A Salute to OWH!

*EDITED: With 93 stops on this fabulous hop...it's taking a LONG time to really check out all the goodness out there and give each blog the attention they all so deserve SO--I'm extending the deadline to post a comment to enter for my blog candy until 12:00noon Mon 3/22. I'll post the winner here Monday before 5:00pm and contact the winner as well*

Happy Spring everybody! What better way to kick off a new season than start a new venture, right? ...So... Welcome to my stop on the OWH Springbreak bloghop! If this is your next stop on the hop, welcome! If you have absolutely no idea what 'OWH' is, you've got to check out the start of the hop at http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org. You won't want to miss a single stop!

Here's my first card for the troops:


I used lots of fun stuff on this one. Flocking on the bunny(Doodlebug), MS border punch,QK Santa's Workshop, Nesties labels ten and thirteen, and the new SU border punch. The paper is BG Lemonade and Bo Bunny.


Here's a quick and easy tutorial on making the grass border in the nestabilities:

First, you'll need the Martha Stewart grass border punch
and your chosen paper. Punch along one edge.

Next, line up the grass border where you want it
on the nestabilities die and tape the
die cutting-edge down on the front of your paper.

Turn the die with paper attached cutting-edge up
and run it through your die-cutting machine.

Here's what your grass border looks like.

Now, cut your full nestabilities shape out with
the same die you used for the border.

To finish it up and add a little extra dimension,
I used pop-dots on the back of the grass border and bunny.

I adhered the grass a little higher to keep
the white border all around, but it would also
look great flush with the bottom edge.

Just a simple, quick technique for those who might be new to nesties or die-cutting in general.

I'm super excited to participate in the OWH cause. I was in the Army for 8 years and my husband just recently retired last fall from active-duty after 20 years of service. When we heard about what OWH does, we both thought how awesome that would've been as a soldier to not only have the means of sending cards home to family, but to receive boxes and boxes of these lovingly handmade cards from so many people showing their support.

If you're not familiar with this awesome organization and you'd like to learn more, spend a little time at their homefront blog here. I just loved the topic of their March 12th post about involving kids with sending letters to the troops. One of the questions asked was "will the service members write back to the children?" I can't speak for all of them, but I do know when my husband and I were deployed and would receive 'anyhero' letters from back home, it was a very special feeling of pride in country and staying connected to home and the real meaning behind what we were doing. Long before the days of OWH, when my husband was a brand new soldier and deployed to Somalia in 1993, his hometown school would send letters to the troops and he had a penpal that he wrote to for many months. He still talks about this kid nearly 20 years later and how much those letters of encouragement meant.

Here's a pic of my hero on the day of his retirement ceremony last September.



Now for some real fun!
Anyone who's visited my blog before knows what a total Martha Stewart punch addict I am. So in honor of my first bloghop with OWH, I'm giving away a brand new Martha Stewart grass border punch just like the one I used on my card to one lucky winner! All you have to do to be entered to win is leave me a comment on this post(if you're not with blogger, be sure to put your email addy in your comment) by 11:59pm Sunday 3/21. The winner will be selected by random number generator and posted here on Monday 3/22. (Sorry--only open to US residents)

If you'd like to start making cards for the troops, be sure to check out all the details on the OWH site. The deadline for Mother's Day cards is April 1st. The next stop on the OWH Springbreak bloghop is Stephanie's. I love her clean gorgeous style! Click HERE to visit Stephanie's blog and keep hopping!!