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2022 Honor Flight Stamp Camp write up

My team and I were featured in Stampin' Up's newsletter this week! It was a nice write up. I'm so thankful Stampin' Up is a company that truly makes a difference corporately.

 

If you're interested in joining a team that centers around making cards for great causes, we'd love to have you. http://bit.ly/joinSUnow

 

"Lyssa Zwolanek, a Gold Elite demonstrator from the United States, received the Heart of Stampin’ Up! award. Her association with Stampin’ Up! allowed her to connect her team, the Song of My Heart Stampers, with a worthwhile cause: they used their love of stamping to show appreciation and kindness to war veterans. Lyssa’s hard work has made quite a difference for her local community and for many deserving men and women across the country.

Lyssa and her team recently gathered for their annual Honor Flight Stamp Night. The Honor Flight Network is a charitable organization that serves veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War by sending them on all-expenses-paid trips to the war memorials in Washington, D.C. Together with the Honor Flight Network, the stampers set a goal to create 1,000 handmade cards in one day to help raise funds for this organization. They were more than successful, surpassing their goal by an astounding 1,952 cards! Through this project, Lyssa helped to further unify her team and the stampers that joined by creating cards to honor the veterans. As part of Lyssa’s award, Stampin’ Up! donated supplies and sponsored trips for eight veterans and their companions.

What an incredible story! Thank you, Lyssa, and the Song of My Heart Stampers for making a difference."

(Actually our final count was well over 2,100 handmade, hand-signed cards delivered to Honor Flight! Demonstrators all over the U.S. mailed them in and they just kept coming. It was lovely. Thank you to everyone who participated, donated, bid, advertised and stamped!)

 

Many thanks to Stampin' Up for bringing awareness to Honor Flight's need for cards for the Mail Call portion of the veterans' flights.

Our goal is for EVERY veteran who goes on a Flight to get a handmade Stampin' Up card. We've got Wisconsin covered. What about YOUR state? Could YOU be a coordinator for that?

Honor Flight Stamp Camp & Silent Auction: Save the Date!!!

Save the date! All day Saturday, April 23rd, 2022, my local Stampin' Up demonstrator team will be holding four sessions of stamp camp to create 1,000 cards for veterans going on the spring Honor Flights to Washington D.C. for a day of honoring and visiting their memorials. During the flight home, they receive a "Mail Call," and it is our goal that every single Wisconsin vet gets a handmade card with a heartfelt, hand-written message inside.

We are excited that Honor Flights have resumed after a long pandemic hiatus, and we can continue our team's chosen service project once again!

We are in need of stampers! Help us hit 1,000 cards in these ways:

• There will be three sessions of stamping each continuously throughout the day
• sign up for a shift from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., 1-5 p.m., and 5-9 p.m.
• all cards are predesigned and pre-cut, ready to stamp and assemble
• please bring your own adhesive (thank you for donating!)
• bring Honor Flight cards you made at home along to add to the count!
• NOT LOCAL? You can still donate funds, snacks, auction items or handmade cards!

****REGISTRATION OPEN NOW **

Aside from stamping hundreds of cards, we're also raising money the super FUN way--raffles, games, and a HUGE silent auction! We have quilts, Stampin' Up baskets, gift certificates and more. All proceeds from the day's sales and auction will go to fund the costs for companions to accompany their veterans as their helper for the day.

Stampin' Up has generously donated $1,000+ worth of cardmaking supplies and funded EIGHT veteran's flights already through the Make A Difference program with Lyssa as a Heart of Stampin' Up award recipient! We are excited to see the final total of what we will be able to present to Badger Honor Flight of Madison at their meeting in May.

Will you come and help us hit our goal? I hope so! If you can't stay to stamp, come and check out the auction, sale and raffle fun--it's not to be missed. Hope to see your name pop up in registration!

Create a card ministry in your church!

if you LOVE Jesus and you LOVE to make cards to cheer people up, you're in the perfect position to start a card ministry in your church! No matter the size of your congregation, there will always be those who are sick or hurting. Every Sunday we see their names in the bulletin or hear them from the pulpit and think, "I should send them a card."

