The gang at Scrapbook Generation hopes that you had a great Christmas! We certainly did! It was so much fun to watch Drew open his gifts, and to see Jackson taking in all the sights and sounds of Christmas. Stacey and Jeremy's children were added to the mix this year, and Kaitlin and Jaedan proved to be speedy gift-openers as well. I remember seeing a blur of gift wrap flying everywhere, and then it was all over!

We did have some interesting moments during the holidays. Karin left Scrapbook Generation at 5 pm on Christmas Eve to discover that her car had a flat. Not a good time to try and get help! As for me, I had treated myself to a new Nikon digital camera from Lawrence Photo (yes, I'm possibly the last person in the world to go digital!). However, when I opened the box about 1 pm on Christmas Day to shoot a few practice shots before the crowd arrived, there was nothing in the box! And I looked several times! I spent the rest of the day worried that they wouldn't believe me when I told them I had a box but no camera. I called the minute they opened on Friday and said "This is Debbie Sanders, and..." The lady immediately said "Oooohhhh, Debbie!" I knew then that I was okay! They had discovered the mistake earlier in the week, but had no way to track me down.

Anyway, I looked at the calendar after Christmas, and wondered where the time had gone. We have so many things coming up that I'm going to remind you about several activities.

-- Scrap-a-palooza. This mega-crop at Remington's on Saturday, Jan. 17 is filling up quickly! We're shooting for at least 150 people, and it's already over half full, just from our newsletter. The radio stations are just now starting to promote the event, and I think the rest of the spots will go quickly. Stacey and Allison will be there all day with a fully-stocked store for you to shop from, and they are also going to be doing free demos, free mini-classes, as well as a variety of paid layout, card, and mini-album classes. You can sign up for the mega-crop via our website, which has a link to the radio station's website, and you can sign up for the classes here at the store, or at the event. The $38 fee for the event includes lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks. For more info, feel free to stop by or call.

-- Sketches For Scrapbooking, Volume Three. This third volume of our hugely popular sketches books will be available for purchase on Thursday, Jan. 1. Priced at $12.99 for 30 two-page sketches, it's a bargain, and such a time-saver when you want to create great pages without the stress of re-inventing the wheel!

-- Spring retreats. The sign-up for both the March 13 and March 20 weekend retreats in Branson has been tremendous! We'll be relaxing and scrapbooking in a Polynesian paradise! If you want to join us, there are spots available at both retreats. For more info, check our website, which shows photos and comments from our past retreats.

-- Girl Crazy and Boy Crazy page kit clubs. Both these new clubs start January 1, and you still have time to get in on the first kits, which I think are outstanding! The clubs are $14.99 per month, and will feature popular topics for both boys and girls. If you are in more than one of our page kit and card kit clubs, you qualify for combo pricing, which saves you $2.99 on each additional club after the first one!

-- Super-Saver Scrapbooking. Our second session is scheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 3. We'll have three 12x12 double-page layouts for you to recreate, using 6-7 sheets of cardstock, 3-4 sheets of patterned paper, 1 sheet of letter stickers, and a few embellishments like jewels, brads, buttons, and ribbon. When you register for this free class, just pre-pay $9 (plus tax) to cover the cost of your materials. Using our classic designs, you'll be able to create three photo-ready layouts in less than an hour and a half, all for under $10. The 10 am session is full, but there are openings in the 11:30, 1, and 2:30 sessions. We had about 50 people try this new concept out in December, and everyone seemed to love it! To sign up, just call or stop by.

-- Midnight Madness. We have a midnight crop scheduled for this Friday, and spots are available. Hope you can join us for an evening of scrapbooking! The fee is $10 and includes pizza, snacks, and drinks.

-- New products. The Valentine's group by My Mind's Eye arrived a few days ago, and the Valentine's group by Little Yellow Bicycle is shipping today. It should arrive late this week or early next week. We're also stocking up on winter/snow/snowmen papers and embellishments, which should arrive late this week or early next week.

