Thanks so much to all of you who stopped by Scrapbook Generation on Saturday for our celebration of Allison's accomplishments this year! We had a great time visiting with "old" Mansfield friends, "new" Springfield-area friends/customers, and family. Drew was also at the store all day long (I managed to get him to take a nap in the office on his inflatable Spiderman bed), and the day was so hectic that I forgot to take any digital pics to post on the blog, so I'll have to wait until I get my others processed to let you see how our day went.

We went through quite a large stack of Hall of Fame idea books, but we still have five or six left, and I'm sure that I'll be ordering more. It was so much fun to see Ali's pages in the book! Some people even wanted her autograph, which was definitely something new for her.

Product news:
-- 43 different styles and colors of the Queen & Company adhesive die-cut felt "ribbon," in individual packs, will arrive about 2pm Tuesday. This was one of the "wow" products we ordered at CHA in Chicago this summer.
-- KI Memories' "lace" cardstock will ship to us sometime the end of this week, and we ordered all styles and all colors. Another of the "wow" products from CHA!

We've started moving things around, and we love the new Doodlebug wall at Scrapbook Generation! Doodlebug stuff has always been cute, but when they started "sugar-coating" everything, it's beyond cute! We have all 12 colors of glitter cardstock, glitter brads, and glitter, and most of the colors of the glitter chipboard letters.

Today, we also received over 30 new sports papers from Scrappin' Sports. All the major sports are included, plus T-ball, Tae-Kwon-Do, hockey, swimming, running, and more!

Another new product that arrived today was Bo-Bunny's cute new chipboard word books. We have all six words: baby, friend, family, believe, party, and love.

Also, the Hall of Fame idea book finally arrived, as well as the new Ali Edwards' book "Life Artist."

And if your weekend isn't booked solid, please join us for "Allison Davis Day" on Saturday. We'll have some refreshments to snack on, lots of Hall of Fame books to sell, and Ali will be here all day to lead sketch sessions and meet with anyone who drops in!

On the horizon: Queen & Company die-cut adhesive felt "ribbon" will arrive early next week!

The rest of the sugar-coated stuff from Doodlebug will be arriving at Scrapbook Generation this week, and we'll have a complete supply of every color of the sugar-coated cardstock, the individual glitter vials, the sugar-coated chipboard letters, and the sugar-coated brads, plus the complete color selection of the new "hopscotch" alphabet sets. We'll also have all six colors of polka-dot Doodlebug 12x12 albums.

When that happens, we're going to do a little rearranging around here. All the Doodlebug products will now occupy the area to the left of the check-out counter. We thought that would make it easier for you to find all their matching items in one place!

The Scrapbook Generation kits will now occupy the back wall, which will give us more room to expand our selection of pre-cut kits. The best news is that in addition to designing her Hall of Fame Page Kit for club members, Allison will now be designing at least four kits per month for general sales!

Also arriving later this week: the cute BoBunny "word" albums! If you haven't seen these advertised, they are chipboard albums that spell out a word, like baby, love, etc. We've getting all six styles!

Both of the new Christmas collections by Daisy D's arrived at Scrapbook Generation yesterday! There are 36 papers, stickers, rub-ons, chipboard titles, and more.

Right now, we have the latest Christmas groups by BasicGrey, Doodlebug, Flair, and Daisy D's. Several others will be on the way over the next few weeks!

If you haven't already, please consider signing up for the free Hall of Fame sketch sessions we will be hosting on Saturday, Oct. 27 in conjunction with "Allison Davis Day" in honor of her selection for the 2007 Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame, and as one of the 10 finalists for Scrapbooker of the Year.

We have a great page made for you to recreate using the new "White Out" paper collection by We R Memory Keepers, and based on one of Ali's original pages. Your only expense is the cost of the paper, and you'll leave here with a super double-page spread, and a computer sketch you can use over and over. Although I usually lead the sketch sessions, Allison will be talking you through the design elements she used to create the page.

Even if you don't enroll in the sketch sessions, we hope you can drop by on the 27th, meet Allison, check out the Hall of Fame idea book, and have some snacks with us!

New arrivals at Scrapbook Generation:

- Flair Christmas line including 22 papers and four stickers sets.

- Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line including 18 papers, diecuts, monogram stickers and matching chipboard letters, clear stamps and rub-ons.

- Creative Imaginations cruise, fall and Thanksgiving papers with stickers, large chipboard shapes and rub-ons.

Wow! We already have Scrapbook Generation's spring retreat (March 14-16) in Branson filled! We also have already started a waiting list, and I encourage you to go ahead and sign up for that if you are at all interested. Knowing everyone's busy lives, it's a good bet that at least a few people will have to cancel once we get past the holidays.

You can't imagine how great that makes us feel, to have found the perfect spot in Branson for our retreats! Our first two retreat locations were good, but not perfect. After the first retreat (not enough cropping room) and the second one (not-so-great food), we were just about to despair of finding the right place for our group. But I think it was pretty much a unanimous verdict that the Branson Inn was just what we had been looking for.