If you're like me, you don't always remember later, however! If that happens to you, it's time to gather the papercrafters in your church and be a little more systematic about your cardmaking!

Here's some of my best tips for putting together an official card ministry for your organization!

1. Get permission from your church authorities, and become an authorized key-holder if necessary.
2. Settle how/who is paying for the supplies and postage expenses.
3. Get it on the calendar! That way you have a start date and can work towards your first gathering.
4. Have an announcement added to your bulletin or website. Print up postcards to hand out or mail.
5. Invite EVERYONE. And keep on inviting them even if they don't come at first.
6. Make sure it's clear that the cards will be EASY and there will be work for them to do even if they "just aren't creative."

About the projects:

1. Keep the cards SUPER SIMPLE. The cards are not really the point; the encouragement is. Simple and sent is better than a big stack of half-completed cards still waiting to be mailed.
2. Design the cards in advance. Otherwise it turns into a free-for-all with the supplies.  Crafting newbies freeze up without guidance or samples to look at.
3. Cut everything in advance so it won't slow you down at the event or waste cardstock with inaccurate measurements.
4. Assembly-line crafting is more efficient than individuals making cards one at a time. This also has the advantage of creating many steps along the way that "anyone" can do, regardless of their crafting abilities.
5. Keep the cards gender-neutral or have two color options or two different focal point images.

 

At your first meeting, consider the following ideas to solidify the plan:

1. choose a set night of the month or quarter, so people can plan in advance
2. pass around a sign up sheet for snacks.
3. assign the writing to people with a gift for encouraging words.
4. assign the mailing tasks to someone reliable.
5. choose who will design and bring the cards each month on a rotating basis.
6. assign clean up and lock up duties. Leave the place looking better than it did when you arrived.

 

Keep the main thing the main thing!

1. cardmaking is a ministry not only to those who get one of your creations, but to those who come to chat and pray while crafting together. Make it a sweet time of creative fellowship. Have snacks!
2. In my former church, our monthly card night was also the time we prayed for missionaries and read from an inspiring missionary biography. If your church is very busy you might be able to add cardmaking to an existing schedule by combining it with an auxiliary club or group.
3. cardmaking nights can be an outreach activity! Challenge your regular attendees to bring a friend from the community along with them. Developing those friendships may lead them to feel comfortable visiting for one of the services or allowing their kids to come to fun activities.
4. Have at least 2-3 people in charge (that way it doesn't all fall through if you are ill). Consider having "officers" only so that you can rotate the duties when it becomes a chore. It's exciting now, but mid-winter when you're scrambling for a design and no one signed up for the snack, or you're left with a giant stack of cards no one wants to write in, you'll need the help!
5. NEVER criticize anyone's finished card, even if it's not up to your standards. God is not concerned with the perfection of our papercrafts, but the compassion and humility in our hearts.

Do you have a tip for card ministry? Leave a comment below! And please feel free to use any of my easy card designs in your own efforts to spread sunshine. I'd love to know if they have inspired you to send more cards on a consistent schedule. Chat soon!

Honoring Honor Flight volunteers with patriotic quilt cards

While my team's Make A Difference project is making Honor Flight cards for every Wisconsin veteran, we didn't want to forget a very special group of people who make their special trip to Washington, D.C., possible in the first place. Each flight takes massive organization and an entire fleet of volunteers, along with lots of donated time and money from local groups and individuals. The work of fundraising and organizing goes on even though the flights are not going out in 2020 and possibly 2021.

I'm saying a BIG THANK YOU to all of the workers who make these flights happen! What you do makes a difference, and I am proud to have been involved in getting the word out to Stampin' Up and their demonstrators all over the United States about Honor Flight's efforts.

On election night 2020 I popped on Facebook Live for a little patriotic stamping to get our minds off the voting day craziness. I made all the backgrounds for these cards using one-inch scrap strips of red and blue patterned papers (blue from the Boho Indigo pack, red from the Heartwarming Hugs pack).

You can watch the Live on replay here!

Ready to make some thank-you cards of your own for the heroes in your family or community? Here's what I used. Click any link to order the supplies from my online store (thank you so much!)

