FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

More OWH cards

This time I wanted to share photos of other OWH cards not in the red, white & blue theme...  I started just a couple of weeks ago and already have 75 cards ready to mail by next week.  Although the deadline is May 31st for 4th of July cards, because we live in Hawaii, my goal is to mail by Monday or Tuesday!!

Thanks for visiting!

Blessings to All!

Operation Write Home

I suppose I have come to terms with the fact that I don't know how to relax and I always need to be doing something.  I have to be very careful about not straining my eyes but my doctor wants me to be sure to use my eyes because like anything "use it or lose it".  So!

I've been creating cards for our military along with thousands of other crafter's in the US.  Operation Write Home (OWH) is a group of crafters or citizens who want to send support to our troops all around the world.  We need to remember that they don't have a Walmart or Longs Drugs to run to when they want to send a card or letter home to loved ones.  By creating cards for them, we are helping them stay in touch and in doing so keep the love going.  It's so easy for us to forget about them as we hobble along in our own stuff.   OWH creates blank cards for the troops to choose from.  They write their personal message and the military mails them.

There is also the option of writing "Any Hero" mail.  These don't have to be handmade...they can be store bought.  In this case, the sender writes a message and especially a "thank you for your bravery...."
You can send photos of your pets, your sports team, your church project, etc. etc. etc.....

Wanted to share with you a few that I've made so far.  I'm working to meet the May 31st deadline for 4th of July cards so on this post you'll see a bunch of red, white, & blues.

The photo below is the inside of the card above.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing pop-up and 3D cards. 

Next is an "Any Hero" card.  I created 6 of these.  I started out thanking them and then telling them about my dad serving in WWI and my mom's 6 brothers who also served - 2 of them were in the famous 442 Combat Team.  One received a purple heart and one spent 2 years in a hospital in recovery.  He passed away in his 70's with schrapnel still in his jaw.

This, too, is a pop up of the stars!!  Cool huh!!

I hope you all will consider going to the Operation Write Home website and join in with all of us who never want to forget all that the young men and women of our country are doing for us so that we can be free to come and go as we please and be FREE in EVERYTHING we CHOOSE to do.

http://operationwritehome.org/

Thank you for visiting!!

Showers of Blessings to All !

THANK YOU

Hi all -
Want to share with you another post of a couple of thank you creations that I had handed out 2 weeks ago.

This first is a larger birdhouse for the women who prayed for me through my recent eye surgery and praying for my overall health financial situation.  I found this idea on the web and a template from Nicole Heady.   It is sooo cute!!   I knew right away I wanted to  use it as a thank you.... this is my interpretation of the pattern.

These birdhouses measure approximately 4" wide and 4" high.  They're 3" deep and what I did was left one side of the roof opened so the ladies could pore out the candy.  I added double sided tape so they could then peel and stick closed!!

Next are thanks you(s) I made for the volunteers who get to church really early and set up and then stay to break down.  We gather in a theatre so the timing is critical... they work so hard I wanted to let them know I appreciate them.

BLESSINGS!!   to all the caring people who take the time to put caring into action!!

Mother's Day for Children's Church

Hi Everyone!
BELATED HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

I've been keeping busy creating kits for Children's Church for Mother's Day.
I did this for the first time this past Sunday and didn't think to take photos of the kids actually creating.  The next time I'll do that and post those as well.  I'm attaching photos of the actual kits.

This first set are for the 4-5 years olds.   Our church is still growing so I made just 6 kits of these.  Aren't these ladybugs cute!!  The base circle of the body is approximately 6" in diameter so the card was a good size and easy for the little ones to work with.

You can see from the photo below that I included each part and added double stick tape on the back so they just had to peel and stick!!  This way I believed it would go quickly and all they had to do was glue the black dots to the wings.

This next set of 12 kits are for 6 - 11 years old.  Because it was the first time I did this, I wasn't sure the level of skill but didn't want to under estimate and as it turned out, they did really well.  The teacher and I helped a couple of the younger ones.  I'm looking forward to hearing any feedback from the parents.  I'm praying the glue dried and the flowers stayed in place!!!

In each clear bag, I had all the parts cut and ready for the kids.  I created the outer "shell" including the inside "stairs" so all the kids had to do is choose their flowers and leaves and glue them on.  We finished by helping them tie and bow and stick the message on the front.  They finished off by signing the card!!

Below is a sample of a finished card so the teacher and kids had an idea of how to add the bow and message.  I created the message, as you can see in the kits, and added double sided tape to the backs so they just had to peel and stick!!  

