Breaking News--SBR is on TV!!

This week the committee and volunteers were on hand to watch as the founder of SBR, Elena Etcheverry received the Channel 10 Leadership Award. Watch it on San Diego's Channel 10 6 o'clock news on April 10th, 2008. We will also post it on the website! We are so excited to get this commendation for our hard work. Special thanks to Pink Pineapple Scrapbooks for letting us take over their crop room for the award presentation, Maryam from Cancer Coping Center for making the adorable goodie bags, and to Robin Slominsky for catering the beautiful "Royal-Tea" luncheon.

We Haven't Fnished Raising Money Yet....

In order to raise more for the charities and get closer to our goal, we have decided to give everyone until the end of March to purchase tickets for our three raffles. Tell your family and friends - these are open to the public! So hurry and purchase your tickets, we will be drawing the raffle on April 1st, Good luck!

Purchase your tickets at this link...

• The first drawing is for a gift certificate from Bradford Renaissance Portraits and is worth $3000. This includes photography and a 16x20 wall portrait hand embellished with oil paints. Tickets for this raffle are $20 each.

• The second is for a Rowley Portraiture 14" wall canvas which includes a sitting for a single child 3 and up. Valued at $1000, tickets for this raffle are $10 each.

• The third is for a brand new Cricut electronic cutter valued at $300. Tickets for this raffle are $10 each.

We have a Queen!!

It took us a few days to total everything but finally, we know that the Queen of Silent Auctions is...

Michelle Bentley!

...Which means she not only brought in $1000 in donations (and was crowned Queen of Philanthropy), but she also spent the most money on silent auctions!! Thank you so much Michelle!! It is because of generous people like you that so many charities like the Boys & Clubs, Rady Children's Hospital, and ourselves can offer services to others.

As of right now, we have raised:

• $10829 to be split between Rady Children's hospital and the Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos
• $740.60 for our Families Affected by the 2007 Wildfires fund
• $115 for BeLoved (1/2 of the money raised through massages)

There will be more!! We will be posting the information about the Cricut and Family Portrait raffles and are hoping to raise a whole bunch of money off of that!

Thanks again to everyone who attended! Your help and generosity has helped us to help other charities! Plus we get to do it while enjoying our wonderful craft of scrapbooking!

Fantaslyand Crop -- Fun Times For All!

Here is my little recap on the event--it was a blast!!

Everyone seemed to have a good time and they were in the mood for charity--they bid on auction items, bought items from the charity table (buy items and 100% of the money goes to charity), got massages, and just enjoyed the day.

There were tons of fun classes too taught by some AMAZING instructors--I took Michelle Hill's class and Stephanie Ackerman's class. Stephanie is the inspiration and main creative mind behind the magazine Home + Heart, formerly known as Homegrown Hospitality, published by CK Media. It was awesome to get the star treatment from her as she sat wit us and chitchatted and made a little mini book for us. Stephanie is also known for her signature doodling and lettering and she made EVERYONE at the event a name tag that she hand doodled!! Wow! Michelle Hill's class was equally fun and she also gave everyone alot of individual attention, joking, and keeping things fun.

I did not get to take every class because I was teaching one at the same time as some of the others. All the projects were really cute and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. And they were FREE! Can't beat that!!

I will post pics of the projects we made tomorrow.

We had so many ways to raise money at the event:

• Queen of A Lot--donate a LOT of stuff to be auctioned off. Whoever's box raises the most money gets crowned "Queen of Alot" (I was this in 2006!)
• Queen of Silent Auctions -- Spend the most on silent auction bids and get crowned
• Queen of Philanthropy -- bring the most in monetary donations and get crowned--the lady who won this raised over $1100 all by herself!!
• Queen of Handmade Items -- I tied for this one but as I already have a crown and scissors, I passed it on--fetch the most money for handmade items donated to the silent auction and get crowned.
• Buy items from the donation table--all the money goes to the fire victims
• Buy items from the catalog table (such as from Laura Miller of Close to My Heart and Elena of Stampin' Up!)
• Buy items from Treasure for Charity, Melanie and Elena's store donating 20% of all sales
• And buying kits from me!! I had past class kits there for sale--sold out of some too! I donated 20% (which came to $50) of all sales to SBR.
  

