Brandy Jesperson
The holidays are officially upon us and I can’t help but feel the magic of the season. The bell ringers are in front of my local Wal-Mart and tonight will be spent caroling with the youth in my neighborhood. We’re delivering treats to a few surrounding families in need of extra cheer. I sincerely believe that many ailments from loneliness to sickness can be healed with a dose of love and attention.
This is why I’m so excited to bring you the “Creativity Heals” campaign created by our sister publication, Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Creating Keepsakes recognizes the inspiring and healing power that creativity brings into our lives and the lives of others. Since Creating Keepsakes is encouraging everyone to donate time, creativity or extra crafting supplies towards improving the lives of others, we’ve decided to partner with one of our very favorite charities: Operation Write Home.
This amazing charity’s mission is to support our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them. As of November 29, 279,487 cards have been sent to deployed heroes! Let’s add to this number by donating a few cards of our own. I know you’ve got extra cards lying around so please put them to good use by sending them to a good home.
I’ll be donating several versions of this card (sans glitter):
Drop me a line letting me know if you donated any cards. Everyone who donates will be entered into a drawing to win an assortment of paper crafting supplies. All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Yours in festive giving,
Brandy
P.S. We just added a “Creativity Heals” tab to our menu bar. Any time you want to learn more about giving back or to see what charities we’re supporting, please click HERE.
I have a pile of cards ready to go! I am so excited to participate in OWH.
I donated a TON of cards to Dustin Pike when he called on card donations for a hospital!
I don’t know if that counts.
I think this is such a great cause. I’ve got a bunch of cards sitting around that I haven’t used in a while so I’ll probably package those up to go!
On another note, my husband’s cousin helps run Operation Paperback which sends used books to deployed American troops and I think that’s a really great cause too.
I donated locally. We delivered greeting to a local “old folks” home. We did 20 cards, knocked on doors and my son wished everyone a Happy Holiday! It was a great experience for him.
Well my Husband is in the military and was gone last holiday season, fortunatly he is home this year for the holidays. Living on a military base donations are important and between my kids and their school and my husband and I we donate to a variety of different local veteran and support our troops organizations! Not sure if that counts.
thanks for the wonderful info–i’ll gather up my extra cards today and send them out with my christmas cards!
Well, I didn’t donate cards to that charity, but all I’ve been making for the last 6 months or so has been cards to give to my grandma to send to people who visit her in her nursing home, or people at her old senior apt. complex to keep in touch. I feel like that is my mission right now. She LOVES picking out which card to send to whom, and I love to give them to her since it makes her happy to send cute cards to people.
I have sent many cards to OWH and even organized a Christmas letter writing at a local elementary school to send some letters to the heros. I love the idea giving back to these people who fight so hard to keep us safe. I’m getting ready to start my Valentine’s for the Jan. 5 deadline.
I’ve donated a couple of boxes of cards to OWH. One of the shippers lives in the same town as my parents, so when I visit I stop by the shipper’s house for a drop off. Check out their website and visit the “Hero Blog” to read comments from military personnel who have received card shipments! It’s really very touching to see how something as simple as a sending and receiving a handmade card can really brighten the lives of people so far away from their loved ones.
Last week, while I was out mailing my Christmas cards, I picked up an extra flat rate box from the post office. I went through my box of cards (extras that I have made that are ready to mail out) and thinned it out. Any that had been in there over a year got moved to the flat rate box and shipped off to Operation Write Home! Now they have my extra cards and I have cleared out some storage space to make more
. What a great cause!!!
I’ve sent cards twice and I’ll be sending more soon. I love OWH!
i donated a box to operation hero. it was nice to clean out my extra stash of cards and send them out for a good cause.
I have a whole stack sitting on my dining table all ready to go
What a great cause. I always have extras laying around and I’ll get some sent in.
My daughter is actually collecting cards for the soldiers as a service project in our area. We had a great time “cropping” together to makes some of the cards. So far she’s collected 57 cards!
I’m so proud of her! We’re getting ready to mail them off this week.
