Christmas in July Challenge and Blog Hop Celebrating Send a Smile 4 Kids' 175th Challenge!

We are celebrating Christmas in July and our 175^th Challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids with a huge blog hop with over 30 prizes you could win by commenting or participating! My first card for the blog hop features Fred She Said’s Dancing Penguin colored digi and Sprinkle N Sparkle’s “Jingle All the Way” sentiment in an “impossible card” fold. Here is another look at this fun fold: 

The theme of our blog hop is Christmas in July 4 Kids because it is never too early to start making holiday cards for all the kids in the many children’s hospitals we now serve. We would love for each child to receive a holiday card as well as be able to pick some for special medical staff or loved ones they are missing during the holiday season.

We have 17 stops in the blog hop and at each stop you have one or two chances at winning just by leaving a comment. You can also earn a chance to win a prize by commenting on the blog post on our SAS4Kids blog and also by entering the Christmas in July challenge which starts July 21^st and runs through August 3^rd at noon.

Here is a list of all our wonderful sponsors and the prizes that you could win:

Kitchen Sink Stamps $25 gift certificate
Sparkle N Sprinkle  $5 gift code
Fred She Said $10 gift certificate
Motion Crafts by Uchi's Designs 3 prize packages each with 1 die set and 1 stamp set $35 value each
Bugaboo $12 gift code
Tonic Studios USA Six Tonic Studios Paper Trimmers (159e)
Stampendous Five prizes: CRS5101/DCS5010 Rose Garden Cling Stamps and Dies, CRS5067/DCS5067 Hydrangea Garden Cling Stamps and Dies, DCP1009 Spring Borders Cutting Dies Set, DCP1007 Build a Wreath Cutting Dies Set, DCP1008 Pop Up Stages Cutting Dies Set
Paper Nest Dolls Two prizes of 3 digis each of the winner's choice plus one free digi for a commenter on each blog that uses a Paper Nest Dolls image
Doodles Paper Playground Four prizes of one package of Fairy Dust Sparkle Blends sequin mixes
White Rose Crafts  Gorjuss Tweed Craft Card Compendium (makes 24 cards - retails at $16.99)
Dies R Us $15 gift code
Cheapo Dies (owned by an American I know) $15 gift code
All Dressed Up Stamps - two digital stamps
Janet Bailey - three Stampin' up  Stamp Sets

Here are the rules for this blog hop:

**You do not need to comment on every stop of the blog hop to have a chance to win a prize. One comment on any of the blogs or on the main SAS4Kids blogpost qualifies you to win one of the prizes on that blog. If you leave a comment on each stop, you will have earned 17 chances to win a prize, and if you enter a card in the Christmas in July 4 Kids challenge, you will also earn a chance to win one of 8 random prizes there.

**You MUST have an USA mailing address to qualify to win any of the prizes. We apologize to any of our readers outside of the USA, but this is a requirement to win any of the prizes in this blog hop and in the Christmas in July challenge.

**The blog hop will start July 21^st at 8:00 a.m. CST and continue until July 31^st at midnight CST. When the blog hop is done, all the winners will be drawn randomly from the commenters on each blog and on the main blog, and announced on the SAS4Kids blog on August 4th and on each individual blog. If your name is listed as a winner, you must contact Karen at khasheck@gmail.com BEFORE August 18^th at midnight CST with your NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS AND MAILING ADDRESS. If you do not contact Karen before August 18^th at midnight CST, your prize will be forfeited.

**The Christmas in July 4 Kids challenge at SAS4Kids will run from July 21^st until August 3^rd at Noon CST (as is typical of our two week challenges.) You can qualify for one of 8 prizes by entering a Christmas or holiday card appropriate for a child following the rules of all of our challenges found in the page above. The prizes will be awarded by random drawing and announced with the rest of the winners on August 4^th on our blog.

We are so happy to have some of the volunteers who collect and distribute cards to our many children’s hospitals as well as some TEAM SAS alumni and previous Top Three winners join the SAS4Kids TEAM SAS in this blog hop!