"Crowning" at this event also included a pair of Fiskars scissors that were engraved with the title they achieved!!

Just a side note--if you know of a family or individual affected by the CA wildfires from October who is in need of assistance, please nominate them! Send an essay of 400 words or less to Scrapbook Royalty explaining why this family or individual needs our help, including a list of items they need help to purchase. It can be as simple as needing a garden hose or a crib or household tools--whatever kinds of things they need. If the family is chosen, Scrapbook Royalty will use the money they have raised to purchase these items for the family.

Back to the event---there was yummy food, tons of fun, balloons, each table had a different theme and the bathroom--they just go all out! They had a place making donuts on site for dessert after dinner--YUM! And lots of ladies brought scrumptious sweets they made at home to compete for "Queen of Sweets". And The SBR crew made sure we got Starbuck's at tea time -- if you registered during the early reg period you got a free tall Starbuck's!

Katie had a blast playing with my friend's daughter as well as playing in the childcare area--yes, they had childcare too!!

Pink Pineapple was offering shuttles to their store, just a few exits down the freeway from where we were cropping...

There was SOOOOOO much going on--I only got 1.5 pages done all 15 hours!!! That is crazy!!

If you missed out this crop, don't miss out next time! Get on SBR's e-mail newsletter list by signing up in the box in the upper left corner of this page.

We're still working on the numbers as far as the exact amount of money raised but we'll post it as soon as we're done.

Also, we're continuing the raffles for several super awesome prizes, such as a Cricut and a wonderful photography session! Links to the buttons to buy your raffle tix will be posted in the next few days.

Thanks everyone for coming out and supporting the Rady Children's Hospital and the Boys and Girls Clubs!

Fiskars Training Success!!

Check out what lead Fiskateer Cheryl had to say about us!!

http://fiskateers.com/blog/2008/03/05/fiskateers-have-become-family/

And don't miss out on the Fantasyland Crop--we still have a handful of spots open!! See you there!

Join us at the Fantasyland Crop for Kids!

Register now for Scrapbook Royalty's event of the year, coming up in less than three weeks! Benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos and the Hematology/Oncology department of the Rady Children's Hospital, the Fantasyland Crop for Kids is coming up fast, and is going to be a wonderful day.

We have SO much fun in store for you. Included in your registration fee is six FREE classes by great teachers such as Michelle Hill and Stephanie Ackerman, Jennifer Priest, Lisa Alaniz, Julie Muehl and Erin Payne. There will also be fairy fly-bys (gifts from sponsors delivered by fairies) all day long, contests and silent auctions and three delicious meals, you can't miss it! Invite your Knight for dinner, and have your children come and be cared for while you crop!

We are also happy to have Janelle and Lynsie from BeLoved on site offering massages! BeLoved is a California non-profit offering a nurturing touch for seniors and those who care for them.

Don't miss all the excitement at the Fantasyland Crop for Kids... Register now on the Scrapbook Royalty site!

Thank You x 1,000,000!!

Wow--we had a blast at CHA!! The response to Scrapbook Royalty and the charitable work we are trying to do thorugh our love of crafting really hit home with many of the vendors and manufacturers. They donated so much stuff to us that we filled my Camry, Gloria's Suburban, and Danelle's car!! And that was just on Wednesday becuase we have been collecting donations all week long! I took some pics of some of the loot from my car and of a fewe of the vendors giving us goodies. We met so many awesome, generous people--it was simply amazing. We came home excited, emotionally and physically exhausted, and just bewildered at the response--it was 1,000,000 times more than we had dreamed it would be!!

