Lasting Hearts Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Today is a very special day. We are launching three new products in support of Lasting Hearts, a non-profit organization founded by Kimberly Saldaña, our wonderful Director of Sales at Hero Arts. Lasting Hearts helps comfort parents, mothers in particular, who have lost a piece of their heart. Losing a child, whether in pregnancy or older, can be one of the hardest pains a parent can endure. Lasting Hearts aims to raise awareness and show other mothers that they are not alone, that they are stronger than they realize, and that there are people out there who care dearly.

Here is Kimberly's story:

Just 9 months after giving birth to our first child, we were surprised and overjoyed to be welcoming another one on the way. We did what all parents with a growing family would do: told our close friends and family, looked into buying a larger home, and started planning for another life-changing event. We were elated to be bringing our sweet daughter another brother or sister.

Our joy soon to turned to heartache. We found out at our first ultrasound that we were set to have twins, however one of our precious babies had passed early on in the pregnancy. With heavy hearts, we tried to stay positive and prayed for the surviving twin to be a healthy baby. In our second ultrasound we were relieved and comforted by our baby’s precious heartbeat and left the doctor’s office feeling hopeful. Sadly, our fears became reality in our third ultrasound. After examining the ultrasound, our tech turns to us and asks, “Did you say you heard your baby’s heartbeat”? Instantly, we lost a piece of our hearts. Our lives were forever changed after losing not one but two of our babies in the same pregnancy.

We sat in the examination room, completely devastated and broken, waiting for our doctor. She comes in and does her best to console us but nothing she says could ease the pain. Her clinical response of “25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage” or “there was nothing you could’ve done to prevent this” just fell on deaf ears. None of it satisfied the two questions that kept running through our heads – “How could this happen?” and “why did this happen?” As amazing of an OBGYN as she is, she just wasn’t equipped to comfort 2 people whose world had been turned upside down. The conversation continues to how best to proceed in removing the fetuses, a conversation that’s cold in stark contrast to how we imagined delivering our precious children. We were absolutely heartbroken.

We kept our loss private for some time, not knowing how to express our grief and slightly afraid of the stigma that comes with miscarriages. It was too painful to speak of and too agonizing to share. One of the first people I reached out to was my dear friend, Amy, who had lost her son towards the end of her pregnancy and who knew the heartache all too well. I looked to her for her strength and for guidance on how she’s been able to continue to be a great mom to her young daughter after losing her infant son. A couple of days later I received a book from Amy, “You are the Mother of all Mothers” by Angela Miller. After only reading a few pages, I finally let myself accept for the first time that what happened to us was not my fault and that I did have the strength to continue to be a better mom and wife. The book’s encouraging message is conveyed in a way that is thoughtful, uplifting, compassionate and relatable.

With a newfound strength, I brought this book to our OBGYN and asked her if she’d be open to distributing these to patients who had miscarried if we provided them. She agreed without any hesitation. The author, Angela Miller, has graciously agreed to offer 40% off the list price so that we may help those who are in the disheartening situation we were once in. I can't help but think of the mothers who don’t have support, don’t know where to turn, or just need to know that “No one else could carry this unrelenting burden as courageously. It is the heaviest, most torturous burden there is”.

Kimberly is working to have copies of this helpful book available for doctors to give to parents who have lost their babies. She would also like to include a handmade card with each book. We love Kimberly and want to support her in her efforts, so we have created three stamps exclusively for Lasting Hearts - [hero_product_link sku="G6156" text="G6156 Mother of All Mothers"], [hero_product_link sku="H6157" text="H6157 Sacred Strength"], and [hero_product_link sku="DC185" text="DC185 So Sorry Stamp & Cut"]. Hero Arts is donating 25% of the profits from these stamps to support the Lasting Hearts efforts, in cooperation with Angela Miller, the author of “You Are The Mother of All Mothers.”

The products were designed with creating cards to donate to this cause in mind. If you would like to donate a card to give to parents as they receive their book, please follow these guidelines:

• You can send as many cards as you would like.
• Please use a sentiment such as those in the stamp sets above. (thinking of you, in my prayers, in my thoughts, sending hugs, sorry for your loss)
• For the inside of the card, you can either leave it blank or hand-write a simple message. The message can be something listed above, along with your first name and hometown. (Such as: “Thinking of you from Libby in Atlanta.”)

