Hello Friends...
It's been a busy time here, but we would LUV to be busier!!
Has time gotten away from you? You haven't sent in your album request? Or you sent in your album request and just didn't send in your pictures?
It's OK!!! There is NO time limit to how long you have to send them in! It doesn't matter how long ago your WISH happened!
We would still LUV to complete an album for you! Please send your pictures and paperwork and we will create your One-of-a-kind WISH album and return it to you as soon as we can. ❤


JUNE RETREAT
Registration for our JUNE Retreat will begin on Monday, April 3, 2017 at 6PM
Cost will be $150 and it will be held at  Loews Ventana Canyon.
For your convenience, You can register for the September retreat as well, held at the same place, but the cost is $100.

That's all the updates at this time...
Be sure to check us out on FACEBOOK. Both Crops of Luv and Crops of Luv Canada would love for you to visit their pages.

Remember, we would love to meet our album goals this year!!! 300 for us and 80 for Canada!!!

Crops of Luv -- CALENDAR OF EVENTS

There are recurring events as well as one-time events.  The addresses for the recurring events are as follows:

Every Wednesday (unless otherwise noted):  Crops of Luv Volunteer Prep Time from 3 pm to 9 pm at the Crops of Luv Studio (11424 S. Pawnee Circle, Phoenix, AZ  85044).  Phone: (480) 634-7763

2nd Wednesday of Every Month (unless otherwise noted):  North Phoenix Crop from 9 am to 3 pm hosted by Julie Lucian at Kelly Hammond's Home, 2124 E. Kerry Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85024 (just north of Union Hills and west of Cave Creek Road).  Julie can be reached at JLucian@cox.net or (602) 330-6025.

Arizona Community Church Crops (dates and times TBD).  Location is 9325 South Rural Road, Tempe, AZ 85284 (just south of Warner Road).

Ahwatukee Recreational Center (events/dates/times TBD).  Location is 5001 E. Cheyenne Drive, Phoenix, AZ  85044.

APRIL 2017

April 6-8, 2017  Anaheim Scrapbook Expo, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim CA (more info available on Facebook)

April 22, 2017  9am to 6pm MST Crop for a Cause, Arizona Community Church, Tempe, AZ

May 5, 2017  NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY in CA

Calling All Crocheters--Follow-Up Cloud Pattern

On 15 July, we posted an adorable crocheted cloud and asked for volunteer crocheters to make up a bunch of them for upcoming Crops of Luv albums.  A pattern was requested and Caitlin Walker from Walker Whimsy was kind enough to share her original pattern with Crops of Luv.  THANK YOU so much, Caitlin Walker!
Unfortunately, the pictures that accompanied Caitlin's written instructions wouldn't load, but hopefully our experienced crocheting friends will be able to figure out the pattern from these instructions and the previous photo from our 15 July post.  Crops of Luv hopes there are LOTS of crocheting buddies out there who will whip up bunches of these adorable clouds for upcoming albums.  THANK YOU in advance!

Cloud Pattern

-G hook

-worsted weight yarn

Abbreviations:

ch - chain

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

Ch 84. Skip 4, sc in fifth ch from hook.

*Ch 2, skip 1 stitch, sc*. Repeat from * to * to end. Turn.

*sc, ch1, 3 hdc, ch1, sc* in first ch-2 space. Repeat * to * in each ch-2 space and beginning ch-4 space.

Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

To make the cloud shape, take one end and begin to spiral the crocheted piece around itself (as if you were making a rosette). Do this with about 1/2 of the length.

Next, grasp the remaining half a few inches below the end. Spiral that piece around to make another "puff", leaving approximately six inches uncoiled.

Take this piece and thread it through the center of the second puff, then spiral it around.

Using the long tail, sew everything together so it retains its "cloud" shape.

Voila!

--

Caitlin Walker

{walker whimsy} 

Calling All Crocheters!!!

Crops of Luv is looking for volunteer crocheters who can make up a bunch of these adorable crocheted "rain clouds."  We don't need you to do the rain or raindrops, just the crocheted cloud.  If you want to share your crocheting talents for a very worthy cause, Crops of Luv needs YOU.  So START YOUR CROCHET HOOKS today!!!

HELP! COL Needs Embellishments!

Jody and Lisa have put out an SOS call for embellishments!  Any of you volunteers out there that can help,  COL needs every type of embellishment, title, etc.  Even if each of us only does a few, that's all gonna add up to a lot.  Let's get busy!   If you're not a scrapper but believe in the COL mission, maybe you could donate some purchased embellishments or make a cash donation to COL, or send COL a gift card to Michael's or JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby, etc.  Every little bit helps; it doesn't need to be extravagant to make a difference!  Thanx!

