I am excited to help celebrate the launch of a new website – A Blog Named Hero. This blog honors all things Hero Arts and will have fun challenges, prizes and card shares. This makes me so happy as I feel Hero Arts is one of the best companies in the industry – without a doubt. So this blog? Awesome idea. (BTW… the blog isn’t part of Hero Arts but rather was created by two sweet ladies – Mary Dawn and Linda – who are just fans of the company. Hero Arts is supporting them with prizes and such, though.)

They are kicking off the blog with a celebration week starting today. I am one of the featured folks, and here is a peek at my card…

To see the card in all it’s Distress-Inked-glory, head HERE. And please do head there today because two other ladies created STUNNING cards that are worth checking out. Wow. Oh, and I may or may not have hooked them up with some stamps to giveaway. Hint hint.

Be sure to add A Blog Named Hero to your Google Reader or subscribe. They have lots of fun things planned and great prizes.

Enjoy!

I recently found out about a fellow crafter who lost her home in a fire. Her friend, Kelly, is collecting cards and craft goodies to replenish her supplies and bring a smile to her face. If you are interested in helping out, please head HERE. I have my box of stamps ready to ship – I can’t imagine losing so much.

Thanks… see you tomorrow.

I am here today to tell you about a great product… and a great cause.

For years, I have been using Scentsy wickless candles. (More about them in a moment.) And for years, I have supported juvenile diabetes research. (My brother is insulin-dependent.) So when I found out that one of my friends, Shannon Tidwell, now sells Scentsy… and that she said her commissions could go to help another one of my friends, Kristina Proffitt, raise money for diabetes research, I was thrilled. Please consider looking into this – such a great cause and a great product. Would be perfect for teacher gifts!

About Scentsy…

Scentsy sells wickless candles, ceramic warmers, and a variety of fragrance products. A wickless candle, called a Scentsy Bar or a Scentsy Brick, is a highly fragrant wax bar that is warmed to release fragrance into the air. Because the wax is gently warmed rather than burned, it can hold more fragrance oil than a traditional candle. And, because there is no flame, there is no smoke, soot, or lead. Scentsy wickless candles are a safer alternative to traditional candles. (This is the product I use and love. My favorite is THIS one with Cinnamon Vanilla and Baked Apple Pie. Just get a warmer and some bricks and you are good to go! Love love love.)

About the charity…

Kristina started Caylin’s Cure shortly after her daughter, Caylin, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She hopes to raise awareness about type 1 diabetes and raise money for diabetes research. All donations to Caylin’s Cure goes directly to Dr. Denise Faustman of The Faustman Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital to support her & her team in their diabetes research. You can find out more about Caylin’s Cure HERE –  and you can see more about Dr. Faustman and her work HERE. As someone who has a love one with diabetes, I can’t tell you enough how important this research is.

Shannon will be to donating her full 25% commission on ALL sales from this fundraiser party to this charity! This ends on November 30th, so please order soon. This can result in a great amount of money. Love it.

How to order…

To order and contribute to this great cause, simply go HERE and click ‘Buy From Party’ next to Jennifer McGuire’s Fundraiser. (See below.) If you have questions, please contact sweet Shannon at shannontidwell at mac.com.

And a giveaway…

For doing this “party” for Shannon, I get a few hostess rewards. But I will be giving these all away – including a few Scentsy Buddies that will go to charity and another for a giveaway here! So leave a comment here by Sunday night for your chance to win my favorite Scentsy warmer and my favorite Baked Apple Pie Scentsy Brick.

Thanks for considering purchasing some of these goodies to support diabetes research. Remember – to order and contribute to this great cause, simply go HERE and click ‘Buy From Party’ next to Jennifer McGuire’s Fundraiser.

Thank you!!!

Today we both used the Hero Arts Cuckoo Set and the Papertrey Ink Retro Backgrounds… with the color brown.

I have been hosting the blog week over at Hero Arts this week, focusing on using kraft paper. I *love* THIS kraft paper and THESE kraft notecards. They are dreamy. So, I decided to use kraft for today’s card…

I stamped the clock and then masked it before stamped the background with Frost White Ink. It is amazing how bold that white is on kraft. I then colored in the image heavily with colored pencils and added highlights with a white pencil. And finally… Glossy Accents on the clock face…

Simple. I like that sometimes.

See you tomorrow. In the meantime, be sure to head over to Dawn’s blog to see her creation!

