Cards for Heroes

Last month we were contacted by Claudia from cardsforheroes.org. This is a wonderful organization that makes and ships cards to honor our armed forces serving on our behalf. Regardless of how we feel about the conflicts currently going on around the world, we can agree that our brave heroes are honorable and deserve our support!

Cardsforheroes.org became official in November of 2007 and since has been able to bless our armed forces with over 43,000 cards - what an amazing number! I can’t imagine how much these cards mean to our men and women, since stores that sell cards and stationary are not always right around the corner and most of the time don’t even exist. Cards like these are so important to them since it is one of the ways they can stay in touch with their loved ones. Just imagine being in another country and not even being able to send a birthday card or thank you card!

The best part about this organization is anyone can help and it is pretty simple, too! If you’d like to help and bless our men and women you can make a card, or a few dozen, and send them to cardsforheroes.org. They collect all the cards and then ship them in batches all over the world! Right now they are especially in need of cards for teens and children. Don’t worry about the envelopes; they are able to supply them. But if you want an envelope to match your card, please feel free to download our free templates and make one to match (we have added a new size to our templates and you can now find them over on the right hand side of our blog)! VERY IMPORTANT!! Do not use any glitter – the glitter can get on their uniforms and then show up on night vision goggles, making them a target. Also, if you can, please include a dollar or two with your cards – all the shipping they do to get these cards to our heroes comes directly out of the organizations pocket. Any amount you can bless them with would be greatly appreciated!

I strongly encourage you to make a card or two and send them in, even if you can only do one or two, you are still blessing someone out there! This is also a great chance to use your leftover supplies while blessing others! I found that using double sided cardstock worked out perfectly! It adds the perfect amount of color to the inside and always color coordinates with the front - but make sure the inside is light enough for writing to show up... if not you could glue on a piece of lighter paper on the inside for them to write on.

I'm sending these two cards off tomorrow, along with a couple other things! One is a very simple card and the other a little more complex but both so fun to make :)

Happy creating everyone!
XO, Elle

some sunday love

A while ago our calendars were featured on the PoppyTalk blog! We were so honored - we have visited this blog at least twice a week for the last year and love seeing all the beautiful items they feature... So when I read the post and saw our calendars I was beyond amazed!! And then, to top it off, baileydoesntbark sent in this fabulous photo of how they hung their calendar! Love that idea - so much fun! Thank you for sharing!

You have to check out baileydoesntbark's etsy shop, absolutely beautiful dishes and cups in there! Here are two of my top favs:

A couple other shops I've had my eye one lately are:
rosiemusic

janesays
LunasaDesigns

moop

evalicious

ashleyg

dazeychic
betsywaltonvol25
Etsy's full of such beautiful items, it's so easy to get lost in time looking at them all! I hope you enjoy these items as much as I do!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, they mean so much to me! It was a great one :) I'm glad everyone's enjoying the envelope template download! Feel free to post any creations with it in our flickr gallery!
XO, Elle

Happy Birthday to me… And a present for YOU!

Today I am 26 years old :) time to celebrate! At work I brought in the good old stand by, chocolate chip cookie bars. I made bars because I decided I didn’t want to stand by the stove for 3 hours baking cookies! Especially when they get ate within 4 hours :) So making the bars took about 30 mins total! And then when I got home we had a pizza party and magic bars (pictured above) for dessert! It was perfect and delicious!

I think my 25th year was the best year of my life so far… I’ve had opportunities to meet the most amazing people and make some very sweet new friends. And, looking back on all the projects that were once ideas and now complete/almost complete is an amazing feeling. I am so thankful for each and every one of you! 25 was a good year, cheers to 26!

This week after getting the new items up and between getting orders out I took some time to scrap. I was feeling very inspired for the Christmas season and decided to make some Christmas and thank you cards with the new products! I really hope my family enjoys these – I know I always enjoy getting something homemade! Plus, I can’t stop making these cards, LOL! Warning: They are addictive! Especially the “Thank You” cards because they are the perfect way to use up all your odds and ends of scrapbooking materials that you cannot stand to throw away!

When I started making these cards I had the idea that they each needed an embellished, matching envelope! And, then I decided that the envelope flap need a fancy edge :) So I made this one below and I made this present for you! Here are two envelope templates for you to download and use! One has the edge featured below and the other has just one fancy point, instead of the three! Download the template here. (This is a pdf file and you will need Adobe Reader to open it after downloading)
{The tags used for the cards above were the "Music Note Sheets," "Vintage Holiday Greeting Squares" and the "Thank You Circle Tags - brights" both available in the shop and in our etsy shop.}

I hope you all enjoy the download :) Have a great night and love you all!
XO, Elle

New items are here!

