Saturday, January 28, 2012

Exciting News and Winners Announced for Valentines for Kids

(For the current challenge, please go here.)

We are happy to share with you today that our design team family is growing! We are thrilled to be introducing two new members of TEAM S.A.S. today! Our first new team mate is Deonna Bemish. Deonna has entered our challenge many times and her beautiful cards have been among our favorites each week. You can visit her blog here to leave her some congrats and to be inspired by her awesome cards. Deonna shared this with us as an introduction:

     " Hi, My name is Deonna Bemish and I’m very excited to get to design for SAS4kids. I’ve been making cards for years now for our Mission group Lutheran Women Missionary League at our church. We have a monthly gathering of women that come and pay money to make 5 cards with all of the proceeds going to support our School with back to school backpacks for those in need and a donation to support a Pastor at Seminary. Now I have the opportunity to help another group with it’s mission.  I’m very honored to get to help with this great cause.
     I’m currently a married SAHM of 2 children, ages 11 and 12. I just recently resigned from a Recovery room RN position after 19 ½ years at  Methodist hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. I do understand how wonderful it would be to be on the giving end of these beautiful cards.  I’m sure that it makes those nurses feel really good to be able to give those children who are having a bad day ,week or year a little something to say “I really do care“. A card to uplift their spirits and make them and their families feel Special at a lousy time in their life. Sometimes, it’s those little things that make the biggest difference."

Here is a card by Deonna that made our Top Three recently: 


Our second new team member is Christie Beans. Christy is another person whose cards stood out among those entered as just beautiful and she has been in our Top Three because of that. To visit Christy's blog and leave her some congrats and see her fantastic cards, please go here.

Here is a little about Christie in her own words: 

"Hello! I'm a 30-something (going-on-4!) single gal whose job hasn't been offering enough artistically creative outlets lately. My usually active inner child was feeling a bit neglected! During my Christmas 2010 holiday, I stumbled across a cardmaking blog for the first time and I was fascinated. I thought about making cards a few years ago and even bought supplies but never got into it. After a few weeks of lurking in Blogland, in January 2011 I decided that making cards would be a great way to reconnect with friends and family who live too far away to see very often, and entering challenges would be fun motivation. Plus it would be a great way to share what I was working on with my best friend, my mom. So I started my blog, I Never Went to Kindergarten, to create a "digital fridge" to hang my artwork. It was a slow start as life kept interrupting, but in September I finally made crafting a priority and am having a marvelous time! 

My inner child loves all things shiny and sparkly when it comes to card elements--holographic materials, multicolored sparkles like Glamour Dust and Stardust Stickles-- and I have a fondness for flat-backed pearls and lots of dimensional foam dots.  Best of all, I have found that I love making kids' cards as they're cute and bright and FUN! I love to be working away in my cozy craft room, listening to music or "watching" movies, with my two dogs and cat nestled in to their favorite spots. Since I haven't been cardmaking long, I was surprised when Karen asked me to join the SAS4K DT, but I'm so honored and happy to join such a great creative team! I can hardly wait to spend more time in my crafty nest and share the results with you! =)"

And here is a card Christie made using Bailey from Hambo Stamps, our sponsor for the current challenge:




Now on to more fun stuff- making some Valentines for Kids lucky challenge participants really happy. I am pleased to announce that the random winner of the 7 digis of her choice from Bugaboo is #17 NanaConnie
The winner of the  $15 gift certificate from Stamp Shoppe Creations is #5 Gloria M. And the winner of 4 digis of her choice from Delicious Doodles is #7 Loretta.  Congratulations to the winners!

To visit our generous sponsors and/or the winner's blogs, just click on their names. Ladies- please email me at khasheck@gmail.com so that I can arrange for you to redeem your sponsor's prizes.And be sure to grab your  winner's blog badge from the side of the blog.

We had many beautiful cards entered in this challenge. The Top Three as chosen by the design team are as follows:


#15 Olivia

Beautiful cards Ladies! Please grab your Top Three blog badge from the side and display it on your blog with pride. If you would like to  be a guest dt member on a future challenge, please send me an email at khasheck@gmail.com.

We are unable to add any more cards to our slide show as that website is closing down. If you know of any other slide show sites you can recommend, I would love to hear from you. But I have started a new board at my Pinterest site here: http://pinterest.com/khasheck/send-a-smile-4-kids-favorite-cards/ where you can see the top three cards from our challenges as well as some of my favorite TEAM S.A.S. cards.

You have until February 3rd at noon CST to enter our current challenge, Anything Goes for Kids for a chance at three more awesome prizes from our generous sponsors. So come on and enter any card appropriate for a child and share in the fun at Send a Smile 4 Kids.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Anything Goes for Kids Challenge

It's time for a new challenge here at Send a Smile 4 Kids and we have some very special sponsors for this fun Anything Goes for Kids Challenge. Our first special sponsor is Hambo Stamps and not only are they offering a lucky random winner a gift certificate worth $15 for digital stamps, and they gave our design team the adorable Bailey stamp to design with, but they are also doing a card drive for SAS4Kids this week! We are so grateful to Hambo Stamps for encouraging their participants to send in their card(s) to SAS4Kids to help cheer a child inpatient in a children's hospital. You can read all about their card drive and challenge here. 