Here is the list of the participants in the blog hop with links to their blogposts:

SAS4Kids Blog (six prizes awarded here) 

Karen Hasheck (YOU ARE HERE)

Hilde Marsh

Mary Draper

April Story

Sybrina King

Janet Bailey

Anne Slattery

Cathy Cusson

Jill Blasche

Cindy Amaya

Ina Grehan

Deonna Bemish

Berni Cutttino     

Mary Moisan

Donna Wakefield
Dena Hughes

My second Christmas in July card for our kids features a super cute colored snowman digi from Sparkle N Sprinkle and some oval dies from Gina Marie Designs. Here is a look at the inside with another digi from that set:

Thank you so much for supporting Send a Smile 4 Kids and our wonderful sponsors of this blog hop. Good luck in the drawings! Leave a comment here and hop for more chances at many prizes. The prize you can win just by commenting on my blog is a die and stamp set from Motion Crafts by Uchi's Designs valued at $35! 

THE NEXT STOP IS: Hilde Marsh. 

Happy Father's Day (From the Kids) Challenge at SAS4Kids

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is Happy Father’s Day (From the Kids)! Create and link any card that a child could give to his Dad or Grandpa and you could win one of our great prizes. Once again we are starting early so there is enough time should you choose to send in your Father’s Day cards for one of our kids in a children’s hospital on Father’s Day to give to his Dad or Grandpa. The gift of giving is one of the best things we can give to our kids! All the details on how to donate can be found on the blog here.

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge: Kitchen Sink Stamps is giving their winner a $25 gift certificate! Stitchy Bear Outlet is giving their randomly picked winner 3 images (a $10 value)!  And Fred She Said’s winner gets a $10 gift certificate! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above is made with a set of stamps from Kitchen Sink Stamps called Classic Old Truck. It is perfect for Father's Day or any other occasion for a man. I love Kitchen Sink Stamps because they make me feel like a real artist with all the beautiful shading made easy with their series of stamps for each image. The truck is created with several shades of red ink, along with grey and black ink in stamping layers. The sentiment is from the same set. The silvery black background is made with an embossing folder from Cuttlebug and sponged on 3D Stamp Paint from Viva.

My second card features BB Kakes Balloon Boy from Stitchy Bear's Digi Outlet. Isn't he sweet? I stamped him on a white square and a light blue square, cut out the squares and put him back together as shown. I layered on navy blue and then a patterned cardstock card and added a fun sentiment.

My last card showcases a cute little girl called "Emma in her Cool Cap" from Fred She Said. I created a heart easel card with several Spellbinders heart dies and embossed the pink top heart with an embossing folder from Darice.  Sweet Emma who loves her Dad was printed and simply cut out. The Happy Father's Day sentiment is popped up with pop dots so it holds the easel card open as shown in the second picture.

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp  and the Holiday challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. 

Valentines 4 Kids Challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids

Happy New Year everyone! It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is Valentines 4 Kids. Create and link any Valentine themed card for a child and you could win one of our great prizes. We start early thinking about Valentines, because we would love for each of our kids in the hospitals we serve to receive a Valentine and that means delivering them around the 1^st of February. You do not have to send in your cards to enter our challenges, but our kids would sure love it if you did.

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge:  Dollar Graphics Depot is giving their winner a $15 gift certificate! Bugaboo is giving their randomly picked winner 7 digis of their choice!  And Fred She Said’s winner gets a $10 gift certificate! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above is an easel card made with "My Bunny Valentine" by Rajv's Graphics from Dollar Graphics Depot. She is pre-colored so all I had to do was cut her out with a scalloped heart die from Spellbinders and add some sparkly punched hearts. The sentiment piece that holds up the easel is made with a digi from Doodle Pantry and some more punched sparkly hearts. 

My second Valentine for our kids is a telescoping card using sweet "Happy Valentine's Day to Ewe" digis by Bugaboo. I am sharing pictures of the card closed and open. I paper pieced the Valentine lamb in the top circle, and printed her smaller and colored her in the bottom circle. One advantage of digital stamps is that you can print them any size you would like. I did a little coloring with gel pens and attached thelayers together with brads.

My last Valentine features Nolan with a Heart by Fred She Said. I love colored digis and don't feel a bit guilty about just printing and cutting out to make another CAS Valentine for our kids. I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and did it again to get the pink conversation heart UR GR8. 