And send with an unsealed envelope to:

Lasting Hearts Card Drive
2892 N Bellflower Blvd Ste 216
Long Beach, CA 90815

You are welcome to send a donation with your card, but it is not required. Or you can find Lasting Hearts' fundraising page HERE.

And now - let's take a look at our new stamps in action! We've put together an inspiring blog hop to introduce you to these new products, and hopefully inspire you to get involved. Find all of the information below, including the hop order and information about a giveaway! Jayne is kicking things off with this absolutely stunning card. Take it away, Jayne!

Hello, I'm so happy to be participating in today's blog hop for the Lasting Hearts campaign. I am equally thrilled to be sharing a card that I made using the beautiful [hero_product_link sku="H6157" text="H6157 Sacred Strength"] sentiment stamp. I knew immediately that I wanted to make this pretty and powerful script message the focal point of my design.

To create my card, I started by stamping the sentiment on a piece of [hero_product_link sku="PS610" text="Snow"] layering paper using [hero_product_link sku="AF226" text="AF226 Soft Granite"] ink. After trimming the stamped panel, I masked and stenciled a single row of stripes with the Chevron stencil along the top edge with pink ink. One of my all-time favorite color combinations is [hero_product_link sku="AF234" text="AF234 Navy"], [hero_product_link sku="AF208" text="AF208 Bubble Gum"], and [hero_product_link sku="AF226" text="AF226 Soft Granite"] inks, so I layered the sentiment panel onto a gray card base and then added a narrow strip of paper that I swiped with navy ink. Before stamping additional elements, I tied a gray satin bow around my card.

I decided to gently frame the sentiment with several branches of blooming flowers. I used stamps from the new [hero_product_link sku="CL946" text="CL946 Color Layering Orchid in a Pot"] set to create a pair of branches that, when turned upside down, resemble cherry blossoms. Then, I used the [hero_product_link sku="DI177" text="DI177 Orchid in a Pot Frame Cuts"] to easily cut the stamped flowers and also a layer of craft foam for extra dimension.

After adhering the flowers to my card, I used the tip of my eraser to stamp a blue highlight in the center of each blossom. Finally, I added a few small gems for a bit of shine. I hope that you enjoy the rest of today's hop and if you can help, I hope that you are inspired to join the campaign!

Thank you Jayne! Joining Jayne in our blog hop today is this wonderful list of bloggers. Be sure to visit everyone on the list and leave a comment. We are giving away a special prize to three lucky commenters - Angela Miller's "You Are the Mother of All Mothers" book, as well as the So Sorry Stamp & Cut set. Please comment by Sunday, March 6 at 11:59pm PT, and we'll announce the winners next week.

The Hero Arts Blog (you are here!)
Kelly Rasmussen
Sandy Allnock
Mariana Grigsby
Clare Prezzia
May Sukyong Park
Amy Tsuruta
Libby Hickson
Yana Smakula

We hope we've inspired you to support Lasting Hearts, and to make some cards!

Some wonderful Hero Arts retailers are also hosting events to support the cause. The stores are listed below along with contact information. Heartfelt thanks to A Scrappin' Place, SCRAP 2 IT!, and ARTSY Stamp & Paper Crafts!

A Scrap N Place
6880 N. Franklin
Loveland, CO 80538
Phone: (970) 663-0035
Contact: Terri Snyder
Event date: March 5 and March 10 from 10am-3pm

SCRAP 2 IT!
1015 W. Horsetooth Road
Ft. Collins, CO 80550
Phone: (970) 797-2174
Contact: Ranea Hasstedt
Event dates:
March 7 from 12 pm - 5 pm
March 12 from 1 pm - 5 pm

ARTSY Stamp & Paper Crafts
5649 McWhinney Blvd.
Loveland, CO 80538
Phone: (970) 613-1631
Contact: Patsy Kral
Event date: April 23 from 10:30am to 12:30pm

a2z Scrapbooking
Blog hop March 21

Thanks for stopping by,