2013 "Cards from the Heart Card Drive"

ETA: CARD DRIVE IS NOW CLOSED!!! :)

Happy New Year & long time no blog! :) 

2012 has been the busiest year of my life! We are FINALLY finishing up our new house and should be moving in soon! So that explains the LOOONNNNG break from blogging. Too busy to do much of anything but, raising my kids, working on our new house, and running a A/C & Heating business! But I wasn't too busy for this...

the 4th Annual Valentine's Day Card Drive!

When I originally started this Card Drive, it was called "Cards for St. Jude", but since we give cards to SO many hospitals now, I have changed the name to "Cards from the Heart Card Drive". Because we all make these cards from our hearts, for those children.

Some of you may know it's my Blogs 4th year anniversary this month, and I don't know a better way to celebrate it, but having a 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 a HUGE success! We collected 3,000 cards and sent them to 13 hospitals, 1 foster home, and 1 special education class! Praying this year is just as good or better! :)

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.
* 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 or anything that can be pulled off and become a choking hazard.
* 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 will provide clear envelopes for each card, so there is no need to send one with your card.)
* 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.
*I will be excepting cards for the whole month of January. ( Jan. 1 - Jan. 31, Please don't send any after that, because I have to send them off so they will get to the hospitals in time for Valentine's Day.) At the end of the month, I will pick random winners for prizes. I will be adding more prizes and sponsors, often. The more cards you send, the more times your name goes into the drawing to win prizes. Let your kids get involved too! :)
* 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!
* Go here for the sponsors and prizes.
*Please send cards to me at:

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

* 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.

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

Have a Blessed New Year!,

~Winter

2013 Card Drive Sponsors

Thanks to our very generous sponsors! :)
(I will add more as they come in.)

                                              Prize #1

                                                        (January Card Kit)

                                              Prize #2

                                                     ($50.00 Gift Certificate)

Prize #3

                             (3 Stamp Sets- Winners Choice)

Prize #4

                                 (3 Spools of divine twine)

Prize #5

               ( 3 Winners- with both of these spools
                               of Twine in each package.)

                                                                   Prize # 6
                                                      JenMarie Taylor

(Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 Mini Deck, Straight from the Heart stamp set, Totally Happy stamp set, Warm Wishes stamp set)

Prize #7

             

                   (A stamp assortment valued at $30.00!)

 

 

Prize #8

        (2 half sheet stamp sets on a cling- winner's choice)
                                                  
                                                Prize #9

 

(Two- 6 issue subscriptions to CARDS magazine.- 2 Winners)

 



                                                                     Prize #10

 

Donated from Debbie Harris

(3 Stamp sets- Time Flies, Labels, Doilies;

1 Die Cuts- Unique Embellishments- all Studio Calico)

2012 Card Drive Winners!!!

Ok, now it's time for the winners! :) Thank you all again, for the hard work! 

Here it goes! :)

Every winner will also get 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine. :) ( I will be sending those off on Monday.)

Prize #1-  5 Digi Stamps from Tiffany Doodles & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Julia Goetzinger

Prize #2- 3 Spools of Twine from Whisker Graphics & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Johnna Buntin (Johnna was a real trooper! She sent in 402 cards this year! Thanks, Johnna!) :)

Prize #3- $50.00 Gift Certificate from Lawn Fawn & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Anita Recksiedler 

Prize #4- 2 Stamp Sets (winners choice) from Wplus9 Design Studio & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Jennifer McDermott

Prize #5- A package of assorted stamps ($25.00 value) from Purple Onion Designs & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Alexandra Bischoff

Prize #6- A package of assorted stamps ($25.00 value) from Purple Onion Designs & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Lynnette Kauffman

Prize #7- A package of assorted stamps ($25.00 value) from Purple Onion Designs & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Carla MacLafferty

Prize #8- $40.00 store credit to Artful Delight & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Leslie Hansen

Prize # 9- Subscription to CARDS magazine from Northridge Publishing Co. & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Ngan Le Raskin

Prize # 10- Subscription to Scrapbook Trends magazine from Northridge Publishing Co. & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Dana Clenney

Prize #11- 3 Stamps sets from Paper Smooches & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Mary-Anne Venginickal 

Prize #12- Because of You- Ippity Stamp set from JenMarie & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts magazine- Karen McAlpine

Prize #13- $20.00 Gift Certificate from EAD Designs & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Carol Ann Feltus 

Prize #14- 2 Stamp Sets ($15.00 each) from Blockheads Paper Arts & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts magazine- Darleen Crosgrove

Prize #15- 2 Stamp Sets ($15.00 each) from Blockheads Paper Arts & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts magazine- Diana Gravitt

Prize #16- Stamp Bundle from My Thoughts Exactly & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Lessa Berry

Prize #17- Wishes & Kind Thoughts Set from Avocado Arts & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Renee Lynch

Prize #18- Hello Friend Stamp set from Avocado Arts & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Kristin Anderson

Prize #19- Valentine Twine Bundle ($84.00 value) from the Twinery & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Lorie Manfre

Prize #20- $25.00 Gift Certificate from Gina K. Designs & 2 magazines from Paper Crafts Magazine- Sue Coubrough
I will be emailing all the email addresses of the winners, to the sponsors tonight. So you should hear from them soon. :) And please remember next year, to send your email address with your cards that you send to me. I can't email you about winning a prize if I don't have it. (I do have all the addresses to the winners this year though.) 

