Another scraplifted card

About every 6 weeks I receive Priority Boxes full of cute cards to include in my Cards for Soldiers shipment.  It's fun to look through them and see what ideas the talented Mountain/West time zone card makers have come up with.

Sadly, I do not remember which person sent some cards much like this one to me!  I just know it was so cute that I decided to scraplift it!  So, my apology to the originator!  If you see this and recognize your work, please leave a comment so I can give you credit!

So far today...

I cleaned house!  Not something I do a lot of since there's just me and Fred here.  But my house is cleaner than it's been in years since we just finished our remodeling projects and got new floor coverings so I'm trying to keep it that way!  LOL!

We have some long time friends coming to visit in June and for once, I don't want to have to kill myself cleaning and straightening up for two days before they arrive! 

I enjoyed looking around at Splitcoast Stampers for a while in between loads of laundry and got inspired to do these two simple cards.  They're blank inside and that way they can be used for any purpose.

Why I make cards

Whenever I post a new card on my blog, I get asked if it's for Cards for Soldiers or my personal stash.

With very few exceptions, all my cards are done to be contributed to Cards for Soldiers.  I do have a handful of my cards in a basket for my own use, but on the shelf below that basket are two APO Priority Mail boxes full of cards to send to the military.

About every 6 weeks we get a new challenge for CFS and I try to make no less than 150 and most of the time about 250-300 cards for each challenge.

I began cardmaking over three years ago.  At the time I was an avid quilter and had reached the point where I had no more room to store my quilts after they were finished.  I've been doing crafts since I was a child and so I looked around for something new to try.  I began making cards for charity and that's what I've been doing ever since.

Of course, our anniversary and other holidays means I make special cards for Fred and the grandkids.  And, I have two sisters and some friends that I make cards specifically for but everything else goes to charity.

It's been six months since I retired and making cards, going to stamp class and shopping for supplies has become my new "job".  I spend at least six hours a day making cards and when I decide on a layout for one, I make them six at a time.  If it's one I'm really happy with, I may make as many as 18 and divide them up so that many that are alike won't go to the same unit.

It's fun to do cards.  Each one is a new project, you can use so many kinds of techniques and embellishments and get instant gratification by seeing a project  finished.  I encourage everyone to make cards, whether for their own use or for donation.  And, I'd proudly accept your cards to include in the Cards for Soldiers shipments.

Today's Cards for Soldiers

It's been a struggle to keep making cards during our remodel job!  Who knew it would seem so unsettling to have your house turned upside down?  lol!  Today, the wood in the living room got painted and the house reeks from paint fumes.  My personal items are  in boxes, some stored in my husband's shop building and some stacked in different corners throughout the house.  Lucky for me, the kitchen and my craft room, although dusty, are totally intact, at least for now!

So, I forced myself to stay back here and concentrate on trying to relax and make cards.  I sure didn't come up with anything fancy!

Inside it says "but how do you mail a hug?"

The coffee cup is an image I colored with my Promarkers at stamp club.

I saw a card like this in the March issue of Cards magazine.

Another card based on one in Cards Magazine, March issue.

I made the sillouette card in blue also with a boy figure on it and did multiples of each of these designs, otherwise, I'd have had a major nervous breakdown while dodging the carpenters today!  LOL!

Cards for Soldiers

This is why we do the Cards for Soldiers.  A Cricut MB member mentioned that her son was in basic training in South Carolina.  She writes to him often and he told her that a lot of the guys in his unit didn't get mail from home. 

It was getting close to Valentine's day and I'd already sent a box of 350 cards to my unit overseas but I still had about 30 Valentine cards left over.  So, she sent me his address and I mailed them to him.

This is the thank you letter I got from him and 15 of the guys he's stationed with.

It meant a great deal to me that they took the time to let us know that they did appreciate receiving the cards to send to their sweethearts.



Request for cards

Recently I volunteered to become a shipper for the Cards for Soldiers group.  We all make and donate cards that are collected by shippers, packaged and mailed overseas to military units.

