Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had so much fun watching Drew play with his toys on Christmas day. Having a little one around certainly makes the holiday more joyous!

My husband and I tried to go on a little get-away the next day, but it wasn't to be. He ended up sick the first night, and I had to drive him back home, then play nurse for a couple of days, then bring him to the city to the urgent care place, then play nurse some more! Not exactly what we had planned. I know he's better now that he's started grading my nursing abilities and deducting points if I don't check on him hourly.

While I was gone, Scrapbook Generation got a new supply of the cool new Pull EZ ribbon purses, in pink, blue, and lavendar. They are a big hit, and it looks like shipment #3 won't be far off!

I also wanted to show you a picture of the beautiful new love and Valentine collections from My Minds Eye. Great papers, and die cuts to match!

Changing the subject, thank you so much for the huge response to our new "Remember Them" Club, which can best be described as a heritage book with some fun twists and a unique way of remembering family and other important people in your life. Those of you who are already signed up can pick up your albums and free first page kit (complete with beautiful glittery chipboard titles and accents) on New Year's Day! And for you procrastinators, just like the "Remember Me" Club, you may sign up at any time.

The other pressing issue at this time of the year is Scrapbook Generation's two spring retreats in Branson. As you know, the March 14 retreat is sold out, and we have limited spots in the March 7 retreat. We will be sending out confirmation letters within the next week, and will begin accepting deposits January 1. If you want to attend the March 7 retreat, I recommend calling us as quickly as possible. I'll explain more about both retreats in a post next week!

Just a quick message to let you know that Scrapbook Generation now has the two great love/Valentine collections by My Minds Eye, one of my personal favorite companies. I'm anxiously awaiting January/February when the company comes out with Wild Asparagus Four!

And believe it or not, I managed to get our new Sketches for Scrapbooking book printed and bound by my own self-imposed deadline! The book contains 30 original sketches by me and by my daughter, Allison Davis, who is currently on the Creating Keepsakes 10-person Dream Team.

The contents include all nine of the designs from the Basic Sketch Sessions in 2007, all five of the designs from the Hall of Fame Sketch Sessions in 2007, and 16 brand new, original sketches by the two of us. I'm a little biased, but I think the book is just what a busy scrapbooker needs -- a way to create stylish and coordinated pages with little stress, just lots of fun. Each sketch contains exact measurements of photos and papers, and since we've tested half of the sketches on our Saturday "regulars," I know that they are scrapbooker-friendly!

The books are priced at $12.99, a great value!

P.S. If you want to see a hilarious photo, check out Ali's blog by using the link on this page. Drew wasn't exactly feeling the Christmas spirit while he was sitting on Santa's lap! It's one of my favorite pics of him EVER! Who says we just have to scrapbook the good times!

Several new arrivals at Scrapbook Generation would make wonderful Christmas gifts! We just received a shipment of the 12x24 Scrap-n-Frames by K & Company. There are three frame styles: black, mahogany, and a medium brown wood with gold trim. I love these frames because the pages just fit so nicely inside, without any trimming or effort, and the 1/4" plastic "lip" allows room for dimensional items.

We have a huge assortment of 12x12 and 8x8 album kits by K & Company, SEI, and others, plus a new supply of the All My Memories totes.

The new Pull EZ ribbon purse is going quickly, and we already have more ordered. Making Memories new white supply carousel sold out in the first two hours, and we just ordered eight more which should arrive on Christmas Eve!

Late last week, when we thought we were getting 20 zillion feet of snow, I was worried that we would lose a Saturday's business right before Christmas. No small business needs that! As we all know, that prediction of snow turned out to be slightly off, and we ended up having a great day here at Scrapbook Generation. Actually, we had better attendance at our activities than usual! Go figure.

Design Team member Marti Blattert's sold-out Christmas layout class (pictured above) had perfect attendance, and over 50 people participated in our Hall of Fame sketch sessions. We had a great time laughing about the snow non-event, and sharpening our scrapbooking skills in the company of lots of great people.

New sketch book to be available soon...

The sketch sessions continue to be our most popular activities, and because of the many requests for a book of our sketches, I'm working on that right now! I hope to have a book of at least 30 sketches, all Debbie or Allison originals, ready for sale by Saturday! The book will include all of the sketches from sessions we're hosted in 2007, plus some bonus ones Ali and I have created just for the book.

New products on the way...

New items on the horizon include two beautiful Valentine/love collections by My Minds Eye, and the Ancestry.com collection by K & Company. Wednesday, we'll receive the new white supply carousel by Making Memories, and the EZ Pull ribbon purse, in three colors. We'll also have more of the Bazzill stitching templates that sold out so quickly.

New club starting...

For those of you interested in the new "Remember Them" album club that starts January 1, I've made the opening page, and it's on display here at the store, with the album used for the club. Remember Them will feature pages for all of your family members, even down to aunts and uncles and cousins. While facts will have a place in the book, we'll focus on special memories and go beyond journaling included in a typical heritage album. For more information about the club, see an earlier post below.

New year on the way...

We want to thank you so much for your continued support. As we approach 2008, I'm reminded of how blessed we are here to have made such wonderful friends through the growth of Scrapbook Generation. Now that we're in our fourth year, many of you feel like family, and those relationships mean so much to us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for shopping with us!

