Holiday Postage Challenge

We are delighted to have new people discovering our organization and for the generous support of our devoted followers!

While Card Care connection is nondenominational, we recognize that the holiday season is near. Regardless of what holiday you may celebrate, it is a time of year for giving to others and sharing love. In the spirit of gift-giving, we encourage you to consider sending in a donation or book of stamps to help cover the cost of postage. Particularly with the launch of our new Bundles of Cheer program, we welcome and appreciate your assistance as it costs approximately $10 to send our packages to recipients. Postage adds up quickly for our programs and we anticipate a large number of cards and care packages to be sent this holiday season. Every contribution helps!

Donations can be sent to:
Card Care Connection
112 Saddlehorn Court
Fenton, MO 63026

We continue to welcome any and all card submissions this month even though our challenge is for postage. We hope you are staying up to date with Card Care Connection, and invite you to visit our donation page. Thank you for all of your support and happy holidays!

Bundles of Cheer

November marks the beginning of an exciting new program at Card Care Connection, Bundles of Cheer! As we continue to grow our organization, we strive to provide more for our recipients. Through all of your dedication, we are thrilled to launch care packages in addition to our handmade cards. We could not have done it without all of you! This month, we challenge our supporters to gather travel-sized products for our Bundles of Cheer. We aim to ensure included items are practical and compact. Suggested donation items include handmade pillowcases, nail polish, lip balm, lotion, socks, toys, etc. The packages will be given to men, women and children so we welcome a diverse range of products. We also challenge our supporters to think of individuals within their own networks who may be able to provide items. We are always looking to expand our outreach so please spread the word! Check out the link on our website

Happy Birthday

Happy belated birthday to Card Care Connection! September marked our organization's third year of bringing joy and hope through inspirational messages to those affected by cancer, and in celebration, we are asking for donations of birthday themed cards for this month.

Birthday cards have an extensive history, a tradition developed over a century ago when messages of good will were exchanged to mark a special milestone. We challenge our cardmakers to continue bringing smiles and cheer to our recipients and look forward to receiving cards in recognition of our third birthday. Thank you to all of our supporters for your ongoing passion and creativity to providing encouragement and enriching the lives of those we serve.

Created by Joanne P. (MO)

Cards for Children

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month, meant to recognize the thousands of children who are diagnosed with cancer each year. For September, we are challenging you to send us children’s themed cards.

Our Executive Director works as a pediatric oncology social worker and sees the smiles that a bright, cheery card can give to a child facing lengthy hospital stays and treatments. She sees the impact that cards have on the patients’ families, too, by providing a sense of community for their child. In addition, we have been receiving many referrals for children for their birthday. We look forward to being able to send beautiful cards to children all across the country that could use a smile and thoughtful card.

Thank you Diane C. for this creative card!

Buttons and Brads

We at Card Care Connection are challenging ourselves to work even harder to spread the word about our organization.  Our momentum is gaining, as we are continuing to gain more referrals, donations, and followers.  We want to thank you for all of the hard work you have put into helping our organization and continuing to support our mission.  We couldn’t do what we do without you!  Our Beauty Bash on July 20th was a huge success; it surpassed all of our expectations.  Check out our Facebook page for photos and next newsletter for the outcomes. Our current card challenge is focused on buttons and brads.  We picked the theme of buttons and brads because they are circles, which symbolize continuity and peace.  Circles can be a very calming shape since they avoid harsh lines and angles.  Recipients of cards from our program are going through a very stressful time and stress can be a detriment to a person’s healing.  Circle themed cards (especially with the crafty addition) accompanied with the handwritten messages may help to provide comfort.  Also, we love the addition of a 3-D touch.  The extra texture shows that time and effort was put into the card.  We continue to be amazed with the endless possibilities card making offers.  Thank you all for your donations! Thank you to Jayne and Laurie's Line Up for this creation!

Beauty Bash Event

Card Care Connection hit the ground running in the first half of the year and we are keeping the momentum going!  This month is exciting for Card Care Connection, as we are hosting the 2013 Beauty Bash at the Saint Louis Galleria!  The Beauty Bash will be an afternoon of family friendly fun and pampering on July 20^th from 1-4pm.  There will be makeovers, face painting, raffles, refreshments, and more.  

If you aren’t able to make it or don’t live in the area, help us grow this month by telling 5 friends about Card Care Connection.   One way to complete this challenge is to invite 5 friends to a card-making party to share the mission of Card Care Connection and do some meaningful crafting!

Another way to extend the reach of Card Care Connection is to send us referrals.  Making a referral to our program is easy and can be done in just a few minutes on our website.

Also please consider donating more stamps, unused crafting supplies, or a small monetary donation.  Even though we are all volunteer based, postage and craft supplies add up quickly.

Thank you for all you do to help support our organization.  We hope to see you at the Beauty Bash on July 20th!

Do you have a Facebook account?  Feel free to like our Facebook page or link to our blog on you wall.

Masculine Cards

In honor of Father’s Day, we are bringing back a request from last fall for masculine cards.  We recognize that it is easier to make fancy and pretty cards that are more fit for a female, but we get a lot of card requests for males.  So, what kind of masculine themed cards can you create?  We hope this will exercise your crafting mind in a different way to come up with designs and combinations that are more fit for a male.