We'll just host one retreat in the spring, but we've already got the place booked for two fall retreats, so we'll be back in Branson in 2008 for retreats the weekends of October 3-5 and 24-26 (for those of you who really like to plan ahead)!

Other news...
-- This was the first day that Ali has been back "at work" at SG since Drew was born! It's nice to have her here one day a week to help out, and I can't wait to hear about Drew's first day of daycare! He's at a place with four or five other two-year-olds, so I can only imagine how much fun he'll have...once he gets that sharing thing down pat.

-- Flair's two new Christmas groups arrived today, and they once again feature their traditional colors of reds, greens, creams, and golds.

-- Jan Whitney, one of our Saturday "regulars," is the winner of the scrapbooking gift basket we gave away at our third anniversary hoopla last weekend.

-- Some of you know the situation that has evolved over the past year with my two cousins. The latest news is that Monica (the older sister who became paralyzed from the neck down a little over a year ago) will finally be going home to North Little Rock after almost 10 months in the Craig Rehabilitation Center in Denver. Leslie (the younger sister who gave up her 20-year-old cross stitch and framing business in Bolivar to be by Monica's side the entire time) just left Denver this weekend and is awaiting Monica's arrival by air-evac transport. Leslie's husband Bob is already there, and was able to find a job in the framing department at Hobby Lobby. Leslie has had to learn to care for Monica and her needs, and I know that the first few days of being totally in charge, with no medical backup on hand, will be stressful for everyone. However, Monica has wonderful support from her church, Park Hill Baptist in NLR, and from her friends. Monica and Leslie have both maintained an almost unbelievably strong faith in God's plan for their lives, no matter how difficult the past year has been. Every time I start to get frustrated at problems in my own life, I have only to think of them and their cheerful spirits. What a sermon they are preaching with their lives!

A quick update on products and activities at Scrapbook Generation...

-- March 14 retreat: only three spots left, but we will keep a waiting list.

-- BasicGrey: Figgy Pudding collection will arrive Tuesday mid-afternoon.
-- Creative Imaginations: shipment of fall, sports, cruising, and more will arrive Tuesday mid-afternoon.
-- Queen & Company: self-adhesive felt cut-out "ribbon" in both 1.6" and 2.7" widths, in every single color and style, is arriving soon. You'll love these borders of flowers, scrolls, stars, snowmen, autumn leaves, hearts, and more.
-- Daisy D's: The Paisley Sugarplum and Snowflakes & Holly collections will arrive Thursday or Friday, including 36 papers and all the stickers, rub-ons, and chipboard letters to match!

It's really going to be Christmas in October next week around here, with holiday goodies arriving from Flair, BasicGrey, and Daisy D's!

In all the activity this week, I forgot to mention that today is Scrapbook Generation's third anniversary sale! Anyone who shops with us today will unwrap a chocolate and get a total purchase discount from 10-40%. We're also giving away a basket of scrapbook goodies with a value of over $100! Stop by and register for a chance to win!

I'm also posting a photo of the first batch of "sugar-coated" everything from Doodlebug. We received Halloween and Christmas papers and matching stickers and glitter rub-ons, plus glitter chipboard letters, glitter brads, and sets of tiny vials of yes, GLITTER!

Also in, a terrific assortment of new styles of acrylic stamps by Autumn Leaves, and chipboard, foam, and vinyl "Thickers" letters by American Crafts.

Wanted to let you know that after a flurry of activity this morning, there are only five spots left in Scrapbook Generation's March 14-16 retreat. We aren't taking deposits now, just names. If you want to get in on the action, call 417-886-0440 or stop by the store.

A quick update on new products currently at Scrapbook Generation, and also on new items which will be arriving over the next few days.

Here now...

-- K & Company's Wild Saffron collection, done in muted reds, yellows, and browns, and with everything imaginable to match, including papers, rub-ons, stickers, grand adhesions, adhesive ribbon, and even albums;

-- Scenic Route's new Halloween collection of matching papers;

-- Prima's new Sprites flowers;

-- Miscellaneous: puffy Halloween "ribbons" and wide grograin polka dot ribbons.

Arriving mid-afternoon Friday...

-- Doodlebug: most of the sugar-coated "stuff" order, but not all. Here's what we will be receiving, and I'm assuming the rest will be following shortly. Halloween and Christmas papers, glitter stickers, glitter rub-ons, and jewels; sugar-coated brads; some of the large sugar-coated chipboard letters; the glitter assortment, but not the individual glitters; some of the hopscotch letter stickers.

-- American Crafts: more of the Thickers chipboard letters and foam letters;

-- Autumn Leaves: 33 different acrylic stamp sets, including new Christmas sets by Rhonna Farrer.

Arriving early next week...

-- BasicGrey: pretty much the complete Figgy Pudding Christmas collection, including matching clear stamps;

-- Flair: two new Christmas collections of papers and stickers;

-- Creative Imaginations: a huge assortment of autumn/fall papers and stickers; sports papers and stickers, cruising collection, and more.

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I was so tired after Scrapbook Generation's Branson retreat this past weekend that I probably would have been incoherent! It's my job to lock down the place at night (or morning), and this time some Saturday night croppers stayed up until 5 a.m.! I was doing pretty well until about 4, then I really had to struggle to stay awake!

