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

Sunday News

This is just going to be a very short blog entry today. I just can't keep my eyes open because I just got in last night from a week in Cancun inspecting 7 different Palace Resorts.  Oh my!  I am so ready to go back there, and I'm actually thinking about trying to put together a scrapbooking event there for next year.  I just wanted to pass on some little tidbits of information before I go fall out and take a long nap!

As you may have noticed, we have not held our annual Think Pink (aka Pam's Pals) event this year.  I'm sorry, but there was no availability at our usual location and it has also been a very busy fall so far this year.  I am working on putting something together for January, so I will keep you posted!

Events that are coming up in the next few months are:

• Weekly Mother's Day Out crops most Thursdays 
• 3rd Wednesday Stamp Club
• 6th Annual Scrapbooking Cruise

Information about these and other events can be found on our Meetup.com website.

Here on the blog, we'll be having a few events, too.  For October, look for two different blog hops.  We'll be participating in our monthly Team LinkedIn blog hop and also the All Treats, No Tricks blog hop with Dallas/Fort Worth area stores and retreats.  Be sure to check out all the blogs for a chance to win a prize on each one.

And speaking of winning prizes, our September blog hop winner is Cheryl Albee.  Cheryl is the winner of a $25+ bag of embellishments.  Cheryl, you have 1 week to contact us to claim your prize!

Last, but not least, I want to talk a little more about Cancun.  As you may know, I am a travel agent, and I host scrapbooking cruises.  Sometimes these cruises are easy to put together, and sometimes they just don't work.  For instance, our 2013 cruise has undergone many changes.  We started out with a September departure on Carnival Cruise Line, and now we are on a Royal Caribbean cruise departing in December.  It all comes down to logistics -- finding the right dates, going to the right destination, at the right price with a conference room or other space available for our use 24/7.  I've already run into some difficulties trying to set up next year's cruise, and it looks like we may have to opt for a higher-priced cruise in order to get a date that will work for us.  So that leads me to another question...how do you feel about doing a land-based premium retreat?  I'm talking about a vacation destination get-away to some awesome place where you can choose to scrapbook or just soak up some sun.  I have several destinations in mind, but they would all require flying, which would limit the amount of scrapbooking equipment you could bring along.  What do you think?  Comment below to share your thoughts on going to a destination retreat, and be sure to find us on facebook and take our poll on this subject.  You never know...we might have a great destination that's just right for you.

Thanks For Your Support!

Today, I wanted to introduce you to a pet project of mine…the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.  As many of you know, I’ve been involved in breast cancer fundraisers for many years, including our annual “Pam’s Pals” (now called “Think Pink”) benefit crop.  In 2011, I also began walking in the SGK 3-Day along with Pam (of Pam’s Pals), my daughter, Christen, and several of our close friends and family.  I signed up in January of that year, not really knowing what I was getting myself into, and not really having anyone to walk for but my friend, Pam.

After training for weeks on end, mile after mile, and then spending the 3 days of the event walking 60 miles and sleeping in little pink tents, something in me changed.  I wasn’t just walking for Pam, I was walking for a lot of people.  I started to remember all the people in my life who had been touched by breast cancer and I even found out there was a history of it in my own family that I never knew about before.  I learned that we’re not done getting the word out.  People still don’t talk about it like they should and women still aren't getting the mammograms they need.  So for that reason, I just kept walking.

Since 2011, I’ve completed two 3-Day walks and am planning this year to be crew on a 3^rd.  Crew are basically the volunteers who run the event.  I’m going to be on camp services, picking up trash, helping set up tents, welcoming walkers into camp at the end of a long day … doing whatever is needed to support the walkers and keep everyone safe.  As a member of the crew, I’m not required to do any fundraising, but most of us do any way.  I decided not to ask my friends and family for direct donations this year, and instead am participating in a fun little fundraiser event with other crew members.  It’s a Casino Night Happy Hour event, and I would like to invite everyone in the DFW metroplex area to attend.  It’s at the Pop Diner at McKinney and Lemmon, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!

View details about the event here.

Each year, at the conclusion of the 3-Day event, I send out Thank You cards to all my donors, sponsors, and helpers.  It takes a lot of money and work to get there -- a walker who follows the training program will walk 580 miles before they even get to the event and they must raise a staggering $2300 each just to participate.  So I am always very, very grateful to anyone who helps me along the way.  Here’s a fun little card I made for my donors one year.  On the inside it says, “Thanks for your support!”

I used a Stampin' Up! embossing folder and Glimmer Paper.  The bra stamp was something I purchased a long time ago, so I don't have a clue who makes it.  Each card was a little different in that I stamped the bra onto pink patterned papers and cut out the cups to pop them up.  It doesn't really show on the photo above, so here's a little better view.  

I hope you’ll consider coming to our event.  If you do, come say “Hi” to me and give me your address so I can send YOU a card after the 3-Day, too!  Oh, and thanks for your support of this blog!  And don't forget to participate in our monthly blog hop!  Check out the post on September 20!