The number of cards being donated has dropped over the holidays and now WE NEED CARDS!

For each of our challenges I make 250-350 cards myself.  As a cardmaker, you can make any type of card you like and send it to me.  I will pack and ship them to one of three units.

Please consider making some cards for our soldiers.  It's one easy way to say "Thank You" to them and their families.

If you'd like any more information, just leave me a comment with your contact information and I'll get back with you as soon as possible.

Valentines #4

More Cards for Soldiers Valentines.

This paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle.  When I picked it up it seemed like the perfect paper to use for a Valentine project but when I started trying to come up with some other papers to go with it I drew a blank.  The grey looking strips of paper are actually a metallic grey, it's the back side of the heart print paper.

I think this one is my favorite out of the batch I've made today.  It's really simple and the black, white, red color combinination is one of my favorites.  I used a SU heart punch and then ran them through my Cuttlebug.

 I made two different color combinations of the coffee cup cards.  The cup is from the Savory
cartridge, steam is from Graphically Speaking.

It's more of the Little Yellow Bicycle paper.

Inside sentiment for the coffee cup cards.

A total cheater print card.  I liked the design but it was definitely made with a 12 x 12 page in mind.  I made myself a template with an opening that measures 5 1/2 x 4 1/4"  that I lay over these large designs to determine whether or not they'll work on a card front.  I just used a couple of SU punches and a tiny stamp to add the sentiment.

Stamp Club Cards

I sure didn't get much done at Stamp Club last night! LOL!  Three of the ladies surprised us all with a decorated cello bag full of chocolates as a Christmas gift and then we played a game and everyone got a prize.

My package contained a 1.5" Xyron create-a-sticker and a refill for it!  I've wanted to get one of these several times and always talk myself out of it!  Now, when I'm doing my cards and have those tiny pieces to adhere I can use the Xyron.

The game we played was fun.  There was a wrapped package handed to each of us and we were told to start passing them to the person next to us on our right side.  As Sue read a story to us, each time she said the word "left" or "right" we changed the direction.  At the end of the story, you kept whatever package you had in your hand.

It cause some laughs when Okie wound up with two packages at the end of the game!  She wasn't being greedy,  it was that we'd had two switches back to back and the person passing to her got a little confused.  I think she wound up tossing one of her packages across to Carol, who was empty handed.

When Okie opened her package, it was fate.  Inside were sheets of LADYBUG stickers!  LOL!

I had pre-cut some card elements and stamped some images at home yesterday afternoon to take to club since I tend to get distracted and not accomplish anything at all.  Here's one of the five cards I got completed.

The reason I did this particular card is that I have a lot of this awful bright yellow paper to use up.  I'd seen this color combination online and decided it was time to finally do something with this paper.  The background was run through the Cuttlebug, I used George to cut the squares and the stamp is from a retired SU set called Steppin' Style.  The image was colored with Promarkers.  I cut a slit in the card fold and threaded a ribbon through it for the bow.  The inside of the card will be left blank since it's going to Cards For Soldiers.

More Cards for Soldiers

Very simple cards using some of the paper that Okie ordered and shared with me.  She has some cards like these on her blog using Graphic 45 vintage images.

The old photo came from a Tim Holtz Lost and Found stack I picked up yesterday on our shopping trip. The button was made with the MS button punch.  I finally used my Just-Rite Stamp to print the sentiment.

Those stamps are some of the most useless things I have in this room to use!  What a pain in the behind to try and force those letters into the slots on the slippery round stamp base!

I decided to add some black photo corners onto this one.  Mama's old photo albums all had these on the pictures.



My old Martha Stewart butterfly punch gets used quite a bit.  Using the Cuttlebug on the butterflies really makes them stand out.  The edges of the papers and the butterflies were inked.

The sentiments on this one were just cout out from the paper.

A digital stamp was resized in my card maker software and punched out for this one.  I used two sizes of SU scallops for the base.



