It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - in other people's homes anyway

Morning.  For some reason I can not seem to get into the Christmas spirit yet.  I haven't put up any holiday decorations and if I look closely, I may find that I  have a pumpkin or two still out.  If any decorating elves want to make their way to my house, feel free to come on over!

I am going to write about a group that I have mentioned in the past.  It is Brighter Birthdays, a group in Rome, GA whose mission is to celebrate birthdays for school kids. They do incredible work but need help making cards as well as zip bag toppers.  Each birthday child gets a backpack filled with goodies.  Inside the backpack, one of the "happies" is a zip lock bag filled with the smaller items, candy, balloons, lip balm - whatever they are putting in the backpack that month.  They like to put a colorful kid-friendly topper on the bag to make it festive.  Something like this...

 I find these so easy and theraputic to make.  They use up a lot of my extras and scraps.  If you would like to participate in helping this awesome group celebrate kids' special days and bring joy to many hearts, here are instructions on how I make them.  The basic info regarding size is below, but use your imagination to decorate them.

Begin with a 11 x 8.5 piece of cardstock - I use the 65 lb. from either a craft store or an office supply company.  They do not have to be the heavy duty cardstock that we use for card bases.  Cut 1/2" off the bottom:

Cut the 10.5" x 8" piece in half length wise:

Fold each 10.5" x 4.25" piece length wise: (I use my score pad to do this step)

And now you have a zip bag topper ready to decorate.  Sometimes I use washi tape, or stamps, or stickers, or whatever - just be sure they are gender neutral, cheerful, colorful and kid friendly.  You only decorate one side and I recently learned they use double sided tape to adhere them to the bags (which they provide).  Multiples of each design are perfectly OK.  They use so many throughout their district that multiples do not cause any problems.

I would love to see what you come up with.  Please send me pictures of your toppers and I will do a follow-up blog showing off your creations.  Send them to justjill48@gmail.com

If you would like to make these toppers, please mail them to:

                                                                                     

                                                               Brighter Birthdays

                                                            3 Central Plaza  # 383

                                                                Rome, GA   30161

Tip of the day:  If you need images for these toppers, go to Google Free Clip Art and there are lots of images you can use.  I copy them onto photo paper which gives them a nice shine.  Then I either use my cool cutting out machine, or I fussy cut them by hand.  You can just cut the images into circle shape - or whatever.  I hope you try these and have fun doing them.  I find them so addictive and a pleasant diversion from cards.

                                                          Thank you for stopping by.

                                                                        Hugs - Jill

It's Finally Winter!

I can't believe a week ago it was in the 70s and today it is a wonderful 34*.  Texas weather changes on an hourly basis, but this cold has been around for a few days.  I'm loving it.

Now that all the winter, holiday and Christmas cards are mailed out, I am trying to stock up on Thank You cards.  For some reason, these cards are in high demand and I am having a hard time keeping up with all the requests.  I have been working on restocking my supply and thought I would show you a few of the end results.  They are the fast-put-together kind, but when I need 200-275 a month, that is sometimes what is needed to fill all those boxes!  I really appreciate all the help I have been getting since I put out my SOS.  Thank you so much!  Here is what I have been working on:

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.  Sorry I don't have a tip for today, other than stay warm and stay healthy!

Hugs, Jill

General Cards with no Sentiments

Good morning, on this bright but HOT day!  I have put out a request for general cards for all ages without sentiments.  I have been getting some wonderful cards, but some of you have said you find this type of card hard to make.  Please don't fret - any card with a fun image is fine, just don't add whatever saying you were going to.  Here are some examples:

Now with these, if the saying were left off, they would work great:

But please don't think I can only use blank cards - I still need the other themes as well.  I just thought I would show you how easy it is to turn any card into a "blank" card.  And of course - no sayings on the inside of any of them.

TIP OF THE DAY:

I know we all own tons of stamps and dies, but when you need something in the middle of the night and don't have to opportunity to run to the store, or don't want to invest any more money right now, go to Google Free Clip Art.  There are so many free images you can use, both black and white and in color.  Just be careful not to use any that have a logo on them.  I usually print off the image, cut it out with my nifty machine and then add Glossy Accents to make it shine.  Sometimes the image prints with a dull finish and this little extra step adds dimension to the image. 

Hope you enjoyed today's post.  Have a great day and stay hydrated!

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Jill

RED, WHITE and BLUE

Recently, I was asked to furnish 1,000 (yes, you read right - 1,000) red, white and blue cards to one of my charities.  They sponsor a September 11 event and use these cards at that time.  Thank goodness they gave us a bit of time to get working on these cards.  I put out an SOS to my family of card makers and hope to start receiving cards from them soon.  In the meantime, here are some cards I have made.  In fact, I will be sending these cards 250 at a time, and I have my first box ready to go.  They do not want any sayings on them, but do require a liner with GOD BLESS AMERICA and their logo inside (which I will provide).

                                                                                   Donna's matching envelopes

As I receive cards, I will add pictures of them to this site.  Maybe you will be inspired by a few.                                                           

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs, Jill