As I mentioned the other day, Kristina Proffitt‘s daugther was recently diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes – something my brother also has. She is doing a big fundraiser to support the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. She is now auctioning off a button canvas made by me. You can bid anonymously if you would like and I will make it in any colors you request…

Please go check it out and consider bidding. It is a great cause that hits close to home for me. You can find it HERE. Thanks! Oh, and if you love this cool canvas with the window as much as me, you can find them HERE at Ten Second Studios.

Bye!

Card Supplies:

Sorry for the lack of posts. I am currently snuggled up on a cozy sofa in Buffalo, NY, in the home of my friends Sharon and Mark. Sharon is the owner of Buffalo Stamps where I had the honor of teaching this weekend. I just have to say that Sharon and Mark are amazing, as is their store (wow) and the folks I met here. I am in love. And can’t wait to come back.

I wanted to stop in to give a few updates…

The other day I mentioned a great auction. But Blogger was down for a few days and they lost all of the bids. PLEASE, please check this out now that it is back up and running…

Kristina Proffitt‘s daugther was just diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes – something my brother also has. She is doing a big fundraiser to support the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Right now she is auctioning off a signed album by Tim Holtz. It is gorgeous. You can bid anonymously if you would like.

Please go check it out and consider bidding. It is a great cause. You can find it HERE. Thanks!

I also have some winners:

• The winner of the Creative Spaces book is Candy W.
• The winner of the Hero Arts DVDs is Linn Rivera.

I was so excited to hear that my friend, Heidi – the owner of Simon Says Stamp – had a baby girl this week! If you have a second, please comment HERE leaving happy wishes. She is a doll!

I will be back tomorrow morning with a fun challenge week with one of my favorite people. I haven’t done a week like this in awhile… so happy.

See you soon.

Just popping in quickly to let you know about a great auction…

Kristina Proffitt‘s daugther was just diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes – something my brother also has. She is doing a big fundraiser to support the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Right now she is auctioning off a signed album by Tim Holtz. It is gorgeous.

Yes, Tim has touched this album. Cue the swooning of ladies all around the world. Ha.

Please go check it out and consider bidding. It is a great cause. You can find it HERE.

Thanks!

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!!

(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.

So, the hilarious Cheryl over at 10 Seconds Studio asked if I would create a canvas to be auctioned off to raise money for the Susan G. Komen fund (breast cancer research). Ten artists created canvases, including Tim Holtz, Caroline Lau, Suze Weinberg and others.

Here's how it works:

• You can read more about the auction HERE and see the canvases.
• You can watch a video describing how it works HERE. It also shows the canvases up close. However, I mailed mine to her PO Box instead of her house, so it isn't in the video. But it is shown in the slide show at the end.
• You can buy tickets HERE. Remember – ALL the money goes to the the Susan G. Komen fund. Please consider buying. If you are interested in a certain person's canvas, just put that in the comment section so you can make all your chances go towards that one.
• She will ship overseas!

Here is my canvas. Yes, it took forever. Yes, it was worth every minute…

 
Colin helped me put the buttons on. We put the thread through, stuck in place with a glue dot and then later added Glossy Accents under each so it would stay put forever…

The buttons are all from Papertrey Ink and the canvas is from 10 Second Studio…

Please consider buying some tickets for this auction. And if you are interested in winning mine, just write "Jennifer McGuire 130" in the comments section when you pay. Thank you.

A big shout out to Cheryl for leading this. She is a survivor and I love that she is helping others in this way.

Off to create.

Here are the random bits of goodness:

PRIZES! We have had a few prizes pop up for Cards for Grace – the quick card drive we are doing.  (Click HERE for info.)  We have…

• The sweet Heather Ruwe from Scrapbook Bakery is offering a prize of a fabulous prize of Hero Arts goodies!  You can see them HERE… along with a GREAT example of the type of cards perfect for kids.  Thank you Heather.  Be sure to comment on her blog.
• Jane Beljo also offered to give 50 of her awesome handmade buttons as a prize. I order her buttons (just ordered a bunch more) and LOVE them.  (You can see them featured on THESE cards.)

A note about Cards for Grace – YES… please include a message in the inside and sign your name and city.  Thank you!

Also, for our other card drive – Cards for Kids - Kristina has announced a few more BIG prizes!  She just rocks.  Click HERE for info.

Next thing…

The winners of the Mint Motif stamps are Tiffany Heilman and Leslie Hanson.  I emailed you.

Next…

My friend, Jana, is a ribbon addict.  She is selling lots of her ribbons on ebay – click HERE if you are interested.

Now, how about a card?  Nothing big here, just some resist on glossy paper with Hero Arts chalk inks and stamps.  Was Kay's birthday card…

OK… back to fun in the sun with the family.  Take care…