Thank you to following manufacturers who generously donated items to us and showed their support:

• Prima -- they are simply amazing with hw much support they are giving us!
• Luxe Desgins -- gave us a TON of kits and paper packs!!
• Flower Soft -- UK company who gave s some of their awesome new products to do a make n take at our next event
• Making Memories -- they laoded me down with donations of stickers, shirts, and expoy stickers on Tuesday and Wednesday--thanks Jen for all your generosity!!
• B-Line Stamps -- awesme stamps and they gave us some to silent auction
• Paper Trunk -- sweetest ladies ever--thank you!
• Pink Paislee -- gave a great selection of their phot polymer high quality and super cute stamps to auction off
• Fiskars -- they go above and beyond for us--words cannot express how much they do! And they engraved a ton of scissors for us--you just may be "crowned" with a pair at our next event March 8th--start collecting those donations!!
• 3M -- gave us so much stuff it took FOUR rolling carts and 8 arms to carry it all!!! Literally we took half their booth!
• Ott Lite--we now have lights!!
• American Crafts--gave us great paper
• Moxxie--gave us so many paper collection sets to auction off I can't remember how many--they rock!!
• WeRMemory Keeprs--we got a purple Crop A Dile!
• Krylon--hooked us up with a TON of paint pens and other goodies to use on acrylic and acetate--they were sooooo generous!!
• Tattered Angels--they gave me so many bottles of Glimmer Mist --you are going to be amazed at the basket we assemble to auction at our next event. Tattered Angels is awesome!!
• Imaginesce--they gave us some of their newest not event released blooms to silent auction!!
• Best Creation--Richard and Tina gave me a HUGE stack of paper to auction off--they are awesome!
• Teresa Collins--she gave us her entire collection of paper to auction!
• Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine--so generous and it is an awesom publication to boot!
• Around the Block--gave us some gorgeous goodies!
• Wausau Paper gave us a HUGE 2 foot tall stack of cardstock--and it is gorgeous metallics too--so yummy!
• Craft Trends gave a TON of magazines
• Creative Options gave us some cool storage items to auction off
• Kokuyo gave us a bunch of their wonderful tape runners
• Mimi/Thermo-Web donated lots of paper, adhesives and more!

And this is just waht I had in my car and a little of what I could remember. Please show your support of these awesome manufacturers--please look for their wonderful products in local stores. Thank you again to the manufacturers fro supporting our charitable works.

And last but not least, thank you to the entire Scrapbook Royalty committee for all your hard work, hours of talking and promoting, and for making our presence at CHA a success!! It was great to be working along side everyone!

Fruit Roll Up Winners and Rebuilding Memories Crop

I wrote all the names on a piece of paper and the winners of the My Fruit Roll Ups contest are: Nicole, Paola, and Michelle. Email me for your coupon code!!! (This contest was for comments posted on Elena's personal blog as well as the SBR blog) Here is a picture of the box I received. The personalization is hard to see but it is sooooo cute!! and I accidentally munched the bottom corner but you get the idea! Such a fun treat!

However, the real winners are us, the Scrapbook Royalty committee becuase we got to hold an event this weekend that directly affected people that needed it. Usually our events are for people that we never get to meet. This time it was for people that we got to talk to, cry with, and really get to know. It was amazing. We had about 40 RSVPs but for some reason only about 15 showed. This was a bit of a bummer since we had quite a few last minute RSVPs and we were scrambling to rent tables and get more food donated etc. But take it all in stride, we had 10 paid participants that were just there to support the event and 17 volunteers who worked tirelessly throughout the day to scan, print and repair photos, teach classes, offer support, and feed these great participants. We also gave away an entire SUV full of supplies. We came with 2 1/2 SUVs so we gave away a lot of stuff!

Generous Folks!!

