Looking forward to the New Year

The New Year is almost upon us! I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to 2012. I plan to spend a lot more time crafting and less time stressing about all the "stuff" I think I have to do. I'm going to do my best to take a few crafting classes as well. Nothing like a good class to energize and inspire!

Right now, my inspiration is all about Valentine's Day - I'm busily colouring images to make into Valentine's Day cards for BC Childrens' Hospital. The cards and tags delivered for Christmas were hugely successful and I'm looking forward to delivering the next batch by Feb 4 so the kids can have their cards in plenty of time for V-Day. As usual, congratulations, birthday, thank you, going home and blank cards are also quite welcome. You can send your cards to any of the addresses on our Shipping Address tab.

And so I wish you all a wonderful, happy and crafty New Year!

Christmas cheer delivered to Stollery

Our wonderful Lynnette made the journey to Stollery Childrens' Hospital today to deliver an amazing 187 Christmas tags and 265 cards that were beautifully handmade by people for SAS4K. The hospital really appreciated the cards and they just loved all of the hard work and effort that everyone put into them. Thank you so much for all of your support!

 

Super-size it!

The mailman dropped off a package of cards that have inspired me. I usually make my cards in standard sizes and make them light and relatively flat because of mailing restrictions. But all of the cards donated to SAS4K (Canada) are hand-delivered to kids who are patients in hospital. Why does it matter that the cards are hand-delivered? Well, it matters because the cards don't need to be mailed which means they can be odd-shaped, heavy with embellishments, and even super-sized!

The cards I received today came all the way from Karen P. in Kent, England and she has created some lovely cards that are large in spirit, skill and size (the biggest is 8" x 8"). These big cards are so impactful! I'm going to take a lesson from Karen P and my next batch of cards for the kids are going to be completely unsuitable for mailing! LOL.

And with that, I hope you all have a great day filled with glitter!

Smiles, Shelley

Packaging cards today

I've been just overwhelmed with the generousity of our local (and not-so local) crafters! I've spent the entire morning today packaging up cards for BC Children's Hospital (here in Vancouver) and to send to Lynnette for Stollery Children's Hospital (in Edmonton). I think more time was spent ooh'ing and aah'ing over the various cards then was spent in getting them ready to send out! I have to thank the following people (whose names have also been added to the "Special Thanks" page) for their contributions:

• Diane G
• Jessie
• Laurie
• Margaret
• Naomi
• Rita F
• Sherryl
• Thanh V.

Each of you are helping to put smiles on the faces of some very special kids! Thank you!!!

Thank you, Jessie!

I dropped in at my LSS (local scrapbook store), Cherish the Thought, on Friday intending to pick up one roll of tape but instead I picked up a whole lot more! While there, I asked the store owner, Jessie, if she would mind taking a few of the Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada) business cards to hand out to customers - well, she agreed and then before I knew it, she had pulled out 75 cards to donate! Just take a look at the wonderful variety of cards - there are Christmas, birthday, and lots of blank cards too (which are just perfect for so many different purposes). Thank you, Jessie!

SAS4Kids is heading over the Rockies

A new hospital to support 
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Send A Smile 4 Kids is expanding over the Rocky Mountains into Alberta. Starting right away, you can send cards to Lynnette who will be delivering them to Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.

SAS4K (Canada) c/o Lynnette Pinno
Box 1256
Camrose, Alberta
T4V 1X2

Current need
We are currently gathering Christmas cards & gift tags and there is a continuing need for blank (any occasion) and congratulation cards. I know that the rainy weather here in British Columbia has me wanting to craft more - my friends and families may end up getting store-bought this year but the kids will be getting handmade!

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and I am thankful for so many things - my family, friends, pets and the wonderful community of crafters that I'm part of. I've just finished bundling up the latest packet of cards for the BC Children's Hospital ... check it out!

59 handmade greeting cards on their way to brighten the day of kids and their families. And it's due to the efforts of local (and not so local) crafters that this is happening. This batch includes a bunch of Halloween cards as well as a good assortment of everyday (thinking of you, hello, blank) cards.

The focus is now turning to Christmas. The deadline for getting those Christmas cards and tags to me will be December 3rd. The collection has already started - this past weekend I attended the BC Crop for Kids and after talking about SAS4K one woman came over and donated these 3 cards on the spot. I didn't get her name but I hope she sees this post and knows that her spontaneous generosity is greatly appreciated!

Thanks for visiting and remember to send in those cards!

You all rock!