Product List

Loyal Leaves Cling Stamp Set (sentiment)

[152544]

Boho Indigo Product Medley Refill 6x6 stack (blues)

[153925]

Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series 12x12 Paper (reds)

[153492]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[100730]

Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[100867]

Real Red Classic Ink Stampin' Pad

[147084]

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

[144220]

Multipurpose Liquid Glue

[110755]

Thanks for stopping by Song of My Heart today! Subscribe to my newsletter before you leave so you don't miss more easy, adorable designs like these for using up all your scraps and having an excuse to buy more paper!

Who needs a card from you today?

If you love making and sending cards, being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is pretty much a perfect fit for you!

Here's some ways that demonstrators I know are using their art as a ministry to others and a force for good in their communities.

• card ministries at church
• shut-in encouragement
• prayer ministries
• M.O.P.S. meetings
• missionaries around the world
• Honor Flight mail call
• Humane Society adoption thank yous
• nursing home holiday cards
• Police, Firefighter and EMT appreciation
• Ronald McDonald House craft projects
• low-income area school art classes
• Homeschool projects
• Alzheimer's care scrapbooks
• baskets for silent auctions
• Adoption or awareness fundraisers
• developing an extra income stream for families

There are SO many ways to give back when you're a cardmaker. Multiply that talent by ten when you become a demonstrator and learn to teach others how to make cards! You might literally find your purpose in life is cardmaking for a special cause, or sharing creative empowerment with women in need of potential and fulfillment.

I LOVE what I do. I'm proud of what I've done over the last 15 years, and I would count it an honor to share your own stampin' adventure, whether it's a side hobby or a full-fledged business.

Sign up now at http://bit.ly/joinSUnow, or email me at [email protected] for more info.

Learn to make these adorable snow bunny cards for your friends!

Is not this bunny the most adorable thing ever?? I can't quit making bunny cards! Mostly I've been making your garden-variety gray rabbit, but this time I decided to make a snow rabbit and I love how it turned out. The secret is the Chalk Marker's realistic brush strokes. It looks amazing on colored cardstocks like the Crumb Cake I used above.

This card is one of three bonus projects in this month's Class of the Month featuring the Nature's Beauty stamp set. I'd love to send you the class files for free when you use the code U9DHHPVU and shop in my online Stampin' Up store! Complete details here.

One last thing to note: Nature's Beauty is our "Make A Difference" stamp set, so $3 from every one purchased will go to mental health organizations in each of the countries that Stampin' Up serves. Isn't that awesome? As someone who has an anxiety disorder, and regularly deals with anxiety with my special teens, I so appreciate their donation and any attention drawn to this cause. I know it affects many of your loved ones, too. Together, we make a difference!

Will you be getting this card from me? Deer in the Woods

I am loving my new stamp set, Nature's Beauty--although I do admit to having a love-hate relationship with deer! Having grown up in Wyoming and now living in Wisconsin, I admire their elegance and always feel blessed when I spot them in the wild. But it's sure no fun when they bound out in front of your car or ruin your garden!

Our deer STAMP, however, never causes trouble! Peacefully alert but unafraid, it stands at the edge of the woods, making the perfect image for masculine, fall, sympathy, get well, and even Christmas cards.

You'll be getting this beautiful card (or one of my other Nature's Beauty card designs) when you participate in the September 2019 Class of the Month using the club code U9DHHPVU with any order minimum of $35 before shipping and tax at http://bit.ly/shopwithLyssa

I've pulled together seven really beautiful Nature's Beauty projects that will ensure you get the most versatile use possible from your new set! BONUS: this stamp set is the Make A Difference featured set from Stampin' Up, so $3 from every set sold will be donated to mental health organizations in every country SU sells. Isn't that awesome? I'm delighted to be a part of this worthy cause.

Your club benefits and perks will automatically begin when you use the code.  Complete online club details here. I'll email to welcome you to the club and keep track of your participation points towards a shopping spree when you've chosen to play five months. Zero hassle! All YOU do is shop --and watch for your happy mail with some fun, free samples inside!

I'm 100% confident you'll be back for more once you've tried my style of stamp club. Chat soon--and don't forget to use the code when you shop!