-- Classes. We already have several of our January classes on display here at the store, and they should all be on the website in a few days. There are lots of cute winter layouts, and other fun projects!

Looks like the bad weather is over, for a while at least! We managed to hold five classes yesterday, three of them at the same time, to make up for what we missed Monday and Tuesday.

I wanted to alert you about some special things we received this week that will make great gifts. KI Memories created six different album kits, and packed each in a great matching tin, perfect for gift giving! The kits have $100 worth of goodies inside, and the selling price is not even close to that! Contents of the tin's 850 pieces include 40 12x12 papers, tons of regular stickers, epoxy stickers, glitter rub-ons, chipboard stickers, a 12x12 album, and more! There are six themes: two Christmas sets, plus winter, birthday, floral, and all-occasion. These are the nicest album sets I've seen, and since it was a special holiday offering by KI Memories, once these are gone, they're gone for good.

It sounds as if nasty weather is headed our way, and there's not much we can do about it. Snow is one thing, but ice is a totally different situation. We definitely want to consider everyone's safety when deciding about holding classes or cancelling classes. Before heading out to classes at Scrapbook Generation next week, please call ahead first. I don't want Allison and Stacey, or any of you, out on dangerous roads.

If we have to cancel any classes, we will reschedule for later in the week or early the next week. We won't schedule anything later than Monday, Dec. 22. If you can't make the rescheduled class, we'll be happy to provide a kit and complete instructions.

Karin is our go-to emergency gal, and if weather permits, she will always have the store open. However, if there is any messy stuff going on at all, we will not hold classes. Again, please call ahead about classes next week!

I don't usually go this long without letting you all know what's going on, but we've had problems with my "blogging computer" in the office that still aren't resolved. So no photos for now. New stuff the last few days includes the following...

-- Technique Tuesday: several awesome sets of acrylic stamps;
-- Three Bugs in a Rug: cute paper groups for boys, girls, Christmas, winter, and fall;
-- Cloud 9: a beautiful Christmas group of regular papers, specialty papers, and embellishments;
-- My Mind's Eye: the first Valentine collection to arrive!

Super-Saver Scrapbooking starts this Saturday!

Since this is a brand new concept for us, and for you, I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the THREE layouts we'll be making Saturday for only $9. For ALL THREE! You get 6 sheets of cardstock, two sheets of regular papers, two die-cut papers, a full sheet of letter stickers, plus jewels, buttons, and twine.

I've had lots of fun with this new class, kind of like putting a puzzle together backwards! My challenge was to make the cutest three layouts I could, with a specific limit of supplies, and also making sure the pages were simple enough to complete in less than an hour and a half. I'm really pleased with the way this first group has turned out! Even though the papers coordinate, I think I came up with three distinct looks, so you don't have just three layouts that look the same.

The 10 and 2:30 sessions are full, but there is still time to get registered for the 11:30 am or 1 pm sessions this Saturday. All you have to do is call or stop by, register, and pre-pay the $9 materials fee.

New Christmas items at Scrapbook Generation...

-- K & Company: both Christmas groups, Swell Noel, and another one that I can't remember the name! One group is pastel, and the other is more traditional Christmas colors. There are glitter papers, and great embellishments;

-- Making Memories: the FaLaLa Christmas collection of papers, die-cut papers, and embellishments, including the cutest glitter sticker letters I've ever seen, with huge flourishes on some of the letters;

-- Scenic Route: the Garland mini-collection of double-sided papers and matching stickers -- my personal favorite this season!

On the way...

-- My Mind's Eye: we re-ordered the Christmas collection that we had early in the fall, and that sold out so quickly;

-- Anna Griffin: two beautiful, classic Christmas collections of papers and embellishments.

New goodies at Scrapbook Generation include the following...

