We finally got to deliver the cards to the California Institute for Women yesterday! And yes, we did get to break 800 – our final count is 803 cards, woooohoo!  Thank you to Charlene (scrappygma on the PC Message Board) who donated 11 wonderfully cute cards, and Paula (scrapaddict on the PC Message Board) who lovingly made 12 pretty cards. You can see the work of these two  ladies, plus the work of all the other ladies who donated,  in our gallery.  

Our contact person at the California Institute for Women is Randy Samson, the Community Partnership Manager. We (well, that’s me and my 4 yo DS) got to meet him yesterday when we delivered the cards. He was so appreciative of our efforts to provide these cards to the inmates. He says that the inmates do not get to use any cards, specially cards like the “really fancy” cards (his exact words) we made. Being able to send pretty cards to their family and friends on special occasions is going to be a treat for them.  Well, there’s just one thing that I forgot to take when we were there – pictures! There goes a senior moment for me, LOL!

I did take pictures of my two DDs – Tamara and Jenine, who have helped so much in this project. Here they are, counting, categorizing and packing the cards ready for delivery:

The picture on the bottom right shows all the 803 cards – each stack you see is about 25 cards (some have less, some have more, depending on their “stackability”).  We categorized the cards into birthday (200 cards), note cards (200 cards), Thanksgiving/Fall  (148 cards) and Christmas/Winter (255 cards).

Once again, thank you to the following ladies who have contributed and supported the Cards for a Cause: The Inmates Project and made it a success:  Lori (LKM), Elayne (elayne), Linda(Linda Ohio now GA), Glenda (ggothard), Venus (vrt007), Shelby (grammy6pack),  Mary (MEW), Annie (wannacraft), Nancy (Nanc), Glenna (bricklady), Missy (missybess), Sandy (stmboat), Charlene (scrappygma) and Paula (scrapaddict).  You ladies rock!

It’s Week 10, the final week of  Cards for a Cause: The Inmates Project. I can hardly believe that 2 ½ months have gone by already ever since we first launched it! But looking back, we did get to accomplish a lot, specially the card count, which by the end of this week, will total  780 - and that’s not even the final count! I received notes from several hugsisters who have just sent in their card donations, I haven’t gotten them yet, but I’m thinking that we just might break 800 here, yay, yay, yay! Thank you so much to everyone who have donated and supported our Inmates Project – for those who want to check out the cards that have been donated by all the wonderful ladies, you can see them at the gallery. 

I’m saving the best for the last, and this involves an oak sprig. Well, let me show you the card first:

I thought that this card is just right for the times and the season we are in right now.  It’s true that we are living through  difficult times, but I do believe that challenges are blessings in disguise, and that things will work out in the end. And if you’re wondering where I got that image of an oak sprig, well, it’s right here! Just right-click on the image below and save in your computer. The image is 3″ x 3″ with a resolution of 150, and it is in png format already (no need to remove the white background!). Please note that use of the graphic consitutes following Gem’s Cottage’s Terms of  Use.  Have fun playing with the image and please use it to do good. *** If you want the card layout I made above (without the Bible passage), just post a comment below.***