2018 Card Totals

Hey everybody!
Well I finally got all the packages sent off! I sent half of them off on Friday (February 2) , a ton more on Monday (February 5)  and the last 3 Texas hospitals on Tuesday (February 6), way later than I normally send them out, thanks to the US postal service! They have not been  my friend this year! I collected cards the last 4 days while I was still counting and packaging! The dates on these packages were expected to be delivered on or before the 31st and I collected them the 3rd, 4th, and 5th! I even got 2 packages on the 6th, but they’ll have to wait until next year since all the cards were already packaged and being shipped. 
And I'm hoping and praying that the US postal service gets all of the packages to the hospitals on time! I have already received 3 emails from hospitals saying they received theirs and they LOVE them and I have checked the tracking on all of them and only 3 haven't gotten to their destination yet. But they are expected to arrive there tomorrow or Monday. 
So Thank the Lord for that!

But, back to the totals...this year was the biggest year yet!!!

With a total of 7,735 CARDS collected!!! 

I am truly humbled by the 200+ card makers who sent in cards! I appreciate the love and dedication and the understanding that there wouldn't be prizes this year, in fact, a lot of you said you didn't do it for the prizes anyway and you just liked to help, so Thank you! 💓

I want to Thank all of you for spreading the word about the Card Drive, and for the extra work from Christy @ Christy Gets Crafty- Valentine Day Series, that she has so generously been making videos to help spread the word of the Card Drive for the past 5 years! 
Thank you SO much, Christy! 
And I want to Thank Jenn @ Scrapbena Creations, she made a video this year too, 
to help spread the news! Thank you, Jenn! 

I also want to Thank the ones who sent in money to help with shipping, the stamp sets that you sent me to help build my stamp collection back up, since the fire took many of them, the gift certificates to help with stamp supplies, house supplies, and money to help my family from the devastation from the
 fire. None of that was required, but I'm so Grateful for them! Words can't adequately Thank you enough for your generosity and love! 💓

My plans last year were to find more hospitals, but that is easier said than done sometimes
 and I never hear back from some hospitals. I was able to add one more hospital to the list though, so I am Thankful for that!
Here is the list for this year:

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital
St. Louis Children's Hospital
St. Joseph's Children's Hposptial
UF Health Shands Children's Hospital
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Cook Children's Medical Center
Pendleton Place (Foster home)
Akron Children's Hospital
Seattle Children's Hospital
UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chilcago
Shriners Hospital for Children-
Shreveport
St. Loius
Cinncinnati
Galveston
Houston
Boston
Northern California
Pasadena, CA.
Tampa
Salt Lake City
Nemours/ Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children

I was able to add the extra card in each one again this year. I had a Great response from the hospital staff last year when we did this, so I felt it was the right decision to do it again, since we had enough cards.
My Momma, daughter, and I were able to get the post-its stamped this year.

Here is a pic of all the shipments of cards.

Here are some of my favorites. I really wish I could have taken a pictures of all of them,
they really are Amazing!

There were still some issues with glitter paper & stickers, some that were too large to put in the envelopes, some that had last names, some that added the city, and some that added their youtube channel names. I hope everyone reads the guidelines more carefully next year,
it really does cause me more trouble when they aren't right.
I Love when the cards are Exactly by the rules, it makes my life so much easier
and the sorting goes so much faster! And when
you are getting about 4 hours of sleep a night, because of all the sorting...it's Really important! :)

I had also asked if you would include your info with your cards and some of you did, but some didn't. If you didn't, can you please email me so I can have your email address? I need it for the email reminder for next years Card Drive and I always send out a Thank you email too.
 wintersims1@aol.com

As some of you know, my family and I have had a pretty rough year.
Our 12 year old dog Tucker went missing in March and we never found him, my daughter and her boyfriend of 2 1/2 years broke up, our son was in a wreck and totaled his truck (he and everyone else was fine, Thank goodness!) and the next day we went through a hurricane, all in August. And then we had our house fire and lost everything and our sweet cat, Po, too, all in October. Then just a few days after the fire, we lost my sweet Mee Mee, in November. My son Chace went through his first heartbreak with a girl and then the devastating news that my daughters ex-boyfriend/ first love, passed away in a car accident, all in January. :'( It's been tough.

I've had to draw my strength from the Lord through all of this and to be able to continue the Card Drive this year. I have all of you to Thank for your support, encouragement, and kind words that you have shown me and my family, I couldn't do this without all of you! 💓
I always had those sweet babies on my mind and heart and I knew that they still needed a little Love on Valentine's Day, so I had to be strong and do the Card Drive, 
regardless of how tough it was and I'm so glad I did!

Thank you all and I can't wait for next year's Card Drive, it will be #10!!! 
I hope you all have a Very Blessed Valentin's Day and 
remember those sweet kids in the hospitals too.