-- SEI card kits: great Christmas gifts, in six styles;

-- SEI word albums: remember the Bo-Bunny "layered" word albums that are so cute, and so time-consuming? SEI has done the hard part for you! These albums (with the chipboard pages already covered in coordinating papers) are smaller, but would make super-quick, super-cute Christmas gifts;

-- KaiserCraft: we've sold tons of the cute and sturdy MDF mini-albums, and now have some MDF home decor items for you -- cute frames and wall hangings just waiting to be personalized;

-- Colorbok: we have a new supply of the 26-sheet set of 12x12 chipboard monograms (about 10 different letters styles for each letter of the alphabet -- great value, great gift idea;

-- Daisy Bucket: two double-sided paper collections.

Anna Griffin's Christmas Icons class...

I'll be teaching our regular third Thursday of the month Anna Griffin class, using one of the prettiest groups of holiday papers and embellishments I've seen. We'll make a two-page layout, plus THREE cards, using flocked papers and glitter embellishments! You'll get a complete set of glittery dimensional stickers and a 12x12 page of glittery die-cuts to use, and you'll have plenty left over for other pages and cards! The fee is $15, and the class is offered Thursday, Dec. 18 at 2 pm. (Space is limited for this class, so I'd advise calling early!)

Christmas Paper Bag Mini-Album...

Stacey is teaching this cute project made from white lunch sacks. Tags are tucked inside the bags to look like a cluster of gifts! Fee is $12, and the class is offered Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 6 pm.

Tis the Season Mini-Album...

We're always so fortunate when Allison is able to replicate for our classes one of the projects she has had published in Creating Keepsakes magazine. This month, we are proud to offer an album similar to the one on page 91 of the December issue! A snow-white Bazzill mini-album is decorated with Scenic Route paper and stickers, as well as 7gypsies stickers. Each page features a unique Christmas tree, with plenty of room for photos and journaling. The fee is $18. Because we are running late with our class models and newsletter this month, we are going to offer this class an additional evening, a little later in the month. You can choose from these three times: Thursday, Dec. 4 at 2 pm, Thursday, Dec. 4 at 6 pm, or Thursday, Dec. 11 at 6 pm (this time does not appear in the newsletter).

Family Holiday Favorites Recipe Book...

I don't usually do mini-album classes, but this project seemed like something any family would cherish over the years. This 40-page mini-album has room for 20 recipes and 20 photos. We'll do some acrylic stamping, which provides an area for you to journal special things about each recipe. We'll use the same format (sometimes reversed) thoughout the whole book, so construction will go fairly fast (I think!). The 7gypsies chipboard album is decorated with BasicGrey's Wassail Christmas papers. The fee is $15, and the class is offered Monday, Dec. 8 at 2 pm or 6 pm.

Christmas Tree Layout...
Allison Davis will be teaching this adorable holiday layout featuring an over-sized Christmas tree made of multi-colored ribbons. You'll do some acrylic stamping, and a small amount of stitching! Fee is $15. The class is offered on Monday, Dec. 15 at 2 pm or 6 pm.

To Grandmother's House We Go...
I hope you can join me for this Christmas layout class, offered Saturday, Dec. 13 at 11 am and 2 pm. Grandmother's house is decorated for the holiday's with Scenic Route papers and Bazzill cardstocks! Fee is $12.

Scrap-a-palooza...
Many people have already called about signing up for the January 17 Scrap-a-palooza at Remington's, hosted by Scrapbook Generation and the Midwest Family Broadcast Group (home of radio stations Star 105.1 and 92.9 Bass Country, to name a few). Later today, Stacey will have a page on our website, scrapbookgeneration.com, with a link to the registration page on the radio station's website.

The radio station will take in all registration fees, and in a few days, you will also be able to register and pay for our classes on their website. (Stacey and Allison will be teaching four paid classes at the event. They will also be doing several free demonstrations and free mini-classes!)

