CardMaker Magazine is Featuring Send a Smile 4 Kids!!

We are so thrilled to be the featured charitable organization in the Readers Reach Out section of CardMaker Magazine January 2012 issue on stands NOW! I have my copy in my hands right now and SAS4Kids is on page 26!! You can see it on line here but I suggest picking up a paper copy so you can see all the neat cards and other features in the magazine too.

Thank you soooo much to CardMaker for selecting us. We sure look forward to getting some cards from their readers to help cheer our kids in the seven children's hospitals we are now servicing. We also have two new addresses to mail your cards to since the article came out, so be sure to check under the tabs above for our guidelines and current addresses.

We are currently looking for Valentines and spring holiday cards and of course everyday cheer cards for the kids. We are also going to be collecting Mother's Day and Father's Day cards for the kids to use to give to their Mom or Dad or grandparent if they are in the hospital on one of those days. The joy of giving is one of the best ways I know to cheer someone up. So keep these ideas in mind as you make and send in your cards for our kids.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

SAS4Kids is Growing Again!!

Send a Smile 4 Kids is thrilled to announce today that we have added  four more Children's Hospitals where your donated cards can help cheer the kids who are inpatient, AND two more addresses you can choose to send your cards to! Sarah Taylor, who is a member of our design team, has graciously volunteered to accept packages of donated cards and will be delivering them to the children at the following hospitals:

University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa

Blank Children's Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa

Sandford Children's Hospital, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Next time you have any cards appropriate for children, please send them to this address:

SAS4Kids C/O Sarah Taylor

3419 7th Ave.

Sioux City, Iowa 51106

Send a Smile 4 Kids (Canada) is also growing! They have added another address to mail your cards to and one more hospital as well. Lynette Pinno will be collecting your donated cards and giving them to the children at Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.

If you are in Canada or overseas, please send them to either of our Canadian addresses:

SAS4Kids (Canada) c/o Shelley Dureau

2525 Cable Court

Coquitlam, BC

V3H 3G1

Canada  OR

SAS4K (Canada) c/o Lynnette Pinno
Box 1256
Camrose, Alberta
T4V 1X2

Holiday cards can still be sent to the original Wisconsin address. Of course, any of the addresses are fine to send your donated cards to at any time, but we would like to encourage you to help our new hospitals the most right now.

A NOTE TO READERS FROM CARDMAKER MAGAZINE:  SAS4Kids is going to be the featured charitable organization in the Readers Reach Out section of Cardmaker Magazine on stands in December 2011 and we are thrilled to be chosen and to receive your cards! The new addresses and hospitals added here were announced after the deadline for this issue. Your Valentines and other cards can be sent to any of our addresses, but we encourage you to support our newest locations and hospitals.

Right now, we are asking for your winter and holiday cards so that every child in all these hospitals over the holiday season will receive a handmade card to help cheer them and their family. Thank you to all who have donated so far, and we look forward to receiving and distributing your cards to our kids! 

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

Welcoming Send a Smile 4 Kids (Canada)!!

We are thrilled today to welcome our Canadian partner SEND A SMILE 4 KIDS (CANADA) to our cause!  SAS4Kids is joining up with Cards for Kids and together we are going to help cheer even more children who are inpatient in Children’s Hospitals!

I found out about Cards for Kids when I asked Feline Playful (the best challenge blog list ever!!) to list SAS4Kids in their RAK section. I noticed how similar it was to SAS4Kids and emailed Shelley Dureau about that. We want to cheer as many kids as possible, so when the time was right, I asked if she wanted to team up. Here is what Shelley has to say about that:

“As a crafter, I am frequently inspired by the projects I see out in blogland and I must admit to being an avid scrap-lifter of ideas and designs. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada) started because of someone else’s idea. When I first saw SAS4Kids, my initial thought was "what a great idea, I'll send some of my cards". My next thought was "Why spend money on postage to the U.S. when there's a Children's Hospital right here in Vancouver that would appreciate cards". I suggested setting up a Canadian branch of SAS4Kids but the timing wasn’t right; so a quick email to B.C. Children's Hospital and a follow-up telephone conversation and Cards for Kids was born. I kept in touch with SAS4Kids though in hopes that one day we could partner together. And, yay, that day has arrived! Effective today, Cards for Kids has officially become Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada)!!! I’m so excited to be part of this wonderful charity and look forward to sending a lot smiles to kids in the U.S. and Canada!”

