Card Drive Prize Winners

Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay, I hosted a baby shower at my house yesterday, so it took some time to get my house back to normal and presentable after the Card Drive and I've been  making gifts for the baby too! :)

So without further ado...here are the winners! (I'll be sending out emails, so be looking for those!) I really wish I could give Every single one of you a gift! Thank you so much for making this such a Huge success!

Prize #1

http://stores.purpleoniondesigns.com/

2 winners) $50.00 prize package

1) Tiffany Au
2) Kelley Lesniak

Prize #2

http://www.whiskergraphics.com/
2 winners) Full set of Little bitty & Middy bags
1) Michelle Ledbetter
2) Alice Mantifel

Prize #3

https://www.scrappingforless.com/

Lorie Manfre

Prize #4

https://www.unitystampco.com/

Unity Stamp Package

Helen Fournier

Prize #5

http://www.lawnfawn.com/
$50.00 Gift Certificate

Karen O'Connor

Prize #6

Anonymous Donation

Avery Elle Brushed Stamp set

LeAnn Strickland

Prize #7

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JessCraftsShop?ref=hdr_shop_menu

$10 Gift certificate
1) Mayra Concepcio'n
2) Emily Stam

Prize #8

Anonymous Donation

2 winners) Close To My Heart Stamp set (double sets)

1) Diane Schneider

2) Donna Koehler

Prize #9

Anonymous Donation

Close To My Heart Stamp set

Judy Marino

Prize #10

Anonymous Donation

Pink Fresh Studio Birthday Love Stamp set

Michele Smith

Prize #11

https://gsd-stamps.com/

You're Koalafied Stamp set

Patricia Craighead

Prize #12

https://gsd-stamps.com/
Buckets of Love Stamp set

Linda Rubarski

And Thank you to my son Chace, who is almost 16 and still draws the winners out of the bucket for me every year! <3 p="">Thank you all for another Awesome year! See ya'll next year! :)

~Winter

Card Totals!

Hey everybody! It's here...the Totals!!!! I've been SO excited to tell ya'll! :)

This year was a RECORD BREAKING YEAR! 

7,268 CARDS!!!!!

Can ya'll believe it?! I'm still in shock! 

I want to Thank all of my returning card makers and I want to Thank all of the new card makers! Welcome and I'm so happy ya'll are joining us, in hopes to bring love and smiles to others!

I was able to add 4 more hospitals and a nursing home, where my Mee Mee is now.

Although I was able to add more hospitals, we still had TONS of cards left over and no time to find more hospitals on such short notice (the cards literally came in by the hundreds on the last couple of days!) So after brain storming, I decided the best thing to do was add an extra card in each envelope for the kids to give to their sibling, parent, Dr., nurse, or friend. Most of these kids won't get to do Valentine exchanges at school, so I thought this would bring something a little more special to the cards. So my sweet daughter stamped a couple of hundred and my Amazing Momma came over and stamped THOUSANDS of these to add to the extra card!!

 A little story about all these post-its, I went to the store to pick up a couple of packages and the more I thought about it, I knew I needed a Bunch more! I looked at my receipt from the day before and they were $0.01! You read that right, 1 cent for a pack of 200! I went back to the store to find out if it was a mess up and they checked the price and it was a discontinued item, which meant they could sell it for 1 cent! I went to check on how many they had and they had a ton left! I told the cashier that I felt stingy for getting all they had, but I really feel like the Lord ordained that! He knew I needed all of them! Almost down to the EXACT amount of packs I needed! I had 2 packs left over! :)

Well here are a few pics of the counting process, a little glimpse of 

the HUGE MESS, and the packaging.

(Click on pictures to see better)

Here are the 3 shipments.
(Click on pictures to see better)

I've never done this before, but I always wished that ya'll could see all the cards I received. Although this isn't all of them, here a some that I fell in love with! 

There were many more I loved too, but I couldn't post them all! I was SO inspired by the cards this year, seriously, it's a privilege to get to see and hold them all! :) 

(If anyone doesn't want their card posted, please let me know and I will take it off. I apologize that I didn't get to ask for permission first, the time FLEW by this past week and it really slipped my mind. Sorry! :( )
(Click on pictures to see better.)