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at Inky Impressions and LEJ Designs.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

Winter Fun 4 Kids at Send a Smile 4 Kids

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is Winter Fun 4 Kids. Create and link any winter themed card for a child and you could win one of our great prizes. You have until January 3^rd to enter this challenge as our design team is taking the rest of the month off to enjoy the holidays. 

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge:  Dollar Graphics Depot is giving their winner a $15 gift certificate! Milk Coffee Stamps is giving their randomly picked winner 5 digis of their choice!  And Fred She Said’s winner gets a $10 gift certificate! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

All three of my cards today feature sweet digital stamps from our sponsors and cutting files from Silhouette America. I dressed the adorable Girl Playing in Snow from Milk Coffee Stamps by paper piecing her outfit, boots and ribbon, and placed her in a snow globe cut with my Silhouette Portrait. I added some glitter and a fun sentiment.

The cute colored digital stamp on my second card is called "Brrr Outside" by Alice Smith from Dollar Graphics Depot. It is so appropriate for our weather right now in Wisconsin as the windchill is well below zero degrees. I embossed the card base, added some washi tape and a snowflake mitten cut out with my Silhouette using a Silhouette America cutting file. 

My third card features a sweet colored digital Winter Westie by Fred She Said. More washi tape and a snowflake Silhouette cutting file and this card is ready to send to our kids spending a winter day in a children's hospital. 

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at Through the Craft Room Door and at Love's Rubberstamps. 

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

Animal Cards 4 Kids at SAS4Kids!

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is Animal Cards 4 Kids! Create and link any card for a child that has an animal on it and you could win one of our great prizes. You have an extra week to participate this time, as we have new challenges on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturdays and there is an extra Saturday this month!

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge:  Dollar Graphics Depot is giving their winner a $15 gift certificate! Bugaboo is giving their randomly picked winner 7 digis of their choice!  And Fred She Said will award their winner a $10 gift certificate! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above features Poppi Surf from Bugaboo. Isn't he sweet? I colored him with Copics, paper pieced the surf board and cut the image out. He is standing on sand made with torn and sponged cork paper and the sun is from Silhouette America. I am entering this card in the "At the Beach" challenge at The Crafter's Cafe'.

My second card features Silly Turtle-Summertime by Cheryl Seslar at Dollar Graphics Depot in a Polaroid frame from Silhouette America. I simply printed him as he is a colored digi and popped him in the frame. The background is an embossing folder from Sizzix. I am entering this card in the "Ice Cream" challenge at Charisma Cardz.

I did a  third card this week because I fell in love with these sweet puppies from the Rosie with Flower collection at Fred She Said. In the file from Fred She Said you get Rosie and her flower in all sorts of colors, so I cut out two of them with a hexagon die and added the other hexagons in a fun pattern to complete the CAS card.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen

Paper Playtime and Eureka Stamps Challenges

Anything Goes at Paper Playtime and Eureka Stamps and that is my favorite kind of challenge! I can choose to share with you any card I have made recently and have not blogged yet. Today I am sharing a card made with digital stamps and piercing patterns from Fred She Said. I just love the look of paper piercing and Fred She Said has some lovely piercing patterns you can purchase very reasonably. The beautiful rose is also from Fred She Said and I paper pieced it with a beautifully colored subtle dp. The piercing takes a little time, but it so worth it when you see how beautiful the finished product is.

Here is a pix of the piercing up close:

Stamping smiles, Karen

Anything Goes at Send a Smile 4 Kids!

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is everybody’s favorite- Anything Goes 4 Kids. Create and link any card for a child and you could win one of our great prizes.

We have four very generous sponsors this week: LOTV is giving their winner a 10 pound gift certificate! And Fred She Said is giving their randomly picked winner a $10 gift certificate! Crackerbox Palace’s winner will receive a $15 gift certificate!  We have a fourth sponsor this time and so their lucky winner will win 2 digital paper packs from Tabitha’s Shop! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above features some fun stamps from Crackerbox Palace. I thought the bunny was so cute with her hat and flower so I continued that theme throughout the card. I paper pieced the bunny and her hat and flower. I embossed the background pieces with a flowery embossing folder from Sizzix. The sentiment (also from Crackerbox Palace) was designed for a graduation card, but I thought it would be perfect with this sweet bunny hat instead.

