Wow... I am a little nervous. I was asked by Scrapbook Royalty's dear founder, Elena Etcheverry, to be a guest blogger!!! Please don't be disappointed since you don't know me, because I have plenty of exciting news to share!
First I should introduce myself. My name is Alane Davis and I am the Chair of the Duluth, MN affiliate of the Young Survival Coalition. "Huh?" you say. Well the Young Survival Coalition (YSC to it's friends) is the only international non-profit organization focused on the unique issues facing young women with breast cancer. (Okay, that's not the official mission statement, I shrunk it down so I didn't lose you.) But, you get the gist. I myself am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed nine years ago at the age of 31. Like most of the women who are part of the YSC, I was mistakenly told that I was "too young for breast cancer". The YSC exists to educate the public that this is not true. The YSC also exists to provide various support, educational, outreach, and advocacy programs on behalf of young breast cancer survivors. Please, please, please check out the YSC at the website www.youngsurvival.org . Once you are there, pretty PLEASE sign up as a supporter. You will not be required to do anything. No money is exchanged. You will not be harassed with phone calls from annoying telemarketers. You will merely be adding your support to an organization that needs to throw its weight around to be noticed, and we can use the extra pounds!!!
Okay, enough of that stuff or Elena will seriously regret giving me the freedom to post on this blog! On to the good stuff: in order to raise money for our YSC affiliate, we are organizing a Crop for a Cure during October which is breast cancer awareness month. (For more info visit our Crop blog at http://duluthcrop4acure.blogspot.com . Scrapbook Royalty helped us put on our Crop last year and it was a huge success! This year Elena very generously sent me and three other volunteers to CHA, the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show (for those of you who are not scrapaholics like myself and don't know the lingo). At CHA we represented Scrapbook Royalty and all of the fabulous work Elena does and we asked for donations for our Crop. We made a lot of awesome contacts, got very little sleep, and had the time of our lives. To a crafter, CHA is literally a wonderland of creative genius. All of the major manufacturers have booths that are like Broadway sets. They all have fabulous artwork made especially for CHA by their uber-creative design teams. The manufacturers are unveiling their newest products for all of the buyers so we definitely got the scoop on what's in store! Many of the manufacturers have make and takes and demonstrations going, and a lot of them are giving away free goodies! We tried our best not to get too greedy and stayed on task. (That's right, Elena, we only did a few make and takes, I promise!) The hardest part for us was seeing all of the new exciting stuff and not being able to buy it! If I didn't know the products would show up on our local store's shelves, being there would have been total torture!
Just a few of the highlights were: meeting Stacy Julian, meeting Ali Edwards, meeting the entire editorial board of Simple Scrapbooks magazine (!), and schmoozing with Tim Holtz. (Yes, that's right, I said, Tim Holtz!) We were absolutely stunned when after a loooong day of driving to our hotel we decided to go to the bar for a beer. Lo and behold, who was sitting at a table full of people having dinner? The grunge-board-distress ink-man himself! It was unbelievably cool!
We spoke to as many vendors as we could over the three days of the show. Many of them gave us donations to bring back with us, and many others gave us promises that they would send something afterwards. Here is a partial list of the companies that gave us products to bring home with us: 3M, Tim Holtz Ideaology, All My Memories, Alvin & Co., American Crafts, Around the Block, Basic Grey, Colorbok, Creative Options, Cropper Hopper, Die Cuts With A View, Doodlebug, Glue Dots, Glue Arts, Hambly, Imaginisce, Jenni Bowlin, Kaisercraft, Melissa Frances, Sculpey, Pentel of America, Queen & Co., Quick Quotes, Quik Kutz, Tattered Angels, Unity Stamp Co., and more! We were absolutely stunned by the generosity of all of these companies. By and large the people that we spoke with were kind, supportive, and eager to help. One company's representative went so far as to track us down in order to give us more donations! I still can't believe it!
After two and a half hours spent transporting the donations to the parking garage and loading them into an SUV and a minivan, we started the long trip home. It was a whirlwind experience full of tears, laughter, and wonderful connections. It was so very heartwarming to know that individuals throughout the country believe in what we are doing.
Thank you, Elena, for all of your hard work and for the opportunity to represent Scrapbook Royalty. It was a life altering experience: one that proves that one person can truly make a big difference.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
CHA Generosity and the Power of Giving
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Only 4 More Days...
...to get your entries for Black White & Scrap All Over's Album Contest in!! Just email your entry to scrapbookryalty@yahoo.com and we'll put it up in the slideshow above. Please keep it in gif or jpeg format please. Why should you enter? Up for grabs are $50 gift cards form each store on the Black White & Scrap All Over tour!! And you can win more than one...winners will be announced in August. Thursday is the deadline so get your entry in now!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
ConvenZioNE here we come!