Same Santa with different paper

I like these stripes! The holly leaves came from the clip art CD that the Santa face is on.

Okay, I totally stole this from Okieladybug!

I was beginning to wonder if Okie was EVER going to post something on her blog for me to steal! LOL!

She knows I have no original ideas and I depend on her and other bloggers to point me in the right direction!

The printed paper is from a pack I found last year at Big Lots and the stamped images are some of the $1 Studio G's I've picked up at Michael's.

These are going into my Cards for Soldiers box.  I had to make something besides Christmas cards for a while!  LOL!

Christmas Cards for Soldiers

I've been making duplicates of cards that I already posted on my blog.  It seems that my time has gotten away from me and I'm down to the wire to get enough Christmas cards finished and ready to ship so they'll have plenty of time to get them and send them back home.

These turned out cute, and you can whip out a lot of them in no time.  I may have to do some of these for our cards this year!

The first one I made was the one with the circle and it was just too plain.  I thought it didn't look enough like a package and so I modified it just a little and added the bow.

Cards for Soldiers

The butterfly cards were inspired by a photo on the Splitcoast Stampers website.  The pink one is made with SU Pixie Pink cardstock.  When I ordered this I thought I'd be getting a softer pink.  The color is a definite reminder of Pepto Bismol!  LOL!

The sentiment is an old stamp I've had forever.  I used a CB die to cut the large butterfly and then ran it through the Divine Swirls folder for texture.  The smaller butterflies are MS punches.  I used a SU border punch on the pink one and a Fiskars on the purple one.  The white cardstock base was just too stark looking so I just added some tiny dots with a SU marker to break it up.

The pink card has doodle dots (love that word!) done with a white Signo pen and the purple one has some inking on the scalloped circle behind the butterfly.

Christmas Cards for Soldiers

The flowers on this are from Michael's wedding department.  I colored them red with my SU red marker and added some gold stickles in the centers.

Now they sort of look like a Poinsettia, don't they?

They're mounted on a 2 3/8" scallop circle.

The bears came from a clip art CD and were colored with BIC markers.  I'll be so happy when my Promarkers arrive!

The tag is from Very Merry Tags cut at 2 1/2".

The background is a CB folder that Okie gave me last time we were together.

These are the flowers I used.  You can see below how they turn out when you color them.  In the example below I just put a brad in the center rather than using the Stickles.

These are so much more economical than using Primas.  I love the Primas but they just aren't in my budget since I make so many cards!

Cards for Soldiers

 I'm still fighting with Blogger to do any uploads.

Super simple card, just a stamped image on a tag with some cotton yarn tied onto it.

This one is SU paper, a couple of wall stickers, a little ribbon and a row of flowers I cut with the Cricut.  The centers of the flowers were punched with a SU Itty Bitty punch.

Christmas cards for soldiers

This paper pack was picked up at Hobby Lobby and I have used the heck out of it this past week!  For a pack that only has 60 pages in it, I've already finished over 75 cards using the paper and have a lot of pages left.

Here are three of the cards that I've finished.  One of the patterned papers in this pack has holiday images that are 2" square so they fit great on the tags I cut with my Cricut.





The sentiment was printed on my computer, then I used a SU scallop punch on the strip and added some red dots with my SU marker.

Of course I had to ink the edges of the card or Okie would have really dinged me about not doing that!

The heart images are one of the preprinted squares in the pack.  I just added a red bow, inked the edges and mounted it on the card with some of my home made pop dots.

These cards are super simple to make but I'll still be proud to donate them for CFS.  As I've said before, I try to limit the amount of embellishments that are on the card front so they won't get damaged in the mail.

About every 6 weeks the Cards for Soldier group will announce a new challenge.  I committed to making 250 cards for the current challenge and have met my goal.  The majority of the cards are holiday type and I'm just about burned out on making them so it's time for me to switch gears and go back to making something different.

So, I can put away the Christmas themed paper, for now, and start looking for some inspiration for another type of card.

I encourage all cardmakers to pick a charity and donate some cards!