Happy 4th of July!

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Happy 4th of July!

I hope you have a great 4th of July celebrating our nation's birth.

This is one of the 4th of July cards I made this year.

The base of the card is a blank kraft cardstock card that measures 5" by 6.5".

I chose the digital stamp Sailor from Mo's Digital Pencil. I printed the image on white cardstock and colored it with Copic Sketch markers and Promarkers. I cut it out with a Spellbinders die and layered it on top of 4 pieces of cardstock/patterned paper.

The paper with anchors and the red paper with white dots came from the Nautical Digital paper pack by Prettygrafikdesign on Etsy. I printed the paper on my HP Photo Printer. I never run out of ink using my HP Instant Ink subscription.

I chose the Tim Holtz sentiment "Let Freedom Ring".

I will enter this card in the following challenges:
Crafting by Designs July Challenge
Crafty Creations Challenge #393
Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #195
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday June/July Challenge
The Paper Shelter Challenge #390
Repeat Impressions DCC J319 ~ Red, White and Blue
The Sisterhood of Crafters Any Occasion Challenge

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Waiting for the Parade Patriotic Card

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I made this patriotic card to celebrate our Independence Day on the 4th of July. 

This is how I made the card:
I started with a blank kraft cardstock card that measures 5" by 6.5".

The background patterned paper is from the "Independence Day" digital paper pack from PrettyGrafikDesign on Etsy. I printed the digital paper on white cardstock with my HP Envy Photo 7855 Printer using ink from the HP Instant Ink program.

I chose the digital stamp "Waiting for the Parade" from Mo's Digital Pencil. I colored the image with Copic Sketch Markers and Windsor and Newton Promarkers/Brushmarkers. I cut/embossed the image with an oval Spellbinders die. I than cut a scalloped oval Spellbinders die out of white cardstock and mounted the image on the scalloped oval. I used double-sided tape to attach the image to the patterned paper.

I embellished the card with a piece of USA ribbon across the bottom of the card.

I will enter this card in the following challenges;
4 Crafty Chicks Challenge #409
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #298
Art Impressions Patriotic Colors Challenge #235
Cardz 4 Galz Challenge #74
DL.ART Red, White and Blue Challenge #231
The House That Stamps Built Challenge #J2718
Little Miss Muffet Challenge #192
Little Red Wagon Summer Fundays Challenge #452
The Paper Shelter Challenge #345
Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge
Star Stampz Celebrations Challenge
That's Crafty! A Summers Day Challenge

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The Soldier On Crutches by Edgar A Guest

I would like to wish you all a very happy 4th of July! Please remember those who are fighting for our freedom and their families. Freedom is not free.

I would like to honor Richard Thomas, my daughter's father-in-law. This is a picture of him receiving the Purple Heart in March, 1970. He lost both legs while serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

The Soldier On Crutches
By Edgar A. Guest 

He came down the stairs on the laughter-filled grill
Where patriots were eating and drinking their fill,
The tap of his crutch on the marble of white
Caught my ear as I sat all alone there that night.
I turned—and a soldier my eyes fell upon,
He had fought for his country, and one leg was gone!

As he entered a silence fell over the place;
Every eye in the room was turned up to his face.
His head was up high and his eyes seemed aflame
With a wonderful light, and he laughed as he came.
He was young—not yet thirty—yet never he made
One sign of regret for the price he had paid.

One moment before this young soldier came in
I had caught bits of speech in the clatter and din
From the fine men about me in life's dress parade
Who were boasting the cash sacrifices they'd made;
And I'd thought of my own paltry service with pride,
When I turned and that hero of battle I spied.
I shall never forget the hot flushes of shame
That rushed to my cheeks as that young fellow came.
He was cheerful and smiling and clear-eyed and fine
And out of his face golden light seemed to shine.
And I thought as he passed me on crutches:"How small
Are the gifts that I make if I don't give my all."

Some day in the future in many a place
More soldiers just like him we'll all have to face.
We must sit with them, talk with them, laugh with them, too,
With the signs of their service forever in view
And this was my thought as I looked at him then—
Oh, God! make me worthy to stand with such men.

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