Now when you get a package of cards ready to send in, you have two addresses to choose from. If you are from Canada or overseas, or anywhere, you can send to my Wisconsin address OR our Canadian partner, Send a Smile 4 Kids (Canada) at:

SAS4Kids (Canada) c/o Shelley Dureau

2525 Cable Court

Coquitlam, BC

V3H 3G1

Canada

You can email Shelley at: cardsforkidscanada@yahoo.ca   and her blog is here: http://sendasmile4kidscanada.blogspot.com/

We have their blog badge on the side of this page and on the challenge page that you can click on anytime to visit Send a Smile 4 Kids (Canada).  Please take a look at the great job Shelley did re-branding her blog to match ours and leave a welcoming comment for her when you are there.

Welcome Canadian friends and thanks to all who help to put smiles on our kids faces!

Stamping smiles 4 Kids, Karen 

Please help us Shower Debby with Thoughts and Prayers and Cards

About a month ago, one of our SAS4Kids team members, Debby Walker, was in an accident and sustained severe head trauma. After she came out of her coma she has had amnesia. She is slowly remembering things including how much she loves stamping and being on her design teams.  She is having motor skill issues as well and has started physical therapy.

Let’s shower her with thoughts and prayers and cards and let her know all of us are wishing her well. Here is her address:

Debby Walker

1805 Brownstone Blvd #301

Toledo OH 43614

I know stampers and crafters are giving and loving people and I hope you can take the time to send up some positive thoughts and then send Debby a card- just say you are an on line friend from Send a Smile 4 Kids.

Stamping smiles for Debby, Karen

A Surprise Card Drive for SAS4Kids!

What a lovely surprise we had this week! Stamping with the Dragon is hosting a card drive along with a challenge to make a card for a child for a birthday or holiday! Their blog with all the details can be found here. They are offering two great prizes - one for a birthday card and one for a holiday card. And they are encouraging any one who enters to send their card along with any others they may have for children to Send a Smile 4 Kids! They are honoring the birthday of Janette with this card drive and challenge, so Happy Birthday to Janette and THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Now is the time to be thinking about holiday cards for our kids. We would love to be able to give a fall or cute Halloween card and a Christmas or Happy Holidays card to each of the children who are in the Children's Hospitals on those days. And we do need to receive them well in advance to be sure to get them to the hospitals on time.

If any other blogs or organizations would like to co-ordinate with us for a card drive or challenge for our cause, we would be thrilled to hear from you.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

Welcome to our Newly Remodeled Blog! And Time to Think about Holiday Cards!

Thank you for visiting Send a Smile 4 Kids! Please click on any of the tabs above for more information about our cause and/or our challenges!

We want to send a HUGE THANK YOU  to Sara and Michael for the fantastic job they did on our makeover. Please click on their names to visit their blog and leave them some love for all they have done for us.

Thanks to everyone who has sent us cards recently! We have a huge box ready to be delivered to the Children's Hospitals in Neenah and Milwaukee very soon. You can see specifics on what has been received and delivered on our Gratitude and Activity Tab.

Believe it or not, it is time to be thinking about Fall and Winter Holiday cards for our kids! If you want to send in some for those holidays, here are some suggested deadlines (to be sure we can get them to the kids in time):

Halloween   October 10th    - Please no scary ones- just fun fall and Halloween cards.

Thanksgiving  November 5th  

Happy Holiday (Christmas)  December 1st  - Please no specific religion cards as the nurses do not necessarily know the religion of the child or their family. We would also love just seasonal  fall or wintery ones for the kids.

And of course, we always need birthday and everyday happy cards for all ages of children.

As you are designing, keep our older teenage children in mind too and maybe make some specifically for those kids as we never seem to get enough for teenagers.

If we get any cards after a deadline, don't worry, we will just save for next year. Remember to include envelopes if you can.

We appreciate any amount of cards you can send to put a smile on our kids faces!

Stamping smiles 4 Kids, Karen

Craft it Forward for a chance to Win BIG!

Craft for Charity – and a chance to win $500!

I wanted to let you know about a really cool charity movement that has just launched! It’s called Craft It Forward and it’s a great way to use your passion for crafting to make a difference in YOUR community. A handmade card can bring smiles to kids in the hospital and you can help us and our kids and maybe win by Crafting It Forward.

