What a blessing to work for someone so generous!

Hi, everyone,

The title for this post is a quote from Sandy in a recent e-mail following the arrival of a donation from my employer. Sounds just like Sandy, huh?!

So, today I wanted to take a few minutes to express my gratitude to McGraw-Hill for its generous support of OWH and the many non-profits that are near and dear to its employees.

There are three specific ways in which McGraw-Hill has supported Operation Write Home these last two years.

• In May 2011, McGraw-Hill sponsored a huge cardmaking event as part of its Global Volunteer Day community partnerships.
• In December 2011, the company matched my 2012 donations to favorite non-profits.
• For the last two years, the company has made a significant donation in the form of an employee grant in recognition of my volunteer work for OWH.

My sincerest thanks to Mr. McGraw and the folks in our corporate headquarters who head up the company's community partnership efforts.

Parting Thoughts

If corporate sponsorship, employee grants, and/or matching donations/contributions are options at your place of employment, it might well be worth looking into the details. While there have been some "I"s to dot and "T"s to cross, the time spent has resulted in four wonderful donations for OWH.

Thanks for reading this atypical post. Time to get back to the scrappin' portion of the day. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy scrappin'! 

Monday Musings

Hi all,

I'm thrilled to say it's been a perfect blend of time with hubby, time with family, time outside relaxing, time inside doing household chores -- and time making cards! It's great to have several cards to share. But first...

Scrapping with Purpose's Blogversary

Last Armed Forces Day was the date of our McGraw-Hill Global Volunteer Day event, during which McGraw-Hill employees partnered with the staff and customers of Scrapbook Art to make cards for Operation Write Home. One thousand, seven hundred, ninety-three cards to be exact!

My first blog post, which was to share our event with "the world", was on May 23, 2011. So, if you have started visiting the blog since then -- or would like to take a trip down memory lane, please check out the first couple of posts.

Speaking of GVD...

McGraw-Hill is in the process of separating into two companies, McGraw-Hill Financials and McGraw-Hill Education. While May has traditionally been the month during which Global Volunteer event were held, plans are to hold events later in the year. I'll be sure to let everyone know as soon as GVD 2012 has been the go-ahead and we have a firm date with Scrapbook Art.

Armed Forces Day 2012

Since I was not participating in a local card-making event to commemorate the day, I was thrilled that OWH was joining forces with Stamper's Best to have a blog skip of its own. :)  The sentiment on the Any Hero card below was made using my new set of Stamper's Best stamps and a slightly-modified OWH Sketch #122.

Paper: SignifyPink Pages of Honor, Bazzill admiral; inkded Cuttlebug embossing folder; brads

One More Patriotic Card

The following card started as a vertical card that was to be based on Mojo 240. The admiral base and jute strip came immediately. But, then I just couldn't get the rest to work out. The card started feeling like nothing more than disparate elements that had no connection to one another. I knew the sketch was going to be a challenge because it was more complex than my usual style, but I really wanted to give it a try. So, I set the card aside for a couple of days. When I came back to it, I decided to totally change direction -- going completely away from the original sketch. While it's nothing like the sketch for Mojo 240, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. (And, it received hubby's stamp of approval!)

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty and Bazzill admiral; sentiment stamped in Distress Ink Barn Door Red; baker's twine and gems

  

Cards for Family and Friends

Whew!  I made a card for my great aunt's 95th birthday, a retirement card for a friend, and a graduation card for the friend's daughter. 

The birthday card was based on the card I posted for OWH's VCMP -- same paper, same design. The only difference was that I chose not to heat emboss using Versamark and clear powder. The other two cards came together pretty quickly.

Paper: Kaiser Up, Up and Away, Ranger Core; gems

Paper: ???; Gibson Greetings sticker, Kaiser rhinestones, blue gem to hold the tassel

 

I have to say I love this graduation card. The daughter's school colors are gold and black, so the scrap paper worked out perfectly. The design seems so simple, yet is so effective. (Think I'm going to make a similar card in red and black with a similar sticker and accents of blue for the daughter of my father-in-law's neighbors. These neighbors, including the kids, have been so wonderful to my father-in-law that we want to something for their daughter.

Parting Thoughts

The garage sale was fun, with perfect weather. I made a few purchases -- a couple of books for the pool, some plastic storage, and some watercolor paints. But, there weren't any too-good-to-be-true, just-what-I-was-looking-for finds this time around.

I'll be working on a couple of cards for OWH's Memorial Day blog hop. More to come. :)

                          

Thanks for stopping by. As always, happy scrappin'!

HUGE Card-Making Event for OWH

Question:  How do you celebrate OWH's one millionth card?

Answer:  Host a huge card-making event to kick off the next million!

On May 21, employees of McGraw-Hill joined forces with customers of Scrapbook Art to make nearly 1800 cards for Operation Write Home during a McGraw-Hill Global Volunteer Day Event!



The Morning Shift






The Afternoon Shift

 


Our Final Total: 1775+ Cards

 
Many, many, many thanks to:

• Scrapbook Art owners Caron and Amy and staff for hosting the event,
• Scrapbook Art customers Jeri and Denise for designing and prepping gorgeous cards -- for hours and hours on end,
• McGraw-Hill volunteers and Scrapbook Art customers for assembling cards (on a gorgeous Saturday in May, I must add),
• McGraw-Hill for its generous support of our event, one of many Global Volunteer Day events occurring in 47 cities, 17 countries.

  



                                

                                        Material Prep Guru Jeri



Design Gurus Sandy and Denise



                  

        

               Store Co-Owner (and Proud Military Mom) Caron with
                   Team Leader Sybrina



It was an AMAZING day -- a day in which a global corporation joined forces with an independently-owned small business to make a difference for our troops and their loved ones.

 







My sincerest and deepest heartfelt thanks to all. You are ROCK STARS and our troops will love sending your cards to their loved ones!