The $38 fee includes lunch and dinner, and 13 hours of scrapbooking in very spacious quarters! Scrapbook Generation will have a fully-stocked store on-site. The best part (for you!) is that we are donating $25 worth of scrapbooking goodies to EVERY person who attends!

If you need any further info, don't hesitate to call us at 417-886-0440. Scrap-a-palooza will give all of us something to look forward to in gloomy January!

I wanted you to see this special mini-album that Laura Parks will be teaching Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 6 pm. She has created an album/storybook combination that can be read aloud to children to teach them the true meaning of Christmas. The inside pages will be pre-printed with a heartwarming story of traditional holiday colors, the Christmas tree, silver bells, candles, candy canes, and wreaths. There is also plenty of room to add photos of your family to these over-sized pages, in an album which will be sure to become a family keepsake.

The gang at Scrapbook Generation hopes that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Many of us have been reminded in the past week just how short life is. Despite the gloomy economy, quirky relatives, a few aches and pains, and lack of time to do all the things we want to do, we still have so very much to be thankful for.

Then after Thanksgiving, get fired up about Scrapbook Generation's fourth annual Day-After-Thanksgiving sale. Karin and I will be here to open the doors at 7 am on Friday, and we have the best promotion yet! The first 100 of you to spend at least $10 will get your choice of Daisy D's paper (6-12 sheets), stickers, die-cuts, and rub-ons sets in themes like Christmas, winter, Halloween, boy, girl, autumn, birthday, love, family, and more. These kits are a great deal, valued at $12.99!

In addition, everyone shopping with us on Friday gets 30% off any one item, and we have tons of great totes, albums, album kits, and other items that will make great gifts for someone special (which can ALWAYS mean yourself, too)! All Scrapbook Generation page kits for general sale will be 10% off on Friday, so you can stock up on those as well.

We've had several new items come in the last few days that I haven't told you about yet...
-- Paper Crafts Gourmet: this hard-back binder book features over 110 projects combining delicious and easy to make recipes with paper crafting projects -- it's filled with great gift-giving ideas;
-- Best Creations: a new company for us -- we have over 20 glitter papers in themes of fall, wedding, Christmas, winter, Easter, Fourth of July, beach, and more -- add a photo or two and you're done;
-- Daisy Bucket: another new company for us -- we have two double-sided paper collections, and they have the same linen-type texture as the Black Market Paper Society papers;
-- Various vendors: we re-stocked our food section with papers and embellishments from companies like Flair and American Crafts, for ease in creating recipe books to give as gifts this Christmas -- there's also a great recipe book by MBI which comes with dividers and recipe cards for a super quick gift idea!

Should be here today, or Monday at the latest...
-- Scenic Route: the new Christmas collection, Garland, plus we re-ordered the popular Christmas collection from last year.

Retreat reminder...
-- On Monday, Dec. 1, we open up registration for our two spring retreats to anyone who wants to attend. Until then, only those who attended this fall can enroll. If you want to make sure to get in the date you want, act quickly. Choices are the weekends of March 13 and March 20. To sign up, pay a non-refundable deposit of $50.

Tonight, we celebrated the life of Linda Hoover. During the service, to my complete surprise, the chaplain read aloud an excerpt from my blog post the day Linda died. I don't know how what I wrote came to his attention, but I'm glad that it did. I'm so honored that my tribute was used at her service.

It was also good to see so many ladies at the service who knew Linda through scrapbooking crops and classes. Some of us gathered at a local restaurant afterwards to laugh, cry, eat, and share stories of the spunky, outspoken, and faithful friend whom we all started missing the instant we heard she was gone.

Services for Linda Hoover will be held at the Meadors Funeral Home in Republic. The address is 314 N Main Ave, and the telephone number is 417-732-2535.

-- Visitation is 4-6 pm on Sunday. (This is a correction from earlier today.)
-- Funeral service is 7 pm on Monday.

Please feel free to call if you need more information. So many of you have already done so, and it's easy to see how many lives Linda touched.