It seems as if we can't get enough of Christmas around here! Scrapbook Generation just received the Rhonna Farrer Christmas collection from Autumn Leaves. There are three glitter papers (the photo above doesn't do them justice) and four die-cut papers, plus matching plastic monograms and felt "ribbon." There are also three cute acrylic stamps sets just for Christmas.

And for those of you who missed out on the BasicGrey Figgy Pudding collection the first time around, we re-ordered since so many of you requested it. Those great double-sided papers arrived this week also.

We also have all of the colors of the Doodlebug glitter cardstock back in stock, except white.

We're still planning on hosting our Midnight Madness crop tonight, and we hope the forecast is correct about all the action happening after midnight! We'll also be here Saturday for our Hall of Fame sketch sessions, and we hope the weather cooperates, although we certainly understand if anyone needs to cancel. Definitely don't want anyone to risk an accident!

REMEMBER THEM CLUB...

Registration is now open for Scrapbook Generation's latest album club, "Remember Them." The album and some of the materials that will be used are shown in the photo above.

Following the success of the "Remember Me" Club, SG will begin its sequel, the "Remember Them" Club, on January 1. This album club will preserve the important relationships in your life, including parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings, spouse, children, and grandchildren. Including non-family members such as ministers, teachers, neighbors, and friends is an option.

Four kits are one-page layouts, and the rest are two-page, for a total of 20 pages. The initial fee of $29.99 includes a K & Company album and the first month's FREE page kit. The "Remember Them" Club is a year-long commitment.

The best part is that you can register for the "Remember Them" Club now, but pay nothing until January 1! On that day, we'll bill you for $29.99, and have your album and free first page kit ready for you (if you register before Dec. 15 -- if you register after that date, we'll try to have the materials here, but can't guarantee they will arrive by January 1.)

We've already had a great response from many of the scrapbookers who were enrolled in the "Remember Me" Club, and we would love to have you join the group that is growing every day!

REMEMBER ME CLUB...

And for those of you who have wanted to join the "Remember Me" Club, but proscrastinated, it will still be available. You can join at any time!

The "Remember Me" Club would also make a great Christmas gift! There are two ways to present the album club as a gift.

Option One: Give the entire "Remember Me" Club as a unit. Just purchase the album and all 12 page kits for $170.

Option Two: Give the club over time. Present the album and free first page kit at Christmas, then the recipient will receive a page kit per month for the next 11 months. Pay for the entire year up front ($170), or pay the $29.99 album/membership fee now and then be billed $12.99 each month for 11 months.

I don't know how many of you will be getting out today, but Stacey and I are here at Scrapbook Generation. Earlier this morning, I listened to the weather and decided it was too bad for us to venture out, but when I got up a little later, everything at my house was dripping, so I decided it would be okay to drive up. Highway 60 was clear, and the traffic didn't seem that much different from a "normal" day.

Anyway, we'll be open our normal hours today. I'm working on several more kits, and hope to have at least six or seven new ones done by the weekend.

I've been at home the past couple of days, and Drew was with me to keep me company. We took a walk in the woods the first day (he wasn't a big fan of the crunchy leaves and the sloping hills, so I had to carry him on the way back). The next day he was looking outside at just the right time and saw five deer run through the yard. My favorite time was when he sat cuddled up on my lap to watch the first 30 minutes of Rudolph. That's about as good as life gets, in my book!

Hope this nasty winter weather passes us by today, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to drive home on some messy roads tonight. We've already had calls from people who've told us about ice where they are!

Cool new items at Scrapbook Generation this week: Shimmer alphabet sets by Making Memories, ready-to-glitter letters and shapes by Making Memories, velvet "Thickers" alphabet sets by American Crafts, and stitching templates and piercing pads by Bazzill. We also restocked all the great tropical/cruise papers and embellishments by Flair.

Arriving on Friday, over 20 new cruise stickers and embellishments and 11 new cruise papers, from a variety of companies. Also, over 25 styles of mini-albums from 7Gypsies, Creative Imaginations, and other companies. There are board books of every size, and shaped books, and just a great assortment of albums that can be transformed into wonderful personalized gifts, with very little time involved!

If you're stumped for that perfect Christmas gift, why not give the gift of memories, a gift that will be enjoyed for months, instead of forgotten after the flurry of activity on Christmas morning.

Scrapbook Generation is offering three-month or six-month gift subscriptions in three of our wildly popular clubs: Allison's Hall of Fame Page Kit Club ($14.99 per month), Generation Page Kit Club ($12.99 per month), and Generation Card Kit Club ($12.99 per month).

There are combination prices to help you save:
Generation Page Kit Club and Card Kit Club -- $22.99 per month
Generation Page Kit Club and Hall of Fame Page Kit Club -- $24.99 per month
Generation Card Kit club and Hall of Fame Page Kit Club -- $24.99 per month
All three clubs -- $35.99 per month

For the three-month or six-month "gift subscriptions," just multiply the monthly price by three or six to get a total price.

Provide us with the recipient's information, and we'll print a certificate describing the gift for you to present to them at Christmas. (Or if you want to start the gift off with our December kits, that is also an option.) Or perhaps it's a gift you would love to receive yourself. Feel free to send someone in, and we'll take care of everything for you!