Oct. 15th, 2022

I have a long post today; I know it’s been a long time. This post will show you how one of my donors turned a 12×12 sheet of paper into Christmas cards, that don’t actually say “Merry Christmas”. The hospitals have requested, non-religious cards.

I donate to Children’s hospitals through Send A Smile 4 Kids. You can click the “Home” button and see about this free service to Children’s hospitals supplied by all volunteers!

All the cards today have been supplied by our donor, Rita Merta. Thank you, Rita! 🙂

First, I will show you the paper that was used to make these cards. I will recommend these cards for kids to send to their parents.

Beautiful paper!

This is how the paper was cut to make the cards. You can see the top left card was cut upside down. I’m assuming the orientation looked better.

This is the card that’s missing from entire paper. Photo taken by Rita Merta. I’m assuming she’s keeping these cards to send to her own friends and/or family. Top left segment.

Ok, I guess it won’t be as long for you as it was for me. I kept getting confused as to the order to post the images 😦 This is the lower right side of the paper.

A big thank you to Rita Merta for these wonderful cards, she sent a number of them! 🙂

I should be getting more Holiday cards soon and hopefully, I’ll be able to post some more.

Thanks for coming by, hope to see you soon! 🙂

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September 1st 2022

I am so sorry to have been gone so long 😦 It’s been a very stressful year and I think I’m finally getting back to some kind of “normal”. I have some cards today that I called Fall theme with general sentiments. These seem to confuse the most people. I hope you enjoy them.

All of the attached cards will be sent to Children’s Hospitals in the name of Send a Smile 4 Kids.

As you can see there are several different sentiments on these cards, all Fall themed. There can be other sentiments such as Hugs, Smile, Have a Great Day, You Rock, You’re Awesome, You Did It, and other words of encouragement. I personally think Miss You, or Missing You, are great now that we still have so many kids who can’t have visitors. Some cards can be “bumpy”, they will stay in hospital, but the kids like to send cards to friends and family, these cards should be mostly “flat” for kids to mail.

Check out the website for Send A Smile 4 Kids. here you can read about our volunteers, our card challenges and find information about possibly sending cards yourself to cheer up “our” kids at children’s hospitals.

All of these cards were sent in for sharing from Geri Dean. Thank you, Geri, for thinking of the kids and your generosity! 🙂

Thank you for stopping by, I hope to post again soon 🙂

March 27, 2022, almost Spring

I’m getting cards ready to send to my hospitals. They will be Spring and general cards this time. I have some examples from two wonderful ladies! Rita Merta, and Lee Mae Elkins 🙂 Their assignment was Easter themed Spring cards.

I’ll start with Rita Merta 🙂

Thank you, Rita for these wonderful examples! I was asked not to send Easter cards this year, so I think these are great examples of “Easter”, Spring cards! 🙂

Next I have cards from Lee Mae Elkins, she also did a wonderful job! 🙂

Thank you, Lee Mae, for these special cards! 🙂

Sending cards to children’s hospitals can be tough sometimes. There are many holidays, but you also want cards to fit the moment, not just the holiday. These cards are fun and sweet examples of how to do both at the same time. The holiday is just one day, but Spring will last for 3 months, at least around here, if you’re lucky 😉 The weather is so strange everywhere these days.

These cards will all be sent to Children’s hospitals in IL and IN. Sponsored by Send A Smile 4 Kids, please visit our blog. We have lots of cards to share for inspiration, and you can join us if you like! We have volunteers who collect cards from donors around the USA, and sometimes Canada. These cards are collected by a volunteer and then distributed to Children’s hospitals, all for free to the hospitals! Come see if you would like to make a difference or even if you’d like to just see what we are about! 🙂

I’m sorry I have been so sporadic with my posts. This past year I have been caring for my sick husband, and also two grandchildren.

