our first bloghop!

Welcome to our stop! We are Theresa, me, & Thomas, my son who is 14 & is the IT guy for our blog. This is our first time being a stop on a hop, as we are relatively rookie bloggers. We are so excited to finally be able to do more than just look. :) I have been making cards for Operation Write Home for a little over 2 years now. I first started after a co-worker passed away very unexpectedly on the 3rd of July. He was retired Navy & his family suggested military support groups for donations instead of flowers. I wanted to do something a little more personal & looked up OWH, which was Cards for Heros then. I made 51 thinking of you cards in Dale's honor, 1 for each year of his life. And I just kept going. :)

Thomas & I make cards together and he often comes along with me to help Sandy stamp & tuck & sort when she gets over run. He is the MASTER card stamper. You can see him in action here :) We keep making cards for OWH as a way to spend time together & to help our hero's maintain that same connection with their family and friends. We always  keep the kleenex handy when we read the hero blog & then make more cards! :)

If you are just starting here, great! The beginning starts here at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog. Now for the good stuff! Our cards!

I started with cut out sheet from The Beary Patch that has been in my stash for a very long time. I'm not sure if they are even in business any more....

I cut out the elf, Santa, stocking, & reindeer parts. Added some solid cardstock that I embossed with Tim Holtz snow flurries folder. Pierced and pen stitched white cardstock & mounted both the embossed & stitched pieces on solid red cardstock. I used dimensional foam tape adhesive to adhere the cut outs to the stitched piece. Add some glossy accents to eyes, noses, & buttons to dress them up a bit. The end result--

Our favorite is either Santa or the Elf

 

I'm not sure what we'll do with the Christmas tree or 2 other pieces on the sheet. The tree is to big & the others don't lend themselves to cards... May just use the back for mounting since it is a nice heavy textured stock. :) It feels good to use up some of those older supplies in the stash! 

We hope you have all enjoyed hopping so far! Let us know which is your favorite card! We'll make 1 Valentine or winter love card for every comment. :)