The gang at Scrapbook Generation is busy getting ready for retreat #2 this weekend, and this time we're heading for Eureka Springs. For some reason, everything is much easier the second time around!

Saturday, we had great fun with the group that took part in our all-day Halloween theme crop. There were lots of pages created and plenty of laughter shared.

Today, Karin taught a class for kids from the Springfield Boys and Girls Club. She helped them make Halloween treat bags, and mini-albums with a fall theme. This is the second time the group has participated in a class at Scrapbook Generation. We're always open to helping out community groups when we can.

I'm still having trouble getting photos on the blog, so to check out November class projects, please see our new website, scrapbookgeneration.com. Stacey has worked really hard getting us online, and I love the way everything looks, and how informative the site is. Our online kits sales is not quite ready to go, but that will come soon. We're just working out some shipping details. Our shipping department (Stacey!) tells me we are close to the finish line!

We're also working on the class and crop schedule for December and January, and have a few surprises for you. I'm also putting the final touches on a couple of year-long projects I hope many of you will be interested in for 2007.

This week, we're expecting some beautiful silk-covered albums from Pioneer! I'll let you know as soon as they arrive.

Karin and I were gone for two days to visit relatives who are hospitalized in Little Rock, and when we returned last night, we discovered that leaving Stacey and Ali in charge can be a good thing. They have the store filled with new stuff! Here's what's new...

Imaginisce: A new company that you'll fall in love with. We chose the Exotic East collection, which has jewel-toned papers, and jewels to match. There are also metal filligrees, metal plates to slide ribbons through, and just a wonderful assortment of coordinating items, including brads, ribbons, and charms.

All My Memories: The new Uptown Chic albums are updated in a rich red, charcoal, and bisque. We have both sizes, 12x12 and 8x8.

Doodlebug: One of the cutest things we saw at the Chicago show this summer was this company's new Paper Frills. We have all 12 colors of these 12x12 borders die-cut in intricate shapes, including rows of flowers. (Also have a new shipment of the matching alphabet sets.)

Creative Imaginations: What a great idea! The new Bare Elements line is made up of plain white items perfect for home decor, and easy to personalize with just about anything you can think of. We have six styles of Christmas ornaments, actual wood blocks, gift card holders, door hangers, triptyches (a three-sided free-standing item perfect for a picture display), 12x12 frames, two styles of purses (square and clutch), and wood words which can be used as letters and as the negative shape left after the letters are removed (love, family, baby, and travel).

Daisy D's: We have four cute projects ready for the making, including a chipboard purse, a mini-album, and an envelope set.

We've also added the entire alphabet in 7" tall wood letters by Plaid, and have a new stock of chalk inks, storage items, pens, circle cutters, punches, and more.

Can't get blogger to accept photos this morning. I'll try again this afternoon!

We have photos of two more of the upcoming November classes. Candy Conner will be teaching a Christmas Gift Lunch Pail (for boy or girl) on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. The boy lunch pail is shown (cars not included in class), and we'll post the girl one later.

Allison Davis will be teaching a Memories Journal mini-class ($5 cost) on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

At this point, the new stuff is coming in to Scrapbook Generation faster than we can find places to put it! Since the goodies on the new wall haven't even been there more than a couple of days, we had to look around for more room for today's great shipment from Creative Imaginations.

There are several themes, including baby boy and baby girl, little boys, princesses (complete with glitter paper), pizza parties, Disney, and even a heritage/love grouping with scalloped paper. In addition to patterned papers, there are epoxy stickers, cardstock stickers, and all kinds of fun stuff.

We also received our first ever shipment from Maya Road. There are nine different flower-shaped ribbon slider sets, each with a unique color combination. The tins they are packaged in are too cute for words!

And don't tell, but next week we're expecting that fantastic Far East collection from new company Imaginisce you've been seeing advertised in all the magazines.

You know that it's fall when you wake up in the morning and there are turkeys in your yard! All you city gals won't be able to relate, but my life in the country includes watching whatever wildlife happens to stroll by.

I've seen groundhogs, skunks, rabbits (though not as many as when I lived in town), quail, coyotes, porcupines, racoons, and armadillos. Deer we see several times a week, but I'll have to admit that the two huge turkeys today were pretty cool. They must have been a matched set, and I assumed the smaller one was a female. Every once in a while, the larger one would ruffle up his tail feathers for the traditional turkey pose. They circled the house for quite some time, and it was fun watching them.

Anyway, I have the day off tomorrow, and I'm going to get out some autumn photos and make some scrapbook pages. Like many of you, I don't get to do that as often as I would like. This Friday, we have plans to take Andrew to the pumpkin patch, and I can't wait...I'll really have plenty of pics to work with then!

Fun week at Scrapbook Generation...we've had new stuff from Daisy D's, Bo-Bunny, KI Memories, and SugarTree, to name a few.

