MFT Let's Picnic

My Favorite Things is a generous supporter of Operation Write Home.  One of their lines of stamps is called "Who's that Guy/Girl?" and features characters with their faces either cut off or obscured by an object.  They're a versatile way to add to your stamp collection because they could resemble almost anyone you know and they come with numerous sentiments.  

Stamps- My Favorite Things Let's PicnicPaper- We R Memory Keepers Fiesta
Ink- Versafine and Memento
Glossy Accents
Flowers with gems- Michael's dollar bin

 

 

Earlier this week, Allison posted some cards using this We R Memory Keepers Fiesta paper which reminded me that I'd barely touched my stack, so I decided to dive into it this week.  

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Using up some DCWV

I don't really like this paper all that much, but I made a pile of cards from it.  I wonder if I don't use my least favorite papers just for the sake of the challenge!  

This one could benefit from a sentiment or some other embellishment on the blue.  I haven't decided yet what I should add. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Cast your cares on the Lord

This piece of Me and My Big Ideas paper has been in my stash for a long time.  I think I got it from a friend in 2007, so it was time to use it up for some masculine cards.  I cut it into 12 strips, paired it with some Bazzill card stock and an ODBD sentiment, and created a dozen of these cards for my next OWH box.  It's a very simple card, but the texture of the Bazzill and the visual texture of the patterned paper make it look a little more special than it would otherwise be.  

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

OWH Sketch #157

I really liked today's Sunday Sketch, created by Katie, so it was easy to slip into the craft room for a few minutes to make this card.  I made some small changes, like making an extra border around the image and making the stripes wider.  It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you must follow a sketch to the letter.  If you allow yourself the freedom to make some tweaks, you will find that it's easier to use the sketch each week, especially if your supplies are limited.  Here, I left off the ribbon because it would have cut across my image in a strange way.  I compensated for that by adding a sentiment circle.  Don't forget to have fun with the sketches and put your own stamp on them!  (Pun intended.)  

The soldier stamp is by Our Daily Bread Designs and is one I purchased after I won a gift certificate a few months ago.  I love all of the details and the fact that it looks just as good plain as colored.

Go ahead and post your own version of Sketch #157!
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Snowman Love

I will eventually stop making Christmas and winter cards.  For right now, that's where my mojo is, so I'm going with it and just setting these aside for much later in the year. 

This is just a simple sheet of patterned paper layered with several mats.  The embellishment is formed from a paper punch, sentiment stamp, and heart gem that I recolored from pale pink with a B39 Copic to coordinate with the navy mat.  I'm tempted to go back and color the noses orange but I am not convinced it won't look silly.  Thoughts? 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

FWF Love Every Inch

I haven't posted anything for Unity's Friends with Flair in a long, long time.  I made this card on Thursday when I was home from work on a snow day and I realized I could link up this week!

Papers are by The Paper Studio.   This is one more card for my Operation Write Home box.  :)


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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

OWH Sketch #148

I started this card around Christmas when I was visiting my parents but I waited to finish it until today when I found my package of tags.   This is OWH Sketch #148. 

I used papers from the Arctic Wishes mat stack, a Fiskars border punch, and a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder.  A little ink, a few embellishments, and the card was finished. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Sending My Love Bird

In the never-ending battle to whittle down my paper stash, I cut several sheets of K & Co paper to make 6 of these cards.  It's not from a sketch but just what seemed to work with the elements I wanted to include.  

We had a snow day today, so I was lucky to be able to make these and several other cards on my unexpected day off!

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Happy Easter!

This week's Midweek Throwdown is to create an Easter card.  I won't be sending another box before that deadline, so I just made one card.  It'll go in my box to hold for next year.  I keep a box with dividers where I store cards after deadlines have passed.  Often, I'll make a few cards close to the holiday because I'm inspired but I might not have recipients for all of them.  Rather than send the cards late and force my shipper to store them, I keep them myself. 

