Breast Cancer Campaign (Blogs for Boobies Auction)

"Breast cancer"--Two words that hit far too close to home for far too many. My mom is a breast cancer survivor, and witnessing her go through more than a year of care and treatments was one of the most difficult things I've experienced. I feel very blessed to be able to say "survivor" when telling her story. What I'd give to be able to say the same for a friend of mine. She lost her life to breast cancer earlier this year.

...She was a special person and is missed by many!

So when I was asked to participate in the Blogs 4 Boobies event with Skipping Stone Design again this year, I was happy to join in. I decided to make a card set that includes two cards, two envelopes, and a gift bag and tag.

I'm auctioning my cards off, which is kind of scary, but the goal is to bring in some money for the Susan G. Koman Foundation. 100% of the proceeds I raise will be donated! More on how to bid below.

How My Cards Came Together

To create the cards, I first painted the background using watercolor paint. I then added foil using the DecoFoil pen by Therm O web, which allowed me to hand-write "love" and the butterfly trail. Photographing foil is the pits. This is a shiny, pretty silver in real life. Wish it showed better. Sorry!

I used the Heartsong stamp set from Skipping Stones Design to stamp several butterflies.

I then cut out the butterflies and painted them a bit to better match my painted background.

I layered several butterflies together and sewed to create a popped up look. I purposefully left some of the thread to work as the antenna.

With a little wing fluffing, my cards were complete.

To top it all off, I made a little gift bag and thank-you tag to go with the set.

Free Stamps Included!

Here's a fun bonus! I'm going to include my stamp set with my cards. Yes, it was gently used to create these cards, but that's it. Otherwise, it's brand new (and so cute!). I thought it would be fun to give it to the winning bid so you can make more of this card style (if that's your kind of thang). But whether you win or not, you're going to want to do some shopping at Skipping Stones Designs. For every stamp set purchased between now and June 14, they're donating $2 to the Koman Foundation! Isn't that wonderful? You'll definitely want to check out their newest stamps, released today in honor of the celebration. They're amazing!

You'll definitely want to check out their newest stamps, released today in honor of the celebration. They're amazing! Here's a peek at one of the sets. So cute!

How to Bid on My Card Set (and stamp set)

I'd LOVE to send this set your way. If you feel so inclined to bid, this is a card auction (more on that below). I'll collect bids here. Skipping Stones Design is donating all money raised to the Susan G. Koman Foundation.

Hop On!

Here are the rest of the blogs participating in Part 1 of this fun hop today:

Connie Mercer

Ilina Crouse

Kelly Gettelfinger

Amy Sheffer

Deana Benson

Megan Hoeppner (so nice to have you here!)

Giovana Smith

Stephen Kropf

Jacquie Marie

Thanks, from my heart, for your support. Breast cancer, be gone!

Warmly,
Megan

World Card Making Day

What feels like ages ago, as a young magazine editor, I was tasked with helping set up World Card Making Day (WCMD). Actually, at the time it was Nat'l Card Making Day (a day founded by the Paper Crafts magazine team at that time—Jennafer Martin, Cath Edvalson, Stace Hasegawa, Junko Barker, and Stacy Croninger), but I suggested we change it to World (for a few reasons), and the holiday was born. While I may no longer be a full-time magazine editor, you can bet I'm still an avid card maker, and I love that this holiday is still going strong. 

To celebrate, I created a couple of cards. The original idea behind WCMD was to kick off the holiday card-making season, so I created this Christmas card. 

This one was so simple. I tore some strips from an old book, colored the edges of those strips with a paint pen by Elmer's, and then stitched the strips to my card base. From there, I added a few sequin ornaments for a bit of festive sparkle. 

My next card was created for the Scrapbook & Cards Today (SCT) Magazine blog. 

Being a copy editor for this magazine is so great, but I love that I also get to put my crafting abilities to use from time to time. 

Finally, as a sneak peek, I created this card, which I'll be sharing tomorrow on the SCT blog as part or my Monday with Megan post. It's for a friend who is currently undergoing breast cancer treatments. With this being breast cancer awareness month, it felt like a good reason to also share it here. 

Like my tree card, I simply used pages from an old book (card base and "ribbon"), a paint pen (pink this time, also from Elmer's), and my sewing machine. I then added stickers from Maggie Holmes ("beautiful") and Making Memories (&) to complete my design. 

 

As promised, I want to offer a WCMD party favor. Comment here between now and Friday, Oct. 10 for your chance to win a card-making grab bag. I'll randomly select a winner from comments received. Thanks!

Happy WCMD, friends!