More is More

Taylored Expressions is kicking off a new charitable campaign that I think you’ll want to be a part of.  It’s called Share Joy and here’s a brief explanation from Taylor:

The Share Joy campaign is an invitation to celebrate the joy of card making and to share that joy with others.  The gift of a handmade card can bring a smile to anyone’s face, and we want to bring as many smiles as we can to the faces of people around the world!  Please join us in creating and sending handmade cards that will make a difference in the lives of others.

This first round runs through August 16th and all cards donated will go to Hospital Chaplains across the U.S.  This will be an on-going campaign with new charities chosen periodically.  Taylor and Jon have a personal connection to Hospital Chaplains, as Taylor’s Dad served in that capacity in the past and Jon has several friends in the Chaplaincy now.  I was excited because our church supports a local Chaplain in Los Angeles as one of our missionaries and I’ve had the privilege to hear him speak on several occasions.  Chaplains deal with such a wide variety of people in such difficult circumstances in the hospitals.  I know that the cards we can all provide will be a great help and encouragement.   The Chaplains have requested General Encouragement, Spiritual Encouragement, Praying for You, Sympathy, Congratulations at birth.  (NO Get Well cards, please.)  You can get all the details to participate here –> Share Joy. (Note: TE products are NOT required to participate.)

For my card today, I combined three favorite TE sets:  Embrace Beauty, Make It Amazing, and Care & Comfort.  Since the theme was so wide open and this all about joy in cardmaking, I just wanted to grab some stamps that make me  happy and play with some stamping techniques that I love.

I have to say that this card is really beautiful in person, but  much as I’ve tried, I can’t seem to get a decent photo of it.  *sad face*  I started by masking off the strip of cardstock and sponging with 4 different colors of blue/green inks.  With the masks still in place I stamped the leaves and the butterflies.  The main image from Embrace Beauty was stamped onto Choice Snow White Cardstock, die cut with a Spellbinder circle and then the entire thing was covered in Versamark ink and clear embossing power and heat embossed.  Seriously – this is such a cool effect IRL.  I’m sorry it looks so splotchy in the photo.

I decorated the inside as well, to finish off the card.

We asked all the players in the hop today to talk about what gives them joy in card making.  I was actually typing up this blog post on Monday evening and had just begun this paragraph when  the phone rang and it was my father-in-law.  I could immediately tell by the look on my husband’s face that it was not good news.  His mother had passed away just a few hours earlier.  I hesitated to share that here because, really, who wants to bring down a party like we have going today?  But I share it because I just keep remembering the joy that hand made cards brought to my mother-in-law a few years back.  She had fractured her spine and she was laid up and in a lot of pain.  I went on SCS and started a thread requesting that people mail cards to her.  She received a flood of beautiful cards and love and it helped tremendously to lift her spirits.  My in-laws live several hours from us and it meant so much to me, for friends and people I didn’t know at all to want to help in that way!

I just keep thinking that is what we are doing with this Share Joy Campaign.  We’re taking the joy we get from stamping and passing it along…to give perhaps a tiny bit of joy to someone in a tough situation.  So I hope you join with us…make a card or find some in your stash to mail in to TE.  What better reason to take the time to sit down and your stamp table and get a little happy into your day?

We have lots of talented ladies playing today.  It’s going to be fun to see what everyone created:

Carole Burrage

Cassie Trask

Charmaine Ikach

Courtney Kelley

Danielle Lounds

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Joan Ervin

Kerri Michaud

Lori Craig

Melody Rupple

Monika Davis

Rachel Sztonyk

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Tracy Clemente

Wanda Guess

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Happy Monday! Exciting news from Taylored Expressions – today we launch a brand new web store with lots of improved features!  It will make your shopping experience even better than before!  To celebrate the launch, TE is offering an exclusive set FREE with any $20 purchase now through Sunday 7/14.  The special launch set is called Summer Love and I have a sample to share with you today.

I started my card with this fun ice cream truck image and some Echo Park 6×6 paper – A Perfect Summer.  I actually had a sheet out that has ice cream cones on it, but didn’t end up using it.  I guess I need to make another card!   I used several Taylored Dies, including the sunshine covered in stickles, the banner, and Label Stacklets.  This is such a cute little stamp set! And what a deal!  This is a great time to treat yourself to something on your TE wishlist!

Be sure to hop over to Taylor’s Blog to get the link list of all the samples from the Baker’s Dozen today and to get details on how you can win a $25 gift certificate just for setting up an account!!  Also make sure you check out the fresh new look at www.tayloredexpressions.com

This will be a fun week with lots of activities, so be sure to check in at Taylor’s blog each day this week for fun party games and prizes.

Thanks for stopping by!