WOW! We have uploaded a record breaking 29 new items, and now have a total of over 100 items in stock, including a new paper... KRAFT! They can be found in our online shop and over in our etsy shop :) I'm in the mood now to get started on my Christmas cards... I think I'll start tomorrow even!

We are also sponsoring the ScrappeMania blog! Their DT did some fabulous layouts with our tags, head on over there to check them out or to enter!

On another note... I'm still under the weather! I can't believe this sinus thing is hanging on... so frustrating!! I'm starting another round of antibiotics to try to kick it... so I'm crossing my fingers! I hate being sick or feeling icky! I'm going to head to bed early and hope for a better tomorrow :)

I also wanted to give everyone a HUGE THANK YOU for all of your awesome support, emails, comments and purchases! You guys are seriously the best and I'm so thankful for you :)

Love you all so, SO much!
XO, Elle

September’s Guest Designer - Belinda Venables!

The new September inspiration gallery is up and we were honored to have Belinda Venables as our Guest Designer! She did some wonderful layouts, cards, a tag and even a mini birthday book! WOW!! Make sure you stop by and take a peek – there is a ton of eye candy in there for you to see that is so inspiring!! She also got to work with some of our new items debuting for Christmas - so you'll get an extra sneak peek at those items! Thank you, Belinda!

The winner’s from our “Sneak Peek #2” post are…
Mike and Brianna on September 5, 2008 7:04 AM
Valerie on September 9, 2008 1:05 PM

Please send me an email (email can be found in profile) and I’ll get your goodies out asap!

We also have an update from the print shop to tell you about!! There printer is fixed and they printed our newest items as fast as possible... That means Christmas items will be arriving in the shop this Saturday, September 13th by 8:00 pm pacific time! So sorry about the extra wait!

See you all on Saturday!

XO, Elle

Good news and bad news...

I have some good news :) and some bad news :( The good news first! Two brand new Halloween sets of tags are in the shop and in our etsy store! These were so much fun to design!

And, we have a couple winners to announce:
The winner of our monthly flicker contest is:

by sophiesim

Congrats, Sophie! What a beautiful layout!! Head on over to the shop and pick out two items you'd like, then send me an email (email can be found in profile) with your items and address and we'll get them out asap! The September contest starts now. Anyone can upload their layout, cards, minis, etc. to our flickr group and you are entered!

Also, we have two winners from the "The first sneak peek" post! They are:
Simona on September 3, 2008 1:32 AM

Lynsey on September 5, 2008 11:55 AM

Send me your address and I'll get your Halloween sets out asap! Thanks to everyone who entered!!

AND... Stay tuned for our brand new inspiration gallery coming on September 10th!

Now for the bad news :( I am so sad!!! I knew I should not have cut it as close as I did, but taking that vacation kind of set me back with our printers (you have to press proof items while printing and that couldn't be done while I was away) ... on Wednesday everything was approved and printing was spread out from Wednesday through Friday. But, on Friday the printer broke down :( They are having a part sent in asap and it should be fixed on Monday. Since they only got half of the Christmas items printed I think I'll wait to launch them all at once, instead of doing half and half... I feel so bad, but it will be just a couple more days - I promise!!! They are shooting for Wednesday, but I'll update as soon as I hear on Monday!

I'll keep the peek #2 giveaway open below until then, so please keep entering!! So, SOOO sorry everyone!!
XO, Elle

Sneak peek #2

Here's peek #2! I think I'm ready to put up the Christmas tree after seeing all these Christmas colors!! Saturday, September 6th is almost here... and we'll be launching over 20 products in one day!! Plus, we've even added a brand new paper color to our line!! Stay tuned to find out all about it.

Leave a comment to be entered in this giveaway, too! Two winners will win the two sets featured above. (You can enter both giveaways in sneak peek 1 and 2) Winners will be announced late afternoon on September 6th. Giveaway extended to Wednesday, September 10th!! Please feel free to keep entering!

See you all soon!
XO, Elle
P.S. Thanks for all the get well wishes and tips - you are all so sweet! I'm not sure if it's a cold or serious sinus infection now :( But I am on an antibiotic to help kick it!

The first sneak peek!

Here is our first sneak peek for our Halloween items coming on September 6th! Leave a comment and we'll pick two people to win both of the packs shown above :) I'm so excited for fall this year and all the holidays! I'm crossing my fingers we get a ton of snow this year... last year we hardly got any, but this year feels like it will be different. The air already has that crisp fall feeling in it and it is lovely!

Make sure to check back on Thursday! We'll have another sneak peek of some of the new Christmas items - winners from both sneak peeks will be announced on Saturday. Please feel free to enter both giveaways!!

Love you all!
XO, Elle
P.S. Vacation pics coming soon - I promise! I've come down with a cold so I'm a little behind on editing those :(