Help! Volunteers --- Here is the Crops of Luv "Greatest Needs" List

For our volunteers who already know this... thank you for supporting what we do!  For new Crops of Luv volunteers, here is a list of our "Crops of Luv Greatest Needs":

1. We desperately need support for our Album Sponsorship Drive (see details in separate blog entry). This will help ensure that we have the funds necessary to purchase the next 100 albums and then ship them all over the world without worrying about funds for shipping.

2. Our second greatest need is a new or nearly new SUV or van to transport COL supplies to events. We are currently using really old personal vehicles to transport items to events. A new vehicle would make it possible for us to travel to events all over the western US without worrying about getting where we need to go without breaking down. 

3. Our on-going greatest need is--WE NEED YOU!!!!! We can only continue to grow our Crops of Luv mission by adding new volunteers to the group of  great volunteers and sponsors we already have. We hope you will join us by: donating items for us to auction off; helping us scrapbook; sorting donations; or offering a large space for us to hold an event to make the albums. You can help Crops of Luv grow just by being there!

Share this with everyone... we can only continue to grow with support from people like you!

NEW-- COL "Design Team" -- Want to Be a Member?

As part of our "Watch Us Grow" Campaign, Crops of Luv is looking for new ways to get lots of pages done in a short amount of time.  We are thinking about starting a new "Crops of Luv Design Team."  Since we are so busy, we would be looking for experienced crafters to design layout templates that can be easily replicated, along with a set of 20 pre-made versions of the layouts.  We would look to the "COL Design Team" members to do these templates every other month for different themes we need.  

 

Let us know if you are interested and think you might want to be a member of the team.  We are taking votes on our Facebook page, or you can leave a comment here on the blog and we will contact you that way. 

 

Every volunteer is critical to the Crops of Luv mission.  If you want to be a part of something amazing, join the Crops of Luv Design Team today! 

Cindy S.-- Welcome to the Crops of Luv Board of Directors

Crops of Luv is ever-expanding so watch us GROW! We are so happy to "WELCOME CINDY S." to our COL Board of Directors!    Cindy has been instrumental in helping us grow our volunteers through the Arizona Community Church.  We are so lucky to have Cindy on our COL team! 

COL Receives Honor

Good things continue to happen for Crops of Luv!  COL has been  chosen as one of the "12 Who Care" Honorees for the Month of November.   For those of you who are not in Phoenix, our local NBC news station has a program to honor local non-profit organizations and charitable individuals. This will mean MANY amazing opportunities in the next couple of months for Crops of Luv.    We are so excited and thrilled with this recognition!  Stay tuned to find out more in the coming weeks.

Welcome PURPLE COWS!

Welcome to our newest COL sponsor, PURPLE COWS!  They have graciously sent supplies to the COL Studio and we are very grateful for their support.  Purple Cows has totally awesome products so be sure to check out their website at http://www.purplecows.net to see the latest and greatest from this wonderful company! 

NEW CELEBRATION CHALLENGE--Give Kids The World Items!

Okay everyone, here's our NEW CHALLENGE... We need Give Kids the World (GKTW)embellishments and pre-made layouts. You'll need to go to the www.gktw.org website to learn more about what they do; GKTW is an incredible place. Each album we make at Crops of Luv usually has two or three layouts from Give Kids the World...swimming, Meeting the Characters that visit from all of the local theme parks, Pirates & Princesses, Christmas Every Thursday, and much more... For each layout you submit and for each 10 embellishments you make you'll receive an entry in our Challenge Drawing for a suite of products valued at $100. Each 2-page layout will count as an entry in our Celebration Challenge and will be entered for a chance to win a $300 prize package with items from some of our INCREDIBLE sponsors. We're setting a goal of 200 layouts (that will help us make up to 20 albums!!!!! So help us reach our goal and you could win!).

 Here are some things to remember:
*Each layout should have a "journaling spot"
*Each layout should have room for AT LEAST 5 to 7 pictures
*Make your layouts kid-friendly (colorful, interactive, lumpy bumpy, and FUN FUN FUN!!!!)
*Include a title on your layout
Embellishments: Should be handmade and not something you can buy in the store. If you need some ideas, just let us know and we can give you some ideas.

Send pictures of layouts and embellishments to our email address ( cropsofluv@cox.net )... All entries must be posted no later than 10 PM (PST) September 30th... Have FUN Creating!

Sedona Retreat Awesome Success!

Go to our Crops of Luv Facebook page to see the AWESOME pictures from our Sedona Retreat!!! We had a FANTASTIC time at the Dome Home in Sedona! Give Kids the World Weekend was sure a hit with our volunteers. Look for some pictures of the AMAZING layouts they made during the weekend. We hope you all take some inspiration for your Give Kids the World Challenge contest! Special thanks to Ty Neugent and Regina Minor for blessing us with your healing touch and the AWESOME chair massages! Also, a special thanks to Wolves Eye Photography.  Thank you everyone for all your support!

