Welcome to Little Nut's Corner: July 2015

Jul 20, 2015

And as a new era of card making begins (POST OWH), I find myself split between 2 organizations, both who are receiving cards this month. SplitCoastStampers is kinda a mecca of swaps and challenges and learning in the papercrafts world, and logically hosts several swaps and challenges. That's where I originally found OperationWriteHome, so I went back to them to find alternatives. I may yet find a home with a military-centric organization, but for now i've decided to play along with 2 groups

Cards For A Cause (24 cards)
Ronald McDonald House (20 cards)

Ronald McDonald House strikes because my daughter spent a few days at the one in Tampa almost 11 years ago following the birth of her daughter - my granddaughter! Turns out my granddaughter spent the first 8 days of her life in the ICU - 6 of them on a ventilator - 5 before the hospital let Mom & Dad name her. Born on Saturday, she fought and fought, and late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning she finally made a turn around, and on Wednesday she was named Clarissa Dawn. I am pleased to say that she is FINE!! well - for the most part! Precocious, stubborn, bright, energetic, loves to read and is generally a joy to be around. And they kept mom close after she was discharged from a rather difficult childbirth by putting her up in the Ronald McDonald House attached to the hospital. And it was a VERY good thing!

Cards For A Cause - well - that kinda says it all! I've been making cards for a cause for a while - so it seemed logical to continue to do so. They change up every month with different causes, and some of the past ones are open all the time - for 'spares' if you will... Right now I'm on-board with them too.

I took pictures of the cards being packaged for July's Cards for a Cause, but as it turns out, both charities got almost all the same cards, as i work best in multiples, with variations on a theme. They're all with envelopes, and 'tucked' in the finest OWH style. Unlike anything I've done before, I've 'banked' some cards this time, just in case i hit a 'dry spell' where i can't make cards for work commitments but still want to send some off. Most cards were made in sets of 6 - 2-3 for Cards for a Cause, 1-2 for Ronald McDonald House and 1-2 for the bank.

DieCut Fans in Silver and Gold Shimmer from Michaels, ombre ribbon on a lovely Victorian floral print background paper matted on shimmy white and pink cardstock.

Stary Sky background on a nice shiny finished paper, silver border on the Reach for the Moon sentiment, with a couple of diecut stars on each.

One of the specific requests for this month's cause was to make cards appropriate for kids - teens specifically. The funky color scheme, foiled paper, and fun sentiment seemed apporopriate.

Thank You cards in various combinations - the butterfly on the left card is DieCut and backed with white vellum - the ballons are gold to go with the gold stamped sentiment.

Inspirational cards - something also requested for July's Cards for a Cause - and this seemed appropriate. The bows and mat on the inchies are shimmer cardstock.

Foil paper accents kinda pop on the neutral almost dark background, and pick up the colors in the mat on the sentiment.

Another inspiration - or permission i suppose - to have fun! maroons and various prints and bows. There were actually 3 of these in the shipment.

This may be a Northwoods stamp, with just the lighthouse and sunrise colored in - and the image elevated from the framing.

Again with the funky foiled paper - probably great for teens! Happy Birthday is a generic sentiment and the mulberry flowers help do justice to the overall fun on the card.

July Cards for A Cause

Jul 10, 2015

My time and dedication to Operation Write Home is coming to an end. I've just finished packing the last box I'll be shipping to them. And I had a slightly hollow feeling as i gazed over my craft table/area at the litter of paper scraps and die cuts organized in ziplock bags, Clear storage boxes of cardstock and fancy papers and decorator boxes full of inkpads, the cutting mats and tape guns, scissors, craft knives, paper punches, marker trays, folding bones and sheets of glue dots and foam adhesive squares, and binder books full of stamps. I've so enjoyed not only the creative outlet making cards for OWH has provided, but also knowing I was doing really something special for our Troops overseas, in less than friendly countries and circumstances. I just wish, as i have so many times before, that I'd found OWH earlier!

So now I will spend a day reorganizing and turn my efforts to other organizations - having diligently searched SplitCoastStampers (where i found OWH in the first place) for ideas. I've found 2 places that will take donated card - the Monthly Ronald McDonald House on rotation, and Cards for A Cause which rotates through charities each month. My schedule makes my ability to contribute somewhat inconsistent, so i may change the way i do things - more cards at a time and bank some for next month's charity maybe. And this will give me a chance to do other sizes of cards, as i don't believe either of them restrict size - which means i can play with concepts I normally only get to play with on my Christmas Cards I've been making for work.

Below are the last of the cards to OWH - a total of 160 in this my last shipment - and this should give me a grand total of 775 cards to OWH - not bad for the 15 months I've been sending cards. As always, they're on StampinUp cardstock base, with either StampinUp or Big Box background paper backgrounds and accents. Die Cuts are on StampinUp, DCWV Shimmer , or Michaels Shimmer cardstock. Some DieCuts are done on my Bosskut Gazelle machine, and other on my Cuttlebug, and still others on my cute little Sidekick. Stamps used are from all over, and it's impossible for me to track since they're all in books. Ink is either StampinUp or Tsukineko Dew Drops.

I loved putting the vellum backed butterflies together for these cards! This is one of the newer papers from StampinUp I believe.

DieCut phonographs with Love You stamped on the banners coming out of the bell...very soft with Gold and Silver shimmer cardstock.

I love you always - I love you forever. Hopefully generic enough for man or woman. What more can be said?

No sentiment -I had to make more of these - they're lovely! DieCut on Bosskut Gazelle, with shiny background paper.

The silver on Grey - with red and white is kinda stunning!

I had this stamp waiting for ... something. If I thought I could have I'd've made dozens of these - See You Soon!!!

Window cards are still one of my favorites, and being home is somewhere I believe our troops want to be... the outside says Miss You All The Time around the clock face on the left, and Home is Where the Heart is on the right...

And behind the panels on the front is home...in shimmery silver and gold cardstock from Michael's with brown vellum. Again I let my Bosskut Gazelle do the cutting.

Jul 1, 2015

The end is nearing - and i'm almost done with the box - a large Priority Shipping box. They hold between 150-180 cards in my experience - and i'm just about at the 150 count now...and still have a little bit of room. I went ahead and took pictures of the additions from last month's post - and there will be one last photo shoot before the box is sealed and shipped here in about 2 weeks.

As always, StampinUp card bases, and this time lots of StampinUp DSP for backgrounds, with a couple of BigBox papers and DieCutsWithView card stock pieces thrown in for accent. Inks are either StampinUp or Tsukineko, and the stamps are from all over, but include StampinUp and Maya Road for sure. The generic mulberry flowers from a vendor overseas.

For the most part these cards are more classic and simple - with more cards that could be used for man or woman than usual. I tried hard to make 'generic' cards. With that thought, the last couple of cards have no sentiments at all, and I'm working on a few more the same way. I figure they stand on their own as a way to send a message home.