A Little Update on Caring Hearts Card Drive

Caring Hearts Card Drive rides again!

For all of my favorite card-makers, here is some news about this year's Caring Hearts Card Drive, from Vera Yates herself. She and some of the other volunteers have had challenges this past year, but their HEARTS are still going strong. Read on for the details...

A Little Update on Caring Hearts Card Drive

Hi peeps. I've been getting a bunch of email lately asking about Caring Hearts Card Drive. So, I thought I post here to answer everyone as well as mentioning some changes to the card drive.

Yes, I will hold the card drive again this year. This year, I am doing the card drive in honor & in memory of Sean Wilkerson. He's Christy Wilkerson's brother who passed away just this past week. If you remember, last year, Christy helped with collecting the cards for the card drive.

Sean's family requested that people do act of kindness to others in his memory, because Sean himself was a guy who did many kind things to others and I couldn't think of a better way to honor that request than by continuing this card drive in his memory.

The card drive will start in October. Not right now. This is just an update.

Now, I know many of you work in advance and I would like to mention that this year we requested that people limit the card they send to maximum 100 cards per person.

Before anyone get upset, please let me explain my reason. A couple months ago my one and only niece from my side of the family was diagnosed with Leukemia. She is only 5 years old & currently going through intensive chemo. I am planning to visit her in Singapore where she's being treated.

As you can imagine, this is devastating news for our family & we are rallying behind her to get her beat this.

Also, I have business trip that required me to go out of the country during the card drive. So, we decided to do this change to help keep things manageable and to keep my sanity. My niece well being and being with my family is my priority and yes, I have to maintain my full time job as well.

There are a lot of works behind the scene for the card drive and all my helpers are doing this voluntarily outside our full time job, etc. The only way we can continue is by making changes when necessary.

I hope you all understand. This would be our 9 years doing the card rive and I can't thank you enough for your continuous support. We have grown so much from our 1st year. From only 750 cards to over 64,000 cards.

Your contribution touch people lives whether we know them or not. Thank you for your understanding and stay tune for the card drive announcement on Oct. 1, 2018.

 "Together we can change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time. " Ron Hall

_________________________________

I hope that answers some questions, and inspires you to participate this year.

Looking forward to seeing your beautiful artwork,

Happy crafting,

Caroline  

 

Card Drive Wrap-up

Hello Crafty friends, 

This year's Caring Hearts Card Drive is wrapping up for 2017. Here in Canada, we received more cards than ever! A total of almost 9000. I spent all day yesterday with some volunteers and friends, sorting and boxing up the cards for mail and hand delivery (thank you SO MUCH, Carole and the crew at Crop-a-While) . But we still have many more that need a home...  If you know of a nursing home in your area which would enjoy receiving the cards to distribute to their residents, please let me know.  It is especially meaningful if you have a connection with someone there--a family member who is a resident, or if you know someone who works at the home. We hear that the staff enjoy looking at the cards almost as much as the seniors who receive them!

Here in Ottawa, we also received some local publicity for the drive. See the story HERE. 

Thanks to all who contributed to make this year's drive such a success!

Caroline 

P.S.  What is a blog post without some eye candy?

Beautiful thank you card created by contributor LC Lamothe. And it matches my tea cozy!!

Caring Hearts Card Drive 2017

Hello my crafty friends,

It's time again for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. 

This event is now in its eighth year!!! Last year's response was overwhelming--64,000 hand-made Christmas and holiday cards donated and distributed to nursing home residents in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain.  Vera Yates, the true heart 💓 behind the drive, is willing to do it again. You can check out all the details HERE on her blog.

Briefly, the idea behind the drive is to brighten the holidays for residents of long-term care facilities by sending them signed, hand-made cards, with wishes from the creator. We all love to make beautiful things, why not let them have a heart-felt purpose; a way of paying it forward. I have had letters from some of the facilities to which we send cards, telling us how much they mean to the recipients. One gentleman, who has received cards several years in a row, asked "I wonder where my card will come from this year?" Please know your cards are cherished.

