Rubber Room Stampin'

CARDS FOR OUR TROOPS: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24th

If you live in the Sonora California area and want to take part in a fun, rewarding, beneficial 'task', please come on up to My Country Loft Studio in Mi Wuk Village and join me in converting hundreds of card fronts into full cards to send to our troops for them to send to family members back home. We did this last year and converted over 300 cards within 5-6 hours.  We were machines and had a great time as such!

Wednesday, August 24th, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  Please bring a bag lunch.  I'll provide beverages and dessert.

I'll have all necessary supplies on hand.  You just supply the energy and man-power---or it that woman-power?

Above:  collection #1 of card fronts for conversion.

Enticement:  take a card front for your own ideas or use for every 20 cards you convert.

Call me if you need directions.  I look forward to working together for this great service to our country.

OPERATION WRITE HOME HIT A HOME RUN!

Four of 'my' Mi Wuk Stampers came over on Tuesday to help me turn lemons into lemonade.....or more realistically, card fronts from the past year or two or even three into full cards.  Before they arrived I prepped several inches of Whisper White and Very Vanilla cardstocks, complete with scoring the fold line.  Then we all attached the card fronts to the card bases and voila---full cards.

Gloria, Sue, Margie, and Rose

Sue, second from left, insisted that I be in a picture so.....I'm in the next photo.

Gloria, Blythe and Margie

When we were finished we had a box of nearly 350 all purpose greeting cards:

And after everyone had gone, I checked them to be sure we had no cards with glitter on them and then bundled them in to groups of 20 so they'd fare better in the shipping box.

When all cards were packed up, we had 437 cards, about 90 of which were Christmas cards.  Those were wrapped up separately and identifed as such.  The Christmas cards need to be in Operaton Write Home's hands by late October.

And finally:  the 'bone yard':

Yes, I used both (contraband) Tombow and Stampin' Up!'s SNAIL adhesive.

Next week I'll be shipping the cards off to one of Operation Write Home's shipping locations, this one in Federal Way, Washington.  While reading some details on their website last night, I realized that I should be putting a label on the back of each card---so I'll do that before they're mailed.  The label will look like this:

If you have any questions on how YOU can bundle up some cards to send to Operation Write Home, feel free to ask me or check their website here.  OWH can always use contributions to use toward postage and envelopes in case you don't have actual cards you can send.

This was a great way to utilize card front samples that I'd received in swaps either on line or at Stampin' Up! events like Convention, a Regional Seminar, or a Leadership seminar.  These card fronts seemed to be multiplying in their boxes and they were overtaking my shelves.

See you soon.  Thanks for stopping by.  :)

 

PLEASE, TAKE JUST A FEW MINUTES TO HONOR OUR VETERANS

I hope you'll join me in listening to this thoughtful video sent to me by my sister-in-law this morning.  I found it on YouTube of course. 

Take just a few minutes to honor those who have done their duty to save the lands we live on.

Thank you,

PS--I have no idea why the video is showing up twice.  I'm checking with Typepad Tech Help next.  The second video doesn't show on my 'work copy'.  Oh well---I guess it's because it's such an important message.

FATHER'S DAY GATHERING 'UP'

I hope you were able to give some thought yesterday to all of the different father figures in your life.  I know I did.  My dad has been gone for over ten years but I did some thinking about times and events we shared over my life with him.  Then I thought about my son with his 4-1/month old son, my son-in-law with his 3 little ones.  And my husband received phone calls from both of his sons.  Nice. 
 
During all this thinking I finally attacked my storage boxes of CARD FRONTS that I've received at Stampin' Up! conventions, group meetings, on-line swaps, extras from classes, etc. so that today, Monday, I could mail them off to Cards for Heroes.  I sorted them out, making sure that I set aside all cards with glitter (it's a big no-no for CFH) on them.  I've been wanting to do this since I participated in their Blog Tour in May and now I feel as if I've honored my commitment and desire:  to do something positive with cards that are just hiding, more or less, in the closet!  There are more than 300 card fronts, plus maybe 50 finished cards with envelopes, in my sealed box.  Sorry I sealed it before I thought to take a photo!

Please click on the Cards for Heroes button in the right sidebar for more information on the organization.  Or just click here. 

CARDSIGNINGS ACROSS THE U.S.A. : REMEMBER THE TROUPS!

Swarovski Crystals is partnering with Cards for Heroes for the next couple weeks to get 30,000 cards signed! They're gorgeous cards with a little crystal bling added to them . . . and about 150 cards are at each of their store locations til July 4th to be signed by customers. (Some of the stores have a sweet deal offering a free tshirt with purchase, check and see if yours does!) The signing is free—so please take your friends and family with you. Email them about it too! Click  ---> here <---to search for a store location near you!  (The store closest/most convenient to me is in the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton CA.)

CARDS FOR HEROES--A Card Challenge for YOU!

You might recall that I participated in a Blog Hop for Cards For Heroes on May 23rd.  I participated because

• I think this is a wonderful cause
  
• Our soldiers deserve our support
• I have so many cards that I've received in swaps just waiting to go somewhere

I would like to encourage you to participate as well.  First let me tell you the mission of Cards for Heroes:  To support our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them.

What can you do?  You can donate cards or funds for postage.  Please check their website 'donate funds page' for details and verification.  This is truly a grassroots organization of dedicated volunteers.  Be watching for a button located on the right side of my blog---as soon as I figure out how to upload it.  It's different than those I usually use.

You can also join me in a challenge:

25+2 Challenge

Summary: Make 25 cards for our nation's heroes to write home on! It's a do-able goal for a busy summer schedule...if everyone did 25, CFH would likely have enough to get through summer! Then add 2 cards to it: one AnyHero card, and one AnyHero birthday card for a deployed service member who needs some birthday cheer!  You can either mail your completed cards to me and I'll forward them to Cards For Heroes or you can mail your cards directly to them:

Cards for Heroes, 35205 13th Place SW, Federal Way, WA. 98023

Here's a refresher on the card I made:

I received 86 comments on my card so..........I'm joining Lisa, a fellow Blog Tour member,  in donating 1 card for every comment received.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  I think this is an important post and an important mission.  The individuals we're honoring are doing their job, in unsavory conditions, in unsavory locations and it seems to be the least we can do in showing them respect.