From Our Hearts

From the USO at Bagram Air Field

Dear From Our Hearts,

A note of thanks to let you know your lovely greeting cards were received at the Pat Tillman Memorial USO at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan.  They are some of the most beautiful cards we have ever received and are being enjoyed by the service members traveling through our center.  Your generosity has helped raise the spirits of our soldiers and we appreciate it very much!  You can follow the Pat Tillman Memorial USO on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/USO-Bagram-Air-Base-Afghanistan/135773896448565

Sincerely,

Sara L

In-Kind Donation Manager

Pat Tillman Memorial USO

Bagram, Afghanistan

From PA to TX, Cards Arrive!

Two boxes arrived from our faithful contributor, Lois B from Columbia, PA.  Lois has been making cards for the troops for nearly 3 years in support of From Our Hearts.

  
592 cards arrived this time, along with pens to add to our boxes of cards we mail overseas.

Lois creates beautiful cards - and in this box, many of the cards were started by her sister - and handed on to Lois to complete.

Several Thanksgiving cards were among the many she created,

 
and many, many Halloween cards - these are already mailed off!

Adorable, don't you think?

21 Anniversary cards were among the many other types of cards --- we were glad to see these as our box is always "near empty" of these!  We appreciate all these cards and her continual support!

This box from Holland, MI arrived on 9/6:

Elaine B and the Neighborhood Stamp Club created and assembled 180 cards!

Inside, we found a check to help with postage - so very much appreciated!  And many cards of such a variety - this miss you card caught our eye:

Lots of detail in each and every card -

Anniversary, baby, congratulations, get well, and sympathy, too!

And a few holiday cards - each one carefully crafted.

Our thanks to Elaine and the Neighborhood Stamp Club!

Next up?  A very well organized box from a new contributor from Woodstown, NJ.

Her name is CArol C and she mailed 320 cards with 85 pens!

Carol's box was VERY organized!  The dividers (green) were made of sturdy plastic and tabbed - we saved them and will reuse them when we work on card fronts.  It was easy for us to put her cards away in the holding boxes!

Her box contained a good mix of cards, too.

Fall, winter, Christmas, birthday, friendship, hello, love you . . .

all occasion, thank you and . . .

thinking of you - and more -

Carol even sent us a photograph of all the cards she mailed.  Our scanner doesn't work well or we would put this photo on the blog!  Thank you, Carol, for all the care and extra steps you took to get this box to us!

Sara T from Victoria, TX mailed us another box!

265 cards, ready for the boxes.

Some of her customized slips tell us that many of the cards were made by the employees of the Trust Texas Bank Employees - Sara stamps with them on a regular basis -

Lovely cards - 212 were Halloween!

We thank Sara, again, for her big box and big heart!

A Comment Left on Our Blog!

Currently deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan. Thank you so much for all the cards that you have donated. I can't tell you how many of your cards that I have written to my family and friends during this deployment. Everyone loves them and so do I. I had to say "Thank you" to your organization for your thoughtfulness and kindness. It means a great deal to me to be able to send beautiful cards to the people that I love. Sincerely, Sarah H, Major, USAF, NC

Christmas and Holiday Cards Are Needed

Our goal:  2 boxes to each of our 40 contacts - that is 280-300 cards in each box and LOTS of cards are needed to fill up each and every one!

We thank you for helping to make our service men and women's lives a bit easier while they are serving our country away from their family and friends - and of course, for putting smiles on the faces of the card recipient!

The BEST Cards - That is What From Our Hearts Sends!

Hello!

I just want you to know that I mailed several of your cards today.  One birthday, one to my best friend and one to my parents.  They are the BEST cards and I SINCERELY appreciate your generosity and kindness.  Sending a card means a lot not only to me but to all my people back home who receive them.   Also, my card had a note in it that said it was packaged by Nancy L of Stampin' Up! in Abingdon, Illinois.  Can you please make sure she knows I loved the cards?

Thank you!

V/r,

Cheryl M, SSgt, USAF

455 EOSS, MPC Analyst

Note from the home office:  Nancy has been notified - and it is because she includes her own customized slip with every card she mails our way that we know exactly who this individual wants us to thank!

First Week of September - These Boxes Arrived One Day

Our official volunteer in Sugar Grove, Illinois keeps us hopping with each box she mails to us, and this time, Julie W mailed us a box of 431 cards.  Amazing!

