Time to Celebrate!!!! Blog Candy Alert!

Woohooo!
Today marks my one year blogaversary! So this week we will be celebrating LOTS on MY BLOG! I am also celebrating 200,000 hits which just happened to fall close enough to this anniversary so I thought I would combine celebrations.

First of all, thank YOU to all of you who come back and have been visiting. It has been such a great year and I have made so many wonderful blogging friends.

I think the one thing I am most proud of is what a wonderful community the stamping world is. So, today I am going to share with you a letter and some pictures from the Artman Home. For those of you who are new to my blog, I organized a card drive (Heart to Heart) for the caretakers of Alzheimer's patients in September. I provided the address of the home that took such wonderful care of my grandmother, who passed away this summer. I wanted to let them feel appreciated for all of the hard work they do each day. Some sent cards to other people they knew who took care of someone suffering with Alzheimer's (which was GREAT!) and well over 200 cards were sent to the Artman home. I received this note from them:

Dear Carolyn,

On behalf of all the associates and caregivers at the Artman Lutheran Home, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for including us in your blog to have cards sent to our caregivers at Artman. In honor of National Alzheimer’s Month, we recently had a party where we gave out these beautiful handmade cards our staff. We received well over 200 cards from all parts of the world and United States. I need to express to you our sincere gratitude and thanks for the joy you brought our staff. The reactions we received were wonderful. There were smiles, tears, statements like “Look my card is from Australia, Switzerland, Hawaii, England, Ireland" etc, “These cards are so beautiful” and many more wonderful reactions. It was a tender moment for all our staff, they were extremely touched and thankful to be appreciated in such an kind way. We currently have the cards hanging in our main hallway for the residents, staff and visitors to enjoy. After which, we will distribute to the staff as a keepsake. I know that some of our staff are personally sending emails or notes of thanks to their card sender. We called your Mom, and she and your Dad were here earlier this week to look at the display.

Carolyn, this was a wonderful way to honor your grandmother, Clare Lyons, who we loved and cared for so much. We are so grateful for thinking of us, this was a memorable experience for all of us and Janet Lorenzon, Skilled Administrator, myself and all the Artman managers are so grateful for the joy you brought our staff. I am attaching some pictures, if there is any way you could mention in your blog the overwhelming success of your request and pass on our profound thanks to all who sent cards.

With heartfelt thanks, Nancy & Janet and all the Artman managers

And here are some of the pictures that she sent and my father sent for me to share:

So Thanks to all of you! You all rock! And, proceeds to donated to the Alzheimer's Association from my set, Whimsical Autumn, have reached $1566.61! (Yipee!!)

I wanted to start the week long celebration with this announcement. This is the first day of many to celebrate! So be sure to check back every day for your chance to win some great prizes!

Leave a comment on this post and Random.Cara will pick a winner tomorrow at 4 p.m. CST. The winner will get their choice of any stamp set from Gina K Designs ($19.95 or less). Thank you Gina for donating this prize! Check back tomorrow for the winner and for another chance to win!

Note: Most contests this week will run for one day. Winner's are responsible for contacting me after I announce his/her name. If I have not heard from the winner in three days, I will pick a new winner from the same post.

Thanks so much for stopping by! It has been a great year!