Camrose drop-off locations

Lots to report from Alberta where Lynnette has been busy setting up easier ways for you to get cards to the kids. If you live in, or near, Camrose then you now have the option of dropping your cards off at two of the local businesses that are kindly acting as collection spots.

The Shirt Off My Back Tailoring
4937 - 49 Street (east of the main post office)
Camrose

Mainstream Accounting
4704 - 49 Avenue, Suite E
Camrose

We are so incredibly grateful to both of these businesses for supporting our efforts to collect cards for the kids! Please drop by and say "hello" to these lovely people.

Mother's Day delivery

Just a quick note to thank everyone who sent in Mother's Day cards. For those kids who are too sick to make a card themselves (or for those who aren't crafty) it's wonderful to have handmade cards to choose from! Mother's Day is a very popular event at the childrens hospitals and it feels great to help make the days just a little more special for the kids and their moms.

Thanks to all of you, a package of 227 cards (over 50 Mother's Day cards plus birthday and blank cards) has been taken to BC Childrens Hospital. I'm particularly pleased that this batch of cards included some for infants as well as a selection for teenagers.

The next delivery will be in mid-May and will include Father's Day cards. Thank you to those of you who have already sent in Father's Day cards - this is another popular event at the hospital and it's great that we will be able to support the kids with such great choices!

That's it for now. Keep crafting and always remember that whether you send a single card or a box full, you are truly bringing smiles to the faces of these kids!

Smiles & thanks, Shelley

Sharing pictures of some of the cards donated recently

Sharing some of the amazing cards that have been donated for the kids at BC Childrens Hospital and Stollery Childrens Hospital. Thank you to all the generous crafters for donating cards.

Cards for older kids donated by Diane H

Diane often incorporates her own photographs (like this gorgeous flower from her garden) into the cards.



100 cards from the BC team of Jan R and her friend Pat, Karen D, Margaret D, Suzanne T and her grand-daughter Brenna and Marj S.

Abby H. made 12 cute, sweet Easter cards. They all so darn cute - the kids will love them.



An Easter card and a Father's Day card from Tara M.



These 12 cards came from Julienne G. in Manning, Alberta.

Theresa sent this batch of cards in - love the chicks!

Jenny R created these 3-D cards

Lynnette went to a "Stamp a stack" session at Donna's place yesterday afternoon. Donna sells Stampin' Up in Camrose. We were making cards for different ages of children and also some thank you. When Amanda J. was done making her cards she donated these cards to SAS4KIDS. Thanks so very much for your support! Lynnette made 12 cards there herself for the kids.

Stollery kids love their cards!

Wanted to take a few minutes to share this email from Lynnette, our Alberta coordinator.

Yesterday we delivered 167 easter cards to the Stollery. I received a good report from Diane and she was willing to visit with us for awhile.  She says that they are fitting the cards into their programs with great success. Also that kids and parents are thankful for the cards they have gotten.  Parents are asking for thank you cards to give to the hospital staff and they are happy with the cards that  are given to them to use.   She also said that some of the children just want to hug the card and to not give it up or write in it so this is okay with staff.  I and my husband, Horst my driver were thrilled to hear this and this makes it all so worthwhile. She also said that mother's day and father's day are huge at the hospital.  If it were any way possible they could use 200 for each of these holidays. 

Smiles, Lynnette

 

We hear this type of thing all the time - the kids just love to give and receive your handmade cards! Whether you donate a single card or huge batch, please know that you are part of helping a child's hospital stay just a little brighter. Thank you!!!

Cards for all seasons & some amazing generosity

This is going to be a bit of a long post but there are pictures of creative & beautiful cards so it's well worth reading!

I've been absolutely overwhelmed by the amazing generosity of SAS4K supporters (of course, when am I not overwhelmed? You guys ROCK!). The cards are just flooding in, to the point where I've set up storage containers for extras. My new house has an absolutely huge walk-in closet and I'm using part of that space for 2 rolling caddies to hold all of your cards until they are sent to BC Childrens Hospital. This is great news because it means that you can send in your seasonal cards any time of the year. I have drawers set up for Christmas, Valentines Day, Halloween, birthdays by age range, etc. The Hospital doesn't have alot of storage space so I send the cards in batches as they are needed.

Gay (Vancouver, BC)

I'm really glad that I got those storage drawers set up because I picked up a batch of cards from Gay (Vancouver, BC) recently and she really went all out! Gay is in the process of clearing out her crafting space so she packed up most of the cards she had previously made and donated them to SAS4K. In total there were over 400 cards! And her friend Heidi dropped off another 100 cards! There are Christmas cards, Valentine's Day cards, lots of blank cards and even some adorable cards for infants.

