2019 Caring Hearts Prize Winners Announcement

Hi everyone. Phew, what a way to celebrate 10th year of Caring Hearts Card Drive. By the end of October, we were struggling with our cards count, then, after some social media sharing by some amazing people, suddenly the last 2 weeks of the card drive we received an avalanche of cards.

Now that we finished with all the paperwork & tally, the total for the whole US, Canada & Australia is 33,345 cards.  And 19,615 of them just at my end. So, if at the beginning we needed cards, at the end, we were needing more nursing homes. Thank you to everyone who helped me with this. Also, thank you for the postage donation. Shipping price has increased quite a bit & last year we were in the red. Thankfully this year we received more donations that allow us to cover more homes. 

It's been a stressful, crazy year for me personally and I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to do Caring Hearts this year. But, we did it!! I am so grateful for my team of volunteers. They kept me going year after year. They cheered me on to keep doing it & their dedication truly humble me. I wish I could hug each of them in person. Fun tidbit, none of us ever meet in person. But if we do, they'll get big, big hugs from me.

This card drive has grown so much. In our first year in 2010, I started with 750 cards and I was doing it all by myself. I was only able to send cards to a few nursing home. Now, we're sending cards to over close to 350 nursing homes. And, it's all because of YOU! Your support and generosity are what make it so successful. And, I am so very grateful for your support & kindness.

Now, what many been waiting for. The winners for Caring Hearts prizes! For all the winners, I'll be emailing all of you this weekend. As you can see the list is pretty long, so please bear with me. Congratulations & thank you for all your supports. And also please, please support all these companies that every year generously supporting Caring Hearts. :)

CARING HEARTS PRIZE WINNERS 

A Jillian Vance Design $20 GC - Joanna Cheung

Altenew Two $50 GC - Janna Mydland & Maureen Sheehan

Avery Elle Two $50GC - Ann Bowen & Dodie Roberson

Bossy Joscie Free Return Address Stamp - Linda Gorun

Butterfly Reflections Ink Two $50 GC - Joy Ott & Stefanie White

Clearly Besotted approx £30 GC - Jung Ah Sang

Concord & 9th Two $25 GC - Susan Miller & Jill Daverso

Ellen Hutson $25 GC - Sandy Costanios

Gina K. Designs Three $50 GC - Elizabeth Russell, Jennifer Devries & Allison Leigh

Hallmark Scrapbook & Crafts Three $50 GC - Arlene Stump, Judy Downey & Robin Ridpath

Hero Arts $25 GC - Beverly Pevarnick

Honey Bee Stamps Two $50 GC - Richard Breaks & MaryKay Werry

Jane’s Doodle $50 GC - Sarah Adams

Jennifer McGuire Ink $200 prize pkg - Lon Tomokiyo

Kat Scrappiness $25 GC - Louise Neveu

Lawn Fawn Two $50 GC - Gabriela Carrasco & Courtney Kreeper

Little Things from Lucy’s Cards £30 GC - Marigold Draper

Miss Ink Stamps $25 GC - Melissa Holway

My Favorite Things $50 GC - Julie Whitman

Neat & Tangled $25 GC - Mildred Murphy

Newston’s Nook Designs Two $25 GC - Kristina Mathey & Mary Davis

Online Card Classes - Class of choice: 1. Ann Tuck 2.Jacqueline Rawes 3. Patricia Bauer 4. Line Dumont 5. Robyn Bowles 6. Crystal Davis 7. Kim van Putten 8. Tina Lee  9. Pat Pahl 10. Melissa Krook

Organize More $75 GC - Charlotte Williams

Paper Smooches $25 GC - Mary Webster

Pink & Main $25 GC - Cathy Bolheimer

Pretty Pink Posh Two $25 GC - Carol Hintermeier & Olivia Mikolaitis

Simon Says Stamp $50 GC - Colleen McLafferty

SugarPea Designs $50 GC - Dawn Marie Manning

Taylored Expressions Four $25 GC - 1. Janice Elder 2. Mary Ann Denyer 3. Tammy Butters 4. Arissa Tiba

The Ton Stamps Stamp set of choice - Nicole Morgan

Waffle Flower $100 GC - Debbie Minton

Caring Hearts Prize Announcement Delay

Hi all. I know I promised to announce the Caring Hearts prize winners today, November 27, 2019.

However I will have to postpone it till Friday. I've been working non stop on packing the cards for the nursing homes and trying to get all  the paperwork organized. I worn myself out.

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I decided to give myself a little break instead of forcing myself too rush and get everything done today. Time to pay attention to the family. I usually email all the winners as well right after I announced the winners and at this time it just getting a bit overwhelming.

I apologized for the delay. So, winners will be up on my blog on Friday morning, November 29, 2019. Thank you all for your understanding and patience. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and enjoy being with your family. Hugs.

Vera

Caring Hearts Card Drive Update

Hi all. I just want to give you all some update on Caring Hearts Card Drive. Since it is our 10th one, I want to also give a glimpse of behind the scene.

To start with, at first the number of cards that coming in was super low. I mean like only 1/10 of what we received last year. My team and I started to panic a bit because we only have like 2 weeks left and we have a lot of nursing homes on our list that we'd like to cover. Then several dear friends step in and share the card drive post on their blog and all over social media. Suddenly I got lots of email with question about the card drive. So, I decided to extend the due date to allow more time for people to send in their cards.

