VCMP CHALLENGE #2: Hello, Stamp Pad; Hello, Paper Cutter

OWH VCMP CHALLENGE #2: MASCULINE NAUTICAL: A huge handful of M&Ms and a serious case of wanting to be on the OWH cruise making cards with a glass of wine nearby and I dared enter my craft room for the first time this year.

Masculine theme travel card challenge. Love this Heartfelt stamp and it only took me 3 tries to stamp it clean and twice messing up the watercoloring to decide to go clean. Aquapen will have to wait till Friday. I'm claiming to be a novice again, no it's my shipper duties, no, wait,..new dog...

OWH 4th of July Blog Hop- Holley's Vintage Challenge

Colored with Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and Staedler crayons! This is an Impression Obsession image - love all of their images but this one is a fav... Happy 4th of July everyone!

OWH Midweek Throwdown: Masculine Card

It's a "manly" card....images from a new stamp set in the Stampin' Up! Occasions mini book

Cards for Kids and Patterned Paper Challenges

OWH midweek throwdown was to create a card for troops to send home to their childen. Do You Stack Up has a patterned paper challenge and I finally got my new Top Note Sizzix die and figured out how do to the "quilt" thing = I love it when all the stars align. I love this sentiment for an "anytime" card to send home to your daughter (or young son....)

"Game Day Dozen" = Sunday's Cards

Scraps really will be "scraps of time" every Sunday during football season.. In fact if the Panthers keep playing such crappy football it might turn into more than a baker's dozen of cards that I plan to do each week during football season taking advantage of TV timeouts, half time etc. Here's the first batch = it's so easy to cut some cards and then use scraps and just mindlessly glue them onto "anytime" or some weeks probably holiday cards for the troops!

July 4th: The More Things Change The More They Stay the Same

It's the Independence Day Blog Tour!!! Click on the "title" above, and you will be magically transported to our website: Starsandstamps.org!

So it's a big 4-day holiday weekend for many of us! I love this new stamp wheel so I did a "Happy Birthday, USA" card instead of a more personal one. The Copic cabana is open again and today it's out on the deck in this gorgeous "finally not too hot" weather to color Sandy's "eagle" digistamps for Any Hero cards. Can't wait to see all the creativity on the "tour" this weekend!

"The more things change, the more they stay the same" .. it's kind of trite, I know, but as I was making some OWH cards yesterday it occurred to me that before the age of cellphones, computers, etc. the only thing our troops overseas had to keep in touch with loved ones was the mail -- letters and cards from home that sometimes took weeks to reach them, and handwritten notes back scribbled on whatever they could find.

This picture of my Dad and his mother, "Mam," was taken in 1943 during a leave from his duty station in Panama on the Pacific side of the canal. During WWII he was a quartermaster ensuring that much needed supplies were at the ready for ships refueling and restocking in the Pacific theater. Fortunately the supply lines stayed open. These soldiers never saw combat but the conditions --unrelenting heat and humidity, bugs and mosquitos, nasty water, very basic accommodations -- were similar to what so many of our heros face today. And our heros today still have one big thing in common with all those men and women who preceded them: wherever they are, and especially those stationed in remote outposts, they still depend on the mail for that "piece of home" they can hold onto and cherish. And loved ones at home still wait anxiously by the mailbox for a card or letter for the same reason. What has changed is that we are fortunate today to have the privilege and the capabilities to make that link to home easier for soldiers and sailors stationed around the world by sending them thousands of cards -- labors of love from our homes that become links of love to their families and friends at home. Have a safe and happy 4th and remember the heros!