Scrap It Forward & A Call To Action

You might already know that I hold Craft Support Groups for Caregivers of Alzheimer's patients and patients with brain injuries–they caregive for their family member all day long and the support group is a way for them to get out of the house, do a little craft, and maybe take their mind off the stress of caring for their dying loved one. My contract and obligation with the non-profit that organizes the groups is coming to a close — they may be closing their doors at the end of June due to funding cuts (they have already lost 80% of their funding that came from the State). My program was funded by a grant but with no agency to oversee the grant, there is no way to continue.

I am holding a few more of my regular Craft Support groups and then in June I am closing it all out by teaching a mini book class at a retreat the agency is organizing here in Hesperia for all the caregivers on June 10th at 9am. This is what I need help with.

I planned on creating the base of each mini book for each attendee and then they could decorate it and add photos in the 45 minute class time.

Well, they called me yesterday and said they have 60 confirmed attendees, possibly 80. YIKES!! It takes me about 10-15 minutes to make one book and that means about 12 hours of time that I don't really have in the next 3 weeks. So this is where I am asking for your help.

If you are willing and able, please create a mini book base following the guidelines below that you can send to me to use for these caregivers. I will really appreciate it and I know they will too. If you personally cannot help, I would appreciate you passing the word on to others through Facebook etc so that we can give the caregivers something really nice to close out our time together. Here's the details:

• Deadline: June 1, 2010 — I need time to make extras in case I don't receive enough
• 1-2 books from you will be AWESOME! If you can do more, please send more ;)
• You can attach a tag to the binding of the book with your name/website, whatever info you want and that you donated if you like
• If you need supplies, you are welcome to come to my house and we can create some books together

You can mail books to me OR drop them at my house. For my street address please email me at hydrangeahippo[at]yahoo[dot]com or call me at 909-648-9528 or contact me through Facebook.

OR you can stop by one of my classes/events and give it to me there. Here is where I will be the next few weeks:

May 15 – The Red Bee 2pm-5pm
May 16 – Collective Journey 1pm-4pm
May 19 – The Red Bee 530pm-730pm
May 22 – Kat Scrap Studio 12-3pm
May 23 -The Red Bee 12-3pm
May 25 – Collective Journey 530pm-730pm
May 30-31 – Crop at Aprile's Attic All Day

Each book must have:

• FIVE 6×6 chipboard base pages – NO cardstock or page protector inner pages please.
• Chipboard pages must be covered with paper on both sides
• Please use strong adhesive.
• Bound in a stable way: 3 binder rings, O-Wires (Zutter Bind It All) along entire spine, in center only (6 holes), or on edges only (3 holes on top and 3 holes on bottom
• Paper must coordinate throughout book — please try to avoid themes (birthday, Christmas, etc) and use Cardstock or a subtle pattern if possible. Try to imagine what someone in their 60's + might like. Graphic 45 will likely be a hit. It does not have to be all the same brand, just generally something that makes sense.
• Please create something you would like to receive

Optional Book Features:

• Paint the edges to cover the chipboard
• Ink if you want, however you want
• Cover the pages with strips of papers, as long as they match — it is fine to use your scraps just make sure it is something you would like to receive if it were you in the class
• Round the corners of the pages
• Use colored O-wire or rings
• Tie ribbon on rings or O-wires
• Spritz book with spray ink like Glimmer Mist
• Add little extras like tags, ribbon, embellies in a little bag tied to the spine of the book to help the person decorate it. Think “family”, “life”, “grandkids”, “love”…those are all themes they would like.

You can have different papers on one page, add borders or whatever if you want to put a little more into it but plain covered pages are fine too.