I think I can truthfully say that everyone had a wonderful time, and we feel that after three locations in Branson, we have finally found our "home." The Branson Inn and Convention Center has everything we were looking for: a spacious crop room, a separate classroom area, comfortable sleeping rooms, friendly service, and...GREAT food! And best of all, everything is in the same building.

We will be returning there for our spring retreat, set for March 14-16, and after everyone attending the fall retreat got their name on our list for spring, we have less than 10 spots open. (We won't accept deposits until after Christmas, but if you would like to sign up now, you can reserve your spot for spring.)

As usual, I'm going to let those attending tell you how they felt about Scrapbook Generation's fall retreat in Branson.

Following are actual comments...

-- "Great time, great location! Can't wait for the next one!"

-- "Scrapbook event great! Good food, good friendship."

--"This was a fabulous retreat and I appreciate all of the hard work put into it. Thank you!"

--"I can't think of a single thing to change. The food is unbelievable, the store had everything I could have needed! The best part is the staff and friends made! What fun! Thank you for all the hard work you do!"

--"Once again, it was wonderful. Food was great, rooms great, and scrap area wonderful."

-- "I have thoroughly enjoyed the weekend."

-- "The best yet! I loved having a full 6-foot table to spread out on."

-- "Food was great, snacks, drinks, fruit! Nice atmosphere. Very nice instructors, just an overall wonderful experience, fun and relaxing."

-- "Once again, the decor was fantastic. We of course loved visiting with our fellow scrapbookers. I deeply appreciate the table space -- how wonderful! We look forward to learning about your future retreats. I have absolutely had a blast with my mother. What a fantastic way to spend your weekend!"

-- "The location, food, and setup was excellent! I appreciate all of the hard work. We will definitely come next year/time!"

-- "This is my first scrapbook experience/retreat. It has been really fun, and my daughter and I have had so much fun being together. I loved all the goodies and thanks for the fruit and veggies."

-- "Loved everything. I wish the crop room stayed open later on Sunday."

-- "Wonderful snacks and space! Thank you for the contest opportunities -- lots of fun!"

-- "Can't think of anything you could do to improve the retreat! I had a great time, the food was great, and the classes were great!"

-- "The weekend was great! I loved the space we had and all the fun. Thanks for all the work and preparation for this weekend. You guys do a wonderful job and I look forward to the next one."

-- "Fantastic! We had a ball and hope to be back next year!"

-- "Retreat organization great! Homemade snacks over-the-top! Shop good, too."

-- "Again, a great weekend! I had a great time! Thanks!"

-- "The food has been great! I always feel so welcome and you do such a great job at working in the theme. Thanks for a great time."

-- "The biggest thing to me is that you have them. I know they are hard work and very time consuming. But what a pleasure and stress reliever it is to me. Plus, I get to catch up with my great friends. Good job, again."

-- "What a delight to be back at a Scrapbook Generation fall retrat. The accomodations, theme, tremendous attention to detail, theme-based handmade gifts for each participant, and the best homemade, theme-based snack bar provides a girls' weekend out surpassed by none!"

-- "Everything was great! Fabulous decorations, good snacks, plenty of space. I really enjoyed myself -- can't wait until the next one."

-- "Everything is very nice. Love the big tables to ourselves."

-- "Thank you, first of all, for all your hard work. I do appreciate it! Love decorations, love games, love the help."

-- "Everything was great! I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Each person had plenty of work space and great classes!"

-- "We had a great time. We could have used more sleep, less food (I ate too much!), and more energy!"

-- "Wouldn't change a thing. Loved it!"

-- "I had a great time. Thanks!"

-- "Love: ease of unloading, being close to rooms, meals were yummy, snacks being homemade a super plus, excellent prizes! No-hassle scrapping -- plan on coming next year and bringing more friends. Love your page kits!"

-- "Food great, convenient unloading, rooms close, good large area and table space."

-- "Loved the food, prizes, organization, classes, places, and people. Overall, I give you guys an A+."

* Special Note: We still have a few spots left in our Eureka Springs retreat set for Nov. 2-4. If you would like to attend, please give us a call at 417-886-0440 as quickly as possible.

As soon as things get back to normal around here (meaning after Scrapbook Generation's Branson retreat is over), I'll get back to writing a little more. Today, I just wanted to let you know a few of the things that will be arriving in the next couple of weeks.

-- K & Company: the Wild Saffron collection, a beautiful group with muted red, yellow-golds, and browns;
-- Basic Grey: the Figgy Pudding Christmas collection, including papers, rub-ons, chipboard, clear stamps, and more;
-- Flair: two new Christmas collections;
-- Karen Foster: hunting, fishing, tooth fairy, autumn, and several other themes;
-- Sonburn: a great Halloween group;
-- Doodlebug: all that great glittery stuff that I thought was coming in earlier;
-- Creative Imaginations: several autumn collections, cruising, hunting and fishing, soccer, basketball, football, and more;
-- KI Memories: lace cardstock;
-- Scenic Route: more of the four collections that sold out so quickly, and also a fall/Halloween group.