I am fighting a major headache so I am just popping in quickly to share a few things.

First, many of you have asked if I am doing a card drive this year. Because my life is a bit nuts right now, I won’t be. However, I know of another card drive that is a good one – I hope you can help out! There are also some great prizes. The card drive is for a 6-year-old cutie named Addison who is fighting Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Please head HERE to learn more. Thank you!

Also, how about some fun cards worth checking out?

• Alice’s fun card HERE.
• Pearl’s awesome card HERE.
• Mariana’s colorful card HERE.
• Laura’s sweet card HERE.
• Lisa’s pretty card HERE.
• Joy’s class card HERE.
• JJ’s clever card HERE.

Finally, it’s winner time! The winner of the personalized stamp is Andrea Smith and the winner of the A Muse goodies is Lisa (The Purple Place).

See you soon!

Just a few “great-way-to-help-others-out” links… and a fun giveaway.

First, we haven’t recently updated everyone on the kids from our former Card Drives. I wanted to let you know we are in the process of gathering the latest updates on each and will share them with you as soon as we can. I am sad to say we did lose Karli to her battle with the horrible disease. We continue to keep her family in our prayers. However, Kennedy is in remission! So glad to hear. (A big thanks to Michelle for her help with contacting the families.)

I also had mentioned next doing a card drive for the elderly. This is still in the plans for this summer. For those who volunteered to help, I have you on a list and will contact you. (We do plan to return to collecting cards for kids in the future.)

In the meantime, you can still do good with your cards! Please be sure to check out my friend Heather‘s card drive… a Card Drive for James.

This little boy could use our encouragement! Heather is also offering great prizes for those who send in cards.

My dear friend, Kristina, has started a new site called Caylin’s Cure.

This fundraiser is in honor of Kristina’s gorgeous daughter Caylin, who was diagnosed on March 2, 2011 at age 5 with type 1 diabetes. My brother also has this insulin-dependent diabetes – it is a horrible challenge in life. I hope you will check out her site and see what you can do to help. She also has great prizes… and many GREAT ones are coming soon.

I have another great way for you to help a good cause… and shop at the same time!

Lawn Fawn will be donating 20% of profits from May 1-7 to the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. Kelly, the owner of Lawn Fawn, lost her grandmother to breast cancer and her mom is a two time survivor. This also hits home with me – my Grandma beat breast cancer at a young age and lived to 100. We must beat this cancer! So, head over to Lawn Fawn and do some shopping.

Next, I have a little housekeeping to do.

Remember me telling you all about the fun event called True Scrap? It was a huge success – so much fun! Well, if you were one of those folks who signed up for the event through my link, I promised a private video after class. I have emailed everyone who had emailed me with some information. If you did not get this email and did sign up with my link, please email me ASAP. Don’t want to miss anyone! And if you didn’t get to do True Scrap, you can still get all the videos HERE. It was fun!

Now… how about a giveaway!? My dear friend, Britta Swiderski, recently released a e-book called No-Stress Distress Inks. This class is great. There is a ton of information in the class, along with video and many perks. You can find out more about it HERE. (By the way, Britta is a young thing – a college student. LOVE seeing those younger gals scrapbook!) For a chance to win a free copy of this e-book and such, just leave a comment by Tuesday night.

Have a great weekend…

Below are the winners of the latest Cards for Kids drive. Big thanks to Kristina and Jana for pulling together this list! If you have questions, please contact Kristina.

You may still send cards for the kids. (Info can be found HERE.) But we will not be starting an official round for awhile, as we plan to do a card drive for the elderly soon. Stay tuned for more info on that.

Here are the winners! (Copied from Kristina's post HERE.)

The winner of a gift certificate to LNZart.etsy.com for any $12 print that you'd like is Leslie Hansen!

The winner of the  "Today mini art journal" and "Pretty Wings 'n Things Stickers" from Shopevalicious.com is Dena Carper!