And even more stuff arrived at the event, generously donated by Cheryl and Anita- Fisakteers whom we love! They both drove quite a distance to be there and we were so grateful. Anita stayed till 11 pm helping us tear down. THANK YOU to the people who graciously donated their time to make this happen. My wonderful neighbors Chad and Tracy, my brother Eric, Lisa K, Tina and Lisa's Dad from Heritage Makers, who scanned and printed their fingers off, Coby B who repaired damaged photos with the help of Operation Photo Restoration, Liz and Julie who do everything and anything to make these events a success, Gloria and Jesse faithful committee members who make the event go smooth no matter what is thrown at them, Jennifer P who collected tons and tons of donations and who met with me several times to give me boxes and boxes of stuff, Bonnie who has been a huge part of growing Scrapbook Royalty and helped set up and check people in, Amber for getting us a great location and some wonderful participants, Christi from Pink Pineapple who taught a Scrapbooking 101 class and got

10 people converted to the dark side, and her husband Jerry who was going to give a talk about fire safety but we ran too late and they had to go, Carrie and Amy Fire Crisis Counselors who found us at the last minute and helped all day and whom we became fast friends with, Maryam and David for supporting everything we do, AND MOST OF ALL MELANIE WHO WORKS WITH ME TIRELESSLY, AND FOR FREE EVERY SINGLE DAY TO MAKE SCRAPBOOK ROYALTY A SUCCESS.

---Elena

Thank You Scrapbook Boulevard and Pages Of Tyme!!

Wow—these 2 stores have gone all out to support the fire victims through our Rebuilding Memories Crop on February 2!!

Pages of Tyme, located in Big Bear, CA, generously donated a TON (literally, it could really weight that much) of awesome stickers, diecuts, albums, accents, and paper to Scrapbook Royalty for us to hand out to the fire victims!! There was so much still it literally filled Jennifer’s entire dining room! A couple of ladies from the store drove the items all the way down to Jennifer’s house for us too!

Scrapbook Boulevard, located in Victorville, CA, spent the last few weeks collecting donations of scrapbooking supplies from their customers for us to deliver to the fire victims during our event. Many of the ladies went out and bought BRAND NEW items such as paper storage boxes, photo boxes, and more and they donated it all!! Then Scrapbook Boulevard donated a HUGE box of Cards and PaperCrafts Idea Bookz (these usually go for $19.99 each!!) for the fire victims along with a few more boxes of delicious scrap goodies. And then they donated some gorgeous handmade items for our silent auctions, such as a Bo Bunny calendar/scrapbook and a cute Christmas minibook. Scrapbook Boulevard is also putting an affiliate Rebuilding Memories Crop on February 2!! There are still a couple of spots—don’t miss out!

Thank you so much again for your generous support and donations!!! They will help many people!

Scrapbook Royalty is Everywhere!!

Whew—I’m still reeling from the fantastic fun-filled weekend I just had!! Scrapbook Royalty’s committee was out in force all over Southern California helping support charities, spreading the word about our charitable works and fun-filled crops, and meeting tons of wonderful people who want to be a part of the cause.

Friday Jan 25^th:

Scrapbook Royalty Founder Elena Etcheverry drove all the way up from San Diego to the Auntie Amy’s Heirloom Rubberstamp Show in Riverside, CA. The Heirloom and Auntie Amy’s ladies are so wonderful and nice!!

Committee member Jennifer Priest had a class over at the Scrapbook Alley at the Home & Garden Expo in Ontario, CA—this is a BRAND NEW Scrapbooking Expo!!

Saturday Jan 26^th:

Collective Journey in Redlands, CA hosted the first ever Unforgettable Crop for Kids to benefit the Unforgettables—over $16,000 was raised!! Scrapbook Royalty helped to promote the event and Elena hosted a make ‘n take designed by Michelle Hill. Elena said the crop was phenomenal and awesome! Word is they are already organizing another one so keep an eye out for that! And what success with all the funds raised to benefit the Unforgettables!! Elena also helped raise money for the Unforgettables by selling SBR’s fabulous tote hooks.

Here is Elena teaching her make n’ take:

And here Elena is crowning Pam Sibley, who raised $385, as the Queen of Philanthropy:

Pam won a $500 gift cert to Collective Journey for her charitable efforts!! Congrats and THANK YOU Pam!!