Our hearts are broken today. The band of sisters that is Scrapbook Generation's core has a missing link. Linda Hoover, the fiesty pint-sized dynamo who loved scrapbooking and creating cards, died in a car crash last night.

Karin heard about the accident on the morning news, and she has already confirmed it with Linda's husband David. Her car was the only one involved, and they believe it is possible that she died of natural causes, possibly a blood clot, prior to the wreck.

Linda was at the store yesterday afternoon, taking our regular third-Thursday-of-the-month Anna Griffin class. She came in early with a bag of McDonald's burgers and fries in one hand and a hot fudge sundae in the other and settled into the classroom area like it was her home -- which it was.

I met Linda before we opened our store. To get a feel for what was being offered, I attended crops at two other stores, and at both, Linda and I were seated at the same tables. I wasn't surprised when she was one of the first ladies to walk through the door the first day we opened in October, 2004. And the rest is history. She became a fixture at our retreats and Midnight Madness crops and at classes of every kind. And more than that, along the way she became a dear friend. Loyal, encouraging, supportive. So interested and concerned about others. A former nurse who listened to all our medical problems. A genuinely nice person who loved to tickle Drew and Jackson until they laughed out loud. A kind-hearted soul who had more medical problems than she could count, but who never complained.

Today is going to be hard. So will the next days and weeks and months. And not just on us, but on the many of you who knew Linda through this bonding experience we call scrapbooking. As we say so many times in our lives, I can't believe she's gone.

Scrapbook Generation's December/January newsletter will reach you some time next week, but I wanted to give you a heads-up about a new Saturday class we are starting December 6. I explained the concept to the people at our classes last Saturday, and many of them have already signed up, so I thought I should give our faithful blog readers an early chance to beat the sign-up rush as well!

Just because the economy is gloomy doesn't mean that people have to give up their favorite hobby! I've always believed that beautiful pages can be made using a few papers and embellishments, and here at Scrapbook Generation, we're ready to show you how.

"Super-Saver Scrapbooking" is the latest addition to our popular free Saturday classes. Here's how the new free class works. We'll design THREE 12x12 double-page layouts using 6-7 sheets of cardstock, 3-4 sheets of coordinating patterned paper, 1 sheet of letter stickers, and a few embellishments like jewels, brads, buttons, and ribbon. We'll put together packets of the supplies. When you register for the free class, just pre-pay $9 (plus tax) to cover the cost of your materials (unlike sketch sessions, substitutions in papers will not be available -- and I've promised to stay away from pinks and other colors that would limit the topic to a specific gender!)

Using our classic designs, you'll be able to create THREE photo-ready double-page layouts in less than an hour and a half, all for under $10!

The times will be the same as sketch session times -- 10, 11:30, 1, or 2:30. To sign up, just stop by the store, or call us. Remember that this new free class requires pre-payment of $9 plus tax to cover the cost of your materials.

We have lots of new goodies at Scrapbook Generation this week!

-- Doodlebug: a new style of letters (not pictured) called Shindig, in both glitter alphabets and flocked alphabets -- really cute!

-- KI Memories: tons of stuff, including five collections of Love, Elsie (sports, camping, home, pet, and Christmas), plus the Pop Culture collection of bright papers and Taglines (matching journaling quiz-type blocks -- very fun!), and nine colors of "Cookie Cutter" cardstock alphabet stickers;
-- K & Company: new and stylish Amy Butler totes;

-- Cropper Hopper: vertical paper organizers and extremely practical bins to store stickers;

-- Crafter's Workshop: a variety of both 6x6 and 12x12 templates, including some letter sets - all will be great for inks, paint, pen, even for use as stitching templates!

Normally I don't have my Saturday Seminar pages done before midnight Friday night, but since I'm really, really early this weekend, I thought I'd show you the simple and easy paper piecing pattern page we are doing tomorrow. We're going to accent the paper piecing with a small amount of stitching, and end up with a super-cute accent that is relatively quick and easy.