I used some really old paper that I'd cut to A2 size years ago.  The cardstock pieces were all in the A2 pile or scrap pile as well. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

A few very early Christmas cards!

Jen challenged OWHers to create at least 5 Christmas cards a month for OWH so that we'll have a stash built up when they start asking for Christmas cards in mid-summer.  (Please hold onto your cards until then as we don't want to overwhelm shippers with cards to store now!)

I bought two large stacks of Christmas papers on clearance so I'd be prepared for this year's cards (and probably several years after that as well given that they both have 180 sheets).  I focused on the large images on certain pages when I made these cards.  They were super simple to put together, so I was able to make 32 cards in just two evenings.  :)  Several were inspired by Paula's Boot Camp on Colors!

Complementary Colors

Monochromatic

Complementary Colors

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Green Challenge

I made this card using patterned paper from American Crafts, one of their stamps, and a Inkadinkado stamp.

The Midweek Throw Down is to use green on our cards.  This card's about half green, so I'm going to count it! 

If you haven't had a chance yet, check out my "for sale" page (link at the top of the page).  I'm clearing out some SU items and other stamps, too.  Make me an offer!

Thanks for visiting!
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Mickey birthday

One of my coworkers likes Disney, so when I needed to make a birthday card for her, I knew I wanted to use this embossing folder.  I went with Mickey colored cardstock and kept it simple because the image was so large that it was hard to do much else.  It's a little easier to see in person; my photograph washes it out almost entirely. 

Has anyone had any luck coloring this type of embossed image?  I tried a few times (using markers) and the ink bled terribly since the paper fibers were compromised from the embossing. I've since given up, but I would like to know if there's an easy way to color these in. 

Have a lovely day! 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

OWH Sketch #155

This is a complete CASE from this week's sample Sunday Sketch card on the OWH blog.   I think the sample was made by Sandy, but I'm not positive.

While it's not a card for kids, 8-year-old me would have loved this card!  I was obsessed with teal and hot air balloons at that age.  Ah, nostalgia!

In other news, this is my 500th post on this blog since its inception in December 2010.  Wow!

And a little "commercial," if you will: there's a new page linked at the top of my blog where I'm selling some items from my craft room.  Click on "for sale" to see what's available now. 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

OWH Sketch #152

This sketch, from a few weeks ago, was one I didn't have the chance to complete when it was first posted because I was away from home for Christmas vacation.  I'm catching up, so I'm posting a set of cards made with that sketch.  I found a fun K & Co complete scrapbook pack at TJMaxx.  I had wanted some baby papers for a while and this set was priced right.  Better still, it came with several sheets of die cuts that I could use for cards.  All of the images on these cards come from those sheets.

P.S.- Check out the new page (above near the title of my blog) for some bargains.  I'm selling some things I no longer use. 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

No sentiment floral cards

This week's Midweek Throwdown is to make cards without sentiments.  This is SO hard for me!  I love my sentiment stamps and I never feel like a card is totally finished until it has a sentiment.  It is, however, important to leave our heroes plenty of options when they write home.  The cards below could be used for any occasion- birthday, thinking of you, thanks, sympathy, love, wedding, etc, so they're absolutely perfect for OWH.  When I spotted these Martha Stewart stickers today, I thought they would work well as focal points on sentiment-free cards.

I made six cards from the pack of stickers, half with yellow and the other half with orange cardstock scraps from the heap on my desk that needs to be wrangled!

  

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Fishing

Always searching for good manly stamps, I got this fishing creel stamp with lures and religious sentiments from ODBD.   I kept the design simple this time and didn't color.  Next time, I think I'll attempt coloring the image to add some flair! 

I used the Sizzix/Tim Holtz burlap embossing folder to mimic the basket weave.  I struggled with where I could place a sentiment on this card; the ones that came in the set were rather large to use once I'd cut the main image out.  I could have stamped them inside, but I prefer to leave the inside of cards blank for our heroes.  Plus, this card could be sent for any occasion because I didn't put a certain sentiment inside. 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

ODBD Missing Home

Does this card look like a Christmas card?  That wasn't my intention, by as I put it together, I felt like it ended up screaming Christmas.  That bummed me out because I was so thrilled that I had actually colored something!  It should probably have some sort of sky but I didn't know where to start on that, so I left it alone for fear of ruining it. 

 The image stamp is by ODBD and the sentiment is from a $1 clear set by Studio G. 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Pastel Power

I made several spring and Easter cards using these old pastel MM papers.  The pack is nearly gone, hooray!

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Patriotic Missing You

This imagr stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs.  Isn't it lovely?  I got it as a prize for posting a card in November's challenge.  Be sure to check out January's challenge (dry embossing) and post a card to help OWH get some shipping funds from ODBD.

The sentiment stamp is from Paper Smooches' Circle of Honor set.  This set is a fundraiser for OWH with part of the proceeds going to OWH. 

Sketch #146

Sketch #134

Sketch #145

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

A pair of cards

I used up some scraps of the blue papers I've been using recently to put together these two cards.  

 Scrappy backgrounds are one of my favorites!

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None thus far, but I will be mailing a box of 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero notes this week!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero (as of 10/9)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Nerdy, like me!

By day, I'm a math teacher, so when I saw this patterned paper by TPC Studios with calculators, rulers, and protractors, I was immediately sold.  I only wish I'd gotten some before the school year started because I might have had time to whip up some awesome room decor with it.

Paired with these awesome stamps by Unity Stamp Co, this card just screams my name.  Hopefully a hero will also know someone who would appreciate this card!

 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Sunday Sketch #154

Here's the first sketch of 2013!  This is sketch #154, available on the OWH blog.  The new year also meant a change for the OWH Sketch mistress.  Julie is "retiring" and moving on to other things.  Marlene is taking the lead on sketches this year.  The other change is that now the sketches will be created based on cards that are already posted to OWHers blogs.  That's some incentive to make awesome cards and post them!  (Previously, Julie invented the sketches and had volunteers make samples.)

Did you complete all of the 2012 sketches?  Do you have a goal for this year?  I have just a couple left from last year that I haven't completed quite yet.  I'll definitely do all of the sketches this year, too.  They're a fun way to get started if you're stuck with no mojo! 

I used scraps of a variety of TPC Studios papers.  The die cut is a Sizzlit that I almost never use, but it seemed fitting for the central element of this card.  The stamp is from an old SU set. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

A Productive Saturday

I hadn't spent a long stretch being crafty in quite some time, so today I let loose and whipped up 51 cards.  My box was nearly ready to go to OWH shipper Kris before my crafting session.  When it was over, I could barely get the box closed!  It will be at the P.O. on Monday.  The box is loaded up with 340 blank cards and 140 AnyHero letters written by my 8th graders.  The letters turned out better this year than last, I think, in part because I shrunk the pages down to be just a half sheet of paper so the kids weren't overwhelmed with too much writing space and too much to color in the time we can allot for the project. 

I made 15 or so of this card which will be perfect for our heroes to send home to children.  Or their dogs.  Whichever!  :)  I might make some for my next box, too, since I have 25 sheets of that patterned paper. 

This was a unique card made from scraps on my desk and OWH Sketch #143. 

Have you had a productive craft session lately?  I hope so! 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Dry Embossing- January ODBD Challenge

January's ODBD challenge is to use dry embossing.  I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder on the background and used some brown cardstock that came pre-embossed with stripes when I made this love card.

Each month, ODBD sponsors the cost of shipping two boxes of cards to our heroes if we are able to post 50 cards meeting the monthly challenge.  Please support Our Daily Bread Designs as they are so generous in their support of our heroes.  I recently got my first sets of stamps from them and I can tell you the stamps are high quality cling mounted (purple!) rubber and the shipping was prompt.  :)

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None thus far, but I will be mailing a box of 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero notes this week!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero (as of 10/9)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Got the Blues?

