Chat tonight, anyone?!

 We invite you to join a group of scrapbookers who will be using our live chat feature tonight at 7 pm (CST). The chat is being organized by ladies who are part of a new forum called ScrapNYap. This is an extremely encouraging, kind, cheerful, and happy message board, and to say it is SG-friendly is an understatement!

Right now, a group of about 40 of us are taking Allison's online Sketch Support class together. We have just completed week one, and we're posting our layout assignments and inspecting and praising each others' work. As soon as we finish the Sketch Support class, we're going to start on another one of Allison's classes and do it as a group, too! We'd love to have you join us. (Click here to read more details about the class.)

I know they would love to have you join them tonight to talk about all things scrapbooking. And if you would like to check out this new forum, the address is: http://scrapnyap.freeforums.org. To participate, you must be approved by the moderator, who works hard to ensure that this forum stays supportive, informative, and above all, pleasant and welcoming.

It's Sketch Week with Allison Davis!

We love Sketch Week, and it's time to have some fun as Allison Davis gives detailed descriptions of how to get the most mileage and inspiration from Scrapbook Generation's free download sketch this month.

We're giving you a sneak peek at the sketch, which will be available for download tomorrow. For now, why not hop over to Allison's blog for a closer look at her layout, and for information about how to win a great prize! Click here to check out Sketch Week.

New at SG!

Queen & Co.: candy stripers (striped accents that would make cute flower centers), ice accents (polka dotted shaped buttons), pave jewels, and twinkle jewels

Adorn It: Forever Family

Little Yellow Bicycle: Poppy

Echo Park: Bundle of Joy

Echo Park: Bundle of Joy

Doodlebug: Cap & Gown

New quarterly blog hop for SG sketch fans!

Today, we're turning the blog over to Ruth Bonser from Australia. Ruth is a long-time SG fan/customer/friend, and she's also an extremely accomplished and talented scrapbooker and blogger. Recently, she had three beautiful layouts published in the first issue of a new Australian online magazine: "Life. Paper. Scrapbook."

Ruth has come up with an exciting way to motivate all of us to scrapbook more, and share more. We'll let her explain what she has planned...

Ruth Bonser:

Come and join the party!

Who wants to see a whole lot more layouts using the amazing sketches by those talented girls from Scrapbook Generation?

Hi SG Fans, it's Ruth here and I am planning a party with you all to encourage everyone to get out their sketches and scrapbook. There were so many amazing layouts submitted in the NSD challenges and I can't wait to see some of them showing up here on the blog. After all, one of the best things about SG sketches is that they are great for beginners or for someone who has been scrapbooking since the sticker sneeze was cool, they are universally useful.

So we're having a Super-fun Sketchy Soiree every three months on the blog for all you sketch lovers out there. On the first Monday in June, September, December and March, we will have the SG Sketch Lovers blog hop starting here on the Scrapbook Generation blog and blog hopping to everyone who would like to share a layout using one of the Scrapbook Generation sketches. You may use your SG monthly kits, your printed books and e-books, Sketch Support sketches, or the downloadable products form the SG online store.

If you want to join in you have two options:

1) If you own a blog then you need to email me (ruth.bonser@gmail.com) by the 1st of June with your blog address to let me know that you will have a blog post up and ready on the following Monday. I will reply to you by email  confirming your involvement. I will supply you with some text to include in your blog post closer to the time and will also let you know the time to have it posted at, so that they are all there at the same time.

2) If you do NOT own a blog but want to share a layout, please email me (ruth.bonser@gmail.com) a link to your layout in an online gallery (e.g. 2peas or  flickr), along with a couple of words about you, which sketch you used and anything you want to add about your layout. I will then include those in a blog post specially created for those without a blog, so that everyone is able to be involved.

PRIZES!

It's always more fun with prizes involved, so there will be two prizes at each blog hop party, one will be randomly given to one of the participants and one will be randomly chosen from all the comments left by the readers. Those who are part of the blog hop can also leave comments, so they get twice as many chances to win. Comments will be able to be left at every hop, so there are lots of chances to comment to win while getting inspiration to use your sketches and see what your fellow SG fans are doing with their kits and sketch books.

I want everyone to know that this is a very welcoming party. Please don't feel shy if you are a beginner or have a new blog, everyone is welcome and we would love to see what you are working on! It encourages others to get out their kits and create with you. In a scrappy world where many of us live far away from those we love to chat with about scrapbooking, this is the next best thing to having a scrapbook get-together!

I hope you will join in the party and get creating, please leave any questions in the comments below and I will answer them. I am really excited to see what you create!

Color Challenge inspiration...

A couple of weeks ago, we promised to show you some of the entries in our NSD challenges. Today, we've picked out a few of the layouts submitted for the color challenge to illustrate the wide range of ways people approached this challenge. 

Here's the challenge they undertook:
Color makes life a little brighter...and it can do magical things for a scrapbook layout, too. One of the hottest color choices right now is ombre -- a French term meaning "shaded" -- with colors graduating from light to dark. For this challenge, choose one color and use it to create an ombre effect through papers, embellishments, or both, on a one- or two-page layout. It doesn’t matter if you make it bright or make it soft...just make it colorful!

Some people undertook an ombre background, while others used the effect through embellishments, or even a full-page approach! Love the different viewpoints, and the chance to share them with you. (And if I don't have your full name listed, please feel free to comment here and I'll update the post.)

Barb Krause

Els Cattenstart (Netherlands)

Maria Whitehead

Patricia Watling

Susan

Alison Spannaus

Six new layouts kits!

We've just added six new kits by Debbie Sanders and Allison Davis to our online store. Allison's four kits came from the classes offered during our National Scrapbooking Day festivities.  Click here to shop!

