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I'm kind of new to stamping, so I cruise the Galleries a lot to get ideas. Then I started wondering: "Wow, these artists make a LOT of cards! Do they really have that many friends to give them all to? Do they get stuck in a box as Samples? Do they get sold?" Let's share ideas of what to do with the ones not created for a specific person or event. The only thing I do is send to family and friends for encouragement and events, and, I serve in our church nursery and make cards to encourage the 20+ nursery workers each month.
I LOVE having a stash of cards available at a moments notice. When I make a card, I make two and I love participating in swaps. I send cards to family and friends for all kind of occasions and non-occasions. I donate packs of cards to my church fundraiser and give them as gifts. I keep the very best of my own and swaps as samples.
__________________ Rachel Schott
As my best friend says, "Stamping....it's cheaper than therapy" to which I add, "Not by much".
My mom was the proud recipient of my first handmade card. Cost $200.
I have a "mailing list" of friends and family (about 30)(Don't know how we know that many people Ha)for most holidays which includes some elderly who really look forward to getting little gifts in the mail. Christmas is even more so. I just sent another box to Operation Write Home which I guess is why :St Patricks day will be skipped this year. It just sneaked up on me.:razz:
I send to family and friends a lot of them. I make a bunch to sell but those I make upon request. Sometimes for a holiday I will make a bunch, take them to work and sell them and use what is left over to send out to family. It all depends.
I make cards for family and friends for holidays, birthdays and whatever occasion. I got into the habit several years ago of making multiples of each card and I send the ones that I don't personally use to Operation Write Home. Check out their website. It's pretty inspiring.
I know I read in a thread here a while back that Ronald McDonald House takes donations of cards. I also have a friend who donates hers to a couple of local nursing homes so the residents can "shop" for cards right there.
I'm such a hoarder....LOL I keep my cards in those photos boxes (you know the 5 for $10 ones) unless of course I made a card for a certain person or occasion then I will use it.
I also give my cards to my friends or my family when they need one and once and awhile I will sell some (if I am asked to make them). Some cards I donate. I've already made up baskets of cards and I donated them for my church lucky tray drawings.
I started out making my cards just for family & friends. Now some are made as samples for the classes I teach. And then there's the box it seems like I'm always adding to that gets sent to Operation Write Home. If I find a card/technique that I want to experiment with, I'll usually make at least 4 of that design. I keep one for my stash and the rest are put in the box for OWH. I do make cards on commission on occasion and sell some at a local shop.
__________________ Randa Trying to be a Breast Cancer Survivor Follow me on Twitter @craftjunkiesc
Except for family birthdays/anniversaries, the majority of my cards go to Operation:Quiet Comfort. I also send to the Cards for a Cause monthly charities (found here on SCS).
A few are sold to friends.
I give cards sets of 6 or 12 as gifts - hostess gifts, thank you gifts etc.
Also, my grandmother sends a lot of cards, and I usually give her a large chunk of cards a couple times a year.
And I have sent cards, through one group or another, for the troops.
__________________ "You may not have lost all your marbles, but there's definitely a hole in the bag." Grumpy Cat
I make cards for friends such as thank you cards, birthday, thinking of you, congratulations, etc. Having 3 children I'm always needing to make cards for their friends' birthdays, etc.
I do have cards in a box that I've made just for fun but after a while they all get donated to charity.
Soldiers
My church bookstore
My Sisters Church bookstore
One other church bookstore
Some I give to friends to sell because they are struggling for money
I send some to my family (this is awful but it seems my family gets forgotten way too often for the other causes)
I think that is it... I used to sell to two swim teams and net more than $5000.00 each fall from those sales. The money was nice and I might do it again one day but the giving to those who need and the churches to help them raise money seem more important to me these days.
blessings.
I have a "mailing list" of friends and family (about 30)(Don't know how we know that many people Ha)for most holidays which includes some elderly who really look forward to getting little gifts in the mail. Christmas is even more so. I just sent another box to Operation Write Home which I guess is why :St Patricks day will be skipped this year. It just sneaked up on me.:razz:
Please post more information or a link for Operation Write Home, or other charities that could use cards. Several have mentioned it, and I think others would like to know how to serve our military folks. It sound like we would send cards to soldiers so they can use them to send to family & friends. Thank You.
Please post more information or a link for Operation Write Home, or other charities that could use cards. Several have mentioned it, and I think others would like to know how to serve our military folks. It sound like we would send cards to soldiers so they can use them to send to family & friends. Thank You.
My hubby was deployed and I can tell you first hand how great it is to receive a card in the mail from a loved one way over there. Even with today different ways of communicating the written word is still the best. I just can't describe good enough how great it is to hold something they held and to see their handwriting.
Its such an honor to make cards for these wonderful heroes.
I can't make cards fast enough. They go to my nephews and niece and a friend who loves my cards. Sometimes cards I make just for fun go to Operation Write Home.
Thank you homestead, for posting the link for OWH. I just got home from work. I am a daughter of a Green Beret Vietnam vet and wife of a retired Navy Senior Chief so my heart is with the troops.
I give away most of mine. I give them so others will have a fun card when they need one. Everyone seems to appreciate it. I LOVE making them; they LOVE having them. It's a perfect match!
My favorite is Chemoangels.com
I have a chemo patient that I send a card to every week. And I send it with my message written on an inside panel (like in RAK), and I explain that way she can send the cards out or pass them on if she wants. The Chemoangels people so a good job matching you up with a patient that has something in common with you.
