank you - please consider joining this challenge! check it out here...
Cards for Heroes Post Blog Post Challenge

Thanks!

Cards for Heroes Blog Hop!

Wow! We've made it! Thanks for visiting my stop on the blog hop - it has been a labor of love these past few weeks for the blog hop team, and my love and appreciation goes out to everyone who has helped to make it happen.

If you are in the middle of the hop, click the button below to start at the beginning....

I want to tell you a bit about my involvement with Cards for Heroes. Two years ago, our daughter Victoria was preparing for her Bat Mitzvah (a rite of passage in the Jewish religion). She needed a community service project, and I met someone online who was serving in Iraq that wanted some cards for her unit. We sent some along, and soon after, she was back here in the US - however, I still wanted somewhere to send cards, did some internet sleuthing, and came across....CARDS FOR HEROES!

Earlier this year, the president of Cards for Heroes, Sandy Allnock, announced that she was taking a business trip to New England. I of course wanted to meet up with her, and she came and stayed with our family for the weekend. We had lots of chats, and even some cardmaking AND shopping, and she asked me if I would be willing to come on as a shipper for Cards for Heroes! I have never been more honored in my life - I have been a shipper for 6 months now, and I am just loving every minute of it. I have processed many thousands of cards through my home, and every day brings joy to see what comes in the mail for the day! My husband, Larry, is now on the board of directors. It is truly a family affair!

Enough blathering....I made two cards for the hop - the first is a baseball themed card with some patriotic colors. People always ask what types of cards we are looking for - the main focus for us is getting the heroes cards that they can use to write home on. We can use all types - lovey cards for their wives, cards for their kids, cards they can send home to their parents, etc. Make sure to check out our card garllery on the website here CARD GALLERY to see even more examples of what people have made.

Above is a "patriotic" baseball card. The image is from River City Rubber Works, and the background paper is actually wallpaper samples! LOL! They have an Americana feel, don't you think?

This next card was made with the heroes in mind. A simple "Thank you" for all that they have done for us, to protect our freedoms. The stamp is from Hero Arts and the flowers are from Prima. Both companies are participating in the Blog Hop, be sure to visit their blogs too and thank them for their support!

I am going to write an anyhero letter inside of this card - just a simple note telling someone that I am thinking of him/her, and that I appreciate what they are doing. We include as many of these as we can in each box. Believe it or not, there are heroes who don't get ANY mail when they are serving our country. Consider putting an anyhero letter in with a package of cards sent to Cards for Heroes - it really does make a difference! Another one of our shippers, the fabulous Kris, came up with our current challenge which is called 25+2, check it out here: 25+2



Please be sure to link to the next blog, Deborah! Her use of color is amazing - be sure to check out some of her older posts too!

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone personally for their participation in the bloghop! Please consider sending some cards or a financial donation to one of our three shippers - every card and dollar really does make a difference!

Enjoy your memorial day weekend!

Fabre

A bonus shot - Sandy (left) and Fabre (right) enjoying the warm temperatures in Boston! Guess who is the hearty New Englander? Hint - NOT Sandy! :-)

If you leave a comment below about Cards for Heroes and our 25+2 challenge -- I will do a random drawing on Tuesday for a RAK envelope loaded with goodies!

Almost time...

I had hoped to get a wonderful post up tonight about the cards I received this week for CFH, including a box of 100 cards from a young lady celebrating her 100th day in kindergarten, and a box of about 125 cards from a group of senior citizens with an average age of 85. Well, it didn't happen. Why, you might ask? Our blog hop has BLOSSOMED! It has been nearly a full time job to manage this past week, which has been just great by us! I am so excited for tomorrow, hope I can get some sleep!

Thank you to all who are participating, hopping, browsing, and especially creating for Cards for Heroes. Hop in - you'll love it!

Some Recent CFH Creations

What a day! Poor Larry has been home sick all day, and I have been running around trying to deal with clients and keep the house somewhat in order....lol! Finally things are calming down tonight and without American Idol to watch tonight- I'm able to update my blog! YIPPEE!

I'm spending the day tomorrow with a friend of mine, Marcy, who I am teaching how to scrapbook! I am really looking forward to it. We have gone shopping a few times, now it is time to teach her how to use all the goodies we bought. May is "Teach a Friend to Scrapbook" month, why not share your love of a hobby (be it cardmaking or scrapping) with someone else? I always find it more fun to craft with a friend anyhow....

And speaking of crafting, I have been making some new CFH cards again. No rhyme or reason to what I have been making - just whatever mood strikes me. This is one of my recent favorites...

I used a penguin stamp from Rubber City River Works as the centerpiece of the card. The background is Cuttlebugged red paper. It was a simple card to put together, but I thought it was cute when it was done.

Here's another card that I made to fit a special size envelope that was donated to us at Cards for Heroes...

The images were printed from the Microsoft Design Gallery online. I used some paper that was YEARS old in my stash, and some baseball ribbon. Our son Zack plays baseball, so I can only imagine how excited some youngster will be getting this card from mom or dad serving overseas.
One more card, just for fun...

April was the month of the military child, so I used this adorable little owl and paper pieced a tree trunk for him to sit on. The sentiment is just done with my printer. Simple!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, I know mine will be spent enjoying our family, sorting CFH cards, and preparing for the Blog Hop memorial day weekend!

What goes on at my house....

Hi! I have been a bad blogger, but I am going to try to get into the habit of posting more. Between Facebook, Twitter, message boards...oy! Anyhow....

Lots going on around here these days! We had a big yard sale for our Relay for Life team (Lettuce Make A Difference) and it was a success! To date we have raised about $900 and we still have a few more items for sale online. We are hoping to raise over $1,000! I think we will hit our goal. Our Relay is June 13-14 at the Ashland MA Middle School. It's an important cause to all of us.

On another note, card sorting has been in FULL SWING at my house. I wanted to share some photos of what my dining room looks like when we are sorting cards to send to our heroes. Here's one....


Each stack with a band is 10 cards. The stacks are about 6 high, and go the whole way across my dining room table! These cards are packed in to the priority mail flat rate boxes, as seen in the background. Here's a little closer shot of some of the beautiful cards that people have sent in to me recently...


I am really looking forward to participating in the Cards for Heroes BlogHop. I guess I'll have to get cracking on my blog so I don't look LAME (I am one of the ORGANIZERS of the bloghop, after all). Please join us if you can!

More later - Zack is at baseball game and I need to get some dinner ready for when he gets home - I think we're having a veggie stir-fry tonight! YUM!

Happy Mother's Day to all! Night for now!