Scrapping to Save Second Base

Well, yesterday was the scrapping "marathon", which went very well! After we got up at the crack of dawn (OK, 9 am), Art dropped me off at the Providence Cancer Center. The event was set up in the downstairs lobby area, which had all of its normal furniture moved out and lots of tables and chair set up for the scrappin' hordes that descended upon the center. I don't have an exact count of people who attended, but I would say it was a couple of hundred ladies of all ages, including a few baby ladies who came with their moms and grandmas. My friends from work saved me a place at their table, which was really nice. They were with a group of their friends who all do Creative Memories scrapbooking including their dealer, Heather Hale (sp?). Although I enjoy scrapbooking, I do not take it to nearly the level of some of my table-mates. They were all matting their photos and doing all these fancy things with papers and templates... It was really quite impressive, and they were very generous about sharing their expertise. I generally do what I would consider "modified scrapbooking". I crop my photos and use some special papers, but the techniques I use the most are journaling (a.k.a. writing things down) and embellishment with stickers and other stuff. Maybe some day I will get more into it, but today is not that day. Despite the fact that I do not own a brand-name scrapping item, and indeed would not know one if it bit me, they were all very nice and tried not to hold it against me. At least not too much.

There were lots of activities throughout the day, including door prize drawings, a silent auction, and a few other games of chance that you could pay to play, mostly we all just scrapbooked. The group also sponsored an art-supply drop off, where you could drop off art supplies for cancer patients and their families, and had little kits to make cards for cancer patients. I won 2 door prizes (!) and had a lot of fun playing a few of the other games of chance, though I did not win any of them. But that is OK, as I was at the lucky table - everyone at my table won at least one door prize, which was strange but cool. Also, one lady I was sitting next to won the prize for the most donations raised (she brought in $1,300!). She also won the same thing last year - she is a cancer survivor, and is very passionate about cancer prevention and research, so this is a big thing for her. Hearing her story was very moving, and a good reminder for me about why doing this kind of thing is important.