Only every 4 years!

Do we get to have a Feb 29th.

 

The day has been like any other day for me. Friday is my normal 'scrap night' but tonight I'm having a 'girls group' gathering at my house instead. It will be a fun way to celebrate this extra day we have been given. Sometimes I wish I had more extra days.

 

Anyways, just wanted to pop in quickly as I haven't managed to blog yet this week. Wow and tomorrow is March already. I hope everyone else is in control of their time a bit better then I am right now. I can't beleive it's March tomorrow.

 

Over the weekend I'm really hoping to do my first digital scrapbook layout. If I do I'll post it here. I'm excited to try it out.

 

In closing I just want to say

 

ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL THE CROP IN NEW MEXICO. I'm thinking of you Kris in these last few days of planning. I'm sure you're event will be tons of fun.

 

Have you joined www.mycraftivity.com yet! What are you waiting for!

Great new site

I really need to get better control of my time. It's going by too quickly and I'm just not getting everything done that I want. This blogging thing is something I have to get better at too. I need to remember to blog every couple of days with just small pieces of information. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll get better as time goes by.

 

Lots on the go right now but nothing that's concrete enough to share quite yet.

 

I do have one thing that I want to share, it's a great site, a new type of social networking. I'm going to try to build up a network there to help us really get the word out about what we are doing.

 

My friend at F&W Publications (Memory Makers Magazine) asked me to join this site a couple of weeks ago as it was just starting. I've never been in at the beginning of anything so being somewhere around the 60th person to join was kinda cool.

 

It's called MyCraftivity www.mycraftivity.com

 

You have to register like any other social networking type of site (Facebook, Myspace) and you can create your own page, host a blog, upload photos etc. It's really a great little site. There are pushing 300 members now so it's certainly growing.

 

What I like about it is that it is focused on all things CRAFTING. You can join a group of scrapbookers, painters, or quilter etc. Join all of them if you want to. It's a great place to get ideas and share ideas on many types of crafts. I know many of us are involved and passionate about more that just scrapbooking. I can't wait to see where this site goes in the next few months.

 

Join now and check it out. Oh and don't forget to join the Scrapping 4 Inclusion group while you are there.

 

Have a great weekend

February - the month for LOVE!

Everyone seems to be talking about Valentines Day these days. I know it's tomorrow but I've never really been a believer in celebrating your LOVE for anyone or anything on one specific day.

 

Yes I have received flowers in the past for Valentines Day but I've told my hubby more than once that I'd much rather him buy me flowers on a normal day for no reason at all. That's just how I feel about Valentines. It's a day for retailers to make more money selling 'stuff'.

 

Now this year we did something a bit different for my daughter. She is 9 and of course loves to take in those silly little Valentines cards to all her class mates. Well over the last few months she's taken quite a liking to the art of 'stamping' so this year she made her own cards and stamped each one of them and wrote a cute littel note to her friends. Things like "your cool" and "awesome". She really enjoyed it and I think this year giving these cards might actually mean something to her. Hopefully her friends will like them too.

 

Well I'm kinda in a little bit of a slump myself these days. I've got lots going on and wheels are turning all over the place but it just feels like with all this motion going on we aren't really going anywhere. Have you ever felt like that? I'm sure it will pass but it really makes me reflect on what I've done and what I still want to do and of course..... what can I be doing better to make those wheels go a little faster. Hopefully I'll come up with something.

 

In the meantime I have finally finished the instruction manual for the Let's ALL Scrapbook program. It's in the hands of the Foundation currently for their review. Then I'll release it and spend some time marketing it. It's really just a simple instruction manual to help anyone and everyone implement a 1-2 hour scrapbooking project with children. The goal is to get as many people out there as possible to host these craft sessions to get children together. Including kids with and without disabilities so that, even for a short time, they can experience what INCLUSION is all about.

 

Even if one person takes the initiative and implements just one class for 25 kids then there are 25 more kids with and without disabilities that are one small step closer to understanding and accepting each other for who they are. Inclusion can become a way of life if we all just take one small step at a time. Let's ALL Scrapbook is a tool to help others guide our communities towards inclusion, one step at a time.

 

For those who do celebrate it...... HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

 

Laurie

Ahhhhh February or should I say Brrrrrr February!

I'm slightly in shock right now as I just can't believe it's February already.

 

This month will mark the 2 year anniversary of my Mom's passing and these last 2 years have just flown by. Really makes you wonder sometimes if you are really making good use of your time here on earth. I'd like to think that I am, but still time goes so fast and I don't feel that I get enough done on any given day. I guess when I look at the big picture it looks better. That's what I'll do….. just look at the Big Picture and not worry about what I didn't get done today.

 

Now having said that, I've been meaning to blog and just haven't gotten around to it so today is the day to get that blog done. I really need to do this more often. The unfortunately thing is that there isn't that much to report on a regular basis but I'll do my best.

 

Today though I am very EXCITED!

 

I want to announce our very first PLATINUM SPONSOR for Scrapping 4 Inclusion.

 

Simply Cardstock - monthly cardstock kit club. They are donating a prize to 50 of our events and also offering a discount coupon to every single scrapbooker that attends our events this year. How exciting is that! Vicki's brother has CP and her parents had to struggle for everything for him so Vicki clearly see's the value in assisting our communities to become more 'INCLUSIVE' for all children.