 

The winner of this beautiful handmade brooch from my sweet friend Jennifer Johner's Etsy store that you can see HERE is Elena Huey!

The winner of a prize pack of 6 digital images of the your choosing from Chicken Girl Designs via I {heart} Papers is Brigitte Elste!

 
The winner of a Tonka Strong Arm Fire Engine is Cindy Groh!

The winner of a $20 voucher to shop at the very cute store – Pixiepetals goes to Tony RomRiell!

The winner of this beautiful barette from my friend Jennifer Johner's beautiful etsy store is Valarie M. Florer!

 

The winner of the Best Friends Forever Kit from my sweet friend, Heather at scrapbookbakery.com is Brenda Urbanik!

The winner of a $15 gift certificate to For the Luv of Art.com is Kelly Bertram!

The winner of an A Muse prize package – retail value of $60 that includes the following goes to Lynnette Teixeira!

• two clear stamp sets (Nature & Trees)
• A Muse pigment black ink pad + reinker
• Two A Muse 4-bar notes with envelopes (Bark & Madeira)
• A Muse grosgrain stitched ribbon
• Clear block (2.5" x 3.5")

And the winner of the $25 gift certificate to my sweet friend Elle's store – Elle's Studio goes to Tarynne Wise!

The winner of an 8×10 print of this print – printed on canvas paper from Vol. 25 is K McMillin!

The winner of a HUGE and awesome collection of digital kits by the sweet and talented Janet Carr of Janet Carr Designs & Little Feet Digital Designs by Janet Carr is Sandy Ang!

The winner of the September Main Work in Progress Kit goes to Mary Pat Siehl!

And the winner of a $25 gift certificate to Impress Rubber Stamps donated by a sweet blog reader named Nicky goes to Vanessa Menhorn!

The winners of the $25 gift certificates from Lawn Fawn are Donna Calamari and Nha Do!

And last, but not least, the winner of the grand prize for this round, which is a lovely songbird necklace by Lisa Leonard is Joy Ott!!

I have some random bits of stuff today.

Card drive updates:

• We are about to pick winners of the latest round of Cards for Kids. If you sent cards, please make sure you are included HERE. Winners will be picked this week.
• Instead of having another round of Cards for Kids, we decided to take a break and collect cards for the elderly. But you can still send cards to the kids – I will collect them and send – there just won't be prizes for it.
• We will start the card drive for the elderly soon. But I need some help! We want to pick 10-15 nursing homes that we can send cards to. I am looking for volunteers to contact one of their local nursing homes and see if they would be interested in getting a box of cards to pass out to their patients. Once it is arranged, I will collect the cards and ship a box to the volunteer who would then deliver it to the home. If you are interested, please email me. Thank you!

And I have some winners to announce! I have emailed you all.

• The winner of Color Clean is Ellie.
• The winners of the clear stamps are: Gerri Rissman, CJ, Kit and Kristy K.
• The winner of The Best of Digital Scrapbooking Idea Book is Linda Tieu.

Will you be at CHA?

• I will be in the Hero Arts booth Saturday and Sunday. (Gotta head home on Monday.)
• I will be demonstrating in the Hero booh on Saturday from 2-5 and Sunday from 2-5.

 I gotta get some work done. I will be back with more soon.

I haven't been very good about updating you all on the Cards for Kids status.

We are still collecting any cards – handmade, store-bought, anything – and I am extending the deadline to 12/31/10. We will then start another round. If you want to send holiday cards, please mail them by 12/16. The more the merrier! Thanks.

Another bit of info. Many people have asked about the Powder Tool I use when I emboss. I love this tool. I just brush it on my paper before I stamp and heat emboss and it prevents random pieces embossing where I don't want. This is SO much better than an anti-static-pouch-thing that makes a mess. This just brushes out a bit – a tiny bit – perfectly. You can find it HERE.

Would be a great stocking stuffer.

