Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop

My name is Suz Gray.  I love all things paper & am known on the web as "craftysuz".  Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop.  This is my 2nd year participating in this hop & wow has it grown.  Have you been enjoying the hop?  If you are one of my regular readers or just stumbled onto me I'm sure you will want to start from the beginning to see all the beautiful cards, be moved by touching stories, learn some new cardmaking & stamping techniques.  You can even enter to win some prizes along the way too.  The OWH Stars & Stamps blog is the beginning... find it here.  It starts at 10 am EST on Saturday & goes thru 6 pm EST on Monday.

The reason I support OWH is because it is a great way to use something I love to do to make it easier for our troops to stay in touch with their loved ones at home.  I feel like every card I make is a little thank you for the huge sacrifice they make for us.  I love the OWH blog posts where soldiers share what this organization means to them and their families.

We've had quite a few members of our family serve our country over the years.  Currently my cousin has a daughter & son serving in Afghanistan & Iraq.  I pray for Kayla & Vinnie's safety as they serve in dangerous places.

Spc. Vincent Hoover, a tanker with 1st Bn, 72nd Armor Regiment was awarded the silver star last October for his valor & quick actions when a grenade was thrown into his vehicle.  He threw it back out & all the lives in vehicle were saved.  See story here & here.  Our family is so proud of him!

Thank you to each service person & their families who sacrifice so much to serve our country.  On this Memorial Day I ask that you join me in saying a prayer for those families who have given the ultimate sacrifice of a loved one that they are comforted by the heroic way they lived & blessed by memories along with those who are currently in harms way.

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Now to share some cards.  I made a couple keeping with the Red, White & Blue - Missing You card theme requested by OWH.

For this card I used a Cuttlebug dry embossing folder to create the dotted texture on the kraft cardstock.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill & Bo Bunny); Paper (Pink Paislee & Making Memories); Punch (Stampin' Up); Die Cut (Nestabilities); Ink (Palette); String (Making Memories); Stamps (Ipppity Stamps & Unity Stamps); Trim (Wrights); Dry Embossing (Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Folder)

For this card I stamped on the plain navy background with Versamark ink & a flourish stamps by Ippity to give a subtle watermark look to the paper - in person it looks great and added a lot of interest.  I like to cut out stamped images like the butterfly here.

Supplies:  Paper (Creative Imaginations, K&Company, & The Paper Studio); Stamps (Unity Stamps & Ippity Stamps); Bling (Paper Reflections); Ribbon (Michaels' Dollar Bin); Ink (Palette & Versamark); Die Cut (Making Memories Slice - Think Pink)

I also did a photo tutorial showing how to make the layered watercolor flowers in the next two cards.  If you would like to see the tutorial please go to the next post.  I did this so people who didn't wouldn't have to scroll thru all those photos & instructions.

This flower is stamped multiple times then cut apart.  I used foam dimensional adhesive to add depth.  I dressed up an office supply tag with layers of stamping & distress ink.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill & Watercolor Paper); Paint (Grumbacher); Ink (Palette & Ranger Tim Holtz); Stamps (Ippity Stamps & Hero Arts); Die Cut (Nestabilities); Ribbon (American Crafts); Tag (Staples)

This card uses the same flower & watercolor painting but it is just a flat image.  The paint shading helps to give depth.  I stamped the leaves on canvas fabric for interest.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill & Watercolor Paper); Paint (Grumbacher); Ink (Palette & Colorbox); Stamps (Ippity Stamps & Unity Stamps); Twine (Making Memories); Canvas (Joann's); Dry Embossing (Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Folder)

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To thank you for stopping by... I have some prizes to offer you.

One winner will receive this "Lucky Me" mini album kit courtesy of Susan Moore - Owner of EMI Scrapbooking Store in Cumming, Georgia.  She also has an online Etsy store called creativekits4u where she sells these kits to customers all over the world.  This kit features Little Yellow Bicycle Lucky Me papers.  MSRP $22.

I sell Ippity Stamps (see tab at top of the page or click here for Memorial Day sale prices) so I am offering these 2 sets to one winner.

Leave a comment for your chance to win - sorry but open only to USA residents only due to shipping costs.  (make sure you leave an email address or way to get in touch with you).  Comments close at 6 pm EST on Monday & winner will be drawn by random number generator soon after that.

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Now head on over to the next stop on the blog hop.  Sharon has some pretty cards to share with you.