In 2016, my partner in crime, Rita Andrews in Cochrane, Alberta, and I managed to send 5700 cards to 20 different seniors' residences in ten provinces, and two of the three territories. Several more nursing homes received cards along with pet therapy visits, thanks to our partnerships with PATS in Victoria BC, Blue Ribbon Therapy Dogs in Montreal, St. John's Ambulance Dog teams in Nova Scotia and PEI, and Ottawa Therapy Dogs, here in town.  This year, being Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation, we're considering  sending our cards even further afield. Some warm winter wishes from Canadians, sent across the world ❄.  So, if you know of a nursing home, within Canada or abroad, that would like to receive Christmas cards over the holidays, please let me know, at canadian_liner@hotmail.com.

Here's a card I made today, to get things started:

Background sponged with Catherine Pooler inks, "earth" coloured with Ken Oliver Color Burst powders. Die-cut village from Ellen Hutson; banner die from Simon Says Stamp; sentiment from Lil' Inker Designs; starts are Nuovo drops.

I look forward to seeing all the wonderful creations from the generous card makers out there.

To my Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

Happy crafting,
Caroline

The DAY we've all been waiting for!

Good morning, crafty peeps!

How awesome is today?  

World Card-making Day, celebrating the kindness and creativity reflected in our hobby.

As I scan through my blog feed, I'm seeing several blog hops commemorating the occasion with very worthy causes. Check out HERE and HERE.

Today also appropriately marks the kick-off for The Caring Hearts Drive 2016.

I'm attaching details from Vera Yates' post. There's lots to read, so grab a beverage, sit back and read on...

2016 marks the 7th year for our annual Caring Hearts Card Drive. Its purpose is to collect hand-made holiday greeting cards for the elderly living in nursing homes. The card drive was begun in 2010, to honor Vera's mom's request. That first year,  750 cards were collected; each year since, the drive has grown. Last year, over 22,000 cards were received and distributed to 96 nursing homes in the States, 15 in Australia, 16 in Canada. The drive creators, Vera Yates and Jennifer McGuire, are excited to continue bringing holiday cheer. This year, the drive is branching out to the United Kingdom. 

The holidays are about family, kindness, and joy. During this time of year, many elderly nursing-home residents can feel lonely, missing their families. What better way to bring a smile to their faces & brighten their holiday season, than by sharing our love of card making? A simple gesture letting them know that they are not forgotten, that someone still thinks of them. We all love making cards and what’s better than knowing that our creations have brought a smile? 

 Here's how to participate:  - 

• The card drive runs from October 1 to November 25, 2016.  Your cards need to be received by November 25, 2015, so plan accordingly when sending them in.
•  Please make the cards for Christmas or Holiday Wishes. (For those sending cards within Canada, French sentiments are appreciated, too.) Anyone can send a card, your children, church groups, scout troops, etc. 
• All cards must have a message inside (it can be stamped or hand written) from the sender. Please sign your name and include where you are from. Part of the fun for the recipients is receiving cards from different part of the country and the world!
• Please include an envelope for each card and please don't seal the envelope.  
• Cards should be standard size (A2 or 4-1/4" x 5-1/2") as this helps in packing them more efficiently.
• Please don't use any pins (for safety reason). Glitter and glitz on the other hand, most welcome!

• This next is totally optional, but if you'd like to include $1 or $2 to help with shipping, it is much appreciated. We cover the shipping costs ourselves, without sponsorship, so any donation toward shipping helps tremendously. Some card-makers send stamps vs dollars through the mail. 
• Please send cards to the collection address nearest you.

• For the USA, you can mail the cards to: 
• Vera Yates, 1314 Roy St., Houston, TX 77007 
•  Tina Schrof , 185 W. Pugh Drive, Springboro, OH 45066 
• Lynn Reloza, 3353 Cimmarron Road, Cameron Park, CA 95682  

• For Australia: 
• Linda Langes, c/o Gilston State School, 588 Worongary Road, GILSTON QLD 4211, Australia 
• Deb McCleary, PO Box 213, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia  

• For Canada: 
• Caroline Bredeson, 7 Brown Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 1L9, Canada 
• Rita Andrews, 28 West Gissing Rd, Cochrane, Alberta T4C 1L6, Canada  