Dedicated to our cause, Julie keeps holding events for From Our Hearts.  Julie writes: "Even though the big card making events I've held are coming to a bump in the road, I am planning to hold days at my home for people to come & sit and make cards, design some, etc."  THIS is DEDICATION!

Included in her box, we found a monetary contribution from Julie (thank you, Julie!) and pens, too - and we add these to each box we mail over.  Christmas cards were among the many she sent - 125 of them!   Our Christmas card shipment will mail over on Halloween.  This is our biggest shipment of the year and From Our Hearts volunteers are already beginning to box up the many cards that are arriving - it will take us a while to prepare the dozens of boxes we anticipate sending (we hope to receive enough cards to mail 2 per contact - or 80 boxes - we are keeping our fingers crossed!!)

Many other types of cards were found in her box, to include birthday, graduation, thank you, thinking of you, Praying for you and more.

Even kids cards!

We look at each and every card that is donated to us.  What fun we have opening each and every contribution we receive!

Our heartfelt thanks to Julie for EVERYTHING she does - as Stamping From Our Hearts in Illinois!

Next up . . . you are seeing 4, yes, 4 boxes - and all from our Lazy Day Stamper, Leanne G from our neighboring state, Kansas - Leanne is from Overland Park - and when we found these boxes at the post office, we were stunned.

But even more stunned when we opened 3 of them to find pens, pens and more pens!  Yes, all pens!  Seems Leanne has an "in" with a local office supply store and got a great deal on 742 pens - and a friend added another 34 and a few pencils, too - wow - enough there for our Christmas shipment, for sure!

more pens:

And box #4 contained 204 cards -

And we found Leanne's customized slip she printed off and sent for us to add to her cards -

We found a wonderful variety of cards in her box.

 
Some "blank" cards - those that have no sentiment stamped on them (general note cards) were included as well as friendship, get well, congratulations, thinking of you and so many more.

Thank you, birthday, Christmas, Father's Day -

We could list all the cards on our inventory sheet and this would almost mirror the types of cards Leanne sent!  Our appreciation is heartfelt, Leanne!  We NEED all types of cards and your contribution helps!

This next box comes from a new contributor, Beth A, from Huntersville, NC.

66 cards, with envelopes and "box ready" - and Beth took an extra step and stamped the verse that she stamped inside the card onto a slip and inserted into the back, along with our "contact" slip!

Beth writes, "I'm not sure if all of the cards meet your guidelines . . . I can't necessarily tell if they were made from greeting cards."

We can assure everyone that each of our cards are HANDCRAFTED!  Hand stamped, hand cut from card stock, and embellished!

And each of Beth's cards are hand crafted, as well - the above is an iris folded card - beautifully done!

Beth, too, sent us a nice variety of cards - best wished, birthday, love you, and even a 4th of July.

Thank yous, too - and we appreciate her hand crafted cards!

Rosemary C is our next contributor from Maquon, IL - Rosemary is a "repeat" contributor!

150 cards is what we found - along with . . . pens!

Rosemary, also, wrote the inside sentiment (if she stamped one inside) on the slip that she placed in the back of the card.

Rosemary writes, "My daughters, Rosalie and Jane need to get credit for my cards, too.  I put them together but they keep me supplied with all kinds of things to work with and it is a hobby of all of us."

And beautiful cards the team of 3 create!  45 Halloween - cute as they can be.

Many more varieties were included - Rosemary was busy with making Hi/hello,

children's birthday,

thank you,

love you, miss you, thinking of you, friendship and so many more!  Thank you, ladies!

Clara S is another new contributor to our cause.  From our home state of Missouri, Clara is from the town of Latour. 

Don't let the small package fool you.  Inside, we found lovely cards!

No note was included, so we counted, and found 28 cards and envelopes.

Thanksgiving, fall, birthday, thank youk, to name a few.

Love the forest of friends:

and the masculine cards --- we get so many "pink" and "frilly" cards, it is nice to see masculine cards!

From Our Hearts welcomes Clara!

And our heartfelt thanks to all these contributors whose boxes arrived the first week of September.

From A Wife - A Thank You

Just wanted to thank you for sending a box of cards to my husband's unit in Iraq.  He is located in a spot that has no place to shop.  Me and my two girls received beautiful cards!  What  a great idea. 

Thank you so much for a great job of helping our troops!

Angie H

Manassas, VA

Another Day's Contributions in September

Kim O from South Bend, IN sent a box our way earlier this month.  When we opened it, we found bundles of cards - each type of card tied several times with hemp twine - enough length for us to save and reuse at our local card making events!  What a clever way to separate the cards –

Her cards - each one so nice we wanted to take a photo of each and every one of them to show on the blog.

