Christmas Cards for the Troops, Card Making Day 2013

What a fantastic day we had today.  Thank you to all the fabulous card makers who helped make it such a perfect day of craft and fun.

Naturally, we played a couple of games to get the laughs going - or should I say, keep them going!  There's a lot of giggling and frivolity with this lovely bunch!!  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the hilarious Christmas drawing game that we did, but congratulations to Deb for winning the challenge!

The food was yummy, and a big thank you has to go out to C'est Bon & Baker's Delight in Rozelle who always support us with the most amazing quiches, breads and sweet treats.

All in all, it was terrific, and I think may be our largest event to date with around 24 people and approx 840 cards produced on the day! What an achievement.

A couple of other people took pictures so I will try to post those sometime this week.

Cheers
Karen

Christmas Stampin All Year Round Challenge 26 Inspiration

I stumbled on this challenge blog and thought how perfect it is to keep me on track year long for Christmas Cards for Australian Armed Forces!

The inspiration for this challenge was a photograph:

 I decided to stick with the red/white colour combo, so here's my card:

While there's a lot of stamping on it, it's still quite a clean looking card.  And I've used the Gorgeous Grunge set.....again....which means it's versatility is ever-increasing.

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set:  Gorgeous Grunge, Snow Swirled (R), Easy Events (R)
Cardstock: Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Staz On Black
Adorning Accents embossing folder and Big Shot
Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding.

I love to read your comments, so please leave one below.
Cheers
Karen

Christmas Cards for Australian Armed Forces 2012

What a huge success this year's card making drive was!   Drum roll please.......

4,631

What?  Really?  Yes, thanks to all you lovely cardmakers out there, we made 4,631 cards.  That was a lot of packages in my house!

A big thanks goes to Deb for helping me to deliver them to the barracks.  It was great to have a scribe so I can actually tell you where your cards went this year!   But that will be a post for another day, so check back!

Lotsa love to you all!
Cheers
Karen

Crafting Again

This was our 3rd Annual Christmas Cards for Australian Armed Forces card making day!   I started this activity in 2009 and just had a few of my friends and customers making cards.  Look how it's grown!

We had such a lovely time on Sunday.  And I was so fortunate to have lots of help this year so the actual setting up and clearing up was made super easy.  Thanks ladies!  A big thank you goes to my lovely friend Lee who helped pre event and on the day was amazing organising all the prizes.  And to Liz, for running in at the end to help clearing up and count the cards, despite having already had a busy day with other commitments.

I would also like to thank the wonderful support we received from C'est Bon & Baker's Delight, both on the main street in Rozelle, for their donations of quiches, fresh bread & cakes.  Lunch was so yummy, thank you for your community spirit.

Here's some pics.......oh and by the way, we made 882 cards on the day.  And there's more coming!  

Prizes!  Yay, who doesn't love a good game and a Stampin' Up! prize?  Stampin' Up! came through again with a donation of prizes for the event.  The ladies were thrilled as usual, and once again I was able to demonstrate how this wonderful company supports great causes.  No doubt it will work both ways because once you've used our products you have to have more.  They're so good!

A surprise visit from the army.

Margaret is asking our soldier if he'd like to make a card for the cause!  He was a good sport, and managed to make something following her expert tutoring!

This is how much we LOVE STAMPIN' UP!

This is what you do when you win!

Ok, it's back to making something!
Thanks for looking.
Cheers
Karen

What's on Your Desk?

After packing away all my tools & leftover materials from last week's classes, I had some paper scraps on the desk that I couldn't throw away!  Bet that happens to you too, right? 

I also have to make a start on my Christmas cards soon - no, not my own, I always leave those till the last minute, but my stash for our Australian Armed Forces.  If you want to know more about this, check out the page on my sidebar.

Supplies used:
Stamp Set: Baroque Motifs & Word Play
Cardstock:  Whisper White & Real Red
Ink: Silver pigment ink
DSP: Twitterpated & Basic Black from the Neutrals Stack
Large silver brad is from our Hodgepodge Hardware.
Stripes embossing folder, Big Shot
Silver embossing powder & heat tool

Thanks for looking!
Karen

First Thank You 2011

What a lovely surprise email I received tonight - our first thank you for this year's Christmas Cards for our armed forces.   It touches my heart when I read this and I'm thrilled that Major Toohey would take the time to send it.   I will scan the email to post on the CCFAAF page, but this is a copy and paste so it doesn't look quite as official.

