Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Helping Hudson: The Wrap Up!

Well here we are at the end of the 3rd and final week
of the Helping Hudson project.
And what fun it has been.  

We thank you so much for getting behind this project and helping to create the heartwarming spirit that has surrounded it.  A huge thank you once again to our generous tutorial contributors and to everyone else that has helped behind the scenes, taken part in challenges, purchased tutorials or made a donation. 
We are so very grateful to you all.

The Helping Hudson team would also like to thank our wonderful families for their support, patience and understanding while we've been working on this project.

When the Helping Hudson team got together and decided to plan this fundraising event we knew that Tina and Rob would need at least $5,000 to buy Hudson’s KidWalk.

We hoped, if we were lucky, that we might be able to raise a couple of thousand dollars to put towards it.

We knew we wanted to help but didn’t dare to dream that it would be more than a helping hand towards their goal.

Once the event was underway, we learnt that with maintenance and upkeep the full cost of the KidWalk over its six-year life span will be closer to $12,000.

And that this is just the beginning of the aids, therapies and assistance that this little boy will need.



Well ladies we are beyond thrilled to make our announcement this evening….but first, let’s rattle off a few stats that might interest you.

Most Popular Bundle And Other Stats!

We’ve had 302 sales to date plus some very kind donations.

144 of the sales were for the full set of tutorials

1213 Bundles sold all together

Plus 186 Bonus Bundles given away


So which was the most popular Tutorial Bundle???

219 of 1 - Christmas

193 of 2 - Masculine

197 of 3 - Punch Art

179 of 4 - Kids' Birthdays

185 of 5 - Scrapbooking

240 of 6 - Bags, Boxes & Gifts


That makes Bags, Boxes & Gifts the clear winner, followed by Christmas.
We all love our 3D items by the sounds of it, and festive inspiration always comes in handy.


49 people paid for challenge entry across the 3 weeks (with a few more overnight to add to that tally.)


Genna Gifford’s free sample tutorial has been downloaded 299 times



Prize Goodies

With the last few prize winners announced today, over this 3 weeks we will have sent out

*  21 giveaway prizes,
* and 11 major prizes!!

We hope our lucky winners are having lots of fun with their papercrafting goodies. 


We thank Stampin’ Up! Australia very much for their generous donated box of wonderful products.


AND NOW THE NEWS YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR …

We were hoping to give you progress reports along the way of the funds raised but we hit a few hiccups with the Paypal system that made that tricky.
We thank you for your patience.

We are now thrilled to announce that to date the lovely members of the world wide crafting community, and the wider community, have donated ….


……………..drum roll please …………



A whopping $16,000



Yes it really is an unbelievable amount.
This is enough to pay for that wonderful KidWalk to get Hudson on the move, and with funds left over to go towards other equipment and aids that will help with Hudson’s development and day to day care.

For example, Hudson is getting too big now for his cot but cannot go into a regular bed.

He needs a special bed with rails and this fundraising project can help make that a possibility too.

How exciting to know that we’ll be ‘Helping Hudson’ and his family in such a range of ways.
And for so many years to come!




Before we sign off ..... where to from here? 

This brings us to the end of the main events of our fundraising project.  It is not quite over yet though. 

We have a wonderful wonderful resource here in the exceptional tutorial bundles.  We will be keeping this blog here until the end of September and you are able to purchase tutorials until that time.

So if you are just discovering us, or if you've decided you'd like some extra bundles, you have until September 30th to make your selection. 

You can find details about the bundles and how to make your payment on this page:   Tutorial Bundles

If you've made a project that is inspired by one of the tutorials we'd love to see it. 
We'll have a post just below this one tomorrow for you to link to your creation if you'd like to share it with the Helping Hudson community. 

And of course we'll be back at the end of September with an updated total. 
As well, we'll post that photo we're all so looking forward to of Hudson with his new KidWalk once it arrives.


In Closing ......

We’ve been simply overwhelmed by your support and generosity.

We know that together we’ve made a huge difference to Hudson’s life.

Thank you.

ONE LAST *** GIVEAWAY*** !!

Well, folks, even though we are at the end of our 'official' three weeks of activity on the blog, we hope you still find value in visiting the website, and perhaps purchasing the tutorials, if you haven't previously. Remember, they are available until the end of September.

At the end of our 21 days of giveaways, we were left with one prize that remained unclaimed. We thought it fitting to draw the second-chance winner of this giveaway, at random, from the comments left on our final wrap-up post.

Now that the tears have been wiped away (thank you for your beautiful comments!), we can announce that the winner is ...... comment number 22, who is .....