And, people, low & behold you all really step up!! During the last 2 weeks of the card drive you send in your cards and each day I could receive 40 to 70 packages. Some people even send two packages when they heard we're low.

My team of volunteers also confirmed that the amount of package they received went up. So, thankfully we're able to cover all the nursing homes on our list and more!! We actually ended up with more cards and able to add even more nursing homes on our list. I have people calling left and right to find more nursing homes.

Since most of the packages were received on the past 2 weeks before the card drive end, needless to say this past 2 weeks been crazy, especially on my end as I received the majority of the packages. Every day as soon as I come home from work, I unpack and sort through all the cards, making sure they're signed, fixed any loose embellishment and stuff them in the envelope. I've been repeating this cycle every day for 2 straight weeks that I think hubby and my fur babies feel a bit neglected.

Right after the card drive end, my awesome girlfriends come over and helped me stuffed more envelopes and pack some boxes. I couldn't do this on this scale without them. 

In case you're wondering why I pile the cards in groups like pictured above, it's because when we pack the cards for each nursing home, I like to make sure each place get good mix of cards. Part of the fun is checking out where their cards come from. Each pile is from different card makers, so when we pack, we go around the table picking up card from each pile and repeat the process. To some, it may not matter that the cards all come from the same person, but I personally feel it's more fun when they're from all different people, different place.

I am working as fast as I can. I know many will want to know about the prizes. I am hoping to finish everything by this weekend. I will announce the prize winners here on Wednesday, November 27, 2019.

Today I am shipping out about 40 packages and will ship the rest by this coming Monday. Hubby was my strong man to carry all these boxes from our 2nd floor dining room to 1st floor. This is maybe about 1/5 of all the packages we shipped as each of my team also have quite a bit to mail out. Even with all these boxes out, my dining table still full. I am not done.

LOL, every year I told hubby it's going to be my last year doing it, because it is tiring and can be overwhelming especially when there's also a lot of stuff going on in my personal life. Then by mid of the following year I forgot about all of it and decided to do it again. Hah! It does bring me joy when I know it brighten someone's day. The world need more kindness and this is our own little way to do so.

I want to thank all of you who send in your cards. I really appreciate all your support for our card drive. I am humbled by your generosity and honored that you're sharing your talent & creation for strangers that you never met. For me this is the true meaning of Christmas, when you do kind things for strangers with no expectation. Just sharing the love. <3

The Ton November Release Day 2

** For Caring Hearts Card Drive post please scroll down or click HERE **

Hi peeps! Welcome to day 2 of The Ton November release. I hope you enjoy the many beautiful projects from day 1 release. Today we continue with more sneak peeks and from my end, I am showcasing the pretty Coming Up Morning Glories & Morning Glory Greetings.

I started by heat embossing the Coming Up Morning Glories with gold embossing powder on a purple cardstock panel. Trim and adhere the panel to the card base. I know it barely show on the screen, but I actually added some shadows around the center of the flowers with purple ink. Since it didn't show up so well, I decided to layer the card by adding the flower from Morning Glory Greetings. Colored the flower with Copic and adhere to the cardbase with foam adhesive. Finishd by stamping the sentiment.

And, we are giving away a stamp set for days 1 and 2 for our November Release. The two winners will receive a stamp set of choice from this new release (excluding bundles). To enter this giveaway, leave a comment here and also on each team member's blogs. Winners will be announced on The Ton blog on November 14.

The team has created some fabulous projects for this release, please check out their blog for more sneak peeks and inspiration Thank you all for stopping by here and join us this weekend for our Instagram hop.

The Ton Stamps Blog
Tae Eun
Vera
Olga
Anna
Brenda

The Ton November Release Day 1

** For Caring Hearts Card Drive post please scroll down **

Hi all and welcome to The Ton November release. I am super excited for this release since it include a couple sets that's featuring my favorite bird, the chickadees!! 

The moment I saw the line up for this release, I knew immediately that I will be showcasing the gorgeous Winter Chickadee set. I am not sure what is it about chickadees, but for me personally they bring the feeling of comfort and warmth.

For this card I started by die-cutting the chickadee and the branch using the matching Winter Chickadee SVG file and then stamped the layered image on them. Put aside and I trim the panel at an angle and inked it up for subtle shadow background.

I cut a couple patterned paper to layer under the panel. Before adhering them and the panel to the  card base, I also partially die cut some leaves from 2 Piece Foliage Coverplate dies. I didn't die cut the whole thing since I only want to use some of the leaves. This is a great way to get more use of your existing dies.

Arrange everything and adhere them to the card base. Then I glued down the branch and the bird. Finish by stamping the sentiment.

I just love, love, love this set. Ever since I started card making, I always have a weakness to bird stamps. And, I have to say, I think this set is one of the prettiest bird set out there. 

GIVEAWAY

We can't have new release without a giveaway, right? We'll be picking one winner from blog comments for each debut day to win a stamp of choice (excluding bundles) from our new November Release. Simply leaves a comment here and also on my teammates blog. The team has created some amazing projects for this release. Please check out their blog below for more inspiration.

Thank you so much for stopping by here. See you tomorrow for day 2 of the release.

The Ton Stamps Blog
Tae Eun
Vera <-- you are here
Olga
Anna
Brenda