Operation Write Home

I posted this on the website for Your Maine Stamper, but thought I should include it here as well.

Anne here.  I've signed up to participate in OPERATION WRITE HOME.  Operation Write Home's mission:  To support our nation's armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on.  

Our Remember the Troops event at Your Maine Stamper on May 18th, Armed Forces Day, will include an all-day make it session with me to create cards to be sent to Operation Write Home for distribution.  I will collect the handmade cards made that day as well as any received at Your Maine Stamper by May 18th and will prepare them for shipment and send them out for processing.  Won't you help families receive happy mail from their loved ones serving in the armed forces?

Here are the basic guidelines for creating cards for this project.

• NO GLITTER.  Seriously, it is a safety hazard for our heroes.  If it flakes off, it can't go.
• A2 SIZED CARDS.  4.25" X 5.5" -- pre-made cards or half a sheet of card stock.
• NO STOREBOUGHT CARDS.  Do not repurpose parts of old cards into handmade ones either.
• LIMIT MULTIPLES.  Maximum quantity for any one design is 30 cards.
• DO NOT VIOLATE COPYRIGHT LAWS.  It is illegal to use photography, cartoons, or illustrations, art from magazines, catalogs or books on cards with Operation Write Home on the back.  (I have a special stamp from them and will mark each card,)  Purchased papercrafting items are okay to use.
• LINE DARK CARDS.  If your card base is not white on the inside, please add light paper.  If you can't see pencil on it, add a liner.
• DO NOT HANDWRITE SENTIMENTS.  If you don't have a sentiment stamp to go with your card, let it be a blank card.  Blank cards are the most useful anyway!
• INCLUDE AN ENVELOPE FOR EACH CARD.  But do not put the card in the envelope.  There is a special way these need to be packaged.

Theme ideas:  Love/miss you; thanks, birthday, general all-occasion blank cards

Remember that both men and women serve in the armed forces and will be using the cards we make to write messages to loved ones at home.  Think about cards appropriate to send to spouses, parents, children, friends.

Staying out of the Card Hospital

The Card Hospital hosts problem cards until the shipper has time for triage.  Check your cards for these common issues before donating them to me.

• Glitter.  If it rubs off at all, it can't be sent.
• Dark card bases without liners OR with so much design that there is no place to write
• Orphan embellishments or die cuts falling off--not enough or bad adhesive
• Inappropriate themes (new baby announcement, invitation, etc.); stick with more general themes listed above.

I will stamp each card with the Operation Write Home logo, tuck it correctly into the envelope (they actually have a specific way to put these in envelopes called "The Tuck"), sort them by theme, and mail them to the shipper for processing. 

I hope that you will participate in this project, either by mailing to or dropping off cards with their envelopes at Your Maine Stamper or by participating in the card making day at the shop on May 18th.

Thanks!  For more information, you can visit their website at http://operationwritehome.org.