Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids Blog Hop

Welcome to Day 3 of the Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids blog hop!

  "In the eyes of children, we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts, we find its meaning."

You should have arrived here from Nancie. If you just stumbled across my blog and would like to hop from the beginning, please go to CARDMONKEY and hop along.

As joyous as Christmas is for most families, for some, their holidays are filled with worry, medical treatments and tests, and pain -- for their child must be hospitalized or she or he needs long-term care rather than being home with their families. 

For these kids, Santa doesn't slip down a chimney but rather, often comes in the guise of community volunteers who help make the season bright.  This is the second Christmas season that our own band of dedicated and loving papercrafters have come together to make Holiday banners for children who are too sick to be home for the holidays. 

This year, we had so many generous crafters that our Hop is over three full days. We have also partnered with another great cause and recipient of our banners!  By teaming up with Madison Womack's I FEEL THE LOVE PROJECT, the banners our crafters have handmade will be going to the hospitalized children at Children's Hospital Central California! 

My banner was made using Birthday Bash and some beautiful Spiced Plum Recollections designer paper. I wanted to use a Santa "Believe" theme, since our household is getting close to the end of that innocent era. I will ALWAYS believe. I added some stickers from JoAnns to embellish a little more. I also used Liquid Applique on the Santa hats to make them dimensional. I had never used that product before...it's pretty cool!

**GIVEAWAYS**

Cardmonkey has an AMAZING gift basket for one lucky winner. Please be sure to head over to her blog CARDMONKEY to see how you can win.

Since we have more than 50 banner makers over the course of this weekend, she will be picking 5 blogs at random, and then one random comment from that Blog site, for that commenter to win one of five great prizes, which are:

1. Susan Bermudez, Independent Consultant for Creative Memories, donating a $20 gift certificate for Creative Memories products from her catalog (http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/susanbermudez/).
2. Scrappin' Madge: $25 Gift Certificate to The Scrappin Lounge Shoppe (http://madgesscrappinlounge.storenvy.com/)
3. Fresh Brewed Designs: Two prizes - One prize is a rubber stamp, Item #497 "Cutie Pie Ice Skating" (http://www.freshbreweddesigns.com/item_497/Cutie-Pie-Ice-Skating.htm), and the other is a $15 Digital Stamp gift card.
4. The Paper Temptress (www.papertemptress.com) - Owner Patricia Dunbar will donate a $25 Gift Certificate to her online store, the Paper Temptress.
5. The Pinque Peacock (www.pinquepeacock.com) - Owners Jessica Shelton will donate a gift certificate to her NEW store (products are being added daily -- watch as she grows!)
6. In addition, Close to My Heart Independent Consultant Lucy Kelleher will award a $20 gift certificate to a randomly-selected hopper who visits her blog (http://love2createitall.com) and/or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LucyK.CTMH) and posts a comment about the banner blog hop!

P.S. -- Be sure to check out as many blogs as you can, as several will be providing their own blog candy with their own requirements. 

Today's blog hop order is:

1. Ellen ~ CardMonkey - http://cardmonkeyspaperjungle.com/
2. Marianne - http://paperorfabric.blogspot.com/
3. Beckie ~ http://justbcreativecrazy.blogspot.com/
4. Tami - http://tamboscreations.blogspot.com/
5. Heather D. - http://joemamainks.blogspot.com/
6. Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
7. Susan B - http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/
8. Jamie M. http://craftygirl21.blogspot.com/
9. Linda Simpson - http://lindasimpsoncraftypieceofheaven.blogspot.com/
10. Theresa ~ www.thescrapbookingqueen.com_
11. Vicky - http://www.luvmygypsy.blogspot.com/
12. Debbie T-  http://debbiescrafttime.blogspot.co.uk/
13. Pam Funk - http://dreamersklub.blogspot.com/
14. Shelly - http://kccroppers.blogspot.com/
15. Alina - http://neverstopscrapping.blogspot.com/
16. Lisa L. - http://lisascreativeniche.blogspot.com/
17. Nancie - http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
18. Dorcas - http://craftycardangel.com/ <------YOU ARE HERE
19. Debbie _http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/ <--------hop on to Debbie next
20. Rexann - http://ibecircled.blogspot.com

Thank you again for visiting us here for a beautiful and worthwhile endeavor.  God bless all the little children wherever they spend their holidays!!