New Debbie Sanders kit: Winter Dreams -- five double-layout kit including sketches and color photos. $30

 

 

 

New Debbie Sanders kit: Snow Happy -- two double-layout kit including sketches and color photos. $12 Extremely limited quantities -- less than 25 available.

New Allison Davis kit: Sisterly Love -- two double-layout kit including sketches and color photo. $20

New Allison Davis kit: Brotherly Love -- two double-layout kit including sketches and color photo. $20

New Allison Davis kit: Happy Little Moments -- three double-layout kit including sketches and color photos. $25

New Allison Davis kit: Unforgettable Happiness -- three double-layout kit including sketches and color photos. $25

May card class with Lindsey

Lindsey Amschler has created five cards that you'll be proud to give for Father's Day! There are a few spots left in this class, which will be offered Saturday, May 25 at 11 am. The fee is $15.

Over the past few months, Lindsey has been having a full house for her Saturday morning card classes. It's a great group of ladies, and we'd love to have you join the fun. Just call 417-886-0440 to register.

Challenge and online gift basket winners...

Your prizes are heading off to you today and tomorrow! Sorry it's taken us a few days to get that organized -- my fault totally, because I was in charge of getting everything gathered up. My best excuse is NSD fatigue, two family birthdays, a graduation, and Mother's Day, all rolled into one crazy week!

-- Debbie

Sketch Day Two for May

Sketch Day Two choices: Debbie Sanders layout, top; Allison Davis layout, bottom.
Both Allison and Debbie started with identical materials --
the same two sheets of cardstock and the same three patterned papers.
When you attend the class at SG, you'll decide which layout
you prefer and use your materials to make that layout.

LOCAL CUSTOMERS:
We hope you can join us Saturday, May 18 for Saturday sketch sessions by Debbie Sanders and Allison Davis! The layouts above are the choices for May Sketch Day Two sessions.

How it works:
• Pre-register for sessions at 10am or 2pm by calling 417-886-0440;
• Bring basic tools and adhesives;
• Receive two free computer sketches;
• Make one double-page layout, your favorite of the two choices;
• Pay for papers used -- the total usually comes to a little over $4.

Options:
• If you want to make both the layouts from a particular Saturday, order a duplicate set of paper when you register by phone or in person. Order must be placed prior to the Saturday class.
• If you want to purchase the embellishment add-on (shown below), you can order it when you register. This embellishment is not used on the layout samples shown above, but is offered for those of you who want to add another level of interest and creativity to your pages. All embellishment add-on orders must be placed prior to the Saturday class.

Kits:
• All kits must be requested before the class activities take place on Saturday.
• The fee for a kit is $5, and is due at the time the request is made.
• If you need the kit shipped to you, the shipping charge is an additional $5.99.
• The best deal for our long-distance customers? Join the monthly Super Sketch Club and get the Super-Saver three layout kit, the Sketch Day One layout kit, and the Sketch Day Two layout kit (materials and sketches for five double-page layouts plus two bonus sketches) for $20 plus $6.99 shipping.

SUPER SKETCH CLUB MEMBERS:
Options:
• If you occasionally want to make both layouts, order a duplicate set of paper ONLINE ONLY at scrapbookgeneration.com. (Limited number of extra sets available. Once they sell out, they're gone. Click here to order.
 
• If you ALWAYS want make both layouts, enroll in Super Sketch Club Double Up. For an additional $10 per month, you'll receive a duplicate set of identical materials for the Sketch Day One and Sketch Day Two portions of the club. (By doing this, you will be able to make both Allison layouts and both Debbie layouts that will be shown on the blog each month.) Sign up for Double Up by clicking here.

• You can choose to order the embellishment that coordinates with the layouts this week. The embellishment this week is a $2.99 12x12 sticker sheet. This embellishment is not used on the layout samples, but is offered for those of you who want to add another level of interest and creativity to your pages. (Limited number of embellishment add-ons available ONLINE ONLY at scrapbookgeneration.com. Once they sell out, they're gone. This add-on does not increase your shipping fee! Click here to order.

Gentle reminder...

Like many of you, I spend way too much time on Pinterest! I see photos of lots of SG layouts, pinned from this blog, and that is fabulous!

I also see SG sketches on Pinterest. Again, it's fabulous when the pins are the free Sketch Support sketches or the free download sketches.

What isn't so great is finding SG sketches scanned, copied, or photographed directly from our copyrighted sketch books. What seems to be happening -- and I've followed many of the pins back to their original source, usually someone's blog -- is that people are doing a layout using one of the book sketches, then posting the sketch below their work. You can tell it's directly from the book because the binding even shows.

This has also happened recently on the forum of an online store -- one of our copyrighted sketches was scanned without permission and used for a challenge. Once again, you could see the book binding in the photo.

Here's the problem for us.
• Person #1 posts sketch #1 from Sketches for Scrapbooking, volume 1.
• Person #2 posts sketch #2 from Sketches for Scrapbooking, volume 1.
• Person #3 posts sketch #3 from Sketches for Scrapbooking, volume 1.
• Etc.

If you see how this could compound over time, before long every sketch we sell could potentially be online and available for free. We're flattered that the sketches are popular, but please understand that this is part of the way we make our living.

So, what we are asking is that you please abide by copyright laws and refrain from photographing, scanning, or copying sketches from any of our books, or from the individual downloadable sketches we sell, and posting them online. The only time this would be acceptable would be if you had direct permission from SG.

From the blog posts I've seen, I don't see any intent of harm. It's simply people being excited over their layouts and wanting to share this with others. I know this has been done with no malice.

However, in the future, please help us protect our work product. It isn't easy in the Internet Age, but please accept this gentle reminder about not posting copyrighted material. 

-- Debbie