**********************************************************
Dear Karen,
On behalf of the Australian Officer's working for the UN in Israel,
Syria, Lebanon and Egypt (Operation Paladin), I would like to thank
you for the lovely Christmas Cards you sent us to use for our families
back home.
Be assured that we truly appreciate the fact that Aussies are thinking
of us over the festive season and ensuring our welfare is being looked
after.
Thankyou and have a safe and happy Christmas period back home. We will
miss it for sure over here.
David

D.J.TOOHEY
Major
********************************************************

Happy Monday
Karen

Finally...

I finally sat down to make a pile of Christmas cards for our armed forces!   I have made others throughout the year, but because it was such a busy time on our special cardmaking day I didn't get to make a big bundle in one go.

I decided to keep it really simple and use some of my stash - something I've been trying to do with other projects as well.  And I'm quite pleased with the results.  Here's some of them:

They look so pretty all grouped together on the table.

The retired DSP on this one was Riding Hood Red.  I loved that pattern.  Isn't the organza ribbon gorgeous?

More retired DSP & stickers from a long gone pack of Accents & Elements.   The buttons were gifted to me by a friend and I think it looks really cute on top of the wreath from Contempo Christmas

I can't remember what this paper was called........thinking......maybe Holiday Harmony?   Or it could have been a Simply Scrappin' kit......Wish Big perhaps?

Another DSP from the same pack as the one above.  I'm thinking it was Wish Big.

How cute is that little bird & the snowflake?   I always overlook those Sizzlits and now they're retired :-((

As much as I like doing cards that have a bit more to them, it's quite satisfying to make really simple ones that you can do quickly.   And it lets the paper speak for itself - which is so easy when it's Stampin' Up! because it's totally gorgeous - retired or not.

Hope you enjoyed the Melbourne Cup today!
Karen

Crafting for a great Christmas

What a super day I had today.    Why, you ask?  Well, I was fortunate to spend almost ALL day crafting with some lovely ladies while we made Christmas cards for our deployed servicemen and women.   Well. I use the term "we" loosely......I didn't actually finish even one card today!!!!  I was too busy organising, talking, running the raffle, talking, fielding questions, talking, eating cupcakes, and did I mention....talking?    I did prep 50 cards though and thanks to my friends Deb & Gudula, 15 of them did get finished.   I will complete the rest before the due date....giggle.
However, the other ladies, oh my goodness, they made a collective 463 cards!  How fantastic is that?  Take a bow ladies.  Your generosity donating all your supplies, your time and your help is valued and appreciated, thank you!

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was a visit from Julee who runs the ops area at the barracks where they dispatch our cards from each year.   Julee brought 3 soldiers with her, all in uniform, and what a treat it was to have them join us for a chat.  I think they even learnt a few craft tips & techniques.  The pictures tell the story!

Nigel's first ever card making experience.   Helped along by Margaret's craft genius-ness! 

Just getting started

Surprise visit from the army

Quality control! 

Look at them work!

It was such a lovely surprise when Julee arrived with the troops, I almost cried!

Learning to punch out a stamped image with lots of encouragement!

Telling jokes.....blurry picture incase you can lip read!

Claudia did a presentation on Origami cubes - ideal Christmas baubles.  Thanks Claudia!

A finished cube

Very elegant Kelly

Stunning!

Love that tree Justina

Justina's a master with the glitter glue

Margaret's second year at CCFTT.  What a sweetie!

Sorting, sorting!  So many cards, so little space to put them all.  This is one happy lady!  Michelle, your smile is infectious!

Gloria shall be crowned the card making, cake baking queen of the day.  110 cards & 18 cupcakes.  Wow!

Yes, Bev had a big smile on her face too as she sorted and packed her creations

Denise used a lovely chalk technique on the baubles.  Gorgeous!

What a whiz you are Jenny!   So many cards.....oh 45 I think!

Nigel showing us 3 of his cards - his first attempt no less.  Well done!

The lovely Susie treats us to more of her creative designs.

Claudia shows off her different designs

That ornament punch was popular today - there were at least half a dozen in the room and something tells me that Joey really likes it!

Thanks to Gudula, some of my cards got made today.    And I think she's a happy crafter too!

Deb making sure I've got some more made!   Another big smile....every picture tells a story

Avril's second year at this event also - and around 52 cards made!  I think you love this hobby Avril!

Last but by no means least, I must thank those businesses who contributed to make our day such a success:
Stampin' Up! for wonderful raffle prizes.
Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre for the use of the garden room.
Victoire Bakery Rozelle - Duncan, the pastries & bread were divine
C'est Bon Cafe Rozelle - Elizabeth, the quiche was delicious
Woolworths Balmain - Graham donated a gift card for salads, drinks & partyware.
Avril, Michelle, Gloria & Susie all brought sweet treats to round off our lunch.  Yum to you all!

Stamp happy wherever you are!
Karen