Since we had a Bible Study lesson on video before the crafting, we barely finished but ..... we did!!

Now that I know what to expect, I know how to plan better!!

I realize I didn't take photos of the 30 ziploc bags filled with varieties of flowers - separated by colors and sizes and shapes - leaves (3 varieties) and butterflies.

I also had 11 kits to create bookmarks to match the cards.  We didn't have time for those but several of the older girls took some with them to create at home.  For those I had die cut the word "HUGS" and added a length 3 types of ribbon for them to tie on and embellish the marker.

Doing all this literally took me 6 days of cutting, punching, organizing, printing, and packing..... whew!!  I believe it was worth it, though.  As a mom, I wanted to make sure the project was REALLY SPECIAL!

Hope all the moms out there had a BLESSED MOTHER'S DAY!!

Thanks for visiting!!

PRAYERS FOR BOSTON

Easter

Hi Everyone -
Easter has come and gone but I finally have time to post photos of a couple of things I created for my friends at church and for the homeless ministry to share.  I only now realize I forgot to take photos of 12 packages of "Bunny Tails" I created for the Children's Ministry !!  -- they were sooo cute!!

For the Homeless Ministry, I created "carrots" filled with pretzel nuggets with peanut butter inside.  Each carrot measured 12" long including the "carrot top greens".  Inside I also included a rolled message about the reason we celebrate.

Next is a set of mini birdhouses I created as gifts to bless the Worship Team.  These measure just 1-3/4" x 1-3/4" square and 3" tall.  I added a ribbon hanger so once they ate the foil wrapped chocolate eggs, they could hang them!

Hope everyone had a Blessed Easter!
Shower's of Blessings to all!

Pretty Pinks

Sharing a collection of pink items I've created in the last month..... not only for Valentine's Day but for all of you who LOVE pink as much as I do.  First is a sweet pillow box the same as the red one but so precious in pink.

 Below is a die cut favor box of which I have only a dozen so I'm trying to decide which group to bless with these.  They measure 3" wide by 5" tall so need to decide what I can put into these lovely gift boxes.  I'm on a super tight budget so need to be thoughtful but economical!! 

I recently bought a ribbon loom from ffflowers.co.uk on Etsy and created these ribbon flowers below in 2 shades of pink.  I think they'll look great on fabric bags, blouses and sweaters and even on scrap book pages, cards or plain gift bags!!  They're approximately 3" in diameter so they'll make quite a statement on whatever they are added to.  I love making these and with all the ribbon I have to make these, I'll be giving a bunch to  my mom and aunties who all sew all the time!

This photo above doesn't do justice to the baby pink cupcake wrap that I die cut .... but I think you can at least see how pretty it is.

Just below are tags that I layered with punches and used stickers I had to add one more layer of "prettiness"!

And below another set of tags that I layered with scallop circles, plain circles and then punched the heart and re-punched it with a border punch!!   If I don't use them to label gifts, I might add much longer ribbon and use them as book marks!!

Finally, just wanted to show you the paper clips that can be used as bookmarks.  As paper clips, you'll be able to easily find your documents on your desk!  I add varieties of buttons and punch outs so the sets to friends will always be unique.  Below is a photo of how I package them as gifts.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

If you ever have questions of any of my projects, email me and I'd be happy to share dimensions with you!

Therefore I tell you,

whatever you ask for in prayer, and

believe that you will receive it,

it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

It's Almost February !

Good Grief!!  What happened to January?  Sharing with you a few items I've been working on as Valentine's Day gifts for my friends and church groups.  

Above is a pillow box to add little chocolates or small gifts.

Below are a couple of tag sets to label little gift items or goodie bags.

This cute little pocket is folded origami style.  The little heart is actually a punched out area and the pearl sits on the red pocket.  Perfect 'little something' to bless everyone in my church family with a ghirardeli square or peppermint York sweet dressed in red or pink!!

Below is a lollipop presentation to share your faith in a gentle way!

Below is a beautiful die cut cupcake wrap.  I hope to bake some cupcakes for my neighbor, the custodian of our condo and the resident manager and dress them up with these.

I'm planning to make a bunch of little gifts for the homeless just as I did for Christmas.  Can't use chocolates because it will melt..... 

Check back to see what I've decided to create for them.

Check back tomorrow as I'll post a bunch of items that I've created in pink!!

Thank you for visiting!!

"Lord, keep me in your will..... so I won't be in your way."