New at Scrapping for a Cure

Thank you for making April 2017 such a success! We were able to raise over $10,000 for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 

We are gearing up for our April 2018:

Under the Sea,

 Scrapping for a Cure Retreat. 

Our 2018 retreat has already hit the 'half full' mark and on our way to see a full crop! Thank you for making this event such a joy to plan and host.

Scrapping for a Cure has grown so much over the 9 years we have hosted it. Starting out as a small retreat of 20 croppers in Town Creek, AL raising $2000-$3000 for CFF, Scrapping for a Cure has turned into an amazing retreat of 70+ participants in Memphis, TN raising over $10,000 for CFF each year! Wow, what a transformation!

This year we will be offering a couple of new options.

Scrapbook Resale:

   This year we will be hosting our first 'Scrappy Sale' on Friday April 13th, 2018 during our retreat. Tables for the sale will be displayed in the crop room for easy shopping. If this is very popular, we may have additional sale tables in the main hall. Only registered participants will have the opportunity to reserve a table for the sale and can secure their table through Rachael McGuire. The cost of your table is minimal ($5-$15) and participants get to keep all profit. Participants can email scrapping4acure@gmail.com to get full details and reserve a table.


Shopping at the Retreat:

  Last year we had to say goodbye to our Goody Bag store. Many participants took advantage of amazing discounts as we clearanced out our store. All money raised from the store was donated to CFF. Items not purchased by our participants were donated to a local children's hospital. This year we will have fully stocked vendors that will insure our scrapbooking needs are met as we crop the weekend away. We will be featuring our vendors soon so you will have a chance to learn about them and their product. Our vendors will also be offering free make and takes again this year. Sign up for this will be held closer to time.

Can't wait to see you in the spring! 

If you are joining us for the first time, be prepared for a weekend of fun, friends, and full of crafting!!

with much love,

Your Scrapping for a Cure Team

Final Countdown for Early Bird Registration...

It has been a very busy couple of months for everyone but  we at Scrapping for a Cure wish you and your family a very merry Christmas holiday and a happy New Year!

We will be posting much more frequently in the new year but we wanted to give a final countdown reminder on our early bird registration. Only a couple of more days to get registration sent out. They must be post marked by December 31st. The registration form is located at our website scrappingforacure.com. If you need any assistance or have any questions please contact us at scrapping4acure@gmail.com

Thank you all for the love and support that you show us and  for supporting the fight for a cure for CF. May the new year bring many blessings and much joy to each of you.

----- Love, Tara & the Scrapping for a Cure Team

Back 2 Life, Back 2 Reality, Back 2 the Shoals

Back to Life

   Though it was so much fun at the beach, Kaitlyn and I are glad to be home and back into the routine of life. Kaitlyn went to visit her doctor last week and the results were great. Her lung function has leveled off since the previous month, something that hasn't occurred without additional medication help this whole past year. She has gained a pound and grown an inch! (Always great to hear for someone with a medical condition that makes it very hard to gain weight and flourish.) Her lungs sound clear and her lab work came back normal (for her). Was it the beach air? We don't know. She was also using essential oils, sleeping 10-12 hrs a day, swimming daily for exercise, and eating regularly. We are trying to change our lifestyle to include these extra health benefits to see if she continues to improve. Only time will tell. 

  On a positive note, she isn't scheduled to see her doctor until after Christmas. If all goes well, this will be our first year to spend Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas as a family since she was diagnosed in 2007. She is so excited to enjoy Halloween this year. It has been so long, she didn't even know what a Trunk or Treat was and that our church hosts one for Halloween. My creative kids decided to make their costumes this year out of cardboard boxes.....becoming the 'Boxtrolls'. I am so proud of them for working together, helping each other make the costumes. 

We had so much fun this past weekend visiting my family Murry & Tara Smith for their annual Halloween Carnival....definitely a better experience for us than last year. Last year, after traveling the 3 hrs, we arrived at their house with a sick Kaitlyn. She had seemed fine when we left home, but by the time the party started, she was running a low grade fever and couldn't keep her eyes open. She ended up sleeping through the whole party. 36hrs later, she was admitted to Children's Hospital in Huntsville, AL with a collapsed lung, the other lung completely dense with mucus, and put on oxygen for almost two weeks. Since then, this year has been very tough for her. But she is such a fighter, and our personal hero. 

