I think just about everyone's life...

is affected in one way or another by a soldier. Either you or your spouse, another family member or a friend is in some way involved I bet. I have 2 cousins on active duty now. One is a Marine stationed in Afghanistan and the other is in the Army and is in Iraq. They both leave behind mothers, fathers, wives and children. Since today is Memorial Day I wanted to take a moment to recognize our service members and their families. Especially those who've made the ultimate sacrifice. Our nation would not be what it is today without you. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

I was reading this blog the other day and she mentioned Cards for Heros. This group sends cards to soldiers abroad. They send blank cards that the soldiers can use to send notes to their loved ones as well as cards they can send to the soldiers themselves to thank them for their service. They had a blog hop this past weekend and I was totally inspired. So, I made the following card to send to one of my cousins. I have another in progress for the second and when that's done, I will send some to CFH. I hope you'll join me in this effort. I feel strongly that it is important that our service members know how much we appreciate them and their efforts. CFH also accepts donations to help with postage. Here's the card I made...

I kept this card super simple for a number of reasons. One, I will be mailing it overseas and I didn't want bulky embellishments that could fall off in transit. Two, it is for a male so I didn't want ribbons and stuff. And three, I wasn't sure which cousin this card would be going to when I started on it. That mystery, however, has been solved. This card is your basic A2 or 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card size. I used my Spellbinders Stars Nestabilities and my Quickutz Diesel Classic alphabet and Shadow. Thats it! Super duper simple card. I had wrote the "God bless the" on top of USA. The inside will read "and God bless you!" Seriously, this card only took a few moments to whip up but I think it will have a huge impact on Jason!

You may have heard that Quickutz has a little contest going on right now to see who can come up with the most innovative creation with the Bride from the Bride and Groom Cookie Cutter Die set. You have to see what Jenn did with her...

She made her into Mary Poppins! To do this, Jenn added the Revolution Umbrella ,which happens to be included in the 4x4 sale going on right now. To get her Mary to hold the umbrella, Jenn cut the arm off and repositioned it upward. The handbag was created by piecing together two different die cuts from the new Flirt Gift Set. Jenn used the new Cookie Cutter Monogram Accent Set for the silver moon and added the Cloud Border to give the illusion her Mary was in the sky. The hat was from the retired Paper Doll Set and the title is the Flirt font. Are your wheels turning now? If you participate in the contest, we'd love to see what you come up with! You can email your projects to me at katie@scrap-mart.com. If you're not planning on participating, leave us a comment and let us know what you think she could be made in to!

Tammy made a beautiful thank you card using her Spellbinders Nestabilities and a stamped image.

She used both her Classic Rectangles Large and her Classic Scallop Rectangles Large. The stamped image is from a Unity Stamps Kit of the Month. Tammy added a touch of ribbon and some tiny alpha stickers for her sentiment. Anyone would be thrilled to receive such a lovely card.

Thanks so much for stoppin' by today. While you're enjoying your day off, take a moment to remember our fallen heros and those who are still fighting today. We'll see you Wednesday!

Katie