Daisy D's has three Christmas and winter collections that are just filled with nostalgia. Beautiful papers are accented by matching monogram letters, phrases, ribbon flowers, tags, and more.

Bo-Bunny, as always, has cute papers and matching stickers. The groups we have include father, mother, fall, pink dog, and family/friends. A couple of the groups have matching ribbons.

KI Memories Christmas and winter collections just came in today, and I think KI is really on a roll! Their papers are outstanding, but when you add in two matching ribbon sets for each season, the cool lab kits with sparkle brads, sequins, and more, and chipboard shapes and letters, you have a really awesome package.

SugarTree has us all set for what I was talking about earlier-- turkeys! We have quite a collection now of hunting and fishing papers, plus new sports papers in basketball, baseball, football, karate, running, volleyball, bowling, and more.

Design Team member Jane Hunt takes her turn at center stage today, as we introduce you, in-depth in their own words, to each of Scrapbook Generation's talented group. (FYI, Jane was the winner of both of the "people's choice" (all those attending voted on the winners) contest categories -- best overall and designer's challenge -- at our recent Branson retreat.

Design Team Member #4: Jane Hunt
Occupation: small business owner (Designs + Printing); bookkeeper for her husband's surveying business; promotes a weekend crop twice annually at Lake Ozark, MO; teaches classes in her home crop room
Spouse: married 35 years to Michael
Children: Amie (stepdaughter) 37, Jason 33, Jami 29, Butch 26 (also 6 grandchildren -- Shelby and Tyler, 14-year old twins; Ashton 13, Avery 12, Logan 2, and Molly 1)
Hobbies other than scrapbooking: all types of crafts, gardening, home decorating, photography

-- How long have you been scrapbooking? Six years.

-- When and where do you usually scrapbook? Even though I have a large scrapbook room, I generally scrapbook in the evening in front of the TV. My husband enjoys me being close by.

-- How many pages do you complete in an average month? I average 6-10 pages per month. Not exactly a marathon scrapper!

-- Describe your scrapbooking style. Not really sure there is a name, I like to go strictly by my photos to design a page. I would have to say I like clean pages, not too much clutter. I like to coordiante colors, textures, and prints. For the most part I like variety which is what you get when you design around your photos.

-- What do you enjoy most about scrapbooking? The creating is what interested me at first, then I realized the necessity. Once I "retired" from the craft show circuit I needed to allow my creative juices to escape, and this seemed to be the best way to do that. It became apparent rather quickly that I was doing something for myself and more importantly for my family.

-- Have you been published? Yes, but not for scrapbooking. I've been a designer of three publications for Leisure Arts.

--Why did being on the Design Team at Scrapbook Generation appeal to you? Mainly because I love a challenge. I also feel that by being on the design team I will keep in touch with the trends and new products available.

-- Why is Scrapbook Generation your favorite scrapbook store? I enjoy going into Scrapbook Generation for several reasons. It has a bright, cheery and spacious atmosphere, there are plenty of items to choose from but not overwhelming or mindboggling, and the layouts on display are great sources of inspiration.

Bo-Bunny is here! Don't have time to take a photo, but wanted to let you know that we have several groupings, including Halloween, fall, father, mother, family and friends, and pink dogs. There are beautiful papers and stickers, and the fall and dog groups have matching ribbon sets.

Also, more of the K & Company Hannah and Addison collections came in today. The Hannah albums are very elegant, and there is a file folder kit that is absolutely too cute for words. In addition, five more colors of glitter letters came in -- now there is red, blue, silver, gold, pink, and green. If you love glitter, you'll love these sets!

For those of you who love hand-stitching on your scrapbook pages, Scrapbook Generation just received a new shipment of all the stitching templates by Timeless Touches. We also have a good supply of cork boards and paper piercers. From simple borders to elaborate scroll patterns, and from alphabet sets to flower designs, Timeless Touches templates make stitching a breeze!

K & Company's newest two lines arrived at Scrapbook Generation today! The Addison and Hannah collections are absolutely beautiful. Hannah is done in corals, pinks, and champagne; and Addison is all about blues, teals, and greens.

What is especially great about these collections is the matching items: covered chipboard letters embellished with pearls and glitter, fabric-covered brads embellished with pearls, glitter letters, as well as the usual K & Company rub-ons, grand adhesions, and stickers. The matching albums are awesome, as well!

Two of the items I expect to be re-ordering quickly, because I know they won't stay around here long. The Addison collection has a spiral album kit complete with everything to make the book, and the Hannah collection has a photo cube kit that is equally as cute.

For the sports-minded, we also received a collection of sports papers and stickers from Rocky Mountain Scrapbooks. There are papers for volleyball, basketball, baseball, and football, plus cardstock stickers for volleyball, basketball, and baseball.