OWH Cards for September

I've been a busy little bee making cards for Operation Write Home, and I just accumulate them until I have enough to send. Some are from sketches on their website; some are sketches from a creative friend of mine; some just created themselves from bits of what I have on hand. I probably should pick a design and make a couple dozen of the same thing for efficiency's sake; but I have too much fun trying new things. I just packaged these up today to ship:

Plus this pretty card from my sweet and talented friend Norma Anne (I have to ask her how she tied that gorgeous, tangly gold thread):

And Saturday, October 1, OWH is hosting a blog hop to celebrate World Cardmaking Day. Go make a card! And if you don't know what to do with it, send it to OWH to bring a smile to the face of a soldier and his or her family.

A Touch of Color

For the past several years, we've had in mind that we would be moving; but the right opportunity hasn't presented itself yet, and we do have a small mortgage and a livable house in a decent, if modest, neighborhood. So we haven't bought new furniture or done any redecorating in a long time. I'm more than a little bored with white walls and status quo! Several months ago I bought these cute "lessons" post cards at a local wildlife rescue center. Among the lessons? It's OK to be a little nuts (from a squirrel). Spread seeds of joy (from a wildflower). Take thyme for yourself (from a garden). Michael's had a big sale on frames and I bought 3 simple ones, backed the post cards with cardstock, and hung them in the bedroom interspersed with 2 Donna Downy foam stamps I always thought were pretty enough to hang. The photo angle is off because I had to stoop down to avoid a reflection, but they make me smile every time I wake up and see them!

Now if we could just find somewhere nice to move to with a craft room for me, I could hang them there! And I will DEFINITELY not have white walls in MY room!

OWH Eyelet Challenge

We R Memory Keepers is sponsoring a contest at OWH to make a card using eyelets. I made this Cricut cut a couple weeks ago when I got the new Paper Lace cartridge, intending to use it on a card; but it was too plain and needed something. This challenge made me think of eyelets -- you know -- those things we all like the look of and forget to use? Little brass eyelets were just the accents the shape needed, and the card came together.

Contest deadline is Friday, Sept. 9, and there's a Crop-a-Dile prize -- here's the link: OWH Birthday Bash

Not only do I enjoy making cards for our servicemen to use, but the OWH blog has so many great card-making ideas that I sometimes don't know which idea to try first!

Postcard from Costa Rica

Lindsey spent five weeks this summer studying Spanish Conversation and Grammar at Veritas College in San José, Costa Rica. From the pictures she posted on Facebook, she also got to do a lot of sightseeing and having fun with her fellow students  -- waterfalls, mountains, beaches and some beautiful city sights. And apparently parasailing! She sent me a postcard because she KNEW I'd scrap it! Hah! Whatever gave her that idea?


The photos worked perfectly with my challenge sketch for my monthly scrap class. I knew I wanted a bright, colorful LO like the beautiful Costa Rican cart wheels and was thinking of making the large circle a cart wheel. After trying and discarding a number of ideas, I found a Cricut cut (Paper Lace cartridge) that looked a whole lot like the cathedral windows instead. There is tiny journaling along the rim of each "wheel" as to what and where.

I couldn't decide which side of the postcard to feature. The text of Lindsey's card makes perfect journaling, but in the end I used the picture side. First I scanned the text side, then pasted it beneath the postcard, hinged the top, and made a "lift" tab with a lizard stamped in copper and a heart. 

What a wonderful adventure for Lindsey! She is doing a more complete scrapbook of her adventures in Costa Rica; and I can't wait to see her pages when I see her this Fall!

You Never Know

You never know when you will see someone for the last time. In June I took my granddaughter Ashlyn, my daughter-in-law Angela and her mother Joanne (I call her my granny-in-law) to the scrapbooking class I take every month from my good friend Lynn. We had a great time.

Last Friday, I brought Joanne here and I showed her how to make cards. She made two birthday cards and a thank you card and was pleased with the results. We spent a really delightful couple hours together. I brought her home and told her to be a good girl -- she laughed.

Sometime during the night Monday/Tuesday, Joanne passed away unexpectedly at home. Oh, she had been ill, had lost a lot of weight, and was heavily medicated; but she was in good spirits and seemed to be improving and looking forward to a number of things. We buried her today.

Here's the photo Lynn snapped, as she often does. Joanne is the lady on the right in turquoise. It made her family happy to see she had been having a good time so recently. And it made me remember something I believe, which is to never miss a chance to tell someone you care or to pass along a compliment or a happy thought.

Name That Leftover

One day last week when we couldn't cram one more thing in the freezer, we played a rousing game of Name That Leftover. We always freeze leftovers in single servings, and I used to be good about putting them in labeled freezer bags, but got lazy about it this past year. Jack is the master sniffer, and bears the brunt of smell-testing the things that look alike.

Me: "Does this smell like spaghetti or chili?"
Jack: "Spaghetti. No, wait, I see beans. Chili."

Me: "What do you think this is?"
Jack: "I've never seen that before."

Me: "How old is this meat loaf?"
Jack: "Are you sure that's meat loaf?"

Everything got thrown out, labeled or eaten. And now -- most important -- we have room for ice cream!

Addicted to Cards!

I am totally addicted to making cards for Operation Write Home! So today I decided I needed to halt somewhere and send off what I have to OWH before I make any more. Yikes! I've made almost 50 cards in the last month or so! Here's what's going out in this batch, along with the lovely cards my scrappy friends made at a recent crop:

General theme:

More general. The silver squares are pieces of a coffee can liner embossed in the Cuttlebug and matted. Don't you feel smug when you do something thrifty and crafty like that?

Love theme:

Miss You and Thinking of You themes:

Thank You and Congrats themes. I feel good about the butterfly thank you too. I cut a circle for a layout a while back before I realized I ran out of paper and it was flat on one edge, so I threw it in the scrap bin. Later I used it to cut out a butterfly, and threw it back in the bin. I fished it out and flattened the other end, backing it with patterned paper, and I think it made a pretty cute card!

Birthday:

So much is fun about this! I use up paper scraps that are taking up way too much room. I use odds and ends I would never otherwise have a use for -- test Cricut cuts, test stamping and paper piecing, experimental water color and embossing, stickers and embellishments I've acquired that I really have no use for. There's a lot of freedom in making a card:.and it doesn't take as much planning and angst and second-guessing as a layout. Best of all, I can hope that I'm giving someone, somewhere a smile!