The possibilities are endless!  One way to start might be with changing colors to more masculine tones.  You can also use different images like boats, sports, or nature.  Here is a card we received from Diamond Lake Lutheran Church (Minnesota) that you may want to use as inspiration.

Flower Challenge

Happy spring card crafters!  As the weather is getting warmer and flowers are in bloom, we thought this month’s challenge should be focused on flowers.  Flowers are our most received card design and our most requested.

We get flowers in many different forms: stamps, paper, embellishments, buttons, and more.  What are some clever ways you can create flowers out of your supplies?

Here are some beautiful cards from Jen B. (MO), Martha D. (MA), Hope S. (TN) for you to use as inspiration.  Thank you all for all that you do!  We look forward to our next blog posts each month because you all continue to impress us with such beautiful and creative cards.

Ribbon Challenge

Crafting a handmade card takes time, thought, and love.  The work you put into each card is a gift to the recipients, and your care and concern shows when they get a beautiful card.  Our card recipients cherish your cards.  Thank you for the beautiful gifts you continue to send us every month! 

This month, we are asking for cards with ribbon, to symbolize the gift that each card is.  For those of you who have never incorporated ribbon before, don’t be intimidated!  Here are some tips for adding ribbons to your cards:

·       A simple way to add ribbon is to glue a piece ribbon along an edge of the card.

·       Use craft adhesive tape to secure the ribbon on the card.

·       If you are using layers, you can tuck and glue the edges of the ribbon around the underside of the layer to hide it.

·       Cut ribbons on the diagonal to reduce fraying.

·       To add a ribbon bow, punch two small holes side by side and tie the ribbon through the holes.  You could also tie a ribbon in a knot around a straight piece of ribbon. 

As a guideline for creative use of ribbon in cards, here is a picture of wonderful cards we have received from Ellen G. and Jacqueline C. that can inspire creativity.   

National Craft Month - Embossing Challenge

Did you know that March is National Craft Month?  As crafters who like to help others, we want to recognize your devotion and good will in donating beautiful cards for people facing cancer across the country.  We continue to receive cards that impress us here at Card Care Connection as well as the card recipients. 

The challenge for cards this month is a crafting technique that we love – embossing.  Embossing is a technique where paper is pressed to create a raised design in the paper, and it is a technique that can add a touch of elegance to a greeting card.  We also encourage texture in our cards because it can be a helpful aid for our elderly patients who may have trouble with their vision and seeing the detail in a card.  The embossing adds another element that can be accessed through the sense of touch, and can make the impact of the card even more powerful.  Thank you all for putting your craft skills to a good cause!  We’re excited to see the embossing that you send our way!

Our next quarterly newsletter is coming out soon, too.  Make sure you are signed up to receive it by visiting our website here.

Thanks to Deb. P and Diamond Lake Lutheran Church for these cards.

Valentine’s Inspired Theme

Welcome card makers!  It may seem like the holidays just ended, but another special card holiday is here: Valentine’s Day.  It is a time when people give out cards to show their care for one another.  In keeping with the theme of love and care, we challenge you to create cards incorporating red and pink colors.    We recently received some beautiful cards from Victoria, Diamond Lake Lutheran Church and Charlotte and thought we’d post a picture to inspire creativity. 

We sincerely thank you crafters for the care and concern you have for giving to our card recipients.  It is always exciting to see the new and creative ways you all can incorporate our challenges into your cards, and we enjoy knowing that someone will really appreciate receiving them.  We couldn’t do what we do without you!

National Handwriting Day

Have you heard of National Handwriting Day on January 23^rd?  When we heard about it, we realized we couldn’t let it go unrecognized.  National Handwriting Day, in honor of John Hancock (famous for his large, fancy signature on the Declaration of Independence), was established to encourage people to reconnect with putting pen to paper and relating to others through the written word.  Card Care Connection places great emphasis on the power of a handwritten message, so we felt we had to acknowledge this day.  We also wanted to take this day to recognize our volunteer card writers, Judy, Jan, and Judy of Fenton, Missouri, to thank them for the work they do in writing personalized messages for the recipients. 

We believe there is a powerful connection between the handcrafting that goes into making a card and the handwritten messages inside.  The cards we send are more impactful when it is clear that time was spent both on the creation of the card and on the personal message inside.  While we ask the cards you send us are still blank inside, we hope that you will consider recognizing this day in some way.  Here are some ways you might celebrate:

·         Submit referrals to  our program so people struggling with cancer can receive a handwritten note from us!  We are always looking for more people to send cards to so that our program can reach as many people as possible.  If you don’t know anyone who could use a handwritten card, tell people about our program who might know potential recipients.

·         Craft cards with calligraphy.  Perhaps you could use a stamp with a scroll design or images of quills or pens.

·         Write a personal note to a friend or loved one.

We hope you enjoy this day.  Let’s do our part to keep handwritten cards in style.  Keep an eye out for our next blog post, coming soon!

                                         Thank you For Keep Sakes for this beautiful card!