I was having some trouble getting stamps in this set from TPC Studios to ink until I pulled out my Staz-on.  When I started stamping, I had no idea how many kinds of ink existed, or that they all had a specific purpose.  :)

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None thus far, but I will be mailing a box of 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero notes this week!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero (as of 10/9)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

You're Fintastic

I bought a collection of Stampin Up stuff from a coworker last month which included this rare mermaid stamp.  It's a great image to color and I have very few images this size, so I'm thrilled to be able to add it to my collection.

One more kid card for Sandy's challenge!  This makes 6. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None thus far, but I will be mailing a box of 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero notes this week!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero (as of 10/9)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Delightful!

Mom got me a scoring board for Christmas.  I scored a grid on the white paper onto which I stamped solid stamps.  

SU inks and stamps, random cardstock, Whisker Graphics Twine

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None thus far, but I will be mailing a box of 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero notes this week!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero (as of 10/9)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Flowers MWT

Although joining in OWH challenges was not one of the 2013 card making goals I set, it's been in the back of my mind that I've been slacking in this department since about mid-November.

Here's a flower card for the Midweek Throwdown.  I used an old Cuttlebug die for the flowers, inspired by several cards featuring flower dies I've seen lately.

Rachel G. set a goal to include more details/embellishments on her cards.  I thought that was an awesome goal and it caused me to add the gems to the sentiment panel and Glossy Accents to the flower centers.  Thanks, Rachel, for the inspiration! 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None thus far, but I will be mailing a box of 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero notes this week!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero (as of 10/9)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Winter Wishes

I bought some Christmas papers on clearance after the holiday so I can be ready for next year's cards.  OWH has early deadlines for holidays to accommodate the mail transit time necessary for cards to reach shippers, be sorted, travel overseas, reach heroes, and return to the USA.  This means that holiday papers and embellishments don't always hit store shelves before the deadlines.  I didn't get a new pack of Christmas paper to use this year because it wasn't in stores, so I'm setting aside what I just bought for summer.  I did sneak a few sheets to use now, though!

This card is based on OWH Sketch 144!  Since Sandy has challenged us to make at least 20 kids cards, I made 5 of these and used up all of the papers with the seal from the pack. 


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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None just yet, but there will be 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero cards in the mail this week!  
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

2013 Card Making Goals

One year ago, I posted about my card making goals for 2012.   I'm back to recap my progress and set new goals. 

2012 Goals:
1. I want to do every OWH sketch this year. Past and upcoming sketches together, that will be just over 150 sketches. I nearly met this one, but I missed the last few due to being away from home for the holidays.  I'll get them done ASAP and report back. 
2. I want to color at least 20% of my cards because I need to develop this skill. This will be hard to track, but can be a guiding percentage as I craft.  This definitely didn't happen.  I'm just more attracted to papers than stamped images, I guess.  I did color more than I had in the past, and I can see some improvement in my coloring. 
3. I want to include at least 1 AnyHero card for every 50 cards I make. I'm often so into the crafting that I neglect to write special messages for our heroes. I sent over 200 Any Hero cards, most of which were written by my 8th grade students as part of their service learning. 
4. Purge then organize my craft room. I saw my aunt's space over the holidays and was enamored with her very organized space.  My mom visited me in the summer and we tackled this project together.  See the post here. 

With most of my 2012 goals met, I'm looking ahead to 2013.  Here are a few things I'd like to accomplish:
1. Submit for a publication.  I'm not going to say "get published" because that's not something I can actively control, but I can make sure I actually submit something. 
2. Continue with the OWH sketches.  We'll have 200 by the end of the year, but I won't feel the need to start over at #1 this year like I did in 2012. 
3. Put no less than 5 AnyHero notes in each box I ship.  I'll be writing in memory of my great uncle, a WWII veteran who passed away at the end of 2012. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.