** ADELE **


Adele, please email us at helpinghudson@josi.com.au, with your full name and address, so we can post a little something out to you.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Inspired By Our Tutorials??

If you've purchased one of the wonderful tutorial bundles on offer here, and have been inspired to make a papercraft project - here's a space if you'd like to share.

(Remember our tutorials are only available for purchase until September 30th, 2010.)

Just link your post right here.   Thanks!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

StampAMemory Hudson Challenge Winner

Ooh one more winner to announce. 

Thank you to everyone who entered the StampAMemory scrapbooking challenge. 
The challenge was to use 'wheels' in your layout. 

Time to announce the winner as judged by the lovely ladies over at StampAMemory ......

*** Maj Roppenon ***

Here is Maj's gorgeous layout



The SAM team loved the photos and the brilliant wheel embellishment ... great use of brads too Maj.

Maj - please email your postal address to helpinghudson@josi.com.au
before noon on Wednesday 25th August to claim your prize.  

Maj will also get this badge to display on her blog, designed by Simon Sherry.


Remember to visit StampAMemory if you are after some scrapbooking inspiration and challenges.

Week 3 Challenge 9 Colour Winner

And now for our final Helping Hudson challenge - the colour challenge.  What a lovely array of monochromatic cards and creations we had for this one.  Just beautiful.

Once again the Helping Hudson team had a tough time choosing a winner but after tallying the votes we can declare that the Challenge 9 winner is ...

*** Nicole Derendorf ***

Here's Nicole's terrific creation ...


You can visit Nicole at her blog: Stamping Down Under

Nicole - please email your postal address to helpinghudson@josi.com.au
before noon on Wednesday 25th August to claim your prize. 

Nicole will also get this badge to display on her blog, designed by Simon Sherry.



Thank you so much to everyone who took part in the challenges here at Helping Hudson over the past 3 weeks.  It has been such fun seeing all your inspiring creations.

We'll be back this evening with a wrap up and exciting news to share about the Helping Hudson project.   Stay tuned!!

Week 3 Challenge 8 Technique Winner

Wow what wonderful embossing and sponging we saw from everyone this week with our technique challenge.  Those heat tools, embossing folders and daubers really got a good work out!

The Helping Hudson team had such a hard time choosing just one winner from the fabulous entries.

The winner of Challenge 8 is ....

*** Amy Waters ***

Here is her gorgeous card.  We loved the painstaking detail of the shadow effect and sponged colour.


You can visit Amy at her blog: Be Creative With Amy

Amy - please email your postal address to helpinghudson@josi.com.au
before noon on Wednesday 25th August to claim your prize. 

Amy will also get this badge to display on her blog, designed by Simon Sherry


Thanks so much to everyone for their creative entries.  Very inspiring. 

Week 3 Challenge 7 Sketch Winner

Time to announce some more prize winners!!
Thank you to everyone who entered this challenge and made such creative use of the sketch by Genna Gifford.  We loved all your entries.

It was so so hard to pick a winner but we've judged the winning entry to be .....

*** Danielle Daws ***

Here's is Danielle's interpretation of the sketch (which also fits the colour and technique challenges too!)
Isn't it stunning.



You can visit Danielle at her blog:  Danielle Daws

   Danielle - please email your postal address to helpinghudson@josi.com.au
before noon on Wednesday 25th August to claim your prize.  
Danielle will also get this badge to display on her blog, designed by Simon Sherry


Thank you to everyone who took part in our challenges and made them such fun.

Day Twenty One Giveaway *WINNER*

We had 31 beautiful comments, telling us your favourite part of the "Helping Hudson" experience.  Thank you, everyone, for sharing how you feel - we've used more than a few tissues reading the answers to this question!!

We have drawn, at random, comment number 8 as the winner for the day .......


** ANN G. **

Congratulations, Ann, on your win, and thank you for your enthusiastic support over the past few weeks!  Please email your full name and address to us at helpinghudson@josi.com.au, so we can send out your prize.


Although our structured daily giveaways have now come to an end, there will be an unclaimed prize up for grabs on 25th August, so make sure you come back to check if you're a winner!


Thank you so much, everyone, for joining in the daily fun, and helping to make our fundraiser the enjoyable and successful experience it has been!

Happy Birthday Tina!

We'd like to all join together to wish Tina (Hudson's mum) a very happy happy birthday today.  :-)

It has been our pleasure, and a privilege, to work alongside you for the duration of Helping Hudson. We are so pleased that we, and the wider papercraft community, have been able to help your family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY from us all.