The Scrap Cabana's 1st Anniversary Celebration!

We made it through the first year! Thank you for all the support! A few years ago I had a crazy idea to start an on-line scrapbook store. I have been scrapbooking for over 12 years and I was really frustrated that I could not find one scrapbook source for my favorite scrappin subjects. My family, children, including their school & sporting accomplishments and our family travels. Since I had so many memories to scrap, I originally decided to move forward instead of starting from the beginning! My focus was to create a school years scrapbook for each of my children, committing to keeping it current! The second was to document all our family travels since this was really the only time we were focused on family activities without all the day to day interruptions. Every time I would go to the local scrapbook store, they had the same school year, sports and travel scrapbooking products! I wanted more! So, I came up with this idea to start a scrapbook supply source focusing on travel, sports and school year products! I wanted to offer a large assortment in these areas so that if others were also discouraged with the limited supply available locally they would have an additional source where they were free to surf till their hearts were content! What better place than the World Wide Web, where from the comfort of your own home, you could oooh and aahhh at all the great products available? I had been working in the staffing industry for 16 years and I really wanted to focus on creating this new adventure! Many smart, intelligent people warned me that turning my hobby into a business venture wasn’t the brightest idea but I threw caution to the wind and decided to take that leap! Thus began my newest adventure, The Scrap Cabana.

How did you ever come up with that name, you may ask? After searching and searching the web for scrapbook names that weren’t taken, I was reminded of our vacation travels once again. Whenever we travel, our family must spend at least half the time in or near the water. We find the most relaxing environment at the pool or at the beach is chilling in a Cabana. When you rent a Cabana, you never have to worry about finding enough vacant lounge chairs, the television is available for my sports loving hubby and sons, and I don’t have to make 15 trips to the concession stand for my hungry children who never seem to want to eat at the same time! It may cost a bit more, but we have found that it is, what’s that commercial jingle….Priceless! So, we wanted a name that reminded us of one of our favorite places….while offering a similar environment where you could escape to scrapbooking from your favorite chair, couch or even bed, multitask while watching your favorite TV show or even eat & drink if you felt compelled! Whaala…….The Scrap Cabana. You’re Escape for Scrapbooking! Clever, huh?!? We think so!

My family has been extremely supportive during this crazy, hectic and even sometimes scary journey and I cannot thank them enough for all their support! It has been a struggle establishing our name on the World Wide Web but we are taking it one day at a time. Our motto is “Keep it Simple, Keep it Current!” And my favorite quote has always been, “Anything is possible!”

We are so excited to be celebrating our 1st anniversary! We want to thank all of our scrappin buddies that have helped us reach this awesome milestone and we look forward to being your favorite source for scrapbooking products in the future. While our focus will continue to be based on Scrapbooking products for Travel, Sports, Hobbies & School Years, we have gradually introduced other scrapbooking themes and will continue to keep an eye open for fun, classy, funky & unique scrapbooking items.

Even during these times of economic challenges, we hope that you will still capture and preserve your most precious memories through scrapbooking! At The Scrap Cabana we appreciate your business! We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for YOU! I find it very exciting to share our awesome scrapbook treasures with those who actually appreciate them! I love being able to contribute to preserving your most precious memories! Your hard work will be appreciated for years to come! Thanks for letting us be a “little” part of those memories!

Thanks for taking time to read all about our journey! I hope you share in my joy and passion and be sure to take time to surf the site! http://www.thescrapcabana.com/. We will have lots of specials during our Anniversary month of October! Check back often as we will switch up the specials and savings thought out the month! I hope you will find the site easy to navigate and full of exciting products! Check our blog often, as I will continue to relive bits & pieces of the tale of our journey along the way! I will also be sure to update the site with exciting new products as often as I can! If you have a favorite product line that you do not see, be sure to drop me a line and I will check it out……we encourage suggestions, comments and critiques! Feel free to call, text, snail mail or E-mail me at michelle@thescrapcabana.com

Until our next chitchat.....Happy Scrappin!

