Missing You OWH Card Idea

At Monday night's card-making class at Pizazz It! scrapbook store, we made cards using Stella Rose's My Mind's Eye 6x6 pads of paper. Love the paper. Especially love that it is two-sided!

The smaller flowers have two layers to add a little dimension. The larger flower has three layers, with the top layer edges inked in desert sand. I then added a garage-sale-find metallic embellishment that seemed like a perfect match for both the color palette and the punched flowers to add a little texture.

I'm thinking the design would make a nice Missing You card for Operation Write Home -- keeping with flowers for a feminine touch and changing to stars for more masculine cards.

Sounds like I have a project for this weekend!

On a bittersweet note, the Pizazz It! class was tons of fun. But, it was the last class at Pizazz It! due to the store's closing later this month. Thanks again to the Pizazz It! family. Best wishes to you all.

Support of Independently-Owned Stores

The Central Ohio Scrapbooking and Card-Making Community has been hard hit these last couple of months.

Three independently-owned stores, including Pickerington favorite Pizazz It!, are closing their doors. A local scrapbook retreat location is also closing.

Thankfully, a fourth store will not be closing. Scrapbook Art in Lewis Center announced new ownership and will be re-opening shortly after today's final liquidation!

It is even more important than ever that we support our independently-owned stores. I am just as guilty as the next person for going to a big chain to save a few dollars -- especially with those 40% - 50% off coupons. But, I am definitely going to make even more of an effort to buy as much as possible from businesses such as Scrapbook Art.

Finally, I send my deepest appreciation to the following. You have all touched so many lives. Thank you for all that you have done. Here's wishing you only the best.

• Sue and the Pizazz It! family, with a special call-out to my card instructor Tiffany
• Scrapbook Art Owners Emeriti Caron and Amy
• New Scrapbook Art Owner Terri

2012 OWH Card-Making Event

This year's cards have barely been shipped and planning is already underway for next year.

Many thanks to Jeri and Denise for meeting with me this afternoon at Scrapbook Art!

Details for next year's event will be posted in the spring. Hope to see you there!

The Keys to Our Success

Corporate Funding

McGraw-Hill encourages its employees to lead events for non-profit organizations as part of its Global Volunteer Day Community Partnership Event. My proposal for our Operation Write Home card-making event was accepted -- and we sprang into our action.

Location, Location, Location

Even before submitting the GVD proposal, I was considering where to hold the event. A colleague shared information about a local scrapbook store, Scrapbook Art, that was just 5 minutes from our office.

Further investigation revealed that Scrapbook Art already sponsored monthly events for Operation Write Home.

It sounded like we had found the perfect place!

Perfect Partnerships

Next, I contacted Caron and Amy, the owners of Scrapbook Art. Both Caron, who is a proud military mom of a son who has been deployed overseas, and Amy were eager to help. They put me in touch with Jeri, a longtime customer who sponsored the monthly OWH events.

As it turns out, Jeri had a few partners-in-crime who were more than willing to join in our efforts. Jeri, Denise, Stampin' Up Sue, and other volunteers spent countless hours designing and prepping kits for the big day.

Great Designs

Our volunteers designed cards that were both cute and duplicatable (for novice card-makers). We also designed cards that were generic in nature, as well as some cards that were gender-neutral.

Great Pre-Event Material Prep

As I mentioned, Jeri, Denise, Sue and other volunteers assembled materials that allowed for quick card-making. Embossing, inking, and stickling -- as well as xyronizing -- were all done in advance by this wonderful group of ladies to maximize our time on May 21.

Making the Most of our Budget

Again, Jeri, Denise, Caron, and Amy came to the rescue.

Jeri and Denise were our number crunchers and looked for the best deals for envelopes and cardstock for card bases. They also became experts at using leftover scraps to design new cards, such as the multi-colored 'Hello', 'You Make Me Smile', and 'Love You' cards.

In addition, Caron and Amy graciously offered us a discount on materials we purchased from them, such as patterened papers and adhesives.

Communication

Following introductory e-mails and phone calls, we all met at Scrapbook Art for a major planning session. Periodic mini sessions were routine. (The proximity of the store to our McGraw-Hill office was so helpful!) We also made regular use of e-mail and a wiki to keep everyone informed.

We promoted the event a number of ways:

• posting on the McGraw-Hill Intranet site
• listing the event on OWH's calendar
• e-mailing colleagues at McGraw-Hill
• manning a table at a McGraw-Hill lunch-time promotional event
• e-mailing participants of Scrapbook Art's monthly OWH events
• posting information at Scrapbook Art

The Next Step

We are meeting this week to plan for next year's event!

So, what do 1793 cards look like?

Answer:

On Tuesday, May 24, a few of us returned to Scrapbook Art to ensure our cards were healthy enough to stay out of the card hospital and perform any necessary triage. We then sorted, packed, and shipped two large flat rate boxes of cards to each of the three OWH shippers.

Stay tuned for more photos and details.