Update!

The new update to Crafty Card Gallery is now available in the iTunes app store!  Make sure you download it!  If you have any questions, feel free to comment here or on the Facebook page & I can give you some instructions if you need them....

Welcome new designers!  There are 12 new designers.  Their blogs are now linked on mine.....

And I want to congratulate Sandy, who was one of the first designers in the app...  Operation Write Home won 2nd place in JoAnn's contest...  In honor of that, I'm posting the interview with Sandy that was in the app...

• How long have you been making cards? 
• I've been creating things since I could hold a crayon....cardmaking became a passion in 1996.

• What got you started having a blog? 
• I had a two-fold reason - one was a trip to Israel that I wanted to document. The other was the start of organizing the project that has now become Operation Write Home! I eventually had to move all that to a website, so my own blog is my creations with a sprinkling of OWH. :)

• Where do you get inspiration? 
• I use a lot of sketches to get started...I keep a sketchbook of ideas, usually doodles based on cards I've seen online or in person. If I work off the doodle, I tend to adapt to my own supplies, whereas if I CASE a card from a photo, I try to copy it too specifically. 

• How many cards do you make, on average, per month?
•  Minimum right now is 30 - a card a day, as I've made a New Year's Resolution to make and post one each day. But often it's at least a few a day if I can squeeze in the time!

• How often do you craft? 
• Every day! If I don't I become very grumpy :)

• How long does it take you, on average, to make a card (from idea to completion)?
•  Lately it's taking me longer; I'm taking more care to embellish, and my current desire to use 3 or more pieces of patterned paper is making me work harder at it! So typically it's probably half an hour.

• What are your top 5 most used tools? 
• Copic markers, paper cutter (Tonic guillotine 12"), paper piercer, ATG gun, distressing tool (with felt pad)

• How do you come up with ideas?  Do you look at others cards?
•  Cards, sketches - all sorts of things. Usually I start digging through the stash on my desk to see what matches.

• What's your current favorite technique? 
• Paper piercing has taken me over - with faux stitching drawn on with a pen!

• You're president of Operation Write Home.  How did you get involved with OWH?
•  It was a big accident! I was on a message board chatting with friends about what to do with our card stash. I'd heard a radio story about a woman who had sent 1000 cards to her son's deployed unit, and I asked on the message board if anyone knew of a group like that for me to send my cards to. A soldier at a Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad was lurking and getting her crafty 'fix', and saw the post....she said we could send them to her, so we did. And of course more people saw the post, and wanted to send some, so I sent a second box. And a third. Eventually she told me to find some others to share with! lol. We did, and eventually started a website, and incorporated as a nonprofit. It just keeps growing!

• What's your favorite part of being involved with OWH?
•  It depends on the day. Any day that I hear back from our contacts is an awesome day! I also love getting inspiration from all the cards that come to my mailbox; I also love hearing stories of the transformation that happens in peoples' lives as they take part in OWH. And then there's seeing people grow in their craft....and....well I love everything but the paperwork, how about that!

• If someone wanted to get involved in OWH, what would you tell them to do? 
• Just dive in! Check out the website to read the guidelines (http://www.owhhomefrontblog.org/p/about-owh.html), and then get started! Pour all the love and creativity you can find into your cards....take your time, have fun, and make incredible cards! If you lose steam, go read the Hero Blog for inspiration...get ideas from the Stars and Stamps blog, and chat about your questions on Facebook. Just get involved!

• Is there anything you want everyone to know about you?
•  One thing that surprises most folks is that I don't really have a personal connection to the military; no husband or child serving. My dad was in the Army, and I have a cousin who's done a few tours lately, but otherwise it's just all my 'adopted' kids (my contacts) who mean so much to me! They inspire me every day by the sacrifices they're willing to make for me, someone they have never met. And helping them keep in touch with home is the least I can do!

Congratulations Operation Write Home & Sandy!  Great Job!!!