PCW Thankful Hearts Blog Hop!

*** If you're looking for the Scraptastic Designs Blog Hop, please click HERE or scroll to the post below this one! ***

Welcome to Paper Crafting World's Thankful Hearts Blog Hop! If you arrived here from Mindy's blog, you are on the right track! If you just stopped by to visit, hop on over to Cooking With Cricut to start at the beginning! You won't want to miss a single one of my sweet Design Team sisters' projects! :o)

Our Thankful Hearts Blog Hop is centered around this beautiful harvest time, with an overture of Thankfulness: an attitude of gratitude. What came to my mind upon reflection of this theme is our incredible military and their families. Their sacrifices, consequences unknown, is something to remain mindful of... as painful as it can be. They battle overseas, then often return home to raging wars in the battlefield of their mind. I am so thankful for their presence, their commitment, their love for a greater purpose. With that in mind, I created an Any Hero card for a military member, delivered by the fantastic organization Operation Write Home.

Despite the announced homecoming of some of our soldiers from deployment, there are still soldiers stationed in so many areas around the world. Fighting and battling, every single day. One thing Operation Write Home does is include Any Hero cards in their shipments, which are given to a soldier who receives little or no mail from back home. Can you imagine his or her weary eyes lighting up upon receiving even the simplest card from someone who genuinely cares? That unknown face was my inspiration for this project. I wanted to deliver a reminder to let their light shine all over the world, in the midst of their war zone. One tiny spark of light defeats the darkness. I want them to know that during this time of Thanksgiving (and beyond), they are in my heart and prayers.

The multiple nested layers of Spellbinders? Those are the layers of love I packed into this simple card. All that love has made the candlelight form a golden, harvesty heart. I used Liquid Pearls for wax and carved out the patriotic eagle from a sheet of patterned paper. After saying a prayer for the unknown recipient, I thought again about how truly thankful I am for our military. I wish I could somehow pack a real hug into the envelope. Wouldn't that be fabulous?

Perfectly in theme with this event, there is a freebie at every blog along the hop, courtesy of the ever-generous Melin! How lovely is that? Seven fantastic presents for visiting us this weekend! Ready to see the free file for visiting me on this hop? :o)

Isn't he precious?! I love this sweetheart bear and am eager to color and create with him. :o) The button code is valid until the end of the weekend, so if you're visiting after Sunday night you'll want to use this direct link for access: Bear in Sweater Digital Stamp.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the shopping cart is temporarily down due to unexpected maintenance. We are so sorry for the inconvenience! Please come back tomorrow to grab all of the wonderful freebies. :o)

Your next stop is the fantastic Christel, who has a masterpiece waiting for you! Thank you for playing along with us today! Have a blessed and beautiful rest of the weekend. :o)