Here’s how it works: throughout 2011, visit the Craft It Forward website each month for a new downloadable pattern or design one of your own. Make the project or a card for kids and donate it to a charity that is near and dear to your heart, like SAS4Kids. Then, add your story to the Craft It Forward gallery for a chance to win $500 in cash and a $500 donation to a charity! They’ll be looking for stories to feature in the magazine and on the website, too. Click on the button on the side for more details at their site.

So join me and Craft It Forward throughout 2011. Just make a card for a child, enter it at Craft it Forward and send it to Send a Smile 4 Kids (with any others you have) to the address on this blog. You could also enter it if you wish in one of our fun challenges at our challenge blog to possibly win even more prizes.

For more information, visit the Craft it Forward website:

Scrapbooks etc. magazinewww.scrapbooksetc.com/craftforward .

Stamping smiles for kids, Karen

Keep Watching for Lots of Fun Changes!

Hello to everyone out there in Blogland! Karen here. We have been working real hard behind the scenes here and at our challenge blog and soon both blogs will be totally updated. In the meantime we are hoping you will consider sending us any hand stamped cards you have that we can deliver to our kids inpatient in Childrens' Hospitals. No matter how many you send, it would be greatly appreciated! Check your samples and extra cards you have laying around- we need cards for all holidays, birthday and every day cheer. If you are making them, blank insides are the best but we (or you) can cover the inside if need be. The address is on the side here and check the guidelines quick before sending. Grab our badge for your blog and help us publicize this great cause.

Thanks and keep checking back for more fun changes. And join us for a fun challenge on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month for a chance at great prizes.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

NEW BLOG OWNER

Hi everyone, Mari here. I just wanted to let everyone know that Karen is going to be taking over the Send A Smile Blog. I have a lot of things going on at home and just don't have the proper time to dedicate to this wonderful cause. Karen has been collecting cards for the last few months and will continue to get cards to kids in need of smiles.

I'll still be around every now and then, I hope to guest DT over at the challenge blog every once in awhile. I hope to see you there too!

*Hugs*

-Mari K.

ANNOUNCING A NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR SEND A SMILE 4 KIDS

I am very pleased to announce that we will be adding TWO, that's right, TWO new hospitals to our recipient list! Our newest Design Team member for the challenge blog, Karen, told me about The Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Her grandson received excellent care from them when he was born 6 weeks prematurely. He is now a very healthy 4 year-old. Karen would like to give back to the hospital by helping to collect cards for them. There are 2 branches of this hospital, Neenah and Milwaukee. 

They treat 50-60 children at these hospitals, so they could use A LOT of cards. They also had a great suggestion of creating cards that the children can choose from to give to their nurses and doctors to say Thank You.

Karen is ready to begin collecting cards, so you can start sending them her way. Her address can be found here. I will be collecting again beginning in May, so you will have your choice of where to send your cards. Each card you send (to either of us) will get you an entry into the prize giveaway. The next giveaway is scheduled for April 12th. The winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to the digital stamp store of their choice. 

Please be sure to follow the card guidelines to ensure that all of your cards can be passed along to the children.

Thank you for your continued support and have a fabulous day!

MYSTERY CARDS

I received a very nice package of cards today, however there was no name or return address on them. There were about 7 cards, most of them featuring a little boy and phrases like "awesome", and a few of them had Dustin Pike digis on them. If these sound like your cards please comment on this post with your name so I can enter you in our next drawing and you can get credit for the adorable cards.

Thank you mystery sender!!

**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ** CARD GUIDELINES

PLEASE, PLEASE  read the guidelines for cards before sending them. I have received several packages of cards that although they are lovely, I can NOT use because the guidelines have not been followed. It is a shame to see such beautiful work not be used.

There aren't that many guidelines and they can all be found here.

Thank you for your cooperation and support. We have some exciting announcements coming in the next few days.

UPDATES

I have received several cards for Akron Children's Hospital during the last week. Thank you to everyone who has sent cards in. I will be posting pictures of the cards and adding all of your names to the giveaway drawing list very soon.

I am also working on a few new things. We will be adding another hospital to our list next week. I have also been in contact with another organization that helps kids in a different way to see if we can send cards to the kids they help as well. I'm very excited for the opportunity to reach out to even more children.

I will also be giving the blog a bit of a "makeover" to make it easier to navigate. Look for more information on all of this in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please consider sending a card to Luke.

SEND A SMILE 2 LUKE

Even though I am unable to collect and disrtibute cards to the hospitals for the time being, there is still a way you can send a smile to a child in need of one. There is a little boy named Luke battling spinal meningitis. A card drive is being held for him and he wants to collect cards from all over the world. You can make him a get well card or just a funny card to cheer him up. 