And I'm shocked that I had time to take pics of them! This was the hardest and most time consuming Card Drive to date! I think because I had gotten my daughter, nieces and myself to start sealing the envelopes, before I realized that we would have so many that we would add the extra card! So it was double work, unsealing them to add the extra card, but it needed to happen, so I did it! So some days I worked about 20 hours straight! (insert the BIG eyed smiley face here!) :) 
I also had personal things going on at the same time. We had about 4 funerals to attend the last 3 weeks! Some were family friends and one was my step-brother. He tragically and suddenly passed away, so it was a very hard time! :( I also had a cold that was brought on by my allergies, so I got to the Dr quick to get some shots and meds and got well pretty quick. Lots of hand washing and germ-xing going on here for awhile! I'm well now though! :) 
So with all that said, the Lord carried me through this Card Drive and everything else I have been going through and for that, I am very Thankful!  

I am Thankful to all of you who sent in cards! There were 186 people who sent them in this year!!!  That is a lot people and packages! :) They came as far away as Qatar, Singapore, Quebec, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Norway, Aruba & Western Australia, just to name a few! I know that life gets busy and you all have things to do, so Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to help me with this ministry! I can never Thank you all enough! Thank you to the money donations for the shipping and the cards and gifts you gave me, you really didn't have to do that, but they are Very appreciated! Thank you to all the Sponsors and the Amazing prizes and for getting the word out about the Card Drive! There are going to be some happy people soon, when I announce the winners! :)
A BIG Thank you to, Kari for donating the envelopes again this year! 
And another BIG Thank you to, Christy for the Card Drive series on YouTube, where she makes the cards for Card Drive and mentions all the details about it! I only wish I was brave enough to do a video, I can't stand to hear myself talk! :)

As I mentioned before that we got to send some to a nursing home this year, my Mee Mee had a stroke in March and was moved to the nursing home soon after. She is unable to speak, eat, walk, or move much of her right side. She knows us some days and some days she doesn't! She sleeps a lot, but in a way, it makes me feel better for her, so she isn't reminded of all the things she can't do anymore. She is currently sick and has pneumonia, if you will, Please keep her in your prayers. I was very Thankful that I got to make her a special card. She always loves my cards I give her and I always give her flowers, so I knew I wanted to make her a card, where the flowers would last longer. She LOVES flowers! I hope she likes this one! 

The main issues I had with the cards I received this year was the glitter, shimmer pens and Wink of Stella. The hospital doesn't want anything glittery, because it can be harmful to the kids. We all understand as card makers that some of the supplies are safe, but the hospital staff might not, so all they see is glitter and they want to keep the kids safe! So please be aware of these supplies for next year. I tried to email as many people as I could, but I'm sure I left some out. We just want to keep the kids safe and continue to have the trust from the hospital, that we are going to do just that! Thanks for understanding! :)

 Here are a list of the hospitals, foster homes, and nursing home.

St, Jude Children's Hospital
TX. Children's Hospital
UF Health Shands Children's Hospital
St. Joseph's Children's Hospital of Tampa
Nationwide Children's Hospital
St, Louis Children's Hospital
Seattle Children's Hospital
Akron Children's Hospital
Cook Children's Medical Center
Shriners Hospital for Children- Shreveport
Shriners Hospital for Children- St, Louis
Shriners Hospital for Children- Salt Lake City
Shriners Hospital for Children- Cincinnati
Shriners Hospital for Children- Galveston
Shriners Hospital for Children- Houston
Shriners Hospital for Children- Boston
Shriners Hospital for Children- Northern California
Sinclair Children's Center- Foster Home
Pendleton Place- Foster Home

NEW 
Shriners Hospital for Children- Los Angeles
Shriners Hospital for Children- Tampa
UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Arboretum of Winnie- Nursing home

I'm going to be working hard this year finding even more places to send these to! Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

And I'm still working on the drawing, please bare with me, I'll be posting soon! :)

Thank you all again, from the bottom of my heart! 

~Winter

You are my sunshine cards & some updates

Hey everybody! I'm still busy counting and packaging cards! :)  If you haven't sent your cards by now, they probably won't get here in time for me to have them in my hands by Jan. 31. The post office tends to delay their shipping a lot! It will probably be safer for you to keep them for next year or if I receive them late, I'll just keep them for next year's Card Drive.