Loll (Surrey, BC)

And on the subject of Christmas cards, check out this gorgeous design that I received this past week from Loll. Loll is a Stampin' Up rep and she sent me a bundle of cards - this is definitely my favourite.

I'm really thrilled to be getting some special requests from the Hospital staff too. Most recently they are asking for more cards for teenagers (especially teenage boys). Don't groan ... I know that boys are tough to make cards for, but imagine the fun you'll have meeting the challenge!


Diane H (St. Marys, Ontario)

I shipped out a big box of cards last weeks with some absolutely wonderful Easter cards. I can't show you all of them (or this post would go on forever) but I can't resist sharing one of my favourites. I think it's so cool that this card is made using a photograph of a rabbit from Diane's very own garden. In addition to Diane's photo cards, there were also cards made with peel-off outline stickers, stamped images, paper piecing and digital stamps. Some had handmade embellishments, many were hand-coloured, and every card is unique and special. The kids are going to love them!

Father's Day cards from Diane H.

Right now I'm collecting cards for Father's & Mother's Day. There are a few in the drawers already but I'll need at least another 20-40 for each day. These cards are a bit unique in that the cards aren't being given to the kids but instead are given by the kids. The hospitals have great craft rooms set up for the kids, but not all kids are able to make their own cards (and hard as it is to believe, not all kids want to) so we provide an assortment of handmade cards that the kids can pick from. So when you make that card for your own Mother and/or Father how about making an extra one for SAS4K?

Thank you to each and every one of you! Whether you donate one card or 400, each card is appreciated, admired and truly helps bring smiles to the faces of kids who are inpatient at BC Childrens Hospital and Edmonton's Stollery Hospital. Keep up the great work!

Heidi (Vancouver, BC)

Diane G. (Deatsville, AL)

Shirley (North Vancouver, BC)

Alberta rocks!

I've had several emails from Lynnette (the Alberta coordinator for SAS4K) asking me to thank some wonderful crafters for their card donations. Here, in Lynnette's own words, are thank you's:

• I need to thank Diane H. from Ontario for sending in 22 easter cards with matching envelopes and stickers to seal the envelopes with. Love all of the pretty colors she used on them.
• On Friday I picked up 17 cards for birthday, all occasion and easter from an anonymous customer from my LSS. Thank you very much!  They were nice to pick up.  
• On Friday I got 41 cards from a customer at my LSS.  The back of her cards says stamped with a smile by M.K. She gave the kids beautiful cards from Stampin Up.  There are encouragement cards, blank, thank you, love, birthday and fall thanksgiving  cards.  Such a real lovely assortment so thank you to her.
• Gail L. from Alberta sent in 28 gorgeous cards that she has made.  They are for encouragement, thanks, a blank one, easter, mother's day and my first 3 father's day.  These cards are really sweet.  Gail L. also gave a monetary gift towards envelopes.

All of these cards will be going to Stollery Childrens Hospital in Edmonton. The kids are so appreciative! Lynnette has posted pictures of many of the donated cards on Facebook so please check them out!

Overflowing hearts

I just have to share the amazing week that I've had! It all started with a trip to the mailbox where I found not 1 but 5 packages of cards! Thank you to Peter G., Diane H., Sandra S, Diane G. and Sandra R. for their generousity in sharing their talent and time. I'm just in love with all of these cards but am especially happy at seeing a bunch of cards for boys. I don't know about you, but I sometimes have a hard time making cards for boys ... but I'm certainly feeling inspired now!

The week just got better when I also received emails from several people who are cleaning out their craft rooms (you mean I'm not the only one who made that New Year's resolution?) and plan to donate large numbers of cards that they've accumulated over their years of crafting. I can't think of a better way to make space than to donate those boxes of cards to the kids!

To finish off, I have to share the following email that was sent by Diane who is the Director of the Child Life department at BC Childrens Hospital:

On behalf of the children, families, and staff at BC Children’s Hospital, thank you so much for yet another donation of beautiful Christmas cards, gift tags, and general-use greeting cards we received on December 9^th.  

It is so nice to have such wonderful, one-of-a-kind cards and tags for gift-giving.  Your lovely gifts were used on all of the Christmas packages for patients.

Thank you so much for sharing your time and amazing talent with us.

Wishing you a joyous 2012.

Sincerely,

_____________________________

Diane Hart,

Director

Child Life Department

I can only add my own thanks to all of you who support SAS4K - you are all amazing!!!