I just had to share the layout that we are creating today in Scrapbook Generation's Allison Davis Hall of Fame sketch sessions. She had originally done a one-page layout that was easily expanded into a two-page spread. I had been waiting for the perfect papers before doing this sketch, and I absolutely love these bright summery papers.

If you haven't tried our sketch sessions, you're really missing out! We usually average about 50-60 people in the four sessions, and it's a fast/easy/inexpensive way to make a beautiful page, plus take home a sketch and have the ability to use it over and over. If Saturdays are crazy for you, especially in the summer, we always repeat our Saturday sketch sessions on Mondays or Thursdays two months later. We'd love to have you join us!

Scrapbook Generation continues to get great new products in several times each week! I've definitely gotten behind in posting photos, so I'll try to catch up some of them today. Most of them I've mentioned, so I won't repeat naming the products, I'll just post pics.

The latest group, in just yesterday, is Autumn Leaves' Manhattan collection in soft, cool colors. There are papers, rub-ons, stickers, felt, and other embellishments.

You should be receiving the June/July newsletter any day now -- they were mailed last Friday. As always, there are lots of great classes and activities planned!

Hope to see you Saturday at the Allison Davis sketch sessions. We'll be using the colorful new Ella collection by Bo-Bunny that has been showcased in several scrapbooking magazines lately! If you aren't already registered for one of the four sessions, give us a call at 417-886-0440.

We're all trying to calm down just a bit, after all the excitement of Jackson's arrival the Friday before Mother's Day. Since Allison and Jackson were still in the hospital that day, we postponed our celebration until this past Sunday, when the nine people in our family combined Memorial Day, Mother's Day, a baby shower for Ali, a wedding reception for Stacey, and Stacey's birthday, all into one mega-event! It went so well that I'm thinking we could also celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas on the Fourth of July!

Quick reminder about Scrapbook Generation's fall retreats...if you attended one of our spring retreats, you have until the end of May to pay your $50 deposit. As of June 1, registration is opened up to anyone who wants to attend, and we can't guarantee that your spot will still be available!

Sorry I didn't get my usual Monday post in, but I spent most of that day at "urgent care" with my mother. She's fine now, but it kind of scrambled our work week!

While I've been gone, Scrapbook Generation has received several cool new items, including a HUGE new ribbon purse. You've seen the smaller version here at the store, but this one should be named Titanic, or Gargantuan! This oversized model will hold pretty much all the ribbon in the world!

We also have the new Ella double-sided paper and sticker group by Bo-Bunny, in beautiful yellows, greens, and reds.

We just got a huge shipment from Daisy D's, filled with 8x8 paper pads and matching ribbon sets, flower sets, button sets, chipboard title sets, rub-ons, stickers, and more.

Also, new shaped albums in house shapes and school bus shapes...printed flower sets by Prima...and other stuff!

In the last couple of days, Scrapbook Generation has received lots of new items!

-- over 50 styles of American Crafts "Thickers" letters (foam, felt, chipboard, vinyl, velvet, and glitter);
-- new Western/horse papers and embellishments by Moxxie and Tumblebeasts;
-- new bowling papers and embellishments by Moxxie;
-- new chipboard travel embellishments by Paper House;
-- Doodlebug's new velvet cardstock in 12 colors, and velvet brads in 12 colors;
-- re-stocking of Scenic Route's summery/fishy Grafton collection, since it sold so fast the first go-round and people keep requesting it;
-- several paper collections by Sassafrass Lass;
-- new flower sets by Petaloo (think cool colors and polka dots);
-- lots of Disney stuff;
-- new military die-cut insignias, titles, and more by Memories in Uniform.

There's more, but that's the highlights!

It's a boy! Six-pound, seven-ounce Jackson Davis made his appearance late Friday. He has lots of hair, looks like Drew (we think), and is healthy, which is the most important thing! Mom and dad are doing fine as well, but we all are waiting to see how Drew takes to this change in his life!

New items came in while I was home playing with Drew! Scrapbook Generation now has several paper collections by Sassafrass Lass, and several collections by Sonburn. Some of the paper groups are general in nature, and there are also some cute little boy groups.

Thanks everyone! We had over 100 people attending Scrapbook Generation's sketch sessions this past Saturday, during our National Scrapbooking Day hoopla. Throw in lots of other shoppers, and it was our best day EVER in almost four years of being in business! We put in lots of extra hours getting everything ready, and getting all the new stuff out, so as you can imagine, we're all tired, but it's a good kind of tired.

We surprised the people attending the sketch sessions by giving them two sketches instead of just one, and they were able to make two complete layouts for less than $4!

I also think that anyone who thinks scrapbooking is declining as a hobby should have been here Saturday! When we opened the doors at 10 am, the line to get in was all the way to the Sprint Store and partway down the ramp!

I know that I'm seriously behind in getting photos of new things on the blog, but I'll have to wait until Thursday to do that. Right now, I'm in a mad dash to get out of here and go pick up Drew. Ali's doctor put her on complete bed rest (and I don't know how that can possibly work with a two-year-old) so I get the privilege of taking Drew home with me until Thursday. We're going to have fun! I bought him a new tricycle just to keep at my house, so I can't wait to get there and watch him ride it.

Again, thanks to all of you for being our wonderful customers. We look forward to many more years sharing this hobby of scrapbooking with you.

PS: We're mailing out fall retreat registration letters this week to those who attended one of our two spring retreats. During May, we'll accept nonrefundable $50 deposits from anyone who attended in the spring. June 1, any open spots will be up for grabs to others who want to attend!

It's almost time for National Scrapbooking Day, and the gang at Scrapbook Generation hopes that you plan to celebrate with us this Saturday. We have 99 scrapbookers signed up to attend our five sketch sessions! Since we added the fifth session at 4 p.m., we'll also stay open until 6 p.m.

Right now, we're crazy busy moving things around to make room for all the new stuff that has arrived this week. Karin is spring cleaning and entering everything into our computer system, Stacey is putting out all the new goodies and moving pretty much everything in the store to a new place, and I've been working on new kits and getting ready for the sketch sessions.

New products already out for sale:
-- K & Company: the Rough & Tumble collection, Berry Sweet collection, about 15 sets of themed chipboard titles, and more Ancestry.com.
-- Scrappin' Sports and More: huge new sports stickers for about 10 of the main sports;
-- Pioneer: about 80 new albums, including wedding, baby, solids, rhinestone embellished ones, and more;
-- BasicGrey: new supply of chipboard letter sets;
-- Crate Paper: all four of their new paper collections, for those of you, like me, who missed them the first time around because they sold so quickly.

New products that are here, but we're waiting to put out Saturday morning:
-- Fancy Pants: all six paper collections, matching buttons, shaped glitter transparencies, full page transparencies, die cut sheets, new 12x12 and 6x6 acrylic stamps; 12x12 acrylic shapes and letter sets, 12x12 felt sets, and more!
-- Reminisce: the brightest, cutest jungle/zoo group ever.

New products that just arrived, and will be out as soon as we can manage:
-- SEI: dozens of 12x12, 8x8, and 6x6 album kits;
-- Mackinac Moon: four styles of totes that are the neatest ones I've seen, and all four come in pink and brown, and blue and brown.

We hope to see you on Saturday, as we all celebrate this hobby/craft/passion that is scrapbooking!