As always, the Saturday Seminars are totally free. You'll make a 6x6 double-page spread like the one pictured. If you aren't already signed up, you can still join us! A couple of the sessions are already closed, but there is room for a few more in the classes at 10, 1, and 3. We'd love to have you join us.

Wow! The papers and die-cuts arrived from Graphic 45, and they are totally different than anything we've ever had! Gorgeous double-sided vintage papers and matching die-cuts -- truly stunning items that will make great scrapbook pages. I also think that many of the papers lend themselves to cutting out images to use on cards.

Top photo: Times Noveau -- images of fashion, clocks, typewriters keys, even Route 66;

Middle photo: Playtime -- images of toy catalogs, dominoes, trains, toy soldiers, paper dolls, and even tinker toys;

Bottom photo: Botanical -- images of butterflies, fruits, sea life, dragonflies, flowers, and music.

Are you ready to go "Girl Crazy?" I have the sample done for my new Girl Crazy Page Kit Club at Scrapbook Generation, and you can see the real page when you stop by the store. This club starts January 1, and we are currently in the process of taking registrations. So that we know how many kits to prepare, we are urging people to sign up by Dec. 15 if at all possible. The billing of $14.99 doesn't take place until January 1! (If you want to see the Boy Crazy page kit for January, just go to Allison's blog -- allisonrdavis.blogspot.com).

With three page and card clubs, it was easy to do money-saving combo pricing by listing all the possible combinations. All you math students know that when you try to do that with five items, it gets crazy. Here's how we plan to make it easier on everyone now that we will have five page and card kit clubs!

You will pay full price for the first club. Any additional clubs are as follows...

-- pay only $10 for every additional $12.99 page or card club;

-- pay only $12 for every additional $14.99 page or card club.

Trust me, that's much easier than a list of zillions of combinations!

Stacey hasn't had time to add this to the website yet, but I wanted you to see the three cards she will be teaching in her Creative Cards class this month. I love the monochromatic concept, and she uses glitter, glimmer mist and jewels, paint and a pearl glaze and buttons on the three unique snowflakes. Two of the cards also have that cool new tulle by Bazzill, in just the right width for cards and pages. Stacey's card class Wednesday at 2 pm has only two spots left, but you can also take the class on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6 pm.

Also, check out scrapbookgeneration.com for a picture of Ali's "just in case" mini-album, offered Thursday at 6 pm, and also on Monday, Nov. 17 at 2 pm. This would make an awesome Christmas gift! She taught the same class at our retreats, and everyone loved the project, and the idea of writing letters to the important people in your life, and having a great place to store those letters. What a family keepsake today, and 50 years from now!

Other miscellaneous info...
-- The Midnight Madness crop this Friday is sold out, but we always have a waiting list for last minute changes. If you want to be added to that, please call quickly.
-- Saturday, I'll be teaching paper piecing in our free Saturday Seminars. You can attend at 10, 11, 1, 2, or 3, and make a 6x6 double-page layout (or card) for FREE! We provide everything! Just call to sign up.
-- During November, we are allowing those who attended one of our fall retreats to sign up for the spring retreats (weekends of March 13 and March 20.) We are accepting $50 non-refundable deposits from them now. Starting Dec. 1, others can sign up for any remaining spots. (A word to the wise. If you want to attend the March 20 retreat, you should act fast. It is filling up quickly!)
-- Later this week, we are expecting a shipment of papers from a new company called Graphic 45. If I remember right, one group is a rather unique vintage-type assortment.
-- Also later this week, we're getting a large shipment of new styles of totes and storage solutions from a variety of vendors.
-- We've had many inquiries about "Sketches For Scrapbooking" Volume Three. It will go on sale January 1!
-- I'm working on the December/January newsletter right now, and it will contain several surprises!