Also, I thought I would also share a fall layout I did for Creating Keepsakes. Love these photos of the little man.

As seen in the January 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

So, went to see Santa today. Colin was having nothing to do with it. Was fine the past years. Anyone else have kids like that? Sigh.

Off to watch Dexter. Love. That. Show.

Night!

(Before posting, I just wanted to let you know that we opened a few spots for our class this weekend. Click HERE for info. Will be fun.)

Been working on clearing out my studio. Have lots of prizes to give away to some random comment-leavers over the next few weeks. 

In the meantime, I am excited to announce Cards for Kids Round 4!

We had one child retire (Kennedy is in remission!) and added one more. You can find out all the info HERE. Of course, we have TONS of FABULOUS PRIZES (thanks to Kristina's hard work) and you can see them all HERE. Lots of new, great sponsors.

We got 1500 cards last round – you all rock. And, the due date for this round is November 30, so feel free to include holiday greetings. Remember to keep things cheery.

And, just so you can see how happy these cards make these kids, here is a note from Kylie's family and a photo of Kylie opening a box full of cards…

"Hi! These are a couple pics my sister took the night they opened the box of cards. Kylie was so excited! I dropped my camera off yesterday and my sister is going to take a couple snapshots that won't be as blurry as from the ones from her cell are.  Gina is going to save the cards, and when Kylie has overnights at the hospital she is going to bring a few to remind Kylie how loved she is, even by complete strangers. Thank you again so much for selecting Kylie."

Thanks for helping to collect so many great cards for the kids. They deserve them.

Quickly, before sharing my card for the day I wanted to let you know that the Cards for Kids card drive winners for this round have been announced! Please check Kristina's blog HERE to see the winners. We will soon be announcing the next round, along with sharing updates on the kids. Thanks for your support – we got over 1500 cards this round. That is 1500 smiles that these kids really needed. God bless ya all.

Now… it is Day 4 of my Hero Arts and Papertrey Ink Challenge with Maile Belles. I really should re-think who I do these challenges with – she is giving me a run for my money! So talented, she is.  Today we are using the Hero Arts Paper Art Cling and the Papertrey Ink Mat Stack 4 die cut…

And here is my take on this challenge. I inked the floral stamp with various shades of Distress Inks. Before stamping, I misted from about 2 feet away (this is key – don't ever spray close) before stamping. I repeated this to cover the watercolor paper piece. To soften the whole look, I did two things. First, I used my Ink Blending Tool to apply Scattered Straw Distress Ink over the whole piece. Second, I did several mists of water over the whole card, creating a fun textured look.

This die cut rocks…

You can see the look-of-texture created by that final mist of water…

Now be sure to head on over to Maile's blog to see her masterpiece!

I am off to hang out with the hubby – he has been gone all week. Take care.

Hello Flower Card Supplies:

Hero Arts Paper Art	Stamp Press	Ink Blending Tool	Distress Inks	Black Dye Ink
Foam Dots	Adhesive	Glossy Accents	Hero Arts Watercolor Paper	Mini Misters
PTI Die Cut

First of all, I gotta give a big thanks to Kelly, the owner of Lawn Fawn Stamps, for putting together this blog hop to support my Cards for Kids efforts. All the cards you will see on this blog hop will be creations perfect for children. And! Kelly is giving away lots of prizes, so be sure to leave comments along the way. If you want to start at the beginning of the hop, click HERE.

Nothing fancy here, but I still hope it will make Kylie smile. Used Lawn Fawn stamps (border for background and greeting), a Memory Box shiny notecard and more…

Supplies: Lawn Fawn stamps; embossing folder; Handmade button; Silhouette cut heart; Memory Box Notecard

(By the way, that shiny card from Memory Box comes with matching envelopes and is 3.5"x5" – LOVE it.)

And, I couldn't stop there. This one is for Emily P. Uses a wood button I have had forever…

Supplies: Lawn Fawn stamp and random buttons.