• For UK/Europe: 
• Taheerah Atchia, 36 Pinewood Crescent,Orrell, Wigan, Lancashire, WN5 8NF, United Kingdom 

• In each package, PLEASE include THIS SUBMISSION FORM. This helps us in keeping track for prizes! That's right, to thank you for your generosity in sending in cards, various paper-crafting companies have donated prizes. Each card you send, enters you into a draw for a chance to win a gift. And there are many to be won :) So the more cards you send, the better your chances.  
•  To help us promote the card drive, whenever you're sharing your projects for Caring Hearts on social media, please use the hashtag #caringheartscarddrive. This drive represents part of the creators' wider goal to spread kindness and make it a trend.
• The nursing homes that we support are based on those people suggest to us. If you would like your local nursing home to receive cards from the card drive, please email Vera or Jennifer, providing the names of the nursing homes and the number of residents, so we can make sure that we send enough cards. Each year, the number of nursing homes we can support is based on the number of cards received.  
•  The prize list will be updated as more prizes come in. And huge thank you to all the fabulous, generous companies who support this card drive by donating awesome prizes.  See the complete list on Vera's blog.
• A new feature this year is a Caring Hearts Card Drive stamp set! The generous people at Sugar Pea Designs have created a whole line of goodies to help spread kindness.  20% of all sales from this collection will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association. There is a blog hop to introduce the set, with yet more prizes up for grabs. Check it out on Vera's blog HERE.

I conclude this LONG post with a few Christmas cards to get the ideas flowing. I hope to share some cards made with the Caring Hearts collection in the next few days.

 More Dazzle stickers and Simon Says greeting die, in French.

 Stamps and paper from Close to My Heart; dies from Penny Black and Paper Wishes; greeting die, Ellen Hutson.

 More Paper Wishes products.

Decorating the inside of the card adds to the fun!

Have a blast crafting today!

Caroline

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Hello crafty peeps!
It's been a long while since I shared anything, although I have done some scrap-booking, card-making and sewing in the past few months, along with a lot of browsing of internet crafting blogs... Just no time to photograph and write about my own creations.
But all that is about to change, because the advent of fall means that a cause near and dear to my heart is about to begin again.

The Caring Hearts Card Drive is about to start its seventh year :) 

This "sharing of kindness" was begun by Vera Wirianta Yates in Texas. She began sending hand-made Christmas cards to nursing home residents, to brighten their holiday season. Many cards (22,000 in 2015), volunteers and years later, the movement has spread from the US to Canada, Australia, and now through the UK, to Europe.
The drive begins officially October 1st (also World Card-Making Day!) and runs through November 25th.  I will be sharing sneak peeks of cards I've been working on leading up to the launch next weekend. I will also share the complete list of details on how to participate. You are welcome to make cards, as well as to help in their distribution.

I like to start the Christmas card-making season by clearing up my desk and using up supplies (yup, not allowed to buy anything new until I've made a couple dozen cards with the goodies on hand).
This year I began with a partly-used kit from 2010 by Paper Wishes.  One of their specialty items is a line of stickers called Dazzles. You might think, they don't look like TOO much on the sticker sheet, but once you begin backing them with patterned paper, colouring them in with Copics or Distress inks, altering them with embossing powder or alcohol inks, they look AWESOME! I feel every holiday card needs a little sparkle, and the foiling on Dazzles does just that.
Here's a couple of examples from that kit:

See what I mean by creating a scene, colouring in the Dazzles, and adding some extra glitz with sequins, Liquid Pearls and Stickles?

 The snowflake holographic paper from Paper Wishes sets off those snow-peeps perfectly. And check out the (craft-foam) "snow," for some tactile fun.

Off to do some Sunday stuff; stayed tuned for more on the Caring Hearts Card Drive.

Caroline

Caring Hearts Post #5

Hello patient friends!

I have been MIA again, regarding the blog-o-sphere.  Lots going on on the home front, winding down at work and making cards, as well as receiving, sorting, and registering all the wonderful cards that have been coming in for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. Over 800 before I left for a wonderful Thanksgiving with our friends in Milwaukee.

Next week my helpers and I will begin boxing up the cards for delivery.