Every one unique.

Birthday, hi/hello, thinking of you, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving - and many, many more! 197 cards, each made by Kim and with envelopes, and in clear envelopes, too - "box ready" - Kim is a frequent contributor to From Our Hearts and we appreciate all of her creations!

Bobby C mailed this box to us from a UPS Store in Concord, NC.

No note inside, no return address, no email enclosed - nothing for us to be able to send her a thank you to Bobby for her contribution of 88 cards so we have to do it on the blog!

 
Bobby made sure the card were separated by type.  Some envelopes were included with the cards.

 
We found an assortment of beautiful cards inside - thinking of you, many all occasion cards . . .

 
birthday, too . . .

 
as well as love you, sympathy, thank you, baby, anniversary, Halloween and much, much, more.

 
A brand new contributor to our cause, we appreciate Bobby's contribution!

Anne Marie B has sent us boxes before, and we were happy to see another box from her.  She is from Waukegan, IL.

50 Halloween cards is what we found when we opened her box.

 
All the same design, but Anne Marie used different colors and different stamps used on the cards.

 
Close ups of the cards show the differences in the cards.  As we have 40 different locations receiving our cards, her cards will be placed in each of the boxes - so many will only receive one card.  And those who receive two will have a different card design.   These cards are already mailed and on the way - Halloween cards were shipped out this past week.  Our thanks to Anne Marie for helping to fill up the 40 boxes!

Joyce D hails from Deming, NM and mailed a box of 50 cards to us.

Joyce mails boxes to us on a regular basis.  This time, she sent not only Halloween cards, but more.

 
Thanksgiving cards were among her cards.

And more - children's and adult birthday cards, and thinking of you . . .

AND all occasion cards, too.

Joyce included pens in her box so that we could include them in the boxes we mailed over - we appreciate all that she sent!

Kathy S is our Independence, MO contributor -

And again, Kathy mailed us lots of cards - each one made by her - 140 in this box.

Many, many Halloween cards and Thanksgiving cards, and a good mix of many other types.

Beautiful cards - many that we want to recreate at our local events!  Friendship, get well, thank you, thinking of you...

even a Valentine card -

Thank you, Kathy, for your continual support!

From Westchester, Illinois, Pamela M is a brand new contributor to From Our Hearts.  Welcome, Pam!

40 cards came our way, with envelopes - and they were all Halloween.  One for each box we mailed out.

Cute cards!!!

We get a kick out of all the different designs, stamps used and styles of all of our contributors!

This card has a "web" over it - a little hard to see from the photo, but so effective.

Each card a bit different, we took a group photo of three of her cards - we just can't get enough of those Halloween cards.

Our thanks to our new contributor.  We look forward to your next contribution!

Margaret O is from Hayward, WI - Margaret has been contributing to us for quite a while.

Margaret sent us 30 cards and what a variety we found.

Anniversary (thank you, Margaret, we NEED anniversary cards!), birthday, all occasion, congratulations are among the cards we found . . .

and many more - and crafted so beautifully!

We had a difficult time picking out just a few of Margaret's cards to photograph.

Each one unique, we know they will be well received!

A tail waggin' terrific day . . . we know that one special service person will find this card to be that "special" card to send back home.

Our many, many thanks to our contributors whose boxes arrived on this day - we appreciate your support!

Another Note of Thanks

Ma'am/Sir,

From all of us over here, thank you very much for all of your support!

The cards are all beautiful.  We just want you all to know how much we appreciate you spending time creating the cards.

Thanks again for all of your support.

God bless you all & our country.

From the men and women (Armed Forces)

Worth the Wait . . .

We rely on the help of volunteers and sometimes, well, it just takes a while to get things to us!  Such was the case of this box that was delivered and waited for pickup:

From Regina A in Topeka, a box of cards that once were card fronts and some made by Regina and her group of volunteers - 325 of them.

And included in the box, supplies from Faye K from Manhattan, KS.  Thank you, Faye, for once more donating so many supplies to our effort!

This box was hand delivered from Kansas to Missouri to save postage - and we appreciate the "storage space" that this box took up in Faye's daughter's home for several weeks before it was finally picked up and delivered to Jefferson City.

Thank you, Regina, Faye, Faye's daughter and Diana F, who was courier on the last leg on this box's journey!