My husband lost his battle with cancer this month 😦 He put up a brave fight and at the end, just didn’t want to leave us. He held on for almost a week at home, before going to Heaven. Some days I feel ok, some days are a lot harder 😦 I felt ok when I started this post, and now I just want to lay down and cry 😦

Please subscribe to receive any updates I will make. I am not giving up either!

Winter & Holiday cards 2021

I’m back! 🙂 It’s much harder to care for a sick husband and two grandchildren than I thought. I’m going to post a mixture of Winter and Holiday cards because that’s how I take photos 🙂 I’m going to try and show Winter and Holiday cards that have some general sentiments, because Christmas is not the only day in December. I’ve found that Hospitals are asking for not only no religious cards, we are being asked not to send “Christmas” cards. They should have other sentiments like, Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays. I and other card makers were very upset about this change. But then I read something that made sense.

There are quite a few holidays in Dec. So not knowing what everyone celebrates, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings covers just about everything. For those of us still clinging to Merry Christmas, I’m right there with you, but I don’t mind, Seasons Greetings, or Happy Holidays. Feel free to wish your family or close friends Merry Christmas, oh, and anyone wishing you Merry Christmas first, but keep the other greetings ready for those you don’t know 🙂

Please take a look at these gorgeous cards by Paula Kysilka! 🙂

Thank you Paula for these wonderful cards and all the others you sent to share with our kids! 🙂 We share our cards with Childrens Hospitals through Send A Smile 4 Kids.

Here are some more cards from Lee Mae Elkins. Thank you Lee Mae for all the fun and beautifully colored cards for our kids! 🙂

The above cards are considered Winter/Encouragement.

Winter/Thank You, Thinking of You.

I hope these cards have given you lots of ideas 🙂 All of these cards will be sent to Children’s Hospitals through Send A Smile 4 Kids. You can join us in giving cards by visiting the link in this sentence.

Please have a Very Merry Christmas! 🙂 I hope your holidays are safe and fun! 🙂

Fall themed cards with general sentiments

Today I have some wonderful cards to share from Lee Mae Elkins! 🙂 These are Fall themed, but you can do the same thing with Winter, Spring Summer, even Valentine’s day 🙂 Take a look and see what I mean 🙂

Blank cards can be used for anything, with just a simple note inside. The hospitals put the notes inside.

All of these cards will go to hospitals supported by Send A Smile 4 Kids. You can join by sending handmade cards and we will make sure kids at hospitals will receive them.

My husband has company today, so it’s a little busy here, but I wanted to get off this post for those still making Fall cards. If you’re already a donor, or even if you’re not, I hope you’ve enjoyed these samples! 🙂

Please visit again for more cards. You can follow me and receive all my updates 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Fall theme everyday cards

Wow, it’s been a long while since I’ve written a post 😦 Every day has it’s challenges and I’m just trying to keep up. I do have a number of cards to share today, so hopefully you will be inspired to make Fall cards.

I am still sending cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids. I lost one of my hospitals with the Covid, but I still have two hospitals that love our cards! 🙂 So for today, I’m sharing how you can make Fall theme cards with everyday sentiments, I hope you enjoy 🙂

Happy Birthday 3 ways. They all look a little different and kids would love any of them!

All of Rita’s cards are great and you could use any general everyday sentiment. Thinking of you, Have a great day, Miss you, Great job, the sky is the limit! 🙂 I love seasonal everyday cards, I’m sure they’re fun for the kids to receive or share with their family or friends! 🙂

Thank you Rita for your beautiful, fun cards! 🙂

I hope to post more soon, I’m really going to try! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by to share in the fun! 🙂

July 11, 2021

Life seems to just get in my way all the time! Not always happy news, but today is a good day and I want to show you some Birthday cards that could be either boy or girl. I had a request for these cards from my hospitals. Sometimes they have more boys than girls or vice versa, so gender neutral seems the way to go.