~Winter

Last day to collect cards

Hey everybody! 
I am working my booty off (I wish 😜) to get the cards sorted, counted, and boxed up! Today is the cut off for collecting cards, so if you haven’t sent them yet, Please don’t. You can either keep them for next year to send, give them out locally, or maybe find someone else that is accepting Valentine cards. I have to have a cut off day or I’ll never get them counted and packaged and they have to get to the hospitals before Valentine’s Day and the way the postal service has been...I need to send them ASAP! It looks to me that some of your packages that you sent in are a few days delayed on the dates on the packages. The cards you are sending in are so Adorable and inspire me so much! I’ve still had a few that aren’t by the rules, but most are, so Thank you for those!  I still have several days of packaging, so I better get back to it! I just wanted to check in and let you know I’m still here and still working hard. Thanks again for all of the cards & love that you have sent me! ❤️ I’ll be checking in again soon.
Have a Great day!

~Winter

Get your cards sent in!

Hey everybody! 

Just checking in letting you all know there is still time to get your cards sent in! I haven't received a ton of cards yet (not like normal). I'm sure the ice storms have something to do with it and the delays of the mail, I know they will come, they always do! :) But there is still time to get them sent in, and the sooner the better! If you will, please the get word out about the Card Drive and lets make this another Great year! 

Thanks so much and have a Great weekend!

~Winter

Cards and an Update

Hey everybody! 

Just a quick update. Here are the packages that came in today. Thank you to all those who have sent them in already! I also wanted to mention again about reading ALL the rules! In these packages, there were cards with last names, Glitter, brads and some that were larger than 5 1/2 X 4 1/4, and envelopes sent with cards. Just because you send an envelope with a bigger card, Does Not mean I can use it! I use clear A2 envelopes ONLY! There is no need to send Any envelopes with your cards. SO Please read the rules carefully, it makes my life so much easier! And Thank you to all those that did!

Here are a few of my cards. I usually make all my cards in October...and well that's when we lost our house. :( I had actually just brought all of my patterned paper to the house that night, that I had at my office. So I was WAY behind on making mine and I didn't get to make near as many as I usually do. I had to buy all new Valentine stamps and my regular supplies and a very sweet friend sent me a huge package of supplies that were Exactly what I needed to get these cards made! 

Thank you, sweet friend! <3 font="">

Something I really realized that I'm terrible at, is stamping on die cuts! 

I can't seemed to line them up right, so just ignore that! :)

I wish I would have had time to make more cards, but I just don't this year. 

But I am glad that I got to make some.

I love the bite marks on this one, it was really an accident, it was from another card that I needed clouds on! ;)

Well that's all I got for tonight. We've been home all day with a "snow day". No school, no college classes, cancelled dentist appointments, and cancelled basketball games. We didn't have much snow, more like ice, but being home and nowhere to go, I was able to get caught up on Card Drive stuff. 

We have another "snow day" tomorrow too, but I think it's suppose to warm up by noon. I sure hope so, this Texas girls isn't use to this cold weather, even if my name is Winter! ;) 

Thanks again for everyone sending in cards or working on cards, I sure appreciate it! 

I'll be working hard the next few weeks, so please don't think anything if you don't hear much from me. I'm about to be working Lots of hours to get the cards ready for those kiddos! :)

Have a Great night!

~Winter

2018 "Cards From the Heart Card Drive"

Happy New Year! It's time for the 9th Annual Valentine's Day Card Drive! 

It's my blogs 9th anniversary, so as always...it's time to celebrate by having a Card Drive!

Last year's Card Drive was another HUGE success! We collected 7,268 cards and sent them to 21 hospitals, 2 foster homes and 1 nursing home! I'm praying that this years card drive will touch many more kids hearts this Valentines Day! 

As always, here are some of the guidelines from the hospital's and a few of mine. 

(Please read all rules 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! I know that some of the products that look glittery may seem harmless, but the hospital said NO glitter, so that's what we will do! 

* 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. 

*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

*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! :)

I'm a little sad to say that there won't be any prizes or sponsors this year. I hated to share this on this post, since it's suppose to be happy, but my family and I suffered a house fire in October and lost our new dream home and everything in it! :'( (I'm sure I'll share the story with all of you at another time, but we are all safe, that's the most important thing!) At the time that it happened, I was unsure if I would even have enough strength to have the Card Drive, since my heart was broken! But through a lot of prayer, strength from the Lord, and support from my family, I decided, to continue to have it this year! As you can imagine, I have A LOT of responsibilities with insurance and building our new home, and all the other responsibilities I had before, so for me to be able to have the Card Drive, I had to eliminate something this year to make it a little easier on me. I put a lot of thought into this and I feel this is the best decision for this year. We will start the prizes up again next year.

I hope you all understand. 

I just really wanted those precious kids to get their cards this Valentine's Day! 
Please send your name, address, and email address with your cards, so I can update all my records since I lost the ones from the previous years. I sure would appreciate it! Thank you!

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

wintersims1@aol.com

Have a Blessed New Year!,

~Winter