Jamie's Birthday Invitation

I made these invitations tonight for Jamie's birthday party next month.

The butterfly is from a set by MissyBDesigns, called Alexa's set. It was designed for Alexa Meader. At age 6, she was diagnosed with Pre B Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her mom (with the help of Missy B) designed a stamp set and proceeds from the purchase would then go to Turtle Girl Designs for Pediatric Cancer research!. To find out more about Turtle Girl Designs visit turtlegirldesigns.blogspot.com

I'm looking forward to making more cards with it (Emme's Thank You cards, and cards for the JHE Vendor Show). Stay tuned to see some of them when I get them completed.

SCS Challenges

Here are 2 cards I made this week for challenges on Splitcoaststampers.com

The top one is for 2 different challenges - a color challenge (to use Caramel. Moss, Apricot, and Coral) as well as a layout challenge. I used my cuttlebug with a combo cutting/embossing die - loved that it matches SU!'s Pick a Petal set too :-)

The second one is for a color challenge (to use Red, Navy, and Glorious Green). I discovered how rarely I use Glorious Green... I do like the color green, but there are so many other shades I prefer (Wasabi, Celery, Artichoke, etc.). Even with the Glorious Green the card turned out pretty well. The scallop punches are Marvy, and the rhinestones are from CTMH

Thanks for stopping by!

Charoltte's Wings - Alexander's Disease

The family of Charoltte is a friend of my sister-in-law, Jennifer. We prayed hard and often for the family as they went through this (read below). If you would like to help other children who are hospitalized, please read about the foundationa and benefit in Charoltte's honor.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask myself or Jen (her e-mail is below) If you desire, you can mention that you heard about this from me. -Maureen Buck


Dear Friends,

I am writing to you about a tragic and inspiring story, as well as a cause that I am asking you to support so that together we can turn this tragedy into something truly positive.

In December of 2007, a precious and beloved five-month old girl, Charlotte, was lost to an extremely rare and incurable brain disease called Alexander’s Disease. There have only been 500 reported cases of this disease worldwide. Charlotte’s death was a shock to us all. Those who came into contact with Charlotte will never forget the overwhelming sadness and sense of helplessness occasioned by her suffering and loss.

I, like many of you, have been touched by Charlotte’s beautiful family and the courage they demonstrated through such an unimaginable and horrific event. They not only persevered through this painful experience, but they managed to spread hope to others in the process. To honor Charlotte’s memory, her parents looked for an opportunity to help other children. They decided to donate hundreds of children’s books to a local hospital in tribute to Charlotte.

I was so moved by this gesture that I asked Charlotte’s parents if I could work with them to start a foundation to keep Charlotte’s memory and spirit alive by helping children in need. Graciously (and enthusiastically), Charlotte’s family agreed and, therefore, I would like to introduce to you:

Charlotte’s Wings

Charlotte’s Wings is a tax exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to assisting children admitted to local hospitals by donating books to the children, their families, pediatric waiting rooms, and hospital libraries. These books will help provide an ailing child with a smile, a dream, or an escape from an unfortunate reality. Our mission is simple: to bring hope, encouragement and happiness to local children and their families during a challenging and frightening period. Whether a child is facing something as benign as tonsillitis or something as serious as a terminal disease, a book can provide comfort to a sick child. And that is why I am asking for your help in this cause and to enshrine Charlotte’s memory in all of us.

Charlotte’s Wings will hold a kick-off event at
Main Street Billiards
215 S Main St, Rochester, MI 48307
On Saturday, May 31, 2008
From 5:00-8:00 P.M.
$10 per person (includes hors d’oeuvres)
This event will introduce everyone to this charitable cause and serve as the first official “book” raiser on behalf of Charlotte’s Wings. To make this a success we will be asking that all kick-off attendees donate three new books which will be donated to one of the following hospitals:

William Beaumont Hospital
St. John’s Mercy Hospital
University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital

We would like to include as many people as possible to our first event. Therefore, in addition to yourself, if you know of anyone who might be interested, please pass along this note and/or provide their mailing address to jgb2549@wowway.com by April 17th. I will send another invitation by mail the end of this month.

Thank you for your time and I truly appreciate any support you can lend to this cause. We look forward to seeing you all in May.

Regards,
Jen Buck

Techno Stamper's Lunchtime Challenge #11

How to get a stamper working?

Offer her a challenge!

This challenge was posted by Mary Jo. Her blog can be found at

http://technostamper.blogspot.com/

It scanned funny on the left... it's not really crooked.

but the middle scallop circle is popped up with dimensionals and I think it made it scan funny.

The stamps are from ALWAYS by Stampin' Up!

The pattern paper is from the Spring MatStack by DCWV

(I loved that the paper colors just HAPPEN to match SU's

close to cocoa, bashful blue and certainly celery perfectly.)

Thanks Mary Jo - for the challenge.

(Go check out some cards made my other challenge participants - very cool!)

Playing with Always Stamp Set

Here's a perfect example of how you may like a set,
but it's not until you SEE what can be done with it -
that's when it hits you how much you love it!

We used this set at the Stampin Seminar in Lapeer MI that I attended last month. So I went surfing on SCS and found a great card by Betty Wright... Here's my version. Enjoy!!

Something I discovered (in a pinch): I needed Black Brads for the card... I didn't like how the other colors looked. I ran out of black, so while I was out I ran into the local craft store... no black brads! (every color BUT black). Hmmmm What to do. Did you know you can heat emboss brads with colored emb. powder to make them a differeent color? I had no black powder... so I used my handy dandy Sharpie Marker and colored them!! (Another suggestion, by Cas, a SU! Demo is to use a crop-a-dile to dry emboss a circle, color it with a black marker, and when the ink is dry, put Crystal Effects over it. When it's dry - it looks like a brad.) I haven't tried it yet - but you know what I'll be doing when I'm done blogging. Enjoy!!

-Maureen