FIRST PACKS DISTRIBUTED - YAY !!!!

The wonderful girls at Handmade Heaven are running a re-stash appeal for those crafters who lost their stashes in the QLD floods and kindly offered to take some packs of Heart Cards and offer them to people who stopped by their store in Ipswich as well as those attending the Handmade Expo in Ipswich last weekend.
Can you see our Heart Card packs piled up high just waiting to be taken...???
How exciting...!!!
Some of your cards now have reached those in need of a way to say
"THANK YOU"

I have had regular deliveries of cards to my door over the past few weeks which has been exciting for me - maybe not so much for the poor delivery guys that have to negotiate our steep (and slippery when wet driveway) to deliver the parcels to the front door.
And not to mention the two little misses, Tilly and CoCo, who greet each delivery with a herald of barking and dancing around to see what is being delivered.

I love opening all of the packages and seeing all the amazing cards that have been so lovingly created and so beautifully wrapped to be posted.
And I love sorting the cards into different packs so that each recipient gets a taste of so many different styles of cards.

I initially had a cut off date of February 25 for this round of cards but feel free to keep sending your "thank you" and blank cards - we will be having other appeals throughout the year for other causes and ALL cards donated WILL find a home.

Just keep popping back to the blog or find us on Facebook to keep up to date with our latest appeal.

Thank you again for all the beautiful cards you have sent.
And thank you to those of you who have included postage stamps too.

~shazz~
xo

P.S. I have set up a small area that my daughter affectionately named the "Heart Cards Hospital" (LOL) to do repairs on some cards that didn't make it through the Aus Post gauntlet in one piece.
I am pleased to say that NO cards have had to be discarded and a quick running repair using glue or double-sided tape has usually remedied any "blemishes.

P.P.S. And thank you to everyone who has put in a personal note for me with their cards.
I have kept them all and you have all written such lovely things.
THANK YOU !!!

OVERWHELMED

To say that I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from everyone about the "Heart Cards" appeal would be an understatement.
Not only have the wonderful paper crafters of Australia been so supportive but we even have a set of cards received from an Aussie ex-pat in the US - thanks Christy :)

I have packaged up the first lot of cards and they are in the hands of Jody in Ipswich who is distributing them through Lifeline and Leanne who will be distributing packs through the Handmade Expo this weekend.
The cards looked amazing all packaged up - I am sorry I didn't take a photo but there are many more cards here to be sorted and packs so next time I will grab my camera.

Thank you to everyone who has already sent cards.
We still need more.
All the cards will l eventually find their way to families that need a chance to say "thank you" for the helping hand they have received during these difficult times.

Just check out the card tally in the sidebar and the roll of honour.
I feel honoured to be repacking these cards on your behalf.....they are all such gorgeous cards and the sentiment behind them makes them all the more special.

~Shazz~
xo

WOW...!!!!

In the past five days a number of quite heavy parcels have arrived on my doorstep containing packets of "Heart Cards"
Due to other commitments, they remained unopened until today.
OMGosh....!!!!!

I am speechless ladies.......a total of 217 cards have now been added to the tally..!!!!
Thank you so much to everyone who has donated cards and postage stamps.
(Maybe you can suggest to your non-crafty friends they could donate packs of postage stamps if they would like to help out in some way)

But keep them coming girls......every card and stamp will find a home in either Queensland or Victoria.

Thank you again - I have been overwhelmed by the support that I have received from everyone about this appeal.
When you have an idea like this, you often think....
"Will people think it's a good idea too?";
"Will they participate?";
or "am I totally on the wrong track...???"
Well...again I have been proven right in my belief that people only have to be given an idea of how to help out and they will.

THANK YOU ALL
~shazz~
xo

THEY HAVE STARTED TO ARRIVE...!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who has shown and interest in this current "Heart Cards" appeal.

It never ceases to amaze me the generosity of people when others are in need.

Another 45 cards hit my doorstep yesterday bring the total to 116 cards...!!!
THANK YOU EVERYONE...!!!

LOTS of people have organised crop days to make cards which is fantastic and I am quite overwhelmed by the interest we have been receiving, not only here in Australia but from overseas as well.