From there Elena went back over to the Auntie Amy’s Heirloom Rubberstamp Show in Riverside, CA to meet up with Scrapbook Royalty committee members Melanie and Jesse who were spreading the word about our upcoming crops to the wonderful altered artists, scrapbookers, and rubberstampers in attendance. They taught a beautiful glittered hummingbird ornament as a make n take for a $5 donation. The ladies who attended the show also generously donated some awesome handmade items for us to feature in our silent auctions at upcoming events.

Over at Scrapbook Alley at the Home & Garden Expo in Ontario, CA Jennifer Priest was teaching scrapbooking classes and selling more of Scrapbook Royalty’s fabulous tote hooks. Laura from Desert Scrappers Retreats was there as well—she helps support the same causes as Scrapbook Royalty through raffle baskets at her retreats as well as support Scrapbook Royalty’s event with donations and more! Nan Paturzo (an original Zutter Zister) of Scrapbook Alley was so awesome to work with and she made sure everything ran smoothly. The ladies of Who Gives A Scrap?, a crop group to which Jennifer belongs, also came out to show their support. And Jessica Guthrie of Kits2Remember was there as well.

In the afternoon Jennifer headed over to The Scrappin’ Table in Placentia for their Grand Opening celebration! Jennifer designed a cute little birdhouse make ‘n take that customers were able to make for free, thanks to a generous donation from The Scrappin’ Table owner Michelle L. The Table’s Design Team members Tiffany and Michelle also taught the make n take. Scrapbook Royalty founder Elena joined in the fun a little later as she raced over to Placentia from Riverside. So many nice ladies (and men!) came out to support the Scrappin’ Table’s Grand Opening and we had a chance to meet many of them—we had a blast! Everyone was so supportive and interested in Scrapbook Royalty and the causes we help bring attention to and support. We handed out SBR’s cute little crown logo buttons and sold lots of gorgeous tote hooks. It was great fun!

The fun doesn’t stop here because THIS weekend we have TWO events planned!! Scrapbook Royalty is putting on the Rebuilding Memories Crop to benefit those affected by the California Wildfires last October. We’ve been collecting donations of financial and in-kind (scrapbooking supplies) to help those who have lost everything to rebuild their lives and their memories.

PLUS Scrapbook Boulevard in Victorville, CA is hosting an affiliate event the same day to benefit the fire victims!! There are only a few spaces left at each event so don’t miss out!! There will be 12 hours of cropping, food, drinks, silent auctions, raffles, giveaways, and all the royal fun you’ve come to expect from Scrapbook Royalty’s events. See you there!!

Free Personalized Fruit Roll Ups!- What's your sweetest?

I wrote before about being part of this group called "Mom Central" and that they have me sample products and blog about them... well, I just got another one and it is so cool! Personalized Fruit Rolls Ups! Yummy and creative! Perfect for my circle of friends! I went on line to MyFruitRollUps.com and ordered mine and it was so easy! There are hundreds of designs to choose from and you get to add your own phrase! There are even different fonts and fonts sizes! I have a box of 30 of them with personalized with "Scrapbook Royalty" a Tiara and ball gown. We will be taking those to CHA to give our favorite vendors :) Please visit their website to design your own. They also have a gallery where they post the most creative ones.

I get to give 3 boxes away!!!

So leave a comment here with the Sweetest Valentine's Message you have ever received and on February 3rd, I will choose 3. You will get a code to order your personalized snacks and if you do them that day, they will arrive by V-day! Too Fun! I will post the winners here and on the Scrapbook Royalty blog. Good luck!

--Elena

Crop for Those Affected by the Fires...

On February 2nd 2008, Scrapbook Royalty will be hosting an event to benefit the victims of the most recent Southern California wildfires. Taking place at the La Jolla Lutheran Church in La Jolla, California, this event will benefit those affected by:

• Replacing scrapbooking supplies that have been lost
• Restoring photos that were salvageable but damaged
• Helping them get photos from their families and friends
• Providing a photographer to take a new family portrait
• Cropping their photos to help rebuild their scrapbooks

You do not need to have been affected by the fires to participate. However if you have, this event is free for you to participate.