My friend Julianne, one of the founders of Ottawa Therapy Dogs, here in Ottawa Ontario, had the brilliant idea of having therapy dog teams deliver the cards to the nursing home residents they already visit regularly. Project Reindog was very successful and enjoyed by both the "deliverers and receivers."  This year, Julianne contacted other pet therapy associations across Canada, to see if they would be on-board with hand/paw-delivering the cards in other provinces. The idea was welcomed enthusiastically, and we will ship boxes of cards to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes. Ottawa Therapy Dogs will deliver cards in the National Capital area, and we will also send boxes directly to nursing homes in Ontario and Manitoba that have contacted us. Spreading joy and smiles!

Thank you to all the wonderful craftspeople who have donated cards, dollars and stamps for shipping costs, and personal messages this year. The Caring Hearts Card Drive is such a win-win endeavour! We all love creating, and knowing that our efforts are appreciated is frosting on the cake... I'd like to thank Vera Wirianta Yates for continuing to spear-head the drive for the past six years.

Happy last-day-of-Thanksgiving, and have a great week!

Big hugs,

Caroline

Caring Hearts (and Pineapples) Post #4

G'day crafty friends, and Happy November!

It's a new month and a new challenge on the Paper Smooches blog.

The requirement for this challenge is to use gold. This weekend I was working on more card-kit preparation, for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. 

 My work-shoppers will be making this lovely card:

How delicious is that red poinsettia? It is a Paper Smooches die, cut from red suede paper, from Paper Wishes. The Christmas words embossing folder is another Paper Wishes product. I used pearlescent vellum for the embossed layer, and set it over gold-coloured card stock. The centre of the poinsettia is embellished with gold Liquid Pearls, which were also scattered over the card-front. Lastly, I added a loose bow of gold embroidery thread.

I hope you are making cards for the Drive, too! Check out all the details, using the link above, or look through my earlier Caring Hearts posts.

Have a creative week,

Caroline

Merry and Bright--Caring Hearts post #3

Good evening crafty friends!

I hope you all had a productive weekend.

Mine was full! Card workshop with the artful Heather Telford, haunted Halloween fun with family, errands and more visiting today.

Last weekend, I saved this inspiration  photo from Weekly Christmas Card Challenges

but didn't look carefully enough at the cut-off date, so I missed it. Happily, the challenge this week is "anything goes" so I'll go ahead and enter my card anyway.

 Here's the card:

I've been intrigued by Northern Lights backgrounds I've seen here and there on others' blogs.

I figured since the North Pole is directly above Canada, that Santa needed an aurora borealis background.  The night sky was created by layering distress inks, without too much blending. Some harsh edges look good, too, as this image of the northern lights illustrates.

An update on the Caring Hearts Card Drive:

 I've received 60 cards to date, for distribution here in Canada, just three weeks into the drive.

Some of the card-makers at Heather's class are going to participate. Stayed tuned for more news on how those cards will be delivered to nursing homes this year.

Keep on crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Distress inks, Ranger: fossilized amber, twisted citron, seedless preserves, blueprint sketch, chipped sapphire and black soot.

Canson watercolour paper

Essentials by Ellen Hutson: merry & bright die

Close to My Heart: Santa and reindeer stamp (retired)

Uni-ball Signo: white gel pen

And so the Magic Begins.... Caring Hearts Post #2

 

Hello my crafty friends!

Well, the postal delivery person (aka the mailman!) dropped off the first batch of cards for the Caring Hearts Card Drive today. Sooo exciting to see the beautiful handiwork of kind and talented people! I love that the cards come from as far away as Quebec and Alberta.

 Receiving them has given me the impetus to get my own card-making underway. I spent last night drafting and cutting to get some samples and kits ready to go. I hope to host a few workshop sessions in my home over the next few weeks, inviting friends to join in the fun.

Here's the first card.

I'm trying to use up existing supplies and tools as much as possible, and I'm starting with my stamps and dies from Lil' Inker Designs.  This is a pretty direct CASE from one of the samples on their website. But with the addition of a strip of black suede paper from Paper Wishes (wonderful rich texture) and a line of silver using...a Sharpie! Who knew something so ordinary could add such a nice accent? The diagonal lines were made using a REALLY OLD Texturz Plate from Sizzix. Remember those? You had to layer the black plates, rubber mat, etc, etc... So glad the world now includes embossing folders, right?