I have had a request from a Victorian resident to include families from Victoria in the donations - some towns in Victoria have been up to 80% affected by the floods as that all encompassing wall of water moves down the river systems.
We are more than happy to donate cards to Victorian families so your cards will either be distributed to QLD or Victorian families.

If you would like a flier to distribute to others, please email me
shazz64@westnet.com.au
and I will send you one.

Keep them coming girls......and keep checking back for updates too.

~shazz~
xo

And a big thank you to those including postage stamps in their packs as well.

HEART CARDS FOR QLD

Well girls......again we are faced with a natural disaster beyond belief and imaginings. So many of our gorgeous Lounge girls (both past and present members) have been affected by the devastating floods that have hit QLD over the past three weeks but especially the Sth East corner over the past few days.

After losing everything we owned in the '74 floods here in Lismore, I am in the unenviable position of knowing just what it is like to lose all of your possessions; of being left with nothing but the clothes you are standing in.

Already people are opening their hearts and their wallets, making monetary donations and donations of goods and services and again I am asking the paper crafters of Australia to take part in the "HEART CARDS" drive.

We are asking you to make 10 cards - thank you cards, blank cards or a combination of both - pop them in a snaplock bag and forward them to me no later than FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25.
Feel free to pop in a pack of 10 stamps too if you wish which will be sent with packs of cards - another way to help out.

We will repack the cards into packs of 10 and then they will be forwarded onto an aid organisation (yet to be determined) in Queensland and then given to the families affected by the floods.

So....get creating girls......
Scrap 10 cards - thank you, blank or a combination of both
(and please include an envelope with each card)
They can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.
Then pop them in a snaplock bag and send them off to

SHAZZ PRATTEN
9 Windsor Court
Goonellabah NSW 2480

Feel free to post this information on your blogs/Facebook pages and if you would like a flier to post in the window of your LSS (with permission of the owner of course) just send me your email address and I will send one to you
shazz64@westnet.com.au

A big thank you to everyone who decides to help out.

~shazz~
xo

MY THANKS

I cannot thank you enough Jodes for all the support, friendship and hard work that you put into this project too.
I would have given ANYTHING to be there when you handed them over to Vicki this morning.

And I want to personally thank everyone who supported me and this VERY worthwhile cause (especially Rondelle over at The Scrap Lounge who allowed me to use her site as a springboard for this appeal)
Little did I know when I came up with this idea that we would have such an overwhelming response from crafters all around Australia.
It was a true reflection of Aussie mateship, charity and "lending a hand to those in need" that saw such an amazing response by women Australia-wide to our appeal.

To the families of Marysville and surrounds - we hope that these cards will allow you to give a small token of thanks to those people who have helped you out during the past 12 months.
And our every good wish to you all for your continued healing and getting your lives back on track.
Bless you all
xo

P.S. Keep an eye out here on the HEART CARDS blog for our next appeal for cards.
Coming soon :)

Delivered

We are so very excited, I delivered these cards today to the lovely Vicki, secretary of the Marysville and Triangle Development Group. She was enormously grateful and they are having a community meeting this coming Sunday night, where hopefully you're gorgeous will be handed out to those residents who would like them.
In the end there where 86 packages of ten cards = 860, gorgeous, heartfelt cards.
We packaged them up in some cute cello bags, with a note and the heart cards sticker on the front - the note read:

From our heart to yours!
"HEART CARDS" is a project to help the families devastated by last year’s Black Saturday bushfires.
The project was the brainchild of “Shazz Pratten” who rallied her on-line scrapbooking, card making and paper-crafting friends to create “Thank you” cards. The idea being that when the time was right, those touched by the events of Black Saturday would have many, many “thankyous” to make.
Some 800+ cards and (almost) 12months later, we hand these over and that you know with them goes our love, hope and support for a brighter future.
Heart Cards can be found on-line at – www.heartcards.blogspot.com

I hope the note reflects the setiments of all of our lovely card makers, without you this project would simply not have been possible. Your love and support is wrapped up in every single bundle!
Thank you!