I have just been overwhelmed by the wonderful messages I've received since the announcement of the partnership between my little project and Send A Smile 4 Kids. I've been walking about 2 feet off the ground because of the welcomes, but I hit the clouds yesterday when I opened my mailbox.

Thank you, Diane for sending 24 cards for the kids! I just had to take a picture to share with everyone.

Some VERY exciting news

As a crafter, I am frequently inspired by the projects I see out in blogland and I must admit to being an avid scrap-lifter of ideas and designs. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Cards for Kids(Canada) started because of someone else’s idea.

When I first heard about Send A Smile 4 Kids, my initial thought was "what a great idea, I'll send some of my cards". My next thought was "Why spend money on postage to the U.S. when there's a Children's Hospital right here in Vancouver that would appreciate cards". I suggested setting up a Canadian branch of SAS4K but the timing wasn’t right; so a quick email to B.C. Children's Hospital and a follow-up telephone conversation and Cards for Kids was born.

I kept in touch with SAS4K though in hopes that one day we could partner together. And, yay, that day has arrived!

Effective today, Cards for Kids has officially become Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada)!!! The Send A Smile 4 Kids team, led by the amazing Karen, has been so welcoming and have even invited me to be a guest designer on their next challenge. I’m so excited to be part of this wonderful charity and look forward to sending a lot more smiles to kids in the U.S. and Canada! You'll notice there is a new badge on the sidebar - please feel free to grab it and share on your blog.

And to close off, I need to say thank you to all the amazing people who have already heard about the partnership and have offered their welcomes. I am so incredibly pleased and proud to be a part of this community!!! Thank you all ... and welcome to Canada!

Some Halloween fun

Just a quick post to share a few of the Halloween cards that are ready to send off to the BC Children's Hospital. I'll be taking the next batch of cards over in early October so that they can be distributed for Halloween. Cards are needed for all ages of kids.

Still here ...

I haven't posted anything for quite a while but that doesn't mean that I haven't been working hard on cards. After taking in the big batch of birthday cards, my focus is now on Halloween and Christmas cards. I hope to also collect enough Christmas tags to stock the hospital Christmas Village (each year an area is set up for kids & their families to wrap presents; they go through up to 100 tags!).

I'll post some pictures soon as the collection grows but in the meantime, please consider making a card or two for the kids.

Thank you letter from the BC Children's Hospital

Just a quick post to share a letter I received from the coordinator at the Children's Hospital. I think it's amazing that she took the time to send this letter and, although it is addressed to me, it is really thanks to all of you who donated cards.

First batch of cards being delivered this weekend

I'm so excited to be taking the first batch of cards to the B.C. Children's Hospital this weekend. Inside these 2 boxes are 38 hand-made greeting cards for kids of all ages. We have a good mix of birthday cards along with several more general cards that could be used for "going home", congratulations or encouragement.

Thank you for visiting Cards for Kids! Hope to see you back soon!

Thank you Leslie!

A huge thank you to Leslie who just this past weekend donated this lovely batch of greeting cards. These are just so perfect for older kids & teenagers!

For the most part I have collected birthday cards but cards like these that are general in nature are also perfect. The nurses and staff at the hospital will be able to write their own message within the card - whether it is words of congratulations or encouragement.

After adding these cards to the collection we are now at a grand total of 38 cards! I'm hopeful that as more people get involved, the numbers will increase even more. I've started collecting cards for Easter and even though it may sound strange, it's never too early to start on those Christmas cards & tags. I've been told that the hospital sets up a Santa's Workshop where the family of hospitalized kids can go to wrap gifts. Last year they went through over 100 gift tags. I think it would be wonderful if those tags could be handmade!

Well, that's it for today. Just a quick thank you and reminder about sending in those cards. Let's put some smiles on the faces of a few sick kids!

Cards for Kids launch

I recently saw a posting from an online friend who has started collecting hand-made greeting cards to distribute to her local Children's Hospital. My initial thought was "what a great idea, I'll send her some of my cards". My next thought was "Why spend money on postage to the US when there's a Children's Hospital right here in Vancouver that would likely appreciate cards". So, a quick email to B.C. Children's Hospital and a follow-up telephone conversation and here it is ... "Cards for Kids".

My initial goal is to collect 40 cards to be delivered to the Hospital in February. At this time, the focus is on birthday cards but later in the year I'll also be collecting for major holidays such as Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

I would love if you joined me in this project. Drop an email to cardsforkidscanada@yahoo.ca and I'll give you the address to send your cards (or if you are in the Lower Mainland I can probably pick them up).

Let's bring some smiles to the faces of kids in need!