Thanks so much to all the sponsors and card makers! I seriously couldn't have done it without you!
God Bless you all!

~Winter

2012 Card Drive TOTALS!

Hey everybody! Sorry this post is late. I've been waiting on a package from one of the sponsors and I wanted to get all the cards sent off. So both of those are done and it's time to share the totals and I will have another post for the winners! :)

First of all...we serve an Awesome God! He laid this project on my heart, 3 years ago and it has grown SO much since then! Although sometimes it was tough and looonngggg hours :), He lead me through it, each step of the way! Thank you, Lord! And Thank you, to each and everyone of you that sent cards and to all the sponsors! I couldn't have done it without you!

The total number of cards sent was 3,000 cards!!!!!!!

How crazy is that number?!! The total was 2,999, so I decided to make 1 more card to round it to 3,000! :)
That is more than both of the previous years combined! WOW! :)

We were able to send it to 13 hospitals, 1 Foster home, and 1 special education class. The other 2 years, we only sent to 3 hospitals. WOW, again! :)

Here are the hospitals:

St. Jude Children's Hospital- TN
Texas Children's Hospital- TX
Vanderbilt Children's Hospital- TN
St. Louis Children's Hopsital- MI
Shands Hospital for Children UF- FL
St. Joseph's Children's Hospital of Tampa- FL
Nationwide Children's Hospital- OH
Shriners Hospital for Children- Houston- TX
Shriners Hospital for Children- Galveston- TX
Shriners Hospital for Children- Boston- MA
Shriners Hospital for Children- Northern CA
Shriners Hospital for Children- Cincinnati- OH
Children's Hospital Colorado- CO
Sinclair Childrens Foster Home- TX
Govalle Elementary- Special Education Class- TX

Thank ya'll so much! I will be right back with a post of the winners! :)
 
~Winter

Finally my card pics!

Hey everybody! I finally had a spare minute to edit some of my card pics! I have been EXTREMELY busy with getting the Card Drive wrapped up! I should be completely finished very soon! I have still been getting packages of cards everyday!!! So if you haven't sent cards yet...then you will have to wait until next year! :) I am done collecting cards this year! I sent many boxes of cards off on Friday, but I have received so many, that I had to order more envelopes and they finally came in on Saturday, so I was able to finish packaging them up on Sunday. I will be shipping the rest off today and I will be sharing all the totals soon and drawing the winners too! :) I'm excited! :)

I wanted to share some of my card pics! I ended up making 100! Valentine Cards are one of my favorite cards to make! And I get SO much inspiration from the cards, you card makers send in! Seriously! You send some pretty cute cards! :)

Here are some of mine.

This one was inspired my Kristina Werener's card. :)

 I got my idea for the fish card from Kara! Thanks for the inspiration Kara! :)

 Here are the stack of cards I made...all 100! :)

Thanks for hanging in there to see all those pics and sorry it took so long to post! :)
I'll be back soon with all the totals! :)
Have a Blessed day!

~Winter

Good News & PLEASE Don't Send Anymore Cards This Year! :)

Look at this.....

I received over 200 cards TODAY!!! PLEASE DON"T SEND ANYMORE CARDS THIS YEAR! I am running out of places to send them! Having a card drive, (where your not sure how many cards you'll get), it's hard to sponsor more hospitals. So I am having to wait until the last minute on some!

We have SO many cards, that I had to add more hospitals and a foster home for children! Two are located in Florida, one in Ohio, and the children's foster home in located in the town, beside where I live. One of the ladies that donated, mention a couple of hospital's, and I emailed them and they accepted! :) I am still waiting to hear from a few more hospitals, about sponsoring them too. I have been on the phone this afternoon, trying to find more hospitals to send the cards too, because honestly....we have more than we needed! Who would have thought?!! :) And Thanks to my sweet friend, Kelley, for trying to find hospitals too!

I am trying to get all the cards packaged up and ready to be shipped off. We have had SO many cards come in, that I had to order more envelopes! So I am waiting for those envelopes to come in, hopefully Friday and they will all be ready for shipping! I am trying to wait on all of the sponsors to get back from CHA, before I draw the winners, so please be patient with me! :)

I still need to post my card pics and some pics of all the cards too. I have been working NONSTOP on the card drive...and my house shows it! Looks like I will be cleaning this weekend and working on my nieces Baby Shower invites! There is no rest for the weary, I tell ya! :)

I'll try to be back tomorrow with a few pics!

Have a Blessed day!,

~Winter

The Cards Are Pouring In! :)

Hey everybody! Well I wanted to give a little update on the cards! They are Pouring in!!! Woo Hoo! :)

Friday a total of 101 came in.
Saturday a total of 182 came in.
Today (Monday) a total of 306 came in.
I made 30 more.
So the Total so far is 866! :)

There is still time to send cards in. You have until Jan. 31.
Thank ya'll SO much for all of your help! :)

Have a Blessed day!,
~Winter