the CLASSroom

Happy 4th of July

Wishing each of you a VERY happy 4th of July! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who are in our military forces, as well as those who have family members enlisted - thank you to each of you for helping to maintain the freedom we treasure!

This card was a happy little accident. My first idea was to use the largest star in the STAX to create an opening in my card front, but the star was too close to the overall size of the card and so I scaled back to the next size in the My Favorite Things Star STAX. Awww... perfection, as I could now add in a side strip to replicate the stars AND stripes of the American flag.

Cut a star opening in to the front of a 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" strip of Neenah Solar White cardstock.

Design Adhesives make for extremely quick and easy projects. Cut out a sentiment that suites the scale of your project and apply it to the lower portion of this same piece of cardstock.

 

The cool thing about Design Adhesives is you can use glitter, flock, foil AND even embossing powder to create different looks. I used Adirondack Stream embossing powder because it coordinated perfectly with this oh, so cute Authentique Celebrate paper.

I also cut out one of the tiniest stars from my Star STAX and applied embossing ink to one side and added the same embossing powder to create a coordinating embellishment.

Apply strips of decorative paper to your card front as shown in the photo above.

Wrap baker's twine around the accent piece and pop it up off the card front using dimensional foam squares.

 

Finish it all off with the tiniest little red gemstone atop the popped up embossed star embellishment.

Let's all celebrate our freedom together on this special day!

ink: Distress Embossing Ink

paper: Authentique Celebration 6x6 Paper Pad, Neenah Solar White

accessories: My Favorite Things Die-namics Star STAX, Celebrate Design Adhesives, Stream Adirondack Embossing Powder, Doodlebug Bakers Twine, Red Gemstone, 1/16" 3D-Dots
 

Cards for Heroes Blog Hop and We Remember Blog Candy

 

I was so excited to learn that I was invited to participate in this worthy blog hop started by Cards for Heroes. Unfortunately our computers have been giving us nothing but grief this week and so I didn't receive my email and respond until today. A day late a dollar short they say... BUT that doesn't mean that I can't just link you up and share this wonderful cause with all of you and still do my best to try and help!

The great news with the "downed" computers is that I opted for some stress relief - card making and I started with the latest release from Cornish Heritage Farms - We Remember. This set is so inspiring. Part of it is the story behind the set that brings a smile to my face. Lisa Silver has absolutely done a phenomenal job in the creation of this set. Using memorabilia from her grandfather's time in the military she created this beautiful and inspiring set. Thank you Lisa for such a meaningful stamp set!

As I created this card I thought about the many men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedom and bring safety to our country and homes. It saddens me to hear the stories of others in the world who are not so fortunate.

One of my husband's best friends from high school has put himself in harms way repeatedly since those high school days. He leads and aids in trying to provide a safe environment for us, and others, in countries around the world. My heart ached as I heard and read his stories of the tragedies and tears that have fallen for his comrades and "enemies" alike. As a Colonel in the Marines he has held small children in his arms as they take their last breath. It is something I find incomprehensible. As he stated these individuals are not our "enemies" and the loss is enormous. Thank you Jim for all that you have done and continue to do, to help provide us with an environment that is not being bombed or in which we need to run and hide on a daily basis. Thank you for helping make certain that we can raise our children in a country that values freedom so very much.

 

I do not want to draw away from this worthy cause with a lot of explanation as to how this card was created, so I am going to opt to put that in another post on my personal blog. If you are interested in learning more, then please feel free to visit my blog Simple Dreams for further explanation.

What I do want to do is provide you with an opportunity to win this beautiful stamp set - We Remember!

I would like to encourage each and every one of you to make some cards, make a small donation to help ship these cards, or simply send a card to someone you know who has lost a loved one in the military, or is currently putting their life on the line to protect our freedom. Please contact Cards for Heroes today with your contribution.

Simply leave a comment here by Monday at 11:59pm PDT in which you express your gratitude to someone you know who is in the military, to the troops in general, or simply share a story that has touched your heart and you will be eligible to win this We Remember stamp set. We will use a random number generator to select our winner on Tuesday.

So start hopping ladies and see what beautiful and inspiring creations others have come up with - click HERE to get started.

Again a HUGE THANK YOU to all those men and women, spouses and children, mother's and father's, brother's and sisters who give so much of themselves! Life is put into perspective as we celebrate our freedom on a daily basis - thank you!