It's official. A call to Action! 230 cards going out to Operation Gratitude.

 A call to action has been issued. Operation Gratitude plans on shipping 30,000 boxes of goodies out to our troops and first responders. In these boxes they like to include handmade items. 

I have decided to make greeting cards for the troops to send back home to their families. I have officially filled up my box and have found that it holds 230 cards!

There are many items that can be made under the handmade category:

Greeing Cards (obviously)

Drawstring bags
Bandanas
Paracord Bracelets

Beanie Babies

Fleece hats, scarfs and neck gaiters.

Knit or Crochet, scarfs, hats, amigurumi figures, hacky sacs, mini flying discs

And of course hand written letters of encouragement and thanks for service are ALWAYS welcome.

Operation Gratitude offers many way that you can help, volunteer, write to and/or support our troops. Be they at home or far away these boxes offer hope and a confidence in knowing that we at home support them and appreciate the many risks they take to keep us safe. For more information on how you can help please visit: Homepage - Operation Gratitude.

Of note...You may also make a request that a care package be sent to those who deserve our continued support.

My Book - Woofity Woof and Li'l Sprout and how you can help.

 My boy, my book. 

For those of you that know me you know I love my little Pomeranian dog Woofus. So much so that I wrote a children's book in which he is the lead character. I wrote the short story and did all of the illustrations myself.

I hope to do more books in the future, but you know how it is. Time is spread ever so thin.

If you have cause to buy a children's book, I would be ever so grateful if you would purchase a copy of my book. If it helps you can think of it as a donation. I often donate to various groups and the sales from this book can help me help others.

It is available on Amazon. Amazon has buried it so deep that it is almost impossible to find via their search engine so here is the link:

Woofity Woof and Lil' Sprout: Cleary, Kelly J., Cleary, Kelly J.: 9781690865384: Amazon.com: Books

Thank you so much and if you have a furry friend, give him a cuddle for me.

Spellbinders CKOM June 2021 Better late than never

This is my first time purchasing a card kit from any company. I looked at a few different companies, not too many, but a few and decided that this kit looked like it had the most bang for my buck. Spellbinders Card Kit of the Month. I bought one of the older kits that was on sale. I decided on this kit for 2 reasons. 

1. I didn’t want to pay full price for a kit that I was not familiar with. 

2. I absolutely loved the dies that came in this kit and the dies were exclusive to the kit so the only way I was going to get them was through the purchasing of the kit. 

Let me just say that I was not disappointed. This  kit is jammed packed with everything you need to make some pretty terrific cards.

I was impressed from the moment I received the box. The kit was beautifully packaged.

I wasn’t really sure how to use this kit to it’s full advantage so I watched some online videos and did a little scraplifting. The kit is advertised as being able to make 10 cards from the kit. Well I made 10 cards from ideas that I saw on line. After that I put the kit away and there it sat for a few more weeks. Last night I decided to get it back out and see what I could come up with. I admit I was stumped so I hit YouTube for some more inspiration . Within just a couple of hours I came up with 7 more cards.

So that makes 17 cards from this one kit! I still have so many more supplies. I bet I can get another 17 cards from this kit. I, of course, will have to supply some card bases from my stash but this kit is well worth the price, even at full price. 

Ok...I stopped counting at 25 cards. I still have supplies left but this is getting ridiculous. 25 cards from a kit that is supposed to make 10. 

If you're on the fence about a card kit I would say  you can't go wrong with this one!

Card Crafting for Operation Gratitude 3/30/22

 Getting out a few more cards today with some help from my furry supervisor! He's so stinkin' cute.

I've been trying to do some stash busting and those scraps can make so much more than I realized. I could probably scrap 300 cards just using my old stash that I have been hording. Why don't we use our pretty papers? When is the right time going to be if not right now? I'm not kidding when I say I found 3 paper pads that I have had since 2003! Here are a few of the cards I made to get that paper gone!

These cards were made for Operation Gratitude. To find out more ways that you can help click the link below.

Homepage - Operation Gratitude

Making Cards for Operation Gratitude March Madness

 I decided that I would make cards for Operation Gratitude. It's been 2 weeks and I have about 160 cards made. My friends say I'm crazy, I say it makes me feel good. I'm going to post pics and update this same post as I go. The tricky part is they want blank cards so they can be sent on any occasion. Sounds easier than it is.

If you received one of these cards please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Or if you received a letter from me, please comment as well. 

To find out how you can participate click the link below.

Homepage - Operation Gratitude

Some Cards Made in March 2022

Crochet Stitches, How to.

The very basics. How to put the yarn on your hook and make your beginning chain.

Starting Knot for Single Crochet Row

Starting Knot for Double Crochet Row.

Drop Down Double Crochet. 

Ending Knot for Single Crochet

Happy Accident

 

Who doesn't love a new baby? Call me old school but every new baby needs a blanket made with love.

I saw this free pattern on line and immediately loved the colors. Another plus that it was made from Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" and as luck would have it there is a Hobby Lobby close by so I would be able recreate this beauty in the very same color combinations. I was tickled.

This pattern consisted of a stitch that I had never done before, 2dctog or 2 double crochets together. 

This was a great pattern and I was able to whip it up in just a few days.

I ran into a bit of trouble at the end of each row that I should have autocorrected but didn't. It left me with a big gap/hole going all the way down one side. This happened on the ending side where you turn to go back and start the next row. There are several different ways to turn around neatly but this one just proved to be messy. I should have just done my own thing right when I noticed it but my stubborn side told me just to follow the instructions as I had interpreted them. Let's just say a happy accident was about to happen.

Welcome Baby

I ended up solving the problem by making a row of single crochet all the way around to clean up the edges then added fringe to the side that had the gaping holes. The other 3 sides were finished off with a round of double crochet. All in all, I think it was a lovely and unique effect. Some would say messed up project, I say Happy Accident!