I represent a wood veneer company that makes unltra thin wood veneer for the craft and hobby world. We just teamed up with Creative Imaginations. I was wondering if there is someone I could talk to about donating product to the operation write home cause, and creativity heals?
Thank you,
Cordially,
Danielle Doyle
Northern Sheer Veneer
http://www.northernsheerveneer.com
715-635-8800
danielle@sheerveneer.com
Donating cards is such a wonderful way to be creative and giving at the same time! I’m hoping to have my son’s school do something like that someday with the kids, too.
I have made many cards for the Jennifer McGuire card drives for sick children.
Thanks for the reminder! Ii’ll be checking out OWH and sending out some cards!
I donated 25 cards via Elle’s shop!!
I had a small OWH gathering at my house a couple weeks ago. Sandy Allnock was there and we made/assembled 100 Valentine cards for the troops. I also send most {the ones with no glitter} of my challenge cards to OWH. It is a great cause.
I just mailed in 50 cards to Operation Write Home! Love what they do. =)
I donated card. I enjoyed making them.
Have a great holiday
I HAVE donated to the Operation Write Home group. I think I’m addicted! I’m not kidding. It’s a pleasure.
~Shari R.
I have a friend that donates quite often, I gave her a handful of Christmas cards I made at a workshop for her to donate to them.
I have sent handmade cards twice to Operation Hero and also have given ready-made cards (before I made cards) to a local charity through the hospital. It feels so good to do this. I’ll continue doing it as long as we have a need~which will be always!!
Does anyone know if this wonderful idea exists in Canada? I would love to send notecards to our troops in Afghanistan.
When my ex-husband was in Iraq, we sent cards to him and his squadron. It was a great cause and all of the guys looked forward to receiving mail.
I think I have some that I can send in to OWH. It is such a great organization.
I contacted Sandy with OWH and told her I had more cards to send her. I am snowed in today and probably tomorrow, so will be sending them whenever we get dug out.
My nephew is in the Marines, so I’m sending a stack of cards so many military people will have them, not just my Jonathan.
I am finishing today – 50 holiday cards for the Children’s Hospital. There are 4 of us who make cards for the hospitals here.
I would love to donate some of my extra stash to Creativity Heals.
Nancy
I’m in Canada but am going to send an envelope full of cards.
This is a great cause and I love sending off some cards for the soldiers to be able to use.
We are sending cards to my cousin and the others. I just need to find out if we need to include stamps with them…
This is a favorite project of mine. In additon to sending in cards, I also work with local girl scout troops. Most of the girls know at least one serviceman and are eager to participate. They also like to see their names on the donor list on the OWH website
OH WOW—didn’t know about this program! I am totally bookmarking it–I will DONATE:) Anything with the military/army/navy/etc.—it has a special place in my heart since I was a COD in Germany!
I’ve sent cards to Cards for Heros (the former name of Operation Write Home) and have another batch I need to send. Making the cards is a fun way to use some of my massive paper stash and is for a good cause.
I donated many to the Cards for Kids drive hosted by Jennifer McGuire, and I have a whole bunch more I need to make sure I get to her by Monday!
I just made some cards using real sheet music on it and I distressed it and sprayed it with tattered angel mist. They turned out great. I then donated them to my local nursing home.
Thanks so much for the inspiration! I’ve just boxed up bunches of my cards from my blog and others made for fun. How nice to know there’s a way to really share with our troops. You’ve made my day! (And my craft area a LOT neater!) Thanks again!
i skipped a step and just sent my extra cards to my husband {who’s deployed} so he can give them to his platoon to write home with
What a wonderful idea! Several years ago some fellow cardmakers sent hundreds of cards to my brother’s unit in Iraq! He shared them with all his soldiers. I am going to go through all my cards right now and make another packet since he is again deployed and mail it out for him to share with his men. Thank you again for inspiring us to reach beyond our community. Jennifer
I have a pile ready to go for OWH. Also make a wish every year. It feels good to bring some cheer!
I donate a lot of my cards to OWH. I will be sending in another batch soon.
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