I wanted to share the only "good" layout I completed at the Arkansas retreat my friend Hazel and I attended this past weekend! From about 5 pm on Friday until after 10 pm on Saturday, we worked on making ugly pages! That translates to mean that we worked on albums for a cruise we had taken almost three years ago, and we spent that whole time sticking hundreds of photos on pages with just a few strips of paper as accents. (Later, I'll do tons of computer journaling about the trip and add to the pages.)

Anyway, my normal method of operation is to complete about 4-5 layouts at a retreat, so semi-completing between 40-50 layouts was quite a change. I used over 150 feet of adhesive runners. I ran out of what I had taken and had to buy some at the retreat. How sad is that -- to own a store and have to buy adhesive from someone else!

We had a good time and got lots of pages done, but this retreat was the polar opposite of the ones we host. There was no theme, no decorations, no beverages except water, no snacks except a small bag at your table, no contests, and no games! The ladies who hosted it were very nice, and they obviously just had a different concept of what a retreat should be like.

This has been an unusually long time for me to go without blogging! After all the mega-activities of October, it's been nice to slow down just a bit. I even managed to stay home a couple of days this week and spend some much-needed time cleaning and straightening up my scrap area. Then once I had everything put away where it belonged, I started getting it all out again! My friend Hazel and I are going to a new retreat this weekend, and I needed to gather up the supplies I want to take.

This will be a new retreat for us. The one we've been going to twice a year for probably at least three years, was at the Lake of the Ozarks. The lady who hosted it decided to retire and devote more time to her grandchildren. It was always an awesome getaway, and I've stolen all her good ideas and used them at Scrapbook Generation's retreats! The best thing, of course, is that we met our phenomenal caterer while at these retreats.

The new retreat is in Rogers, Arkansas, which is about two hours from Springfield, a little bit farther than we would have liked to travel. It's in a huge John Q. Hammons hotel, and I can already tell that the retreat organizers are dealing with some of the things you run into when you work with that kind of facility -- one of the worst of which is not being able to bring in your own snacks and drinks. Of course, the hotel requires you to buy their cans of pop for $1 or more each -- and who wants to do that! I'm not sure if they decorate, or have a theme, or anything like that. We leave Friday morning, and I'll soon find out!

While I'm gone, SG card-expert Stacey will be taking over the free cardmaking sessions on Saturday. We've designed a great card using a Christmas collection by Crate Paper. The card features a tag tucked in a pocket on the front! Your cost for the sessions will be less than $4, and you'll be able to make as many as six cards, plus take home a cool sketch! We've used the sketch for a Christmas card, but it could be a birthday card, a sympathy card, a thank you card, or just about any topic you would need. If you want to attend one of the four sessions and aren't signed up yet, just call 417-886-0440 and we'll find you a spot!

New at Scrapbook Generation...
-- more cute packs of flowers by Petaloo;
Arriving Friday...
-- about 20 more double-sided papers by KaiserCraft;
-- plenty of creamy browns and chestnut roans (I've been in the doghouse for letting us run out!).

It took all day, but Karin and I finally got out the 134 new papers, 71 different self-adhesive rhinestone shapes, 21 very unique mini-albums, and 15 felt borders from Kaiser and it was worth every second of it! Each of the 33 paper groups has four different double-sided papers.

'Hollywood Lights' is officially over, now that the second of Scrapbook Generation's two Branson retreats this fall has come to an end. Between the two retreats, over 80 women enjoyed a much-deserved get-away. We had so very much fun laughing, eating, talking, and...oh yes...scrapbooking! As I like to do, I'm going to let the people attending speak for themselves -- you can read their comments about the retreat below. (Thank you so much for all the compliments -- we love hearing that you had fun!)

We already have dates and themes and plans for our two spring retreats, which will be the weekends of March 13 and March 20. The people who attended one of the fall retreats have until the end of November to sign up before we open registration up to others who want to attend.