One again I am sharing cards from Debbie Caldwell, who always tries to send just what I ask for 🙂 Thank you Debbie! 🙂 Here are the cards she shared 🙂

All of these cards could be for any age or gender, at least I think so 🙂 The papers could be changed or the design adjusted and you have a great card to share with anyone! Plus, they are “flat” enough for mailing 🙂

Great job, Debbie, thank you! 🙂

I will try to find more cards that fit the bill for this type of card. “My” kids have had to mail a lot of cards this year because they couldn’t have a lot of visitors 😦 A number of our hospitals actually closed to receiving cards. We’re hoping to have all our hospitals back soon 🙂

Thanks for stopping by, I’m thankful for your support! 🙂

March 20, 2021 Welcome back

I so seem to keep falling off the Earth 😦 I noticed the last post I made last year had cards from Debbie Caldwell 🙂 That’s where I’m going to start again. Debbie is a good friend and makes wonderful cards to share with our kids through Send A Smile 4 Kids.

Hmmm, it seems while I was gone, they changed how you add to your blog. So please, forgive me if I make mistakes.

Ok, well I figured how to get a photo 🙂 The photos I’m adding are all from Debbie Caldwell. Since there is still Covid around, I believe the hospitals will not be allowing visitors often. I asked for cards that are “flat” for mailing. I don’t want the kids to miss getting a card to their mothers for Mother’s Day 😉 These are cards using a lot of the same papers, but in different designs 🙂

ooops, my photo taking needs some work 😦 Over the last year, my hands have gotten a little shaky and I have trouble placing things, also my table that I take photos on seems not even 😦 I hope that doesn’t take away from these beautiful cards!

I have a link on the left side for you to go over to the Send A Smile 4 Kids blog. I don’t know how to put in a hyper-link anymore, hopefully I’ll figure that out. It’s a little strange working with this new format.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at the cards that Debbie made and I hope to be back soon with some different cards for your enjoyment 🙂

A New Year 2021

Where have I been? OMGoodness, the last two years have been a nightmare! My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer. Two weeks after his surgery, I broke my arm. Then in 2020, it was almost a rerun. His colon cancer was gone, but some cells had escaped before surgery and went to his lungs. All of last year was spent fighting lung cancer. It ended this year when the Dr. said the chemo wasn’t working, the cancer was getting worse.

My husband decided to stop his chemo, he had his chemo port taken out of his chest, and he’s decided to live the rest of his life that is left, chemo free. It’s kind of like on TV, they say 6 months to 2 years, because that’s what other people have had. I’m praying for longer!

This will not be a blog about how my family survives with cancer. This blog will still be about hope, and helping others. I’m still going to show and talk about making cards and sending them to Children’s Hospitals! I’m hoping you will stick with me as we continue our journey to encourage kids with dealing with health issues. I’s not going to be sad, we won’t know if any of the kids don’t survive. Our job is to keep them happy, with encouraging cards for them to have and share with their family or friends, sometimes staff.

We have a grandson that we adopted 8 years ago who will be 10 in May. Also, we have a 14 year old granddaughter living with us who has mental health issues. We’re also remote learning, we are never bored! lol

I hope to see you again soon! 🙂 Thanks for sticking around! 🙂

Happy New 2020…a little late

Hello all, thanks for coming by! 🙂  I have 3 grandchildren staying with me, and a bum left knee, but, I’m going to try and keep up better!  I am so thankful for anyone who still has my posts saved to show up when I post! 🙂

Today I have some Valentine cards from Debbie Caldwell, one of my Send A Smile 4 Kids donors 🙂

My granddaughter just loves these cards! 🙂  She thought the paper was so cute, that she begged me to buy it so she and I can make cards for her school! 🙂

Thank you Debbie for these wonderful cards, I know the kids at our hospitals are going to love them! 🙂

Thank you everyone for stopping by! 🙂  I hope you’ll continue to check in and see what is going on 🙂  I’m hoping to become more regular with my posts 🙂

I can’t go to my basement right now and craft because of my knee, but I have lots of cards upstairs to share with you all and my hospitals! 🙂