Think Pink Crop for a Cure Post-Crop

Hey there Crafty Neighbors!  I think I'm finally recovered from our Think Pink crop this weekend.  We had such a great time and we raised a lot of money to help in the fight against breast cancer.  You can see more pictures from the event on our Facebook page.  Now we're busy getting ready to head down to Houston for the Creating Keepsakes Convention there.  I'm really looking forward to networking with a new bunch of crafters from that area and making some cute projects at the crops.  It's going to be so much fun -- if the hurricane doesn't drown us! Looks like Harvey is set to make landfall in Corpus Christi, but we'll still be getting lots of rain in The Woodlands.  So say a little prayer that we stay high and dry!

One of the reasons we are heading to Houston is to promote our Crafty Neighbor cruises.  Sadly, we've had to cancel the September cruise for lack of interest, but we are still working on our February Brush Strokes in the Bahamas painting cruise (think "paint and wine parties"!) and our May Scrapbooking cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman.  Both of these are 7-night cruises and they are going to be so much fun!  We'd love to have you join us!  Just send us an email.

So now that I've gotten all that out of the way, how about some cut projects?  I have two for you today, to make up for my absenteeism of the last few months (did I mention I had a few surgeries?).

This first one is a card we made in our 3rd Wednesday Stamp Club meeting.  Denise is our Stampin' Up! demonstrator and she always has the cutest projects!  This one uses the new In Colors and the Eastern Beauty stamp set.  I just love the Lemon-Lime Twist, and I'm so happy they finally have my favorite color!

This second project is a page I did in my Bible after watching the video from Tracey Pounds of The Little Blue House.  You can watch the video here.  After she made the video, Tracey hosted a napkin swap, and this was one of the napkin I received.  In case you wonder about the verse or the prayer on the left page, my sister has been very ill since late June after she had open-heart surgery to repair her mitral heart valve, which was damaged by Rheumatic Fever when she was a child.  

That's it for today.  I'm working on some fun videos to show you very soon!  Until then, keep crafting!

Think Pink Crop for a Cure!

If you’ve been reading this blog, you probably know that my name is Cindy Murray, and most people know me as the owner and organizer of Crafty Neighbor, a Texas-based scrap and craft events company.  We are best known for our craft cruises, retreats, scrapbook garage sales, and, of course, our annual “Think Pink Crop for the Cure.”  What most people don’t know about me is that I am now a 1-year breast cancer survivor, and I would like to share my story with you.

In 2008, my company hosted our first ever fundraiser crop to help Pam Wilemon, a local scrapbook instructor who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Pam had lost her job, had no insurance, and had a lot of medical bills to pay.  So we hosted “Pam’s Pals Crop” to help her out.  The response was tremendous, so we did it again in 2009 while she was still undergoing treatment.  Eventually, Pam got better, so we decided to focus our giving to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure in which Pam and several of our Crafty Neighbor instructors and organizers were walking.  We hosted a 3-Day walk team every year, sometimes walking, sometimes volunteering for the 3-Day Crew, but always involved in some way.  We have continued this tradition year after year because we feel the cause is so very important and our message of hope needs to be shared with all women. 

Then, last year, it happened to me – I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The American Cancer Society estimates that about 1 in every 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer of some type.  About 1 in 35 women will die from it – that's one every 69 seconds. 

Friends and family have commented on how ironic it is that I had breast cancer after I’ve been such a staunch supporter of this cause, but I look at those statistics and I know that it was bound to happen to me or to someone I love.  This disease is pervasive, and it’s not going to go away until we MAKE it go away.  We must fund the research to find better treatment that doesn’t involve disfiguring our bodies, and hopefully some day we will be able to prevent it entirely.  We must continue to encourage women to get annual mammograms, and we must insist that insurance companies pay for screening.

This is where you come in.  I can’t do this alone.

On August 19, 2017, Crafty Neighbor will be hosting our annual Think Pink Crop for the Cure at the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas Council, JoAnn Fogg Service Center, at 6001 Summerside Drive, Dallas, Texas 75252. All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.

We would love to have you join us!  Registration will remain open through Monday, August 14.  You can sign up online at CraftyNeighbor.com.  The event costs $50, but includes lunch, dinner, and lots of prizes and surprises throughout the day. 

If you’d like more information about the 3-Day or simply want to make a cash donation, please visit our team page at:  http://www.the3day.org/goto/walkerstexasrangers