I got a postcard from Iraq!!! My first one. This was a thank you from Desert Flier for the cards & the lawn ornaments we sent them. With all they have to do they still take time out to thank us....wow. I know some people who could take a lesson here.

A quiet weekend here. 'The boy' did call today & said it is now possible he will be going to Fort Leonard Wood but nothing positive until he passes PT & he is still having problems with is ankle. He is going to see doctor again this week to see if something can be done. Only a few days left of classes & he has completed Capstone (that's why we didn't hear from him last week). Will graduate sometime in May.

I am working on some more Mother's Day Cards to send to 'the boy' to hand out to some of his "Battles".....hopefully that will trigger his memory to send me one. Would be nice but I'm not holding my breath. Asked Steve for external hard drive for Mother's Day......read about someone else who lost everything. Seems her husband accidentally reformatted the hard drive. I have lost stuff a couple times & am still bad about backing up so this will be another safeguard.
Hope everyone had a great weekend.....tah

A PROPER WELCOME HOME

Thousands greet Alpha Company at DeltaPlex

CARDS ARE OFF TO IRAQ

Well all the cards are off to Iraq. These final 3 cards are ones I made for the LT to send to his wife & sons. I CASE'd the one with the flower but for the life of me I can not find it again to give credit where credit is due. If you are the designer of this card please let me know so I can tell the world (or the little part of it that comes here) who you are. I will be making more of these I am sure.
As soon as I got back from the run to the Post Office (plus a couple other errands we had to do) there was an email that the son of one of the members of Operation Mom, a Marine, was due to land to SFO at 8PM. She was planning a surprise party & wanted us all to be there. Steve & I quickly changed & headed back out the door to Round Table Pizza in Newark to wait. They arrived at about 9:15ish & boy was he surprised. Friends & Family shouted "Surprise!!" from the darkened party room as they came thru the front door. His mom had gotten him there under the guise of seeing family who worked there. It really was a great time had by all & Mom sure was grinning big time. Welcome Home Marine!!
Next month another son will be coming home to another happy family.....will keep you all posted after that event. Wish I knew when mine would be home.

Mother's Day Cards I sent to Iraq today. Tags are done on the Wishblade....the writing too. Got the file from UK Scrappers site.


More cards I made on the Wishblade to send to Iraq. I am really loving this machine so much the more I use it.

Another way to help with Cards for the Troops

More exciting news. Another wonderful person by the name of Laura O'Shea has made another offer to help out with the Cards for the Troops project. This will allow non-cardmakers an opportunity to help out. She makes cards to sell & has set it up to donate a card to the troops for each card sold. If you do not want to buy a card for yourself she will give a 20% discount for cards purchased to donate. Check out her site, Whirlpool of Imagination, for more information. This will go thru the month of May......hope you can help out.

Card Contest in Progress

EXCITING NEWS TO SHARE!!!
I got an email from Kyla Maestas (a Stampin' Up Demo from WY) telling me she not only wanted to participate in the Cards for Troops project but she wanted to know if it was ok to promote a contest to get more cards to send. Well what do you think I said?? YaHOO! The contest is officially started today & all the information you will need is on her blog, Kyla Maestas~Sweetwater Designs. RUN, RUN, RUN to go check it out. Good luck to all.

NO HALLMARK STORES IN IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN!

I am a member of Operation Mom, a support group for families & friends of active duty servicemembers. My only son (our only child actually) is in the US ARMY. We send packages overseas to the troops (we get names from families & friends plus we have contact names over there who hand goodies out) & also put cards in the packages to them & for them to send home to their loved ones. Cards needed right now are All Occasion Cards (Happy Birthday, Thinking of You, Hello, Friend, Missing you & kids cards for them to send to their children at home) by end of June (next mailing will be end of September). These cards should be blank inside for the service member to write inside to their loved ones, must be with regular envelopes...back of card tucked into envie (no clear ones please) & if you do do dark paper please put light color insert so they can write on that. We always want Thank you cards from you TO the troops....with a personal note inside (thank you for your service, you are in my prayers, hope you come home to your loved ones soon, etc). Due to security issues these envelopes (envelopes are not required for the thank you cards to them if you don't want to put them in one) must be unsealed & if you would like a response (no guarantee on this as they are a bit busy over there but I did get 2 cards at Christmas & several emails this past mailing) you can put your return address on the envelope or include your email address inside (I have been getting emails). We can also always use Sympathy cards. This would be a great way to use the swap cards you accumulate. If you are interested in participating please email me with any questions you may have or to ask for the address to mail the cards to: pfcrensmom-cardsfortroops@yahoo.com (please don't disrespect the troops by using this email to send spam!). This will be a year round project. http://dddzstmpn.blogspot.com

No fury like a mother scorned-- The Movie

I found this at GraniteGrok Gotta give credit where it is deserved.....hope you watch the video.

First Servicemember heard from

I received an email from an Air Force MSgt who is in Iraq thanking us for the cards along with all the goodies in the packages that were sent by Operation Mom. Took about a week to get there which was a surprise as I thought it would be 2 weeks but then the last time was at Christmas time & mail is a bit more busy then. The email definately motivated me to keep this project ongoing & I hope you will choose to participate & pass the information along to others.

In checking some of the blogs I try to read regularly I found this link that I thought I would share....some pictures of a Sandstorm in Iraq which is another thing that our troops have to deal with over there.