For All the Saints ATC Swap - Fait Accompli!

Hear ye! Hear ye! All of the All Saints artist trading cards were mailed out to their new recipients on Monday!

We spent our Thanksgiving break sorting and swapping and packaging up all the cards. We finally finished on Saturday at 5 o'clock, and as I prepared to dash out the door with them all, my dear husband informed me the post office closed at 4. So Monday was the big day!

Are you ready for the number? We had a grand total of 1, 460 cards! That's a lot of artwork! That's a lot of saints! That's lots and lots of artist who love our dear friends in heaven, the Church Triumphant, the Saints!

So while it was an arduous task sorting them all out, we were all so very blessed and encouraged and privileged to see all of the cards made by so very many creative hands!

We had cards from the littlest two year old artists-

to the four year olds - I think this little artist is definitely a kindred spirit of Kateri-(that's our beloved St. Elizabeth of Hungary in case you can't read four-year-old-ese)

to the dear little boys who love to draw ever so many St. Sebastians and St. Georges and St. Martins. Any every single sword, arrow and dragon laden card so precious and unique from all the others.

To the beautiful cards lovingly drawn by young girls, such as this artist who chose to draw five different Saints Theresa.
 

To the more than forty adult artists who did such beautiful, inspiring work - you could just see the love and devotion and Faith portrayed in the artwork. It was so edifying to contemplate all of the artists and their relationships to their dear favorite saints.

As I already explained, we received many pieces of mail placed under the guidance of good St. Anthony -

We actually had quite a few envelopes arrive ripped or damaged in some way, including one that sadly had all of its contents lost. When reluctantly I wrote to tell the mother that her family's cards were lost she replied that 'perhaps the cards were meant to go to a mail carrier or some other person'. Isn't that a most beautiful thought?! Those precious saint cards drawn by young hands bearing witness somewhere -exactly where God wanted them to be. (and don't worry - we sent the family some new cards anyways)

So we thought we should entrust all of our outgoing mail to the care and guidance of dear St. Anthony,

and we stamped every one of the 174 envelopes before they went on their way.
 

 Josiah was tickled to get some 'fan mail' -
 
 
 
and I was delighted to read all of the many kind notes sent along from the mothers. We had cards from all across the United States, Canada, the UK, Germany and Norway. As one mother put it, she said it made her feel like she was part of a cross country homeschool group.

Here are the cards we made - Josiah's:

Eliza's St. Agnes, St. Therese, St. Peter, St.Helen and St. George:

Kateri's:

 

Anna's:

Mary Rose's:
 
 
and Lydia's: 
 
 Here are the cards we received:

Josiah got St.Francis de Sales with St. Jane de Chantal, St. Edmond Campion, St. Pierre Julian Eymard, St. Barbara  and St. Maximillian Kolbe, his patron.

Lydia received Sy. Maximillian as well, St. Lucy, St. Maria Goretti, St. Agnes, and our beloved St. Anthony.

Anna received St. Katherine Drexel, St. Lucy, Our Lady of the Brown Scapular, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, and St. Francis of Assisi.

Mary Rose  got St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. St. Cecilia, another St. Anthony, St. Gregory the Great, and Our Lady, Queen of all Saints.

Eliza received Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Brigid, St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Therese and St. Rose of Lima.

Kateri got St.Elizabeth of Hungary, Holy Mary, St. Gianna, St. Nicholas, and St Brendan.
 

I ended up with just two cards but I love them so - St. Rose of Lima and a quote from St. Francis de Sales.
 
And here is a Mr. Linky so you can post links to your own cards if you post about them. Thank you so much once again to everyone who made this swap such a grand success, and also to my family for all their help in sorting and swapping and my children who made a couple dozen extra cards to help out in celebrating All Saints!

 

Comments

[Theresa in Alberta]

I love the halo featured in the 2nd picture. so saintly inspiring! Having such treasures delivered to me daily I would have really look forward to the postal carrier every day ;-)

[Barbara Ann]

I can't tell you how excited we all were to receive our package! The anticipation has been palpable these past weeks. We love the cards we have received!
I was so excited to have received St. John Bosco compliments of Josiah. A priestly friend has drawn my attention to this saint of the youth to encourage me in an effort to change the heart of a rebellious young person.
My daughters are still pouring over all the details of the cards which they received.
We loved doing this and thank you and your beautiful family for all the effort which you made on our behalf. God bless you all.

[Love2learn Mom]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and we are eagerly awaiting our cards in the mail.(I'll bet they come today.) Thanks so much to all of you for doing this!

[S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen]

What an amazing and inspiring experience!

[Love2learn Mom]

They did come today and everyone is giddily ecstatic with their new treasures and potential pen pals! :)

[Nadja]

We were so excited to get the cards today, and Una was so happy to have one from Anna (I truly think she would like to be adopted by your family, she is so inspired by all of you, as am I!) Your kids' art is amazing!

[Jessica]

Beautiful!!! ALL OF THEM!!! Your children are such amazing artists Kimberlee!

And I recognize that little St. Michael by Snuggles! :-) I am sending my children down to the mailbox right now!!

Thank you so very much for hosting and may God reward you and your family!

[Lisa H.]

Mary and Maggie were so excited to get their cards today. They are beautiful. Josiah's St. Katherine Drexel is so lifelike. Kimberlee, thanks to you and your family for hosting this wonderful swap, and for all the work that went along with it. May God bless you all!

[Angela]

Thank you so very much for all the work you and your family put into this - it is so much fun!

I notice that your Mary Rose got my daughter's St. Anthony card, and we got her St. Francis Xavier card. A direct swap!

[Andrea R.]

Thanks for your hard work in doing the swap. When we read about the ATCs being mailed out on your blog, we ran to the mailbox. We were so excited that they were in the mailbox. What fun! Ours are so beautiful and we received two from your family.
Thanks again,
Andrea R.

[Kristen]

A huge THANK YOU to all at your home for hosting this. We all had a wonderful time making the cards and getting some back was a big thrill here as well. We really appreciate all your work. God bless you and Happy Advent!

[Elizabeth C.]

Beautiful!! Each child did an amazing job with their creations. Thank you for hosting this and a huge thanks for the families that participated...1,460 cards!!

[Josee]

Thank you so so much! I received the beautiful cards safe and sound yesterday afternoon. What a treat!

[Josee]

Oops I posted twice, my link was wrong on the first post and I didn't know how to delete it. Sorry :)

[Jordana]

Thank you for hosting this. We have had so much fun with both swaps.

[Stephanie in Germany]

We are still eagerly awaiting our new cards here in Germany, but my dd, Maria, has already heard from a sweet girl in the States who received one of her Saint cards. My dd is just thrilled to death!
Thank you Kimberlee and family for establishing this bridge for Catholic families to connect! May God continue to bless you.

[Stephanie in Germany]

They just arrived! St. Anthony came through!

[Marie C]

I discovered this post terribly late, but I wanted to tell you how thrilled my daughter was (in her own quiet way!) to see her St. Theresa cards in your post. The girls have had so much fun making the cards and receiving them....as well as making new penpal friends along the way. Thanks again!!

[Rosemary]

My sisters were so excited to see their cards on here!
I got Lydia's St. Philomena. It's beautiful, and you can tell she put a lot of work into it! I hope she likes my St. Lucy!

[Shaylynn]

This is soooo cool! Will you be doing it again this year? I'd love to join!

[Kimberlee]

Hi Shaylynn, Yes, we hope to do another All Saints Swap in the fall! We also do an annual Marian Swap in May. And yes, it is very cool! :-)