The world today can sometimes seem mean and full of hate. But when I checked the mail today....I had hope! Hope in this world! What I saw was loving people wanting to help, me, a complete stranger, collect cards for children that are also strangers to you! Just to bring a little happiness to kids who need a little more love and happiness on Valentine's Day! Thank you for believing in this ministry and believing in me! I can never Thank ya'll enough! <3 nbsp="" p="">

Here is the packages I received today! 

I have already received TONS of cards, so there is going to be some smiling kids on Valentine's Day! :) Thanks so much to all of those that have already sent in cards! I am Impressed with the cards! There are some Adorable cards and so well made and inspire me so much! :)

Here are pics of some of the cards.

I have received SO many cards with Wink of Stella shimmer pen on them! I have tried to correct some that could be fixed, some couldn't be and will have to be donated to another Card Drive that allows it. The hospital asks that there is NO glitter on these cards! I understand that it is a "shimmer pen", but to the hospital staff, they just see glitter and something that could harm the already sick children! So I have edited my blog post with the rules and added the actual name "Wink of Stella" to the Do not use list! I had NO idea that that pen was so popular right now! :) I think every card makers owns one (I actually don't!) :) , so whoever makes it...they should be millionaires by now! LOL! :) 

I have spent more time trying to figure out how I can salvage these cards and still be able to send them safely and not be disrespectful to the hospital for sending them. So I'm not sending them, if I don't feel 100% about them being safe and acceptable to the hospital staff! I hope you all understand. I and many of you have worked too hard for 8 years, for a hospital to say they can't accept cards anymore, because we didn't follow the rules, rules that we said we would go by! 

So we will obey their rules, because we want the kids safe!

And here are a couple of mine. 

Well it's 2 am here, it seems to be my normal bedtime for the last few weeks and then up early in the mornings. It takes a lot of hours to get all the work done with the cards every night, I must say, I'm ready to get 8 hours of sleep after the Card Drive is over! :) But honestly, this Card Drive is VERY dear to my heart and I will continue to have sleepless January's for as long as the Lord allows me to do this! :) Thank you all for the support!

~Winter

Pizza Cards & I'm still packaging cards

 Hey everybody! I just wanted to check in again and let you know I'm still here and working hard on the Card Drive! :)

I have received a lot of packages already and I would love to email every single one of you to let you know when I receive them, but honestly, I run out of time for many things this time of year! :) I got caught up on packaging the cards, (Thanks to my daughter!) :) So I was able to get caught up on emails & blog posts!
If you are still wanting to send cards, you need to send them soon, I need to have them in my hand by Jan.31! I'm still receiving some cards with glitter on them. PLEASE, NOTHING WITH GLITTER! No glitter, glitter stickers, glitter paper, Stickles, Wink of Stella, NO Glitter! Although we as card makers, know that some of those products are safe, the staff at the hospital might not know about card supplies! All they see is glitter and that it can be harmful to the kids, so please read all the rules and go by them! It would make my life so much easier! :)

Here are a few cards that I made a few months ago. I always have to get my cards made before the Card Drive starts, because I won't have time otherwise!  
I LOVE these Lawn Fawn stamps SO much! :)

Thank you to everyone who has already sent cards in, ya'll are Awesome! :)
Have a Great weekend!

~Winter

Super Hero cards & Packages

Hey everybody, just checking in! I received the first shipment of cards yesterday and a few more today! Yay! :) However, I did receive some with glitter, rhinestones, brads and some with their company logo and their first and last names on the back, all are against the rules! PLEASE read ALL the rules, most of these are the hospitals rules, not mine! And Thank you to the ones that did them Exactly right, it truly makes my life a little easier! :)

(Here is the first packages of the year!) :)

Here are a few of my cards! I am still in LOVE with these images! They are so fun! They remind me of the Scooby Do bunch! ;)

Well that is all for tonight! If you are still wanting to send in cards, you still have time! But Please make sure I receive them by Jan. 31, I will have to get them shipped out soon after that! :)

Thanks for all the love and support! <3 p="">
~Winter

2017 Card Drive Sponsors

Prize #1

http://stores.purpleoniondesigns.com/

2 Winners) $50.00 prize packages

--------------------------------------

Prize #2

http://www.whiskergraphics.com/

(2 Winners- Full set of Little Bitty & Middy Bags)

--------------------------------------

Prize #3

https://www.scrappingforless.com/

($15.00 Shopping Credit to Store)

--------------------------------------

Prize #4

https://www.unitystampco.com/

(Prize Pack)

---------------------------------------

Prize #5

http://www.lawnfawn.com/

($50.00 Gift Certificate)

--------------------------------------

Prize #6

(Donated by Shannon)

(Brushed Stamp Set)

-----------------------------------
Prize #7

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JessCraftsShop?ref=hdr_shop_menu

(2 winners-$10 Gift Certificate)

-----------------------------------

Prize #8

Close to My Heart Stamp Sets

(2 Winners- These are double sets.)

