Mothers Day 2012

Written and Created by PaperCraftCentral Susan

Mothers Day 2012 may have been a little brighter for 61 Australian Troops and their loved ones.

Generous ladies made some beautiful cards to send to some Troops overseas so they could in turn send a handmade greeting to their grandmother, mother, wife or girlfriend that year.

I don't know if you know this, but being deployed to a foreign country often means our troops cannot find cards to send back home for their special occasions. Not everyone in the world celebrates Mother's Day, let alone on the same date! So we decided to fix that for some of our troops.

Sidebar: Many crafters love to make cards but often wind up with more than they can give away to friends and loved ones or to sell. That's where causes like this Mother's Day card drive come in. If this is sounding like you, there are quite a few more ideas for places who would welcome handmade card donations mentioned later on this page.

Mothers Day 2012 Cards

I had to take some pictures of the Cards we made for the Troops before I sent them off.There were so many and there was such a variety! I loved being part of the group who decided to help us with this cause.

This time they were going to East Timor:

Aren't they wonderful?

They just fit into one of the boxes I was allowed to send them in. I told the worker at the Post Office that there were 61 hand made cards in the box I handed her, and she was suitably impressed I think.

I could have fitted more cards into the box as it could weigh up to two kilos, but the 61 I had were going to make a difference.

I had to value the cards on the customs declaration form for the box and I didn't want the Troops to have to pay any duty, so I put them down as being worth $1 each.They were worth much more, but these cards were not for sale and were to be a gift. 

The cards were so beautiful and so much work had gone into every one of them, in reality they were worth much, much more.

How do you measure a mother's joy at receiving such a greeting from her offspring? How special would a mother feel getting a handmade card from her deployed partner?We thought of these possible reactions as we carefully made each card.

I think a lot of mothers were very proud to receive these cards. Sixty one of them were able to have one of them, in fact.

Before I packed them, I lined all the lovely greetings up on my clean white kitchen counter top to take their portraits before boxing them up.

I don't think I had ever seen so many Mother's Day cards all together at once like that before.

It was pretty much a sea of pink and purple in the kitchen for awhile there!

For a moment I thought I knew what it might feel like to own a card store. Lol!

They looked gorgeous and I was so happy to be able to box them up to send off to our serving Troops.

I certainly hoped our efforts made Mothers Day 2012 a little sweeter and brighter for all who received these lovingly made cards.

If you haven

t yet started making and giving handmade cards, here are some reasons for doing so that spoke to me.

Thank You!

A heartfelt thanks to all who made a greeting to send. Your efforts are so very much appreciated.You are so selfless and generous to share your talents in the name of our good cause.

PS: If you would like to participate in the next Cards for Troops drive, we used to do this every year for 11 years but the military asked us to stop when they were bringing all the troops home. Do check with your local military to see if the card donation program has come back, especially if you know troops have been deployed.

If you want to see how else you can fundraise for a cause, you might like to find out how to run a craft auction, or see an example of how funds were raised for the Alzheimers Foundation. There are any number of alternative charities and ideas mentioned on the Cards for Troops page that are local to me, but of course you will find willing recipients in your own area of the world.

Perhaps some of the ideas I share with you will spark an idea and direction for your lovely crafting donations.

And if you want to know more about how to join the craft activism movement, here is a book you might enjoy purchasing:

PS: When I Googled 'hand made card donation' I found all sorts of ideas for where I could send cards to brighten someone's day. Try it in your area of the world for more local results. 

Now you might like to browse through some other ideas for making paper things for special occasions.

• Thanksgiving crafts
• Christmas crafts
• Birthday cards for a special milestone