This is an excerpt from Elena's blog:
My new position with ZNE- yep, I took on another job.
And… I am officially the new “We Care Coordinator” for ZNE. She wrote about me here! That means that I will be coordinating all of their philanthropic efforts and I will be reaching a whole new audience of altered artists! This is such a great opportunity for growing SBR and I am so happy that they asked me to do this.
I will be traveling to ConvenZioNE in Pleasanton, CA August 22nd-24th with Miss Vicky from Cut-it-up, Diva Danielle from Diva Craft Lounge Radio Show, Jackie B from The Art In You and Jan Mollet Evans crafter extraordinaire!
I'll be coordinating a silent auction on Saturday night to benefit A Place to Bark, and I'll also have a table during the vendor fair on Sunday that benefits Pink Sky Project.
ZNE Convenzione is a full event weekend with group meals, activities, workshops, and more. And here's the wonderful thing - when you register for the event, if you mention "SCRAPBOOK ROYALTY" on the registration form where it asks "How did you hear about ConvenZioNE?" then YOU will recieve a $10 refund back on the registration fees - AND Scrapbook Royalty will recieve a $25 donation too!
So check it out… There are some amazing artists that are going to be there. A couple of the ones I know from scrapbooking are Claudine Helmuth, I love love love her stuff, and Candice Carpenter, a local designer that I also admire very much. Hope you can come!
--- Elena
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Kokuyo is Now a Sponsor!
Kokuyo is donating tape runners for the attendees of the Crop Out Autism on September 13, 2008! So don't miss out!! These are their brand new Tape N Roller Plus rollers that retail for about $10! 
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Happiness & Charity
Elena, Scrapbook Royalty's Founder, recently sent out an email asking for volunteers to help Scrapbook Royalty keep doing our charitable work through our love of scrapbooking and papercrafts. Last night, I was reading my trusty Reader's Digest in bed and happened upon an article about happiness (Pg 163 of the July 2008 issue). You can read the article online HERE.
The author found five things in life that can predict people's happiness. Source #4 = Charity.
Here are some excerpts from the story that I found particularly interesting:
"We’ve all heard that money doesn’t buy happiness, and that’s certainly true. But there is one way to get it: Give money away.
The evidence is clear that gifts to charitable organizations and other worthy causes bring substantial life satisfaction to the givers. If you want $50 in authentic happiness today, just donate it to a favorite charity.
People who give money to charity are 43 percent more likely than nongivers to say they’re very happy. Volunteers are 42 percent more likely to be very happy than nonvolunteers. It doesn’t matter whether the gifts of money go to churches or symphony orchestras; religious giving and secular giving leave people equally happy, and far happier than people who don’t give. Even donating blood, an especially personal kind of giving, improves our attitude.
In essence, the more people give, the happier they get."
How fitting?! Elena, myself, and the SBR committee, as well as anyone who volunteers and/or donates are really familiar with the joy we get from giving our time, money, and hearts to help others. It really is a source of happiness for us! If you want to know how to get happy by volunteering or giving, please leave a comment here or contact us through our website. And thanks again to everyone who has given and continues to give to help us help others. It's all about the charity here!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Pierce Family Crop Raises Over $4200!
The event was a huge success. The final totals are not in yet but so far we have raised about $4200 for the Pierce Family!
We will be hosting the Silent Auction at Ever After's Survivor Crop this year! It is going to be so fun! We have a couple more seats at our table if you want to join us!Thursday, July 10, 2008
Crop This SATURDAY -- Don't Miss Out!
In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more
when these boys from Southern California discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims. Please don't miss this opportunity to be a part of bettering the quality of life for the children of Uganda. For your registration fee you will also get a copy of the Rough Cut DVD ($20.00 value).The minimum donation has been lowered to $50!!
For more information about this event and to participate, please click on this link.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Crop Out Autism!
The first 25 people to sign up by July 31st will receive a set of 3 Pentel Arts’ Outline Markers! Retail Value $12. You must pay for event within 10 days to qualify for the bonus.
Sign up for this event by clicking on this link!
Who Won This Fabulous Page Kit?
Jean E. Monday, July 7, 2008
Winner of the Big Shot is....
Thursday, July 3, 2008
And The Winners Are...
Suzzette Johnson- The Loft
Congrats again ladies and have fun with your wonderful gifts! And also, Scrapbook Royalty thanks each of the stores for their generous contributions to our charity and for making our Black White and Scrap All Over event a success!
P.S. Check out the albums scrappers created during the event in the slideshow above. During July we're holding an album decorating contest in which each store is giving a $50 gift certificate to each winner, one winner per store!!