Leah
Thank you homestead, for posting the link for OWH. I just got home from work. I am a daughter of a Green Beret Vietnam vet and wife of a retired Navy Senior Chief so my heart is with the troops.
You are very welcome. Thank you dad and hubby for me for their service.
Why not join the BRAK or Newbie RAK here on SCS. That could certainly keep you busy making cards. I limit my BRAK's to 4-5 each month, and then there are birthdays, sympathy, get well; so I end up sending out 12-15 each month. I, too, make two at a time so I have a stash in case something comes up in an emergency. I'll also send out 70-75 at Christmas. HTH.
*send to family and friends
*send to Operation Write Home
*send to Janie for the Ronald McDonald Houses (see her thread under "Need A Lift" on this site)
*give to my sister to use for the 800 (!) volunteers she is the manager of at a local hospital
*use for our Auxiliary's correspondence at a local hospital where I volunteer.
*swap on this fun site :p
I keep a big box of cards and other items from swaps I participate in and then let friends and family look through it and take whatever they need. My only request is that they USE the stuff, not just let it sit around :p
I look through the "Need A Lift" thread and read the card requests and try to send cards that way too.
__________________ Lorraine
Wife to an awesome DH, Mommy to an adorable DS who is on the spectrum for autism, and Twin Sister to Linda
Family and friends for birthdays and holidays. I also make 78 cards every month for a local senior living facility. I have more supplies then I will ever use, the residents enjoy getting mail and my happy place is my craft room. It's a win win!!
I just looked up Operation Write Home and it said it closed in 2015. Shouldn't this thread be closed?
If that is the only one that closed, I doubt that the entire thread needs closed... Anyone wishing to send cards to any of the above listed places only need to check to see if they are still active. Cards For A Cause has updated addresses...
I have been sending boxes to "Card care Connection" and "Cards for Kindness". And a private Facebook page "Because Kindness" (you just have to be approved) to send individual cards to people in need of cheering up. They keep me going with a real motovation and keeps me busy doing good by doing what I love best.
Last edited by BroncoFan60; 06-12-2023 at 09:47 AM..
Reason: wrong word
The following 3 users liked this post by BroncoFan60:
This wasn't suggested yet - Meals On Wheels. I make 65 cards a month for my local Meals On Wheels program. The cards are put in the lunch bags and the kitchen workers told me they get calls saying how much the cards are appreciated. I do not write anything in them so that these homebound people can use them.
My class samples go to my friend who absolutely loves sending cards (I neither want nor need 4 of the same card). She is always happy to get my samples, so that feels good.
We sponsor 4 children through World Vision and I send them cards. Sometimes I make little notecards for the girls to use with their friends, but the USPS makes it tricky to mail those. Some POs are fine sending the whole shebang as a large letter, but if I get a clerk who insists it's a package I don't mail them (they go to Eswatini and sending as a package is A LOT).
I used to donate cards to a nursing home near me and they were used as Bingo prizes and sold in the gift shop (which funded social programs at the home). However, my last email asking if more were needed went unanswered and I suspect the volunteer director who initially requested the cards is no longer there.
__________________ Nicole
The following 3 users liked this post by cnsteele:
I have a list of nearly 100 people who get cards for Valentines Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. They also get birthday cards and anniversary cards (if applicable).
I send a LOT of sympathy cards anymore. Probably part of my age.
My mom lives in an assisted living facility and I keep a box of cards and envelopes there for anyone who wants them....... free.
AND I donate boxes of cards and envelopes to Ronald McDonald House, Gift of Life Transplant House, and House of Hope.
I think that's about it.
I send mostly to friends/family, sometimes to people in stories I see on the news or hear about on podcasts, but I make way more cards than I can use, and lately I've been offering them in my awesome Buy Nothing group, and people have been loving them. It's sort of given me a new inspiration. I really went through my card rack and gave away a few hundred between that and a little station we set up for people to write cards to first responders in my sister's neighborhood.
There's really no reason for me to hang onto the one I'm not using and I'm trying to get better about that.
I love to go through the Cards for a Cause forum and pick out any ongoing destinations. Teapot Tuesday is fun too.
I ship boxes to a large assisted living facility (my friends Mom lives there). The ladies go through them in The Great Room and sit and write notes to family and friends. I’m hearing story after story from my friend how this brings them all together, and has helped them express gratitude to others in the form of a note in the mail.
I use many cards but have hundreds. I’ll bet any nursing home would love a big box too!
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I usually use them as gifts by packaging them up in sets of 3-5 and giving them as a birthday or holiday gifts to friends and family. And there are many organizations that would appreciate handmade cards as donations. You could donate them to a local hospital, nursing home, or women's shelter. You could also consider donating them to a charity auction or fundraiser.
I give to family for birthdays, siblings, nieces and nephews and the great nieces and nephews, that is over 60 cards right there, then my hubby's side of the family. Friends and church members that I am close to, and some close people in my groups. That keeps me very busy throughout the year, not to mention Christmas cards I now make throughout the year so I am not under pressure around the holidays and then any sympathy, get well and encouragement cards and there are always people who need those.
Mostly to friends and family. I do make homemade calendars each year for 3 friends. I have been a member of Chemo Angels for about 5 years and have had 6 chemo buddies. I have them for about 6 months. Currently, I have had this one for over a year. I send her 2 cards a week with 1 having a hand written letter in it of what's new in my life. I'll put the websites down below if anyone is interested. The Love Notes is the first weekend in each month and we can choose from about 6 people. Either 1 or all 6 or however many you want. Both are great organizations.
Who do your cards go to?