Scrapping for a Cure Update

   Though Scrapping for a Cure is many months away, our committee members are always diligently working to get it ready. Our favorite part??!! Research (by cropping)!! Jill Worley spent over a week traveling to different scrapbook stores and crops, having fun and getting ideas for our event. Tara Smith & I will be heading to Arkansas next week for a huge crop. We love being pampered as croppers!!! We are having early bird registration right now. This runs through December 31st, 2014. All early birds will be entered into our big drawing: Hilton night stay, Breakfast for 2, and $100 Scrapping Bucks to spend at the vendor booths during our 2015 retreat! Don't miss out! You can find more information and a registration form at our website, www.scrappingforacure.com.

  

Kaitlyn's CF Journey: Gearing up for Fall

                                               

Gearing up for the Fall

Thank you for all of your support through Kaitlyn's trials. She is currently home with us and attending school with her friends. Though her main fight is with Cystic Fibrosis, she has also developed CFLD (Cystic Fibrosis Liver Disease). We found out last month that her Liver Disease is progressing and her platelets continue to decrease. Even a small cut has been a cause of concern for us these last couple of weeks because she isn't clotting well. The thought of wrapping her in bubble wrap runs through my mind often. Luckily she is a cautious kid....unfortunately, accidents still happen. But as we live, we learn. And we hope to get more pointers and ideas from her doctors next week on how to treat small accidents when they occur.

In less than two weeks, Kaitlyn and I will head to the beach for a little personal health research. In search for a better atmosphere for her condition, we are moving to the beach for a month to chart her health progress. The fall is usually her hardest time of the year, always landing her in the hospital for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. The salt in the air on the coast has been known to help CF patients breath better and live fuller lives. We have been fortunate enough to find a condo right on the beach to help in our research, which also has great kid amenities to keep her occupied. She will miss her brothers as they stay behind to attend school, but she will be kept busy with her school work as well. We are so blessed to have a wonderful school district which supports us in her schooling, even if she isn't able to attend as often as her peers. We will look forward to our weekend visits with our family as they travel each week to visit us and enjoy the beach with us.

I am so excited I got to sign the contract for next year's event for the Hilton. Our Scrapping for a Cure committee has worked diligently the last four months, trying to find the perfect location in Memphis for our annual event. We wanted a place that will grow with us and will also help us in reaching our fundraising goals. Hilton is such a wonderful facility and I know we will feel so pampered during our event there. They have been working with us and meeting with us the past few month to help us see the potential of next year's event. Over the Memorial Day Weekend, our committee put in over 30 hrs of meetings, organizing registration and brainstorming on how to make next year's crop 'top-notch'. I am so thankful to have wonderful family and friends that have helped me grow Scrapping for a Cure into what it is today. And to help me dream about what it may one day be. For every dollar we raise and every person we are able to help educate about CF, the closer we will be to finding a cure for this disease.


                                               

Registration for 2015 Scrapping for a Cure is officially open! Our goal was to have it in place by November, but with great dedication, we were able to get it done by Memorial Day Weekend.  Early Bird registration will run through December 31st, 2014. One lucky winner will receive a one night stay at the Hilton, Breakfast for two, and a $100 shopping spree to be spent at our vendor booths during the event! Do not procrastinate signing up. We do have limited seating. Once the seats are filled, we will start a waiting list, but can not guarantee a spot. To be entered into the drawing, we need to receive your registration and full payment by the first week of January. Anything postmarked after December 31st, will not be entered into the drawing. Regular registration will run through March 13th.  We have so much in store for this year's event, I don't even know what to say my favorite part is. But I am very proud to say that we will have our dinners catered by Hilton and that all croppers will have the opportunity to have a 6ft cropping space. You can find the registration information on our website, www.scrappingforacure.com. Registration for classes will open January 1st.


                                    


A month ago, Tara Smith held a Fundraising yard sale in the Memphis Area to help raise money for our cause. This last weekend, Anna Steinke, Lisa Flannagin, and I also held a Fundraising yard sale, but in Russellville, Alabama. Between the two yard sales, we were able to raise over $2500!! We have such great community support! Thank you for helping us.