We have a Blog Candy Winner

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my blog and left a comment. You are so sweet. However, without further adieu, the random winner of the Valentine stamp set is:

K. Joy from Splashes of Joy and the artist behind K n' K Designs. Check her out, she creates the cutest digital images. I am a sucker for dog images.

Valentines for Veterans

I am excited to be a part of the Operation Write Home Be My Valentine Bloghop. So, you may be asking yourself, "why are those crazy card ladies making Valentine cards in November?" Well, the Christmas deadline has passed so we are working on our next deadline, Valentine's Day, January 7th.

But, we have a special incentive to get them in earlier. Archway cookies is matching the Valentine cards received by our shippers by December 1 with cookies for our troops. Click here for the details. So cool!

Back to the hop. I made a little card to start off my weekend of Valentine's Day card making.

I went a little crazy with the patterned paper but I like how it turned out. I love the blue and black check paper from Teresa Collins. I can pretty much add it to every card I make a be totally happy and justified about it. Hopefully a soldier will love to send it to his wife and she will love to get something homemade from her hubby who is serving far away on Valentine's Day.

Here is another view.

So, do you want some sweets? I'm offering some blog candy today. All you need to do is comment below about anything, the troops, Valentine's Day, whatever. I'll draw a random winner from all those who comment by Monday at 8 p.m (California time) November 22. If you don't have a blog, leave a way for me to track you down.

Thanks for visiting. Please continue along the bloghop by visiting the very talented cardmaker, Patti at What are you Iinking?  And, if you are in the creative mood and love our troops, please make some Valentine's Day cards for OWH. 

Also, since it is Veteran's weekend,  I wrote a blog post about sending care packages to our troops. Check it out.

How to Send Packages to the Troops

With U.S. Veterans Day just around the corner, I wanted to share with you some tips for sending packages to our troops. Our troops love to receive mail, especially packages from home. When sending treats overseas, some of the rules can be a little tricky. I'm going to try to make it a little easier.

My cousin's Air Force buddies

What to send:

The most important thing we can send our troops is a letter of encouragement. Other than that, they love to receive fun things from home like books, dvds, magazines, snacks, video games, socks, toiletries, puzzle books, and other thoughtful gifts.

Our local library has a wonderful used books sale and I am one of their best customers. :) It's a great way to support our library and our troops.




MREs can be pretty yucky. Some troops love condiment packets like hot sauce to kick it up a notch.

Troops love easy on-the-go bars, candy, packaged cookies, beef jerky, instant items and drink packets.

What not to send to the middle east:

Obscene articles (prints, paintings, cards, films, videotapes, etc).
Any matter depicting nude or seminude persons or nonauthorized political materials.
Bulk quantities of religious materials contrary to the Islamic faith.
Pork or pork by-products
Chocolate (it melts) send hard candies instead

Where to send it:
There are several really great organizations that help you connect with soldiers. Each is organized in a different way so be sure to read their FAQs first. Here are a few reputable organizations:
Books for Soldiers (I've been a volunteer for a few years and love this group)
Any Soldier
Operation Gratitude
Soldier's Angels

How to send it:

The USPS has some great packaging solutions just for our troops and lots of tips on their website. You can pick them boxes and envies at the post office or do what I do and order them for free online and have them dropped off at your home. There are Priority Mail envies for smaller items.

And, my favorite for shipping books and heavy items, the Priority Mail Flat Rate box.

This is an ongoing project for me. I love it! If you have any tips or questions, please share. I'll try and update this post as new info comes in.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Halloween Open House

We really go all out for Halloween at my house. Last year I was in Wales for Halloween so it's fun to be back in the U.S. where we love Halloween.

Lets start outside and then work our way in.
Hi, I'm Ghostie and I will be your guide. Beware of posers. There is only one Ghostie around here.

The windows have either orange lights or spider lights. Spooky.

This sign used to say, "Welcome to the crows nest:" but the Grows changed the C to a G. They are so clever.

Even the car is not immune to Halloween decor. This is the Jack antennae ball on Heather's sister's car.  

Spidey greets our guests. Lets go inside.

Charlie Brown and Lucy are our favorite indoor decorations.

The decorations have been collected over the years. Many have been crafted by Heather and her sister.

Halloween is the beginning of pumpkin pie season. Heather's mum roasts pumpkins to make the pies from scratch.

 I hope that you have enjoyed your tour of the Grow Halloween home. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Patriots' Day

Tomorrow, September 11, 2010 marks the 9th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. I baked up a bunch of my kitchen sink cookies for my local firehouse. I packaged them in a recycled cinnamon roll container and added a USA ribbon. Hope they enjoy them. :)

I've been thinking a lot about September 11th and so I wrote a little op ed and sent it to my local newspaper. It was published! Check it out and let me know what you think.  And, if you have some time, bake some cookies for your local firehouse. ;)

Happy Independence Day Open House

We go a little nutty with our holiday decorating around here. The 4th of July is no exception. I've taken a few pictures from around my house to share with you. Enjoy!

 We'll begin with the front of the house. Our door used to be blue like the window boxes but this year we painted our new door red. We wanted it to really "pop" so we left the flower boxes blue which I think looks a little patriotic all year 'round.

The buntings are from Hobby Lobby (in Arizona.) Next up, we have a few pics from inside the house. My mum collects pitchers and this is her new patriotic pitcher.


I loved Holly Hobby as a kid so this plate reminds me of my childhood.

We found this cute frame at the Assistance League of Huntington Beach Thrift Shop. It sits on top of my piano.

Lastly, I took this picture in my backyard. I thought the redish geraniums with the overgrown white vine with the violet morning glories looked very red white and blue.

Oh, and the welcome sign up at the top of this post also came from the AL of HB Thrift Store. I found the cute star plates at Target (Love them!). Well this is all the new stuff we've collected/done this year. Thanks for visiting and happy 4th of July.

If you are interested, you can view last years 4th tour. Check it out here.