All participants will learn how to:

• Retrieve photos from your digital camera
• Store your photos on your computer
• Store your photos online
• Other storage options for digital photos
• Scan your layouts and photos
• Store your printed photos
• Store your layouts
• Fire proof safe options

Please sign up for this important event at http://siteapplication.com/scrapbookroyalty/register.asp

Generous sponsors including Epson, It's About Time... Scrapbooks & More, Auntie Amy Scrapbooks, Quick Quotes, Heritage Makers, and Pink Pineapple Scrapbooks have all helped to make this event possible.

To learn more about this event, please visit our website at http://www.scrapbookroyalty.com/fire.html

It's the Season of PJs!!

In the "giving" mood this season? Scrapbook Royalty has TWO fun ways you can spread Christmas cheer to those in need!

Isabella's Gift Pajama Drive
Please help the children of Rady's Children's hospital. You can make a difference by giving a gift of comfort to a child battling cancer. Deadline for donations is December 20th.

We're looking to collect 50 sets of pajamas this year and we need your help. A set of PJ's run less than $20 and with the holiday sales, you can surely get a pair of PJs for under $10. So pick up a set while you're out shopping for loved ones and spread the cheer to a few children this year!!

St. Claire's Wishes
We are sponsoring a women's shelter called St. Claire's Home and we are seeking donations for mothers and their children. All donation items must be received by December 22nd. Each SBR committee member has chosen a wishlist for a family--check out the lists HERE. Contact the committee member to find out which items still need to be purchased and how you can help.

Contact Julie at (760) 489-5516 or at info@scrapbookroyalty.com to coordinate drop off of your donations.

THANK YOU!!!

Last night there was a knock at my front door--no one comes over here without calling unless they are Trick-or-treaters. So it was pretty odd. I open the door and this guy is standing there with this big bouquet of flowers--for me? Yes, for me! Right away my husband says, in a slightly jealous tone, "Who are those from?". Hehe

Wonderful Maryam from the Cancer Coping Center sent them to me with a note of heartfelt thanks for my help at their Nov 11th Scrapbook Royalty fundraising event. How nice! Plus Maryam got the inside info that it was my birthday today--we share the same birthday! Happy Birthday to you too Maryam!

How nice, I got flowers as a thanks, practically on my bday, and now I have a nice bouquet for the table at Thanksgiving--love it! So thank you so much Maryam! It is so often that charitable work goes unpaid and unrecognized. I feel so very appreciative that you have recognized me for the little that I do to contribute to Cancer Coping Center through Scrapbook Royalty. Thanks so much--it feels great to help such a great organization and to be a part of Scrapbook Royalty.

P.S. Thanks everyone who sent well wishes to me today, especially Mel and E for singing Happy Birthday! LOL You're making me feel old!

47 Albums Made for Families, $3500 raised!

This past weekend we had two wonderful events at It's About Time in Murrieta, CA and Pink Pineapple in Vista, CA. We made 47 beautiful albums for families coping with cancer, and also raised $3500 for the Cancer Coping Center!! It was touching to see all the albums turn out so differently and have everyone put their own personality into them. We made some wonderful new friends and heard many emotional stories of personal cancer survivors. One such brave survivor was Randi who participated in the event at It's About Time. She and her sister Cristy raised almost $900 alone. Click here to read her touching email to us. Click here to read It's About Time's blog post about the event!

We have to thank these two wonderful stores for helping us put on these amazing events. We also have to thank Jennifer Priest for designing the beautiful album, and also Nan from Zutter Zisters for all her donations and being a trooper on both days. Thank you also to all our wonderful committee members who came out to help us. Thank you for making this another Scrapbook Royalty success!

Last but absolutely not least, a great big thank you goes out to Miki Nenn from Creating Keepsakes Japan for donating almost 95% of the supplies needed to make all those beautiful albums.

Thank you one and all!

If you have any pictures from the events, please share them with us! GO to www.winkflash.com, click on Member Sign In, Username: scrapbookroyalty, password: sharing. There is a folder for both Saturday and Sunday's events.