If you never have seen Lawn Fawn stamps, be sure to check them out HERE. They are made in the USA which means they are super quality – something that is really important with getting good results. Love them… and these are my faves:

 I used THIS set on the post HERE and HERE…
THIS one is too cute, too…

I also thought I would share the card Audrey made Ken for Father's day using this set. LOVE the button apples…

By Audrey McGuire. Supplies: Lawn Fawn stamps and Hero Arts greeting.

Be sure to come back tomorrow – I will be back to my challenge with Joy for Day 3. And, I have some giveaways to some random comments this week…

NOW… to keep going on the blog hop, click HERE to go back to Lawn Fawn.

Have a good one.

PS: The winner of the great necklace from last week is Alice W.

First, I have some fab things for you to all check out…

• Remember my Thinking Inking video series over at 2peas that I did last summer? (The series of 27 videos can be found HERE.) Well, some awesome stampers (lead by Jan) over on the message board there are doing a challenge and swap based on the class. Check it out HERE.
• A fellow stamper named Ree is doing a card drive for a 16-yr-old named Matt who was in a bad accident. She could use some more cards – please help her out HERE.
• Can't wait for this weekend! Jana and I are taking classes from Jenn Shurkus at Simply Scrapbooks. She is such a fun teacher – so excited. Hope to see some of you there.[p

Next, just a card share from a few months back. The navy part started out as white. I rubbed it like crazy with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink until it was solid navy. I then inked up THIS stamp with Versamark ink and sprayed it with pearlized water. (A mix of perfect pearls and water.) After stamping it on the inked paper, I let it dry. LOVE that look. The flower is embossed with black on watercolor paper. I smeared some Wild Honey and Barn Door Distress Inks on my craft sheet and added a few sprays of water and a couple globs of Liquid Pearls. Mixed it up and pressed the flower in it and let it dry. And here we have it…

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps (barocade, flower, greeting), pearls, card; Distress Inks; Perfect Pearls; Liquid Pearls

THIS stamp is so darn elegant…

And the flower is cut from THIS larger one…

Off to put together a craft for Colin's school tomorrow. Night.

Before anything else, you gotta check out THIS cute post from Heather about my 15-year-old step-daughter's stamp class.  SO cute.  Thanks, Heather!  I just love seeing kids stamp – what a healthy hobby. 

So, I have been getting a lot of emails asking for ideas of types of cards to send in for Cards for Kids and Cards for Grace.  My recommendation?  Light-hearted, silly, happy cards.  Let your kids write messages.  Include a knock-knock joke. Talk about your silly pet. Just have fun.

In fact, here at the lake, the girls and their cousins have been coloring with Copics.  Lots of fun images that will end up on Cards for Kids…

Here are some examples…

This is a simple one.  Just stamped, colored and stuck to a card.  The inside has a silly pig joke…

Supplies: Hero Arts notecard; October Afternoon stamps; Copics

And here are some past cards I have done, with links below them to the original posts for supplies.

This pocket card could hold things besides money.  Would be great with maybe 10 pieces of white paper in the pocket, each already stamped and ready for the child to color…

Click HERE for info.

Kids always love cute pet photos.  This one in the front would be perfect for making a sick child smile!

Click HERE for info.

Kids LOVE cards that are personalized with their name or initials..

Click HERE for info.

These cards don't have to be complicated.  These would be great to stamp and then sit in front of the TV to color with pencils.  Heck, even have your kids do the coloring and mention that in the inside…

Click HERE for info.

Simple, simple, simple…

Click HERE for info.

I LOVE the funny things Kay did in her cards for the kids…

My friend, Heather, is really good at creating cards for kids.  Check out these examples:

• Adorably cute cards HERE.
• Excellent joke cards HERE.
• More cuteness HERE.

If you have posted cards that would be great for kids, please link them in the comments.  I will pull a list together to share. And maybe give a prize…

Take care…