Spread The Love Blog Hop

Happy Monday!

Today I have a very special post! Erin and I have organized a Spread the Love blog hop to help bring love and hope to a young New Hampshire girl named Jaimie Cates, who sadly was the victim of random violence in her own home and as a result of this random act, also lost her mother. It was a terrible tragedy that has touched us deeply and so we wanted to do something to help Jaimie.

Here is the story of what happened in the small NH town not very far from where I live myself....
On the night of October 3rd Jaimie and her mom, Kimberly, went to bed with no way of knowing the events that were about to transpire to change their lives forever. Four local teenagers armed with knives, broke into their home and brutally murdered Kim Cates and seriously injured 11 year old Jaimie and left her for dead in the driveway. These boys chose the home for no other reason than its location and for no other purpose than to bring harm to the occupants. It was a senseless, random crime that shook the small town and much of the state.

Erin and I have been overwhelmed with the support and compassion of the stamping/scrapping community and with the help of countless bloggers and many many company sponsors, we are bringing you our "Spread the Love for Jaimie" blog hop and card drive! Each of the members of today's hop will share the card they made for Jaimie and we all hope that you will be inspired by this young girl and want to help her too.

Today's hop started on Katharina's blog and if you are just joining me, you'll want to hop back to Katharina's and start this special hop there. If you are joining me from Jay Jay's blog, then you are in the right place!

This is the card I will be mailing to Jaimie this afternoon. I wanted to use some cheerful colors and papers, but nothing too girly as Jaimie is not a girly girl. She like sports, playing outside, and she is a black belt in Karate too!

My card uses this sweet image from Squigglefly Digital Stamps, illustrated by Crissy Armstrong, both of whom are participating in our blog hop today! I've colored with copics and then embellished with ribbon, Prima flowers, buttons, and metal hardware. My sentiment says "Sending Happy Thoughts Your Way" and is available at Whimsy Stamps, another sponsor in today's hop.

My 6 and 3 year old made the two cards above to send to Jaimie. They each chose their supplies and assembled and colored them by themselves and then drew special pictures inside. I'm very proud of them for wanting to show Jaimie some kindness.

Thank you for visiting my blog today, the next stop on the hop is Cindy's blog. Our hop will end on our new blog, Stamp Something...for Jaimie where we have a special card drive challenge posted with opportunities for participants to win some really terrific prizes donated by our generous sponsors. So be sure you continue to hop to see all the love and hope being spread for Jaimie and then we hope you will make a card and enter it into our challenge!

If you are willing to help spread the word about our cause for Jaimie by creating a post on your blog with links to the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog as well as posting our badge, you can enter to win my personal blog candy for this event! These are the items in this goody pack: ribbon, black ink spot and hand stamped by stamp, full unmounted rubber stamp set in a baby theme, heart theme acrylic stamp set, package of Prima hydrangea flowers, sticky letters, sticky words, pack of buttons, and some chocolate!

Once you have posted the info and links about our hop on your blog, please come back here and leave a comment. I will draw one winner from the comments left here on my blog on Monday, November 9th.

Have a great day and please, if you have a few moments to spare, make a card and mail it to Jaimie and then let others know about our Spread the Love bog hop and card drive. Thank you and Happy Stamping!

Jaimie Cates
c/o Mont Vernon Fire Station
Main Street
Mont Vernon, NH 03057