Crops of Luv "Cricut Wish List"

Visit the Official Cricut page and read our post: Crops of Luv has MANY requests: We really really really want all of the Princess and Disney cartridges to be released on the Imagine! We want them to look their best and we would LUV to have them on the Imagine! We also would LUV a Lego, Sea World, Harry Potter, Dr. Seuss, Dora the Explorer and Diego, Spiderman/Superheros (for Imagine), Universal Studios, We also need a new princess cartridge for Tiana, Tangled and BRAVE! We luv your stuff and can't wait to see all of these!!!! see more on the page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialCricut

Family Feedback

Crops of Luv receives many letters of appreciation and thanks from recipient families.  Their letters and emails are so touching, we would like to share a few:

 

I just wanted to let you know that our album arrived yesterday. It is beautiful! Brookelyn was so excited to look through it and has shown anyone and everyone that will look at it :) Thank you so much for the time and effort it took to put that together. We greatly appreciate it!   Brooke

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Hello, Tommy's mom here:  I just wanted to let you know that we received our incredible memory book this week. I was actually away with the kids when my husband told me that it had arrived. He was choking up on the phone describing it to me and I was crying on the other end without even having seen it! What an amazing job you did! It is something that I never would have had the time or talent to do myself.  Talk about using the talents God has given you for the good of others.... your group has accomplished such a wonderful and meaningful task. I was smiling from ear to ear while looking through it.  Photo's that were in an envelope with all the best intentions can now be beautifully and readily viewed thanks to your efforts. We are just blown away. We are heading back to Give Kids The World this September for a follow up visit. Seeing these pictures has our son Tommy even more excited at the prospect of going back to enjoy the day at such a magical place and to see where his "star" has been placed in the castle. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for your hard work and for pulling together the memories of such an amazing experience, albeit bittersweet. Our family is very blessed to have received such love and support and kindness from complete strangers. We are forever grateful. Tommy's most recent MRI has shown that his tumors are stable and that we can now go for biannual scans as opposed to quarterly! This is a big step in his recovery, yet another reason to be thankful. God bless you all!  Sincerely, Kim

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I just wanted to let you know we received the scrapbook on Friday and it is truly amazing. What a wonderful job capturing all our treasured memories from that week.  Jack's 4th birthday was on Saturday so the timing could not have been better. We passed it around during the family get-together for his birthday and everyone was amazed. I can't thank you and your team enough. We are all fortunate to have such a giving organization like Crops of Luv. We appreciate the time and resources dedicated to make our scrapbook. We will cherish it for a long, long time.  Regards, Greg
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We received our scrapbook and send a HUGE heartfelt Thank You to you and all of your staff that helped make our amazing Memories something we will cherish!!! It is so much more than I could have done myself! You have very talented people working for you on this project!!

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Mary is now 4 and very busy (as well we have another one on the way coming in September) so there is no way I would have had the time or money to attempt a project like this myself!! We are extremely grateful, and appreciate the amount of time, money, and thought that goes into such a wonderful book!!  We feel so blessed that such a wonderful organization was referred to us!!! Thank you again!!!  Take care,  Pete, Tanya and Mary

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Dear Crops of Luv,

I just wanted to say thank you soooo much for the beautiful scrapbook of Jenson’s Disney vacation! It was gorgeous and he looks at it all the time. He loves going through it over and over and remembering all of the fun times. It was such a blessing to receive this gift. I know a lot of time and love went into making his book special. God’s blessings upon all of you!!!  Love, Darla, Chad, and Jenson

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On Friday, we received our album and it was just wonderful. I was really touched at the fantastic job you did! I know we didn't provide much in the way of photos, and even so, you made such an awesome collection of memories of our trip to Disney and GKTW! Many thanks to you and your volunteers! We truly treasure your work! Regards, Nancy, Tom and Nicholas

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I just wanted to send a huge THANK YOU to all of you that put together the album for my son Alex. It is absolutely beautiful and my family can't thank you enough.   Alex can't stop looking at it! We have had it for several days now, and I am still ripping it out of his hands to get him to go to school in the morning. It is something we will all cherish, but especially Alex. The book is something he can hold onto forever, and relive the wonderful trip we had. I hope that someday he will be able to share it with his children. I couldn't have even imagined such a wonderful memory book, much less put it together. Your creativity is amazing and so very much appreciated!! What a truly wonderful thing you are doing for families like ours.  