 

Thank You Vicki and Simply Cardstock for being our first Platinum Sponsor. Please visit their website for information on their monthly kits. www.SimplyCardstock.com

 

I have three other sponsors from the Digital Scrapbooking world and I'll announce those tomorrow. I'm glad to have some digital sites on board as there are many scrapbooker who do both digital and paper scrapbooking so it's nice to have everyone included together. I know that I personally am looking forward to my dive into the digital world. That's coming up here really quickly as I just finished the photos for my daughter that weren't on digital. Everything else is now digital so I'll be doing a combination of both types of scrapbooking from now on and it's exciting.

 

Hope everyone stays warm. Happy Scrappin!

 

Today is my brothers birthday

Well Happy Birthday Tim!

I now officially didn't forget his birthday. The problem is that I really have no idea where he is or where he's living these days so I'm not sure I'll be able to reach him to wish him a happy birthday. I'll give it a shot tonight. I think I'll have to try the younger brother to see if he knows where the older one is.

So January is almost done and it's time to do a reality check! What did I accomplish this month. Time seems to fly by so quickly that if I dont' do this often then I'll lose track of time and I won't get where I want to go.

So what did I accomplish this month.

1. Followed up with all the organizers to confirm who is on board for 2008. Still waiting to hear from 17 of them so that's not too bad.
2. Sent out some requests for corporate sponsorship. I have over 300 to send out and I think I've sent about 60 or so. Not as good as I'd like.
3. Started a blog.
4. Opened a Facebook account and started a Scrapping 4 Inclusion group.
5. Kept up contact with Memory Makers Magazine, working on building our partnership.
6. Received products and made final decisions on promotional items.
7. Started another business - this took up some of my time I must admit but it's kinda exciting.

So what do I want to make sure I finish before the month ends - in like 2 DAYS!

1. Send out more corporate sponsorship requests - at least get to the half way mark
2. Try to confirm the other 8 pending organizer leads I have.
3. Open up account for promotional items and let all organizers know about it.

The good thing is that I did accomplish something and I'm excited to say that we have had one event completed this month, we have two more events with dates and I have confirmed 3 sponsors for prizes so I'm excited about that. I will announce who the sponsors are once they confirm the sponsor level that they are joining us at.

OK, full speed ahead. I want to accomplish TONS in February!

Have a great January 29th everyone.

Friday already!

Where on earth does the time go.

 

I can't believe it's Friday and I think I only managed to blog once so far this week. I really must get better at this. I guess it's not a big deal right now because I think I'm still pretty much talking to myself :)

 

These past couple of weeks have been very busy for me. I decided since I didn't have enough on my plate that I should also start a business. Wow, why do I do this to myself. I think it's cause I really believe in this product and it will sell itself (for the most part) and it's just something that happened. One thing I have learned in the last couple of years is that these things happen and sometimes instead of ignorning them we really must take a good look and take a chance. There is a reason this kinda happened when it did.

 

Actually I had hoped to find a way to make an extra $5,000 per year so that I could travel to at least a couple of Scrapping 4 Inclusion events every year. This little business I think will do that for me and potentially alot more. I'm looking forward to having the flexibility to really get out there in the field and attend a couple of events every year. I'm excited!

 

We have a new organizer on board that found us through someone else's blog. That's very exciting. I just love to find out how people are finding us and to see that the internet really can help spread the word. I'm sure that when that blogger put up my link they never really thought that it might lead to a new event. One simple thing really can make a difference. Just like one person can make a difference.

 

Hopefully soon my blog posts will be a little more informative. Right now we are just really getting started for 2008 so look for many more exciting things for the future.

 

Have a great weekend and Happy Scrappin! (tonight is scrap night with my neighbour - wooo hoooo).

 

Here’s to 2008

Wow is all I can say. I can't believe that it's January 23 already.

2007 passed with a blink of an eye and now January is almost over too.

Time really does fly when you're having fun!

Today I am very happy to report that we have 2 more event dates for 2008.

March 8 - Rio Rancho, New Mexico

May 17 - Wilson, North Carolina

I'm so excited about what Scrapping 4 Inclusion can accomplish this year and we are off to a great start already with one completed event taking place in January in Lovetsville, Virginia.

The goal for 2008 is to hold 100 Scrapping 4 Inclusion events across the USA.

Right now we have almost 60 volunteer organizers communicating with us about doing an event in their community. Out of that we have 36 confirmed locations for 2008. Still working on confirming the others and I'm always trying to find more.

The statistics show that there are millions of scrapbookers in the USA and I know that there are plenty of those who would just love to get involved and help the Foundation bring inclusion to ALL children. The problem that I see is that they don't know about us yet. You can't help a cause that you know nothing about, now can you?

You're thinking to yourself, what can I do to help? TALK, TALK TALK.

The more people who talk about Scrapping 4 Inclusion and The Bubel/Aiken Foundation the more word will spread and I know for a fact that eventually it will lead right to that person who is looking for something just like Scrapping 4 Inclusion. That 'perfect fit' where someone can take their hobby and do something really good with it.

How can you help TALK, it's easy…… put a link to my blog on your website or blog. If you have a Facebook account go find me Laurie Weishar and add me as a friend and join the Scrapping 4 Inclusion group. There are so many people on Facebook and if we can get just some of them TALKING then we can really make a difference.

Wow, as morbid as this might sound, my mom is likely rolling over in her grave right now at the fact that me TALKING is actually making a difference in this world. Ever since I entered the world of "school" I don't think I ever got a report card that didn't say "Laurie talks just a little too much with her classmates"……… STILL DOING IT AND LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

OK, enough talking for today! Off to get some work done.

Have a great one!

Laurie