Midweek Throwdown Color Challenge

The December 19th throwdown challenged OWH card makers to make cards using the colors red, white & blue for our heroes to send home to their family and friends.  You can see the challenge here:  http://operationwritehome.org/midweek-throwdown-color-challenge-5/ 

Yesterday the world didn't end, as promised by the Mayans, but my ATG gun did meet its maker, so I decided to post something red, white and blue that was already in my box.  

Solid colored cardstock and a patriotic heart which I pre-colored using Microsoft Paint make this an All American card that I hope a hero will enjoy sending home.

 

 

December 2012 Our Daily Bread Challenge

My participation in Operation Write Home's various challenges has been lacking, but what has been lacking even more is my creative juices since I went back to work at the beginning of November.  It is as if working in special education preschool sucks the life right out of my "MOJO".  I don't know if it is because I use it all up at work or because I come home physically exhausted.  To solve this dilemma, I have set up various challenges for myself which arrive periodically via email, using www.memotome.com.  If you are not familiar with this web site, you're in for a treat.  For FREE they will send you email reminders for anything.  You decide how often they should come, the date and the time, etc.  Anyway, once per month it is now set up to remind me to participate in the Our Daily Bread challenge. This challenge is important because if we reach a certain number of cards, Our Daily Bread will donate the cost of postage to ship one box of Operation Write Home's cards to our deployed heroes, up to two per month.

Anyway, this month's challenge was easy for me.  We were challenged to make a card using flowers.  You can see the challenge here, as well as other entries:  http://operationwritehome.org/odbd-december-challenge/  There is glitter on the card, which is normally forbidden, but the glitter I use is in the form of Tulip Fabric Paint, which does not rub off at all.  I like this particular "believe" stamp.  One could take it as a religious meaning, but my take on it is that it reminds me of the scene in the movie "Polar Express", and is more of an expression of hope.

July "Our Daily Bread" Challenge - Think Cool

Each Month "Our Daily Bread" sponsors Operation Write Home for the shipping costs of up to two priority mail boxes.  These boxes containing blank greeting cards are sent to deployed service members all over the world.  For every 25 cards posted to the challenge site, the organization will cover the cost of one box.  I like to participate in the challenges when I can.

This month, with all of the heat waves and wild fires, the challenge is to think "Cool".  We are supposed to use cool colors and think cool thoughts while creating our entry, which in turn will become part of our donation to Operation Write Home.

A friend of mine from high school, Deena Oshins Newell has a son, Michael Oshins, who loves to create snowman comics. www.snowmencomic.blogspot.com I had admired his work for quite a while before approaching him with the idea of using his work on my Operation Write Home cards.  When I asked for permission, he didn't hesitate to get involved.  His comics on my cards provides some comic relief to  the service members and their families as they keep in touch during their trying times.

Anyway, here's my entry into July's "Our Daily Bread" challenge, using cool colors and Michael's creation.  The tag on top is what I put on the back of each card I create using his work.

Under the definition of life sucks...

It must be surgery season. A couple of weeks ago my sister in-law in Washington had knee surgery. A couple of days ago my husband's uncle in Arizona had back surgery. Next Tuesday my sister, who lives about 25 minutes away, is having foot surgery. Normally, I would want to be there to help her recover, but unfortunately I will be having shoulder surgery three days after my sister's surgery.

Laura and I have agreed on two things regarding this:
1) Life sucks because we are not going to be able to help each other through our expected to be long recuperations.
2) As soon as both of us are somewhat mobile and can travel a bit, we will meet up for lunch somewhere and let other people wait on us. Let's hope we can do this by Memorial Day.

I wanted to do something to let my sister know I was thinking of her, so I sent her a card a few days ago. I had to wait until she received it before posting.

Good luck, Laura!

Stars & Stamps - Thinking of You - Challenge

This week Operation write Home's Stars & Stamps challenge is to make Thinking of You cards for our heroes to send home to their family and friends! I made this card to meet the challenge. The digi was colored in Prisma pencil, and blended with sweet baby powdered scented baby oil. The paper is from an old scrap donated by the Crop Soup meetup group.

ODBD April Challenge

Our Daily Bread designs will sponsor postage costs for up to two boxes of greeting cards for deployed service members if enough people enter their monthly challenge via Operation Write Home. This month's challenge is to make a card with an animal on it.

It takes me forever to make cards with my "shredded wheat" of a shoulder, but fortunately I already had a digi colored, and am proud to be able to participate in this challenge.

A Challenge upon a Challenge

When I started physical therapy for a rotor cuff injury, my physical therapist told me I should give up making cards for now because it physically hurt me to use the paper cutter, punches, ATG gun, etc. It was hard to do because I've been "addicted" to making cards for Operation Write Home for a couple of years now. Due to a recent fall, details of which I won't go into here, my shoulder worsened, and I ended up with a new orthopedist who told me "You've got to start moving that shoulder". What I heard him say, in the style of Charlie Brown's teacher was "Making cards would be excellent moving that shoulder therapy." It hurts. Sometimes more than at other times, depending on what I am doing. It can take several trips to the crafting table, followed by ice, to get a card done, but I am learning some tricks to make the process easier, such as standing when I use the paper cutter and large punches.

In an effort to do my daily Card Therapy and to help OWH receive some free shipping, I decided to play along with the Our Daily Bread challenge: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2012/03/march-odbd-challenge.html

It may not be the best card I've made, but a challenge upon a challenge is a challenge!

Sparkle & Shine in the new year

What a poor little neglected blog this turned out to be! Hopefully I will do a little better in 2012, but no promises. I tend to say it all in my little blurbs I post on Facebook.

With the withdrawal from Iraq, we have been told that Operation Write Home doesn't need as many of our cards as it used to, but until all the deployed service members are home, there will be a need for our cards. That's good, because the number of cards I made in the past year was substantially lower than the year before. I go through periods of time when I am feeling very creative, then others when I don't have a creative bone in my body. With the need for fewer cards, I no longer need to feel the obligation to force it during my non-creative periods.

With the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 I've been feeling the need to sparkle and shine. I've once again brought out my beloved little bottle of 3 dimensional glitter paint I bought at Walmart a couple of years ago. This paint is one of the only "legal" ways to apply glitter to my OWH cards, as I can rub and rub the dried paint, and nothing flakes off.

My last card of 2011 was a sunburst pattern, accentuated with flowers that have glittery centers. The flowers give it a youthful appearance, while the bursts of color represent hope. 2011 was not a bad year. Luckily, we both managed to maintain employed, although I did have to take a number of furlough days. We said goodbye to some beloved pets, but we were also able to take on a couple of new ones, giving them the opportunity to flourish and grow.

In my first card of 2012 I've got birthday on the brain, as all three of my brother in-laws have December birthdays. I had some scraps of paper to use up, and loved the idea of wrapping up some birthday candles in a bright red ribbon. So, a happy belated birthday to Eric Splaver, Mark Stiefel and John Thacker, as well as my sister, Laura Silverman-Splaver.