Michelle
The Scrap Cabana
Your Escape For Scrapbooking

The Scrap Cabana November 2009 Weekend Scrapbook Retreat Information

Are you yearning to scrapbook but just can't find the time? Do your kids, family and work responsibilities dominate your life and time? Me too! While this is all good, we need to carve out some time for ourselves! I have been an avid scrapbooker for over 12 years and I am very interested in meeting local scrappers and getting together for Scrapbooking Marathons!

Our next Weekend Scrapbook Retreat is November 21, 22, 23, 2009 in Aurora, IL at The Hampton Inn & Suites. Join us for the entire event or if time is still limited, you may choose to come for a day or two days! Space is limited so be sure to reserve your seat today! Get a group of friends to join in on the fun and make it an annual event!

Click on the flyer to the left to check out all the details!

I have also included a registration form for more detailed information.

Join us for this great event! It’s the perfect chance to catch up on all your scrapbooking! OR at least have a bit of fun! Our Scrapbooking room is open 24 hours for those die hard scrappers! We are in a secure hotel conference room so once you get out all your scrapping goodies and spread out, you don't need to pack up until you leave! Room is locked after the last scrapper finally gives up for the evening.

If you are looking for a place to Scrapbook, meet new people and laugh then this is the event for you! Leave your career, kids, hubby, housework and worries at home and escape for a weekend of Scrapbooking!

Check out our site link to the right of this blog for more detailed information!

Until our next chitchat.......Happy Scrappin'

Michelle

The Scrap Cabana

Your Escape for Scrapbooking!

The Scrap Cabana Weekend Scrapbook Retreat - September 5, 6, 7th Wrap-Up

The Scrap Cabana hosts Weekend Scrapbook Retreats in Aurora, IL at The Hampton Inn & Suites. We just hosted our 2nd Scrapbook Weekend on September 5,6,7 and it was a great success! We had such a great time and lots of scrappin' fun! Our scrapbook events are growing quickly and we had 33 scrappin' buddies attend our September Event!

At our Scrapbook Weekend, we play Scrapbook BINGO! You earn raffle tickets just by scrappin'! It is a typical BINGO card but with scrappin' squares. An example of a Bingo square would be USE RIBBON ON YOUR PAGE, or SCRAPPED FOR OVER 8 HOURS IN ONE DAY, or COMPLETED 10 PAGES. It is really a lot of fun and you earn raffle tickets that you can use to win Scrappin' Giveaways.

Everyone was busy scrappin' the weekend away! Our scrapping room is open 24 hours for those die hard scrappers and we took total advantage of the time away. Scrapper Anita was our late nite die hard staying up until 5:30 AM! She stayed up in time to catch the wonderful hot breakfast that the Hampton host for all overnight guest! After catching a few hours of sleep, she was back at it by 11:00 AM! What a tropper! Scrapper Beth completed a whopping 30 pages! She was also busy earning her Scrapbook BINGO tickets and she completed the full Scrapbook Bingo card! Scrapper Erin was our honored returning guest....she has attended both of our scrapbook weekends and we were so happy she came back for more! Thanks Erin! Scrapper Kim A is expecting her second child in a few weeks and we were so happy she was able to join us! Any day now.....we will be thinking about you and wish you the best!

With so much time to focus on just scrappin', we created lots of wonderful scrapbook layouts! Just look at our creations! Click on the picture for a close up! (Some are not upright and I have tried to correct but they keep going back sideways!)

Once all the BINGO raffle tickets were earned, we held our Scrappin' Raffle at the end of our event on Sunday. The Scrappin' Raffle was very exciting and highly anticipated! We had a lot of different winners so no one dominated the raffle! Check out our winners......

The Scrap Cabana Scrapbook Weekend Retreat Bingo Winners: Scrapper Beth, Jackie (2), Hilda (2), Anita, Trina, Alice, Sue, Judy (2), Kathy & Kim

Congratulation Winners!!!
Our weekend was a lot of fun and other than being sleep deprived, I believe it was a success! Please join us for our next Scrapbook Weekend Retreat in November! It's just around the corner and definitely worth it!

Until our next chitchat.........Happy Scrappin'

Michelle

The Scrap Cabana
Your Escape for Scrapbooking!