Just in case you'd like to support the Caring Hearts, here are the details on participating.

 

• The card drive will continue until November 28, 2014. We need to receive your cards by November 28, 2014.
•  Please make cards for Christmas or Holiday Wishes. Anyone can send a card, your children, church group, scout troops, etc.
• All cards need to have a seasonal message inside. This can be stamped or hand written.  
• All cards must also be signed by the maker, including your name and  and where you are from. 
• Please include an envelope for each card and please don't seal the envelope.
• Please stick to standard-sized cards:  A2 or 4-1/4" x 5-1/2"
• And please don't use any pins (for safety reasona). Glitter and bling are most welcome!
• This is totally optional, but, if you'd like to include $1 or $2 to help with shipping, it'll be much appreciated. We cover the shipping costs ourselves, with no sponsorship, so any donation toward shipping would help tremendously.
• You can mail the cards to:

          Vera Yates, 109 N. Post Oak Lane Ste. 430, Houston, TX 77024                              
          Card Drive, c/o Tina Schrof , P.O. Box 75,  Springboro, Ohio 45066 
             Linda Langes, c/o Gilston State School, 588 Worongary Road, GILSTON QLD 4211
             Piney-fine, Attn: Anita, P.O. Box 30,  Piney, MBR0A 1 K0, Canada

          Caroline Bredeson, 7 Brown Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 1L9, Canada 

So, get crafting, my friends!
Caroline

Kick-Off to Caring Hearts

 Hello World!

It's been so long since I posted anything that I've almost forgotten how...

Working full-time, managing my crazy household and keeping up at the gym have taken all my time and energy.

However, I had to acknowledge World Card-Making Day.

I don't have anything to show you just now, but I will be spending some time in my crafty space today; I'll be sure to take some photos.

AND

I do want to let you know that the

Caring Hearts Card Drive rides again!

That lovely lady, Vera Wirianta Yates, has organized the biggest Christmas/holiday card drive again this year. This marks the 6th year of the drive and it just keeps getting bigger and better.
Card-makers from the USA, Canada and Australia send in their hand-crafted holiday cards, which are then distributed to nursing homes and seniors' residences. The recipients get a beautiful random-act-of-kindness greeting, at what can be a very lonely time of year. It's a win-win situation! Plus there are prizes...

You can check it all out HERE, at Vera's blog.

I'm really pleased to say that I'll be the  Eastern Canada site for collecting cards again this year.

I'll be sharing how some of the cards will be distributed locally, with help from my friends at Ottawa Therapy Dogs.

More details on what to make and where to send it will follow.

If you would like a nursing home in your area to receive cards, please verify with the administration and send me the address.

Now get your craft on!

Catch you later,

Caroline

P.S.: the photo of the French-Canadian meat-pie, tourtiere is from Christmas last year...

Happy 8th Day of Christmas

Hope you are all enjoying a jolly old time, with friends, family and food. That is what the holidays are all about. Some excellent meals, killer game-nights and generally catching up going on at our house, with three sons, parents and sister from Amsterdam all converging. It's been busy... Talk about your polar vortex!

I am very late in giving a final followup on the Caring Hearts Card Drive, Canada-side. You can click onto Vera's blog to see her final post. The drive was a HUGE success this year.

The total number of cards I received for distribution was:

1020 

Woo hoo! These were sent in by 36 wonderful, generous and talented card-makers. Thank you all! It was a treat for me to see your outstanding handy-work.

The prize I promised to the person sending in the most cards went to Adrian Michaud. She conceived of a service project for her son's scout troupe. She made a couple dozen Christmas cards and had the scouts write personal notes to seniors inside. She contacted the Madonna Nursing Home, in Orleans, Ontario. When she found out that there were 160 seniors, many of whom would not be receiving Christmas gifts or greetings from family and friends, she decided to make a card for EACH ONE. That's right, she personally make 160 cards.  Way to go, Adrian!  You have a huge heart!♥

The remainder of the 1020 cards were sent on to 17 nursing homes. 