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Thank you so much Roberta, Jody, and your team.   The scrapbook is absolutely fantastic. It is such a joy looking through the book; it is so fabulous.  I had to look through it three times before I could share it with anyone else. What a wonderful keepsake!  Thank you again, Rachel, Keith and Kristofer
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We received Elly's book from you guys.  You did a GREAT job putting it all together.  Thank you so much!!  We sat down as a family yesterday and looked at it for the first time together, and got many smiles and laughs out of reliving the wonderful memories from her trip.  The Crops of Luv group is such a wonderful thing...I can't thank you enough!!!  God Bless!  And, have a fantastic day!  Amber

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Dear Roberta and Crops of Luv Team, 
I have received my scrapbook. I have tears of joy streaming down my face, so it is very hard to see the pages. I wipe my eyes and start again. The love and service you have shown our family is tremendous. I am a scrabbooker myself, so I know the time it takes to do this. The amount of service provided is not lost on me. This scrapbook is very important to me, but would have been nearly impossible to do with all the emotion involved. It would have hung over my head and stressed me out. Thank you for doing this for our family. This is such a treasured gift. We look at it almost every day. Thank you for all you do and for what you have given my family in such a difficult phase of our lives.  Love.
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Welcome One and All to Our Crops of Luv Happenings Blogspot!

I am so happy that our Crops of Luv (COL) blogspot is gaining new followers!  When Jody asked me to start doing the blog for COL, we had 12 followers.  Now we are up to 23!  I hope that number keeps growing and growing because it means that more and more people are aware of the Crops of Luv organization, its incredibly selfless co-founders Jody and Roberta, and the wonderful mission they created and fulfill by making memory scrapbooks for families with critically-ill children because "a life documented is a life remembered." 
Thank you so much to all the caring, AWESOME volunteers who have become a part of COL by volunteering untold hours creating these memory books.  Thank you to all our wonderful, giving SPONSORS too!  Their help and support is truly amazing and invaluable.
Tell everyone you know about COL and what we do....the more the news gets out that COL exists, the more support, volunteers, and donations COL gains!  That's definitely a win-win situation!  Every time I mail a book I've completed I tell the postal clerk what Crops of Luv is all about (they always ask what it is when they see the addressee) .  The postal clerks always think it's amazing (which it is) and say they will tell their friends.  So, don't be afraid to spread the good word about Crops of Luv!  Also, remember to regularly check this blogspot and the Crops of Luv Facebook page for all the latest news about Crops of Luv, upcoming COL, events, contests, etc.

IGive Contest for Charities -- Crops of Luv!

The iGive organization is sponsoring a contest that could effectively earn Crops of Luv MUCHO DINERO (Lotsa Bucks! $50 Grand!)....Here's the details and links you need to help your favorite charities -- hopefully Crops of Luv is at the top of your list!!  You can also let your friends know by posting this info on your Facebook or Twitter page.  It's free, it's easy, and I've been an IGive member for awhile now and it's "painless" giving!  Head over to the iGive site and enter today!  Crops of Luv (or any charity you choose) will thank you! 

Enter the iGive Dog Days Charity Sweepstakes. Each entry grows the prize by $1 and gives your cause another chance to win. There's over 50,000 causes listed already and if you don't find yours you can add it on the fly. It's free and easy!

iGive.com

Change Shopping for Good^™

The iGive Button makes it simple to shop at any of 1103 stores like Amazon, Travelocity, Home Depot get a free donation to your favorite cause.

Layout Challenge Update

Jody and Roberta have not yet announced a winner...they're still photographing the entries to upload to the Facebook site.  However...having said that, they did just finish counting all of the layouts entered in our Celebration Challenge and this is a "drum roll" moment:  The goal was to collect 200 pages total and our COL followers SHATTERED that goal by 75 pages! The total number of layouts entered were 138 layouts and a total of 275 pages. WOW!!!!   YOU ALL ROCK!!!!  There is some of the most amazing work in the entries.   THANK YOU ALL so very much for caring about what we do! Love, caring, and heart are what our volunteers are made of that's for certain!  Please continue to keep those layouts coming even though the contest is over--they will find a home in one of our families' albums and be treasured forever by these families.  More news to come on who the big winner is.....

July Layout Challenge Has Ended

The July Layout Challenge has ended.  All entries must have been submitted by 5 pm today.  Thank you so much for helping the COL mission with your entries and Good Luck---hope you win!

Great Article Highlighting Crops of Luv

Click onto the following link to find a great article featuring Jody, Roberta, and the mission of Crops of Luv.  It's a super article (with photos) and really captures what Crops of Luv is all about.  The link is:  http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/20120717ahwatukee-women-crops-of-luv-scrapbooks-save-make-a-wish-memories.html  Enjoy and spread the word!

Cooking With Cricut Helps Crops of Luv in a BIG Way!

We want to thank our friends at http://www.cookingwithcricut.com/ /   for dedicating a 2-day Blog Hop for Crops of Luv this past weekend.  COL hopes all of our followers checked out all of the amazing layouts at Cooking With Cricut!  We encourage you to visit their website and use their layouts as inspiration to create your own layouts for the Celebration Challenge contest!  Thanx so much Cooking With Cricut...we really appreciate your support!