Fred She Said gave each of the dt members some digital images to use on our cards and I chose Nolan with his sign and some sweet bluebirds to make this card. The images are colored so all I needed to do was decide on a sketch to use, cut them out and attach. There are several signs to choose from and I attached the one I choose with pop dots to raise.

I am entering these cards in the Lots of Flowers challenge at Milk Coffee Challenge and the Masculine Card challenge at Paper Crafting Journey.

Stamping smiles 4 our kids, Karen 

CAS Cards for Kids at SAS4Kids

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is CAS Cards 4 Kids. I love CAS (Clean and Simple) cards and so do our kids! There are many ways to define CAS- and you can use your interpretation… but to me, CAS means not super complicated or tons of layers or embellishments. But it does not mean lack of caring or throw a few stickers on a card and call it done. You do not have to donate your card(s) after you enter our challenge, but our kids would sure love it if you did. And remember we are a card only challenge- cuz that is what we are all about- cards for our kids!

We have three very generous sponsors this week: Doodle Pantry is giving their winner 3 digis of their choice! And Fred She Said is giving their randomly picked winner a $10 Gift Certificate! Heather Ellis's winner will receive 3 digis of their choice!  TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above features a snow-boarding birdie and sentiment from Doodle Pantry. I simply printed the colored version, cut out and attached to a card with a fun embossed background. 

My second card is a Valentine with an embossed background and a sweet boy from Heather Ellis. I paper pieced with various papers and then just attached.

My third card is another CAS design with more embossing, a couple diecuts and a colored image of Nolan with his frog from Fred She Said. I think any young boy would love this card and it only took me a few minutes to make. 

I am entering these cards in the following challenges: Craft Us Crazy- show us your favorites which are CAS cards using embossing folders and diecuts (the third card); MilkCoffee Challenge to "Make it Cute" (the first card); and the "My Heart is for You" challenge at My Heart Pieces Challenge (the second card.)

Stamping smiles for our kids, Karen 

Dream Valley and Joanna Sheen Challenges

Christmas is the theme at Dream Valley Challenges this week and "With Love at Christmas" is at Joanna Sheen's Challenge. I am sharing a card I made with some items I had laying on my bed in my craft room that I wanted to use before it was too late this year. The pinecones and greens are a digital image from Fred She Said. The tree was punched out at my local stamp club with lovely old sheet music that was shared with all of us. The embossing folder is a new one (to me) from Tim Holtz and I sponged a little green on it.

Stamping smiles, Karen

The Squirrel and the Fox and Come and Get It Challenges

Christmas is the theme at The Squirrel and the Fox and Come and Get It Challenges this week. I am sharing a card I made for a very special friend using digital stamps and a snowflake poking pattern from Fred She Said. It takes a little while to poke all those holes but I just love the look when it is done. The poinsettia was printed in color and cut out, then layered with mounting tape to raise each level. I added some yellow pearls and some punched pine needles (Martha Stewart) to complete the card.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Delicious Doodles and Emergency Crafters Challenges

The challenge this week at Delicious Doodles is "Something that Flies" and Anything Goes at  Emergency Crafters.  I created this CAS holiday card using a beautiful colored digi from Fred She Said and their piercing pattern. I have many of Fred She Said's piercing patterns and just love the look it gives a card. Round the edges and layer onto a white square card and you have a beautiful yet easy to make Christmas card. The sentiment is a new favorite of mine from Verve.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Spark Your Creativity, Cute Card Thursday and Divas by Design Challenges

Anything Goes at Spark Your Creativity Now and Divas by Design this week and at Cute Card Thursday they want to see our paper piecing. I love to paper piece but on this card I did both paper piecing and paper piercing! The gorgeous rose and the poked patterns are from a digital set by Fred She Said. I love the look that patterned paper piecing gives and Fred She Said has many digital files you can buy with different patterns to poke to create this lovely look. I paper pieced the rose and the leaves after printing on a white card stock diamond shape. Then I poked each corner pattern with a needle. CAS but lovely I think- do you agree?

Stamping smiles, Karen