National Scrapbooking Day invitation...

Celebrations are always fun, and once a year, we get the chance to celebrate the hobby that continues to capture our memories, to inspire our creativity, and to bring us new friends both near and far.

We hope you're saving the dates for SG's National Scrapbooking Day festivities -- Friday and Saturday, May 3-4. We've expanded our activities in ways we never dreamed of this year!

Locally:
• We'll have 70 people cropping next door in the original SG store building until midnight both days.

• Shoppers on Friday who spend $25 get a $15 goodie bag. All shoppers get double "SG Loyalty" points. We'll have special sales, and each $25 in purchases earns you a ticket for one of five $100 gifts baskets from sponsors My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, Echo Park, Fancy Pants, and Simple Stories.

• Saturday will feature special Super Saver Scrapbooking sessions, where everyone attending receives a $5 set of Thickers alphas, and three lucky people win $50 gift cards. (Call 417-886-0440 to register for one of the sessions.)

• Saturday shoppers also earn double "SG Loyalty" points, special sales will continue, and once again, each $25 in purchases earns you a ticket for one of five $100 gifts baskets from sponsors My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, Echo Park, Fancy Pants, and Simple Stories.

• Also on Saturday, demos and free mini-classes by Lindsey Amschler and Katrina Hunt will be going on in the lobby area, and the chocolate buffet will be available all day.

Online:
• We'll be hosting our first "online crop" -- totally free and for everyone, by the way -- featuring two days of challenges, chats and prizes with the SG gals and real-life scrapbooking experts Janet (from the East Coast), Penny (from Texas), Mari (from Florida), and Katrina (from SG-land). From time to time, Allison Davis will be able to jump in and chat, too!

• Next week, we'll announce the chat schedule and let you know which hostess will be chatting at what times. We're also supplying them with a ton of prizes to award, based on just how well you know your SG facts!

• The challenge topics have already been announced. General topics are stars, project life, one-page and two-page sketches, journaling, products, colors, and manufacturers. May 3-4, on the time schedule listed in an earlier post, here on the blog we'll give the specific prompt for each challenge. You can win prizes by linking your projects, or just play along for the fun of it! (Challenges will appear in the main blog feed on the left of the page, and the chat box will be on the right.)

• We'll be announcing some great online sales, and also a reward for chatting with us!

• And just like local customers, our online customers will earn a ticket for each $25 in purchases May 3-4. We have five $100 gift baskets, identical to the store baskets, to give away!

Overall:
• Scrapbook Generation and sponsors My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, Echo Park, Fancy Pants, and Simple Stories will be giving away thousands of dollars of prizes, both in-store and online. It's our way of letting all our customers know just how much we appreciate them!

• Keep watching the blog next week as we unveil more information about local and online activities.