We're Hosting a Birthday Bash!

We're SO excited to be hosting a challenge for the Operation Write Home Birthday Bash! Making cards for our heroes far from home is a very important cause to all of us - Jan hosts the Midweek Throwdown at Operation Write Home, and several of our designers are either married to heroes or have family members that serve. We are so grateful to the men and women who sacrifice so much for us!

To help Operation Write Home celebrate their birthday, we have a very special challenge for you this week. We want you to make a birthday card that you can send OWH, and they in turn will get it to a hero to send home.

We're going to get you started on your birthday card by donating the image featured on this card, Birthday Chloe, for you to use! That's right - well give it to you free - that's how important this cause is to us. All you have to do to get Birthday Chloe is follow this blog, and sign up for the newsletter. Once you've done those things just leave us a comment with your email address -use this format, to avoid spam: instylestamps (at) instylestamps (dot) com - and we will get the image sent to you.

Taylor Usry (image used - Birthday Chloe)

Once you've played along, be sure to link your card here. You have until Sunday, September 26th at 12:00 PM EST to get your card linked up. We'll be selecting a random winner just after that to win FOUR digi images from our store! Be sure to look for the announcement next Sunday.

Here's some important information you need before you make your card (borrowed from the OWH page):
The basic guidelines:

1. No glitter. Seriously. It's a hazard for our heroes, so we won't send cards with any glitter that will flake off the card. Read more.
2. A2 sized cards. Most efficient for our shipping dollars, so we strongly recommend A2 (4.25" x 5.5" - half a sheet of cardstock). Read more.
3. Packing Slip. Download this handy packing slip and write in your contact info and quantity—the shipper will be able to email you to let you know your cards arrived. If you haven't heard back you can also check the Thankful Thursday post each week to see if they've arrived. Our shippers get lots of packages every day, so please give them some grace in getting back to you.

Some additional things you may want to do that will help out our shippers:

1. Stamp the backs of your cards. We put "Operation Write Home" on the back of every card so families at home know how their hero received such a work of art to write home on. You can order your own stamp, acrylic or self-inking; you can handwrite "Operation Write Home"; you can make a label; or have your own stamp made at your local office supply store. Listing your own information on the back of the card is fine, we just add OWH to it.
2. Learn "the tuck." If you are including envelopes (some people prefer to include a donation for envelopes instead, and leave the labor to our shippers), the tuck is very helpful if your cards are already stamped. If they are not yet stamped, leave them entirely outside the envelopes. Check out the mailroom video below for more info on the tuck.
3. Include a donation. Small or large, cash or check, every bit helps! Please paperclip it to your Packing Slip to be sure your check doesn't sneak off to Afghanistan by accident.
4. Limit multiples. Some folks like to make a lot of one design. While that's fine, it becomes a big problem in one particular instance: holiday cards. If you want to make a lot of those (over 30), please send them 8 weeks ahead (or more). That allows us to mix them into the most boxes; we often end up with 100 of one design arriving the last week, and if most of those holiday boxes had already been sent in weeks prior, those multiples will have to wait til next year.

Don't forget - Once you've played along, be sure to link your card here. You have until Sunday, September 26th at 12:00 PM EST to get your card linked up. We'll be selecting a random winner just after that to win FOUR digi images from our store! Be sure to look for the announcement next Sunday.