One of my "elves" who attended my card-making workshops had the idea to have her group, Ottawa Therapy Dogs, help distribute the cards as they made their regular nursing home canine visits. She called the project "Operation Reindog," and the dogs and their handlers really got into it!

We also received some lovely feed-back on the cards themselves:

"I should like to thank Ottawa Therapy Dogs for sending a Christmas card via Claudia & Simba to my wife Helen Young. Helen has lived at The Ravines retirement home for the past four years but is unable to reply herself because of dementia. She did however enjoy the card which is beautifully handmade and unlike any other we have seen" (from a resident's husband).

"Harris and I did watch "guests" opening these beautiful hand-crafted cards.   I have to admit that I had not looked at any beforehand. They are SPECTACULAR!!!!

Please extend my huge thanks to Caroline and all of the amazing women who  have made this happen" (from one of the Reindog's handlers).

So there you are, folks! You gave some people beautiful reasons to smile this Christmas. Just another  reminder that it is just as blessed to give as to receive.

Happy holidays, and all the best for 2015.

 Love you all to bits!

Caroline

Freshly-Made Sketches and Freshly Falling Snow...

 

Good morning!

We are enjoying temperatures above zero today.

But the white stuff is on its way...

This is one of the final cards for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. Inspiration for the water-colour panel from Heather Telford's card class.

I used Freshly-Made Sketches' design #164

After heat-embossing the Stampin' Up snowflakes on white cardstock, I added Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Evergreen Bough and Salty Ocean. Then flicked on some Perfect Pearls mist and plain ol' water. I subbed in some cascading sequins for the ribbon on the sketch.

 Hope you fit some crafting into your day,
Caroline

Caring Hearts...♥

Happy Saturday, crafty friends!

Collection for the Caring Hearts Card Drive 2014 ended yesterday.

Want to know the total number of cards I received, here in Eastern Canada?

936

Wowsers, eh?

Many of the contributors commented on how much they enjoyed making cards for such a good cause, and that they look forward to doing it again next year (yes!). Several mentioned that they held card-making "bees" with their friends. Some asked how to make sure nursing homes in their area receive cards next year. This thing just keeps on growing!

 

As a "depot" I got to admire & enjoy the beautiful designs and top-notch craftsmanship of the cards that arrived. We had contributions from across Canada (British Columbia to Nova Scotia) as well as a few from overseas (France and Australia). Amazing!

I'm going to wait to announce the winner of the prize I mentioned in THIS blog post; Vera will take another week to finish collating all the results and drawing for prizes.

Next week I'll be able to tell you about a special project we have going in Ottawa to deliver the cards to nursing homes... It has an awesome name.

Finally got a little time to craft today, and was inspired by this advertisement:

I used the stripes from the shopping bag, and a new stamp set from Close to My Heart.

Took my trusty Paper Smooches bookmark die, and some platinum embossing powder and voilà.

I love those bright colours sandwiched between the traditional red & green.

This card is being entered in this week's Card Concept challenge: use a tag.

Stay tuned for more Caring Hearts news...

Happy crafting, 

Caroline

Final Call: for the Caring Hearts Card Drive

Hey there, crafty friends.

Last couple of cards to inspire you for the final week of the Caring Hearts Card Drive 2014.

There is still time to get inky and send in your cards. Check Vera's post HERE to see how the drive is going.  I've been receiving cards from some incredible paper-crafters, from all over Canada, and one from France! We'll get into distribution mode in early December, delivering the cards to nursing homes.

The "elves" that have been coming to my weekly card workshops ask where I get all my ideas...from other people, of course! Sometimes I love a design so much I shamelessly CASE it; other times it may lead to something completely different (to quote Monty Python)...

This card was inspired by Jen Mitchell's creation, HERE. Loved the use of multiple greetings in different colours.

And this one by the ever-inventive Sandy Allnock. Here's her original:

My star isn't as big, but I had fun with the embossed monotone background.

So, still time to send in some cards, to make some seniors smile, this holiday season!

Happy crafting,
Caroline