You can read all about Luke and his progress here (have tissues handy). You can find more information about the card drive, including where to send the cards here. Also, there are also some digi stamp artists, including Dustin Pike,  selling special sets for Luke here. All of the proceeds from these digis will go to Luke and his family.

If you make a card for Luke plese post it on your blog and post a link to it in the comment section below. Anyone who makes a card for Luke will be entered into our April drawing for a $10.00 gift certificate to the online digi shop of your choice. 

Thanks again for your continued support and for helping Luke! Have a beautiful day.

PROJECT ON HOLD

Due to some personal issues, I am unfortunately going to have to put this project on hold. Please continue to follow our blog for updates. If you have already made or collected Easter cards please send them in, they will still be distributed. But I will not be able to collect anymore cards for the time being. Thank you all for your continued support. I hope to have things up and running again very soon.

NOTE: The challenge blog will continue to operate as usual so be sure to join in the challenges while the card collection is on hold. 

Thanks again and have a wonderful Easter season.

-Mari K.

APRIL GIVE-AWAY DETAILS

The next prize give-away will be on April 12th. The prize will be a $10 gift certificate to the online digi shop of your choice. For more details on how the give-away works, click here.

I was pleased with all the great cards we received for Valentine's Day and can't wait to see what you create for Easter. Our Valentine's went to children at Akron Children's Hospital.

THANK YOU THANK YOU

I have some more thank you's to share today. We have a bunch of wonderful sponsors for our new challenge blog! Stop by for a chance to win some great prizes and please visit our sponsor's sites as well.

The first thank you's go out to our generous sponsors:

Mari K. Creations

Wendy P. (Kaszaaz Consultant)

Sharon (Sharon's Showcase)
Robyn's Fetish

Prairie Fairy

Bugaboo Stamps

Sassy Studio Designs

Digi Doodle Shop

Glitterbabe

Stamp Fairy

Also I would like to once again thank those that sent in cards for Valentine's Day. I loved seeing all of your wonderful creations and I know they will each be a very special treat for the children this Valentine's Day.

And a special thank you to Wendy, my wonderful challenge coordinator. I have been super busy lately and am so grateful for all of her help. I couldn't do this without you!

Thank you also to Sharon and Carol for your continued support and great DT creations on our challenge blog.

Be sure to visit our challenge blog on Feb. 5th when we post our newest challenge, sponsored by our very own Sharon.

FEBRUARY WINNER

I packed up the cards that are being distributed for Valentine's Day. We are off to a slow start, only 20 Valentine's. I will be sending them to Akron Children's Hospital in Boardman, Ohio.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent in cards or helped spread the word about Send A Smile 4 Kids. The next holiday we are collecting cards for is Easter. Can't wait to send these cards to some deserving kids!


 And on to the winner of the February prize:

Melissa from Ohio has won a $10 gift certificate to the online store of her choice. Please e-mail me at alamom@rocketmail.com with your store choice.

ANOTHER ROUND OF THANK YOUs

Thank you to all of our new followers and to all of those who have help spread the word by placing our badge on their blog.

Thank you to Wendy, Carol and Sharon for their continued help and support with the Send A Smile 4 Kids Challenge Blog. We have a new challenge starting this Saturday, be sure to check it out. And there's still time to enter the current "Anything Goes" challenge.

Thank you to all the wonderful sponsors who have agreed to sponsor our upcoming challenges:

Bugaboo Stamps
Wendy P. (Kaszazz Consultant)
Mari K. Creations
Robyn's Fetish
Sassy Studio Design
Digi Doodle Shop

When you have the time please visit our sponsors too.

And last but not least, thank you Angie from Texas for sending in the adorable cards this week!

JUST WANT TO SAY A FEW THANK YOU'S

I just wanted to take a few minutes to say a few thank you's.

Thank you to our 2 anonymous donors. One has offered to sponsor one of our challenges and another has donated funds towards shipping the Valentine's.  Thank you so much for your support! Thanks to generous people like you we will be able to put some smiles on kids faces this Valentine's Day!

Thank you Melissa for the cute Valentine cards you sent in. They are adorable and the kids will love them!

Thank you to all of our followers and everyone who has requested the mailing address to send cards in. I can't wait to see all of your wonderful creations and pass them on to the children.