Hambo also shared three of their designers as guest design team members today. Here are their wonderful cards:



And here are the rest of Team S.A.S. cards using Bailey from Hambo Stamps (click on any of the names to go to their blogs for more details and inspiration.)
Lisa's Hambo Card 

Karen's Hambo Card 


Shelby's Hambo Card
Lucianna's Hambo Card

Sarah's Hambo Card 

Our second special sponsor for this challenge is EEM Photos to Digis and they are offering a lucky random winner a prize of three digital stamps made from their own photos. This is a brand new website with a unique idea and it is run by our very own Hilde and her daughter. They will take your favorite photo(s) and turn them into a digital stamp you can size as you wish and make any number of things with it. Here are the TEAM S.A.S. cards using digital stamps of some favorite pets and children in our lives:

Hilde's EEM Cards


Lucianna's EEM Card

Lisa's EEM Card

Karen's EEM Card

And we have a third generous sponsor for this challenge too! Di's Digis is offering a lucky random winner a $10 gift certificate to their online store! Of course, we will also be picking a Top Three as well. So what are you waiting for? Anything Goes as long as it is a card appropriate for a child and you can win any of these great prizes! You have until February 3rd at noon CST to enter this challenge. 

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 





Saturday, January 14, 2012

Winners Announced for Winter Fun for Kids!

It's time to to have some Winter Fun here at Send a Smile 4 Kids by announcing the random winners of our sponsor's prizes and also our Top Three from the Winter Fun For Kids Challenge. The winner of the 5 free digi stamps from Whimsy Stamps is: #18 Christy Beans! The winner of the $5 gift certificate from Sassy Cheryl's is #30 Ardilla! And the winner of the $9 gift certificate from Stamp Fairy is #36 Shari! Congratulations lucky ladies! Please grab your winners blog badge from the side of our blog and email me at khasheck@gmail.com so I can put you in contact with the sponsor to claim your prize. To check out our sponsor's awesome stamps and products, just click on their names. And to visit any of the winner's blogs, just click their names.

We had many lovely entries in this challenge and thank everyone who linked a card. The Top Three as chosen by the TEAM S.A.S design team are:




Lovely cards ladies! Please grab your Top Three blog badge from the side of our blog and display it with pride on your blog. If you would like to be a guest design team member for a future challenge here at SAS4Kids, send me an email to pick a date.

You have until January 20th at noon CST to enter our current challenge, Valentines for Kids for a chance at three sponsors prizes drawn randomly or a spot in our Top Three. It may seem early to think about Valentines, but if you wanted to send one to SAS4Kids for one of our kids inpatient in a children's hospital, we would need to receive it by early February to make sure we have time to get it to one of the seven hospitals we are now servicing. Of course, you can enter our challenges without sending in your cards. We appreciate all those who enter our challenges and those who send in their cards for our kids!

Stamping smiles 4 Kids, Karen 

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Valentines For Kids Challenge

Happy New Year! It's time for our first challenge of 2012 and we are challenging you to make a Valentine card that a child would like. We are always working ahead here at SAS4Kids because if you decide to send in your Valentine for one of our kids in the seven children's hospitals we are currently servicing, we would need to receive it at one of our four addresses by February 1st to ensure time to get them to the hospital before the holiday. But don't worry- if we get cards after a mailing deadline, we will save them for the next year or arrange a rush delivery. And feel free to enter our challenges even if you can't donate the card to SAS4Kids. Make a Valentine for your child or grandchild or friend and enter it in the challenge for a chance to win some great prizes!

Our wonderful sponsors for the Valentines for Kids Challenge are: Stamp Shoppe Creations and their prize is a $15 gift certificate to their on-line shop; Delicious Doodles and they are offering one random winner 4 digital images of their choice; and Bugaboo who is giving 7 free digis of the winner's choice! And of course we will also be picking our Top Three and giving them a blog badge and a chance at joining us as a guest design team member for a future challenge.

We are thrilled to have two members of the Bugaboo Design Team sharing cards with us today! Here are their darling cards:



Here to inspire you are the TEAM S.A.S. Valentine cards using our sponsors' images. As always, you can click on the designer's names to go to their blogs for more details and inspiration.

Hilde's Cards 


Karen's Cards



Sarah's Card 
Shelby's Card
Lisa's Card

Lucianna's Cards 


Awesome cards, aren't they? I am always so proud to show TEAM S.A.S.'s cards and am happy to have each of them on our team! 

You have until January 20th at Noon CST to enter our Valentine challenge. If you would like to send in your Valentine or any other child appropriate card to Send a Smile 4 Kids to cheer a child who is inpatient in a children's hospital, please read our guidelines and find our addresses under the tabs at the top of our blog.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen