Land Of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave Blog Hop!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Welcome To the Land of the Free Because of the Brave Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here today from Belinda's blog. I know you were impressed by her talent, that's why she's our Queen Bee! She is one of the best artists I know!
On this Veteran's Day 2010, I would like to take a moment to remember why we are free to say what we feel and believe. Why we can practice our personal Religions, or choose not to practice any Religion at all. Why we can choose to embrace our heritage and celebrate cultural differences. It is because of the brave men and woman who serve, and have served for our great Country, for Us, for Freedom for All People. They are truly the Brave in our Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. I just want to say Thank You to our Veterans.

Before I introduce you to my personal all time favorite Veteran, I just want to make sure you are hopping on the right path towards not one, but two fabulous Blog Hop Grand Prizes, and even more importantly, beautiful stories and interviews shared by my fellow blog hoppers. Here is the list in case you may have ventured down the road less travelled.

1. KarelJ at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com

2. Celeste at Touched By a Butterfly http://www.touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/

3. Deb at Tidbit’s Place http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com/

4. Michelle at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/

5. Jennifer at Young’s Scrapping http://youngsscrapping.blogspot.com/

6. Diane at Crafting This Moment http://craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/

7. Judy at Be Present Be Real http://bepresentbereal.blogspot.com/

8. Marianne at Life From Marianne’s Table http://number1aunt.blogspot.com/

9. Deb at If It’s Groovy http://www.blogger.com/goog_1083614380

10. Christel at One Scrappin’ Sista http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/

11. Belinda at Queen Bee’s Musings http://www.blogger.com/goog_1083614385

12. Colleen at Col’s Creative Corner http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/ You are here!

13. Summer and Jennifer at Cricut Diaries http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com/

14. Rachel at Suburban Crafter http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/

15. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/

16. Becky at Sew in Stitches http://sewinstitches.blogspot.com/

17. Rebecca at Creations With Becca http://www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com/

18. Bobbi Jo at Sweet Sassy Diva http://sweetsassydiva.blogspot.com/

19. Angie at Gypsy Paperie http://gypsypaperie.blogspot.com

20. Linda at The Tulip Collector http://thetulipcollector.blogspot.com/

If you find you've lost your way, you can head back to our Amazing, Creative, all around Wonderful,  host's Karel J's blog. I would like to also say a big Thank You to Karel for taking so much time to co-ordinate this blog hop and for all her she does for the Military and their families, as well as so many other worthy endeavors she gives so much of her time to. She is truly an amazing person!

Our Military and their Families sacrifice so much for us, everyday, not just during times of war. It is so important to all of us, as Americans to show our appreciation for all they do and have done. I hope this blog hop reminds us that Veteran's Day is so much more than silly sales. There are so many organizations that assist our Military and families, this is one of my favorites, Operation Shoe Box

Operation Shoe Box was started as a grass roots campaign to send support, snacks and much needed personal care items to our troops deployed outside of the USA. One of the most wonderful gifts we can give to our Military serving overseas is mail and care packages from the home front. It is a huge morale boost and don't our service men and women deserve all the morale boosting we can offer?

Take time today to send a package. If you don't have a family member deployed overseas, check with your friends, colleagues, or church members to get the address of someone who is serving. If you don't know of a service member to send to, you can still help Operation Shoe Box with a tax deductible donation.

As I promised earlier, I proudly introduce you all to my Dad, Robert.

My Dad served in Korea, as did his brothers, my uncles, Ally and Frank.

My Dad was the type of guy who didn't really talk about his time in the Military. He would only say that it was his Duty to Serve and the he was Proud to have Served. He had a long scar that ran down his leg from an injury he sustained when a cannon gun fell on top of his legs. He wouldn't talk about that either. When my Aunt passed away almost two years ago, I came up what is truly a treasure for me, letters from Dad to his family. In these letters, he talked about the difficulties of serving in Korea, and he requested something that brings home all that Operation Shoe Box does for our Military, cookies. I've scanned a page from his letter to share with you. I can't imagine the feelings about getting goodies from home has changed much for our service men and women since October 1953.

Dad's letter to Aunt Dot, October 6, 1953

I am so blessed to have found these letters. I laughed at how my Dad's letter's to my Uncle Ally and My Aunt Dot were so different in their tone. He was sweet and funny with my Aunt. My Aunt loved to sew, and my Dad offered her his take on what he thought uniforms should look like. I see where my creative talents come from! LOL!



In my Dad's letters to my Uncle that I found, he offers advice on coping with being in the Military. He also tells my Uncle that he is hoping and praying that if he is deployed somewhere overseas, he hopes my Uncle goes to Germany or Japan, anywhere but Korea. It says so much for who my Dad was as a man, he would do what needed to be done, but always try to make everyone's lives easier. He loved his family, all of us, until the day we lost him, November 18, 1996. When I see a Veteran who served for us in Korea, I always think of how much they have done for us, and how little they seem to be remembered for it. Korea, the forgotten war, the war that was called a Police Action. Here are a few facts about  "THE FORGOTTEN WAR"

33,741 US Dead

23,615 Killed In Action

92,134 US Wounded**

4,820 US Missing In Action (Declared Dead)

7,245 Prisoners Of War

2,847 Died in POW Camp

389 POWs known to have been alive after all U.S. POWs supposedly returned.

**Lightly wounded who were treated and released back to duty are not included in these figures.

These are some of the faces of this war, the men that served side by side with my Dad. The men I think about on Veteran's Day. These are the faces of Veteran's Day.

Some Down Time

My Dad is in the middle

I was so lucky that my Dad and his brothers all returned home safely. My folks often told me about their cousins who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. I am blessed that I live in a country where I am free to be myself, I am blessed to be in The Land Of The Free BECAUSE Of The BRAVE.





Thank you Daddy, for all you have done!

Thank you for hanging in there through this veeery long blog post! Now back to our hop!

As I mentioned earlier, as you are hopping through our blogs, leave a comment at each blog and you will be entered into not one, but TWO grand prize drawings! Our first prize is the ultra fabulous Scrap'N' Tote so generously donated by Marlo Letterle! Check out her great Cricut Storage Solution.

Scrap'N'Tote

Anne-Therese Cermola Luper, who owns Paper Patch Crafts, a terrific on-line store, is donating
a *super-secret* Grand Prize too! I know what it is, but if you want to know, you'll have to keep hopping!  I am also giving away some yummy blog candy, are you interested? The information is after my project! Speaking of my project, here it is.....

Materials needed:

Floral ring

Ribbon

Copic Markers

Cricut Stand and Salute

American Crafts Metallic Cardstock

DCWV Glitter paper, yellow for ribbon

SEI Velvet paper, Navy Blue

Red and White cardstock

Viva Decor Pearl Pen, Ice White and Gold

Stickles, Star Dust

I made this wreath using the Stand and Salute Cartridge, and a couple of my favorite stamps. I picked up a ring in the floral department at Michael's and covered it with blue ribbon. Then I cut Stars from Stand and Salute in several sizes ranging from 1 1/2 inches to 3 inches. I picked several of the stars from Stand and Salute cartridge to give them some interest. I cut the dog tags at 2 1/2 inches as well. For the Yellow ribbon, I went larger, I believe it is 4 inches. I cut 2 of the ribbons and layered them with Pop Dots. For the Support Our Troops, I cut it at 5 inches and added a shadow cut with blue metallic cardstock. The American flag was cut at 4 1/2 inches. I cut the blue field for the stars with SEI Velvet paper. Just in case you are wondering, yes, there are 50 Stars on my flag! I used Ice White Viva Decor to make them, then added Star Dust Stickles to give them some shimmer. The flag is attached to the back of the wreath. I cut the Eagles at 3 1/2 inches and added a shadow with SEI Velvet paper.

Don't you just love the Sailor Boy? It's a digi stamp by Mo Manning called Out There . The story behind this stamp is here. I will guarantee if you read the story behind it, you will order it! I colored him with my copics, using C00, C0, C1, C2, C3, T0 and T4 on his Sailor Suit. For his tie, I used R29, R27, B26 and B29. I used E50, E42, and E43 on the dog. Then I used Gold Viva Decor on his collar. If you haven't tried Viva Decor yet, I highly recommend it. You can get it Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. For the little sailor's hair, I used E34, E47, E57, and E29 for shadows. I colored his telescope with T7, T4 and T0. I also used the blues and E29 for his shoes.

Sadly, I colored CC Designs Sailor Honey around July 4th, so I have no idea what colors I used on her! She is cute, isn't she?!

I loved making this project for Veteran's Day. Stand and Salute is such a versatile cartridge. I have used it for so much. Way back on a post for ATCs, I used it to make the sweetest little suitcase ATC. I love this cartridge so much, that I have decided to give a Brand New Stand and Salute Cartridge as my blog candy for this hop.

 All you need to do is become a follower, if you aren't already, and leave me a comment. Don't forget to leave me away to contact you when I use Random.org to draw a number on Sunday, November 15th and announce the winner here on Monday November 16th!
Now that you have finally reached the end of what has to be the longest post in blogger history! You should be heading to see the incredible talent of Summer and Jennifer at Cricut Diaries. I know you will love visiting their blog, it's awesome! What a great group of crafters we have celebrating today!
 

Thank you for sharing Veteran's Day with us! Thank you to all our Veteran's! God Bless America!

Colleen