OWH Be My Valentine Bloghop

Welcome to my portion of the Operation Write Home Be My Valentine Bloghop!  I'm very honored to participate in another OWH bloghop.  My very first bloghop was with OWH a year ago for Veteran's Day.  I was afraid that I would do something wrong and upset people.  Instead, I've become friends with a very supportive and helpful group of people who will bend over backwards to help others, especially our soldiers serving overseas!  I started making cards for the soldiers while my daughter was stationed in Iraq with the Colorado Army National Guard 220th MP unit.  I know first-hand how important all of these special cards mean to our soldiers. 

If you came here from Jessica's blog, Certainly Stamping, you're at the right place! Isn't it fabulous that she is donating her commissions until Dec. 31st to OWH! Send a super THANKS to this fabulous women for being so gracious to our soldiers! We also need to send a special thanks to her hubby who is a sailor, and her soldier brother! That's a lot to be thankful for!!!!  If you get lost on the hop or a link isn't working, you can always go back to the OWH Stars and Stamps blog to get you in the right place. 

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You may know the history behind Veteran's Day, but do you know that there is an organization that makes it possible for us to find out personal information about wars from World War I to the present from the veterans and those involved in the war effort from correspondence, pictures and other types of media?  The Veteran's History Project was created in 2000 by the U.S. Congress with the following mission:
"The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war."

Are you a veteran or do you know someone who served and would like to contribute to this project?  Maybe you would like to know more about where a family member served or what types of obstacles they had to overcome because of the war.  Then you will want to check out this organization to see what is available, or maybe you can contribute to preserving this portion of history for others.  Take some time to check them out for yourself.
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***SUCCESS! Robyn on Paper Craft Planet found the manufacturer of the stamp.  It can be found at I LOVE RUBBER STAMPS.

My Valentine's card uses this fabulous horse stamp that I bought on ebay.  I would love to know who made it, so if you know the manufacturer please let me know.  I stamped and then heat embossed it with Stampendous embossing powder.  The star paper is a specialty paper from Hobby Lobby, and the textured silver paper is from a DCWV matstack.  The gorgeous ribbon is another ebay purchase.  To finish off the front, I matted this metal heart from All My Memories.

Here's the inside of the card that I stamped with this old PSX sentiment, and then heat embossed it with fine silver embossing powder.  There's plenty of room left for the soldier to write a personal note inside.

The Valentine's card deadline is January 7th.  Sorry if you wanted to send them Christmas cards, but that deadline has already passed.  Don't worry, you can tuck them away for now and send them to your OWH shipper next year. 

We need your vote today and everyday until December 4th at Joann's Craft for a Cause.  Just imagine how many boxes of cards could be shipped to our soldiers if OWH won the grand prize of $50,000???  Remember to vote everyday, so make sure to add this URL to your favorites.  Vote the same time everyday, so we can get the maximum number of votes allowed.  They only allow one vote per household per day, so make sure you tell your blogger, facebook, twitter and other friends to vote for OWH, too! 

What's a blog hop without BLOG CANDY????  I'll draw for this blog candy on Wednesday, November 17th!  It includes the Wedding Stamp set from the Rusty Pickle, a clear stamp set called Mix & Match Labels from Hampton Arts, an assortment of ribbons that's not all pictured here, some brights 5" x 7" papers from Making Memories, app. 50 sheets of 6" x 6" papers from Paper Symphony and some other assorted surprises!  Sorry, but the blog candy is only available for US shipping.  All you have to do to enter is:

1. Become a follower if you aren't already one.  WooHoo!!!!  Since I hit over 100 followers,  I'm adding in some more goodies!!!!
2. Leave a comment below, so I know you want to win this blog candy.
3. Go to the Joann's Craft for a Cause link today and everyday and vote for Operation Write Home
4. Leave your email in the comment section if you don't have a blog. 

Your next stop on the hop is to Doris's blog, Mom's Been Scrappin.  Not only does she make some fabulous cards for our heroes, but her family is really into helping our soldiers.  One of her daughter's even participated in the Tough Mudder event that raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project! 

****SPECIAL MISSION****

From now until Dec. 1st, you can make Valentines and send them to one of our shippers to be involved in an awesome partnership with Archway.  Gosh, OWH really love to keep our heroes happy, don't they?  Please help whenever you can, so our soldiers know how much we care about them and their families!

~~~  Lee  ~~~