Christmas/Holiday Banners for Special Needs Kids (Day 2)

If you are looking for the FROSTED DESIGNS BLOG HOP - go HERE!!

If you are looking for the MY CALENDAR BLOG HOP - go HERE!!

Welcome to the Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids!!  Today is Day 2 of a 3 day hop.  If you missed Day 1, please hop over to Ellen's BLOG to see some fabulous banners!  Ellen is also the beginning of today's hop and tomorrow's hop!

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

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 paper crafters have come together to make Holiday banners for children who are too sick to be home for the holidays.  Welcome to the Christmas Banners for Special Needs Kids blog hop!

I am especially pleased that this year, not only have our numbers of generous crafters swelled so our Hop is over three full days, but also, that we have 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! 

Our wonderful sponsors are:

These sponsors have already agreed to contribute to our CHRISTMAS/WINTER HOLIDAY Blog Hop (November 10-17). Please patronize these vendors as our way of saying thanks!

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. Lucy Kelleher, Independent Consultant for Close to My Heart, donating a $20 gift certificate for CTMH products.
3. Scrappin' Madge: $25 Gift Certificate to The Scrappin Lounge Shoppe.
4. 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.
5. The Paper Temptress (www.papertemptress.com) - Owner Patricia Dunbar will donate a $25 Gift Certificate to her online store, the Paper Temptress.
6. 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!)

Here is a complete list of blogs in case you get lost along the way:

1. Ellen ♥ CardMonkey - http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
2. Jessica S - http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com/
3. Lezlye - http://lezlyes.blogspot.com/
4. Lori - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
5. Jenny D - http://www.yogimemories.blogspot.com/
6. Lissa Marie - http://somanycrafts.com/
7. Robin - http://scrapandchat.blogspot.com/
8. Scrappin Madge - http://thescrappinlounge.com/
9. Jeannie - http://polkacabana.wordpress.com/
10. Rebecca T. - http://craftingwithrebecca.blogspot.com/
11. Lisa T. - http://bitbythecricutbug.blogspot.com
12. Kimi ~ http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com
13. Beth~ http://motherandaughterdesigns.blogspot.com
14. Dena ~ http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
15. Patricia ~ http://blogs.papertemptress.com/
16. Robin L - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/
17. Jenny - http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/

First, let me show you the banner I made for today's post. I'll be sending this to Madison and the children at CHCC who are benefiting from the I Feel the Love project in December:

I started with this simple banner cut from train cars.

I found these train cars on Pop-Up Neighborhood and sized them to 4 inches.

I cut out the train cars with watercolor paper.  I used multi cut 2 times.

I also cut out the train cars in Christmas paper from K and Company.

Faith is from Home Accents sized to 2.76 inches.

Hope is from Home Decor sized to 2.65 inches.

Miracle is from Home Decor sized to 1.82.

Believe is from Gypsy Wandering sized to 2.06 inches.

I cut them out of black shimmer cardstock.

I added a little black stickles on the wheels and strung the cars together with tulle.

My second banner is what I call the Bonus Banner.  I used leftover pieces from another project that took on a life of its own and totally changed.  The only new part was the word Christmas!

I took these tags from Teresa Collins Christmas Sentiments (CCR Exclusive) cut out at 6 inches on Kraft cardstock. I stamped them with PinkByDesign's Distressed Music background stamp.  I used Walnut Stain ink for the stamp and to ink the edges.

The Trees were cut from Teresa Collins Christmas Collage (CCR Exclusive) and are sized to 5.35 inches.  I used chevron paper from Hobby Lobby to cut them out.

I used Storybook for the letters.  I sized them to  1.71 inches and cut them out of maroon cardstock.

I used some ribbon to string the banner pieces together.

It is such an amazing feeling to create these banners to help brighten the day of a child and his or her family.

Your next stop in this hop is my friend JENNY.