(Anonymous donation)

----------------------------------

Prize #9

Close To My Heart Stamp Set

(Anonymous donation)

-----------------------------------

Prize #10

Pink Fresh Studio- Birthday Love Stamp Set

(Anonymous donation)

-----------------------------------

Prize #11

https://gsd-stamps.com/

 Gerda Steiner Designs- You're Koalafied Stamp set
-------------------------------------
Prize #12

 https://gsd-stamps.com/
Gerda Steiner Designs- Buckets of Love Stamp Set

2017 "Cards From the Heart Card Drive"

Happy New Year! :) It's time for the 8th Annual Valentine's Day Card Drive! Can you believe it?....8 years!!! WOW! :)

It's my Blogs 8 year anniversary this month, and I don't know a better way to celebrate it, but having another Card Drive for all those precious kids on Valentine's Day! I will be collecting cards for many Hospitals and hope to add more! :)
Last year's Card Drive was another HUGE success! We collected 4,707 cards and sent them to 17 hospitals, 2 foster homes! I'm praying that this years card drive, is even better and reaches even more kids! :)

As always, here are some of the guidelines from the hospital's and a few of mine. 
(Please read carefully.)

* Cards need to be a Valentine theme ONLY!

* Cards can't have anything about 'Get Well Soon', 'Feel Better', or anything reminding them of being sick. (Only Valentine Cards)

* Please make cards that can be used for any gender or age. (This could be a little tricky, but I think you can handle it!) :)

* NO buttons, glitter, glitter pens, glitter glue, stickles, wink of stella, sequins, rhinestones, brads, googly eyes, or anything that looks glittery or can be pulled off and become a choking hazard. This is the hospitals rules!

* Cards MUST be able to fit into a 4 1/2 X 5 3/4 envelope (A2 size, but can be smaller, just not bigger). I CANNOT use them if they are bigger! (I will provide clear envelopes for each card, so there is no need to send an envelope with your card.) The clear envelopes make it easier when they hand them out to the kids.

* You can include a message in the inside, but please remember, nothing reminding them of being sick. (Maybe just a Valentine sentiment.) You can also sign your first name and what state you are from ONLY, no last names and cities! No religious sentiments either, as most of the hospitals are non denominational in their beliefs. 

* And Do Not add your blog addresses, email address, or your  website to your cards! Some hospitals have rules against patients knowing who the donors are.

*I will be excepting cards for the whole month of January. (Jan. 1 - Jan. 31) I have to have them in my hands by Jan.31! Please do not send any after that, because I have to send them off early, so they will get to the hospitals in time for Valentine's Day. And please make sure you allow enough time for shipping as well. At the end of the month, I will draw names for prizes.The more cards you send, the more times your name goes into the drawing to win prizes. I will be adding more prizes and sponsors, often.  :)

*And Please NO smoking around the cards! You may not realize that they smell like smoke, but they do and it could effect the children who are already sick!

*Please send cards to me at:

Winter Sims
"Cards From the Heart Card Drive"
P.O. Box 754
Warren, TX 77664

* Please send a piece of paper with your name, address, email address, and the amount of cards you sent. (It will help when I have the drawings.) A lot of the prizes will be sent from the sponsor, so I NEED to have your email address for sure!* If anyone wants to donate a prize for the drawings, please email me with the details at wintersims1@aol.com .
*You are welcome to use the Card Drive badge on your blog to spread the word, just remember to save it to your computer first.

*If you have a hospital in mind that might want some cards, please send me the contact info and I will email them.

I know it seems like there are A LOT of rules, but they are the hospital's rules and we want to obey them, to keep the kids safe. So I hope you will join us again for another great year and help us put some smiles on those sweet kids faces on Valentines Day! :)

If you have any questions, please just send me and email at:

wintersims1@aol.com

(Sponsor Page)

Have a Blessed New Year!,

~Winter