A card of thanks

My family has been supporting the troops since before I ever married my husband, who, if you didn't know, is a Soldier in the U.S. Army. We have sent care packages to numerous Soldiers and Marines since 2006. And it's like pulling teeth to get them to tell you something they need. It's understandable, they are very far away, supposed to be strong brave men, and we are just strangers writing them letters. But one of these guys broke down and told me he needed a new toothbrush. Well, this just got my family in an uproar! These guys are over there for a whole year and they have to ask a stranger for a toothbrush?? Not to mention, my grandmother was a dental assistant and now works as the receptionist for our dentist back home. Dental health has always been a big deal in my family. So since that one Soldier asked for a toothbrush, all of the care packages my mother has sent have included at least 2 toothbrushes, so they can share.

A good friend deployed to Afghanistan about a month ago. Their living conditions are some of the worst I have ever heard of; very similar to the stories I heard about Iraq in 2003. I have heard that many of the guys (if not most) are physically ill with the food and water they have available. So I asked my mother to once again rally the troops (i.e. my family) and get some care packages off to this guy, and no worries, he'll share, he's a great guy. So she called my grandmother for some tooth brushes. Her theory is that if they are getting sick, they NEED to change their toothbrush fairly often. Our awesome dentist gave my mom whole boxes of toothbrushes, small variety tooth pastes (which one deployed Soldier told me he liked because it was just another variation for his very "Groundhog's Day" deployment), and floss! And of course, all of the old "dude" magazines from their waiting room. I just couldn't believe it. So the nerd I am, I immediately thought about making him a card! (Sadly, this is not the first card I have mailed to my dentist, but that is a different story. And quite frankly, my dentist rocks!!)

So here is the card I mailed to him and his staff:

They're dog tags!! Aren't they awesome?!?! I love the Stand & Salute cart for just this reason. They have so many images, but then each image can be made into a note card, dog tag, or border.

Leaves of Green

I made one tree card yesterday and wanted to send it to more than one person. Luckily I have a way to fix that.

The birds denote the number of people in their families.

Serenade

I got the Serenade cart the day my family arrived last week so I didn't have time to play around with it. Today was play day!!

Rigel decided to be in most of the pictures. He's a ham for the camera and cant stand not being the center of attention!

So all of the images were made using the Serenade cart. All of the cards were made with the Stretch Your Imagination cart. The square cards are 5 1/4 inches. The rectangle is 5 1/2.

The tree is too freaking cute. It's awesome in person. The leaves and branches are so intricate and delicate. It goes to my mom.

This bird house card has a white insert inside with more red and pink birds on the left side. It's my new favorite card. I think it's going to my mom too.

Ode to my Anniversary

Our 3rd wedding anniversary is TODAY!!! Our wedding colors were celadon and tangerine. I couldn't match the colors exactly, but these will do. Our flower was the Gerber daisy, primarily in orange. I don't have a Gerber image, but I had this lovely daisy. So I just cut it twice and layered it.

I dont know if I have told y'all yet, but all of my cards are cut at 5 1/4 inches so they will fit in a 5 1/2 inch envelope.
Made with the Walk in my Garden cart.

Made with the Stretch your Imagination cart.

Stretch your Imagination... with new papers

I ordered a few packs of 6x12 inch paper from cricutmachine.com. Many were solids, but two packs were designs. I really like that present card. The paper just puts it over the top.

This card was especially made for a friend in Arkansas who has a birthday in August.

I love balloons, did you know that? When I would throw myself birthday parties in college (yeah, I was lame), I would blow up a whole package of balloons and just have them on my dorm or apartment floor for days. Cant do that anymore with the pup, don't want him to choke.

Turtle!!

The snowflake is for a friend. But I read on someone else's blog that they make holiday cards in the summer to beat the holiday rush. So I'm going to use that as an excuse to make Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cards in July. :) It makes sense though. Think about how many Christmas cards you will need to send off all at once.

But I must point out that the snowflake on the Stretch your Imagination cart has 7 sides. Really folks?? This bothers me to no end. I will need to find a 6 pointed snowflake very soon.

I know I got 2 new followers yesterday. If anyone has any helpful hints or tips, please feel free to point them out to me! I've had the Cricut for only a few weeks. I'm still mostly just playing around and learning about the machine. But any advice would be greatly appreciated!!