Odds and ends about Scrapbook Generation...

-- Friday, we're expecting a couple of groups of Bo-Bunny papers and matching cardstock stickers, a "vintage carnival" group and a birthday group in both pastels and brights!

-- Early next week, we'll be receiving pretty much the entire Doodlebug debut products from CHA, including 12 colors of "sugar-coated" chipboard letters, 12 colors of glitter and a 12-color glitter set, 8 new colors of alphabet sets in a new font style, 12 colors of "sugar-coated" brads, a Christmas group with stickers and glitter rub-ons and jewels, and a Halloween group with stickers and glitter rub-ons and jewels!

-- Arriving in the next week or so, K & Company's new glitter Halloween group!

-- Arriving within two weeks, My Mind's Eye entire Bohemia II collection, every single paper, die-cut, transparency, crochet flowers, and jewel!

On another subject, Allison had her telephone interview yesterday that is part of the Scrapbooker of the Year contest. There were several people talking to her on a speaker phone, including Ali Edwards! I wish I could have heard everything that was said! Now it's just a matter of waiting for the trip to Vegas and the announcement of the winner. I'm starting to get nervous! Thanks so much to all of you who have offered words of encouragment to her and who are sharing in our excitement.

On ANOTHER subject, we just found out yesterday that the same caterer who did our first Branson retreat is going to be the caterer for our upcoming Branson retreat! For all of you who almost overdosed on mashed potatoes and gravy, we know we're going to have great food again! What a relief!

Scrapbook Generation just received the entire Family Ties collection from Flair! It includes 18 papers (pretty much every family relationship you can think of) and matching cardstock stickers. We also have their new months of the year papers, including blank calendar grids and months of the year cardstock stickers! I'll post a photo as soon as I can.

My Minds Eye's entire Confetti collection just arrived, and it's already out on the shelves! There are 40 gorgeous papers and literally hundreds of die-cut embellishments including cardstock titles, transparency titles, accessory sheets, shape die-cuts, and journaling cards!

If you're looking for a particular theme, you would be hard pressed not to find it in this huge collection. They include swimming/beach, boy, brothers, dad and me, family, buddies, America, memories, brothers and sisters, together, birthday girl, beautiful, sweetheart, princess, sisters, cousins, girl friends, baby girl, me and mom, and summer.

Fancy Pants is here, and we have the following items...

-- 6x6 chipboard sets (phrases, frames and tags; scrolls; paisleys; mats, corners and frames; brackets, labels and tags; florals);

-- 12x12 chipboard sets (tabs, tags and doodles; funky freestyle; flourishes; soho swirls; photo fun; every element; lotsa letters; dreamer; wild flowers);

-- 6x6 acrylic stamps (journals a la mode; chic alpha; simply stated);

-- 12x12 acrylic stamps (bella brush);

-- paper collections (double sided papers, matching rub-ons, and ribbons) including Aged Florals, Kewl, Floral Chic, Botanical, and True.

This was one of our favorite vendors at CHA -- you can't go wrong with anything they create! It's all so beautiful, I want one of each thing!

Fancy Pants is here! We'll get it out as quickly as we can.

Scenic Route is here with over 50 new papers from four different lines! They are all double sided, and come in great color combinations. One of the nicest features is that some of the papers are "scrap strips" which combine several of the paper patterns, plus three lines of themed words that can be used for titles or journaling!

There are also six sets of oversized raw chipboard shapes which have lots of potential to be combined with chalk ink, paper, or acrylic paint.

My propensity for procrastination has become pretty well known among all those of you who are regulars at Scrapbook Generation's free Saturday activities, so I'm happy to announce that I'm ahead of the game this week! I just finished making the glazed glitter letter sample for Saturday's "Show-Me" How classes, which are free, as always.

Perhaps you've been living in a cave and hadn't noticed that tons of products are all glittered up anymore. The rest of us know that glitter is where it's at right now!

Anyway, these glazed glitter letters are absolutely the coolest thing! It will take the use of only three simple products to turn a raw piece of chipboard into a dazzling delight. The great thing about them, to me at least, is that you can see the glitter, but it's enclosed under a layer of epoxy-like glaze, so there is a beautiful sparkly look with no mess and shedding. I'll have to say that this is my definite favorite of all the techniques we've learned so far!

If you want to join us, the 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m. sessions are full. There are two spots in the 1 p.m. session, and several spots in the 2 p.m. session. Just call us at 417-886-0440 to register.

Just a quick message to let you know that Scrapbook Generation's 50-person fall retreat in Branson is sold out! We're starting to put the themed decorations and favors together, and the casino theme lends itself to lots of cute stuff.

If you are still looking for a fall retreat, our Eureka Springs retreat Nov. 2-4 still has some openings, and it's only a two-hour drive from Springfield. If you've never been there before, it's quite an interesting town, and very beautiful in the fall.

We're having a great time at our "Basic" Sketch Sessions today -- about 50 scrapbookers are signed up in four different time slots. If you want to find out how using a sketch can free up your scrapbooking time and lower your stress level, plus give you gorgeous pages, you might join us some Saturday! As I've said before, working from a sketch is my favorite mode of operation.

We got a great compliment from one of the ladies today. She said she has friends in St. Louis who, after she shows them her projects from our Saturday classes, are jealous of her because she has access to all of our free classes and sessions. They tell her that there isn't a store where they are that offers sketch classes or technique classes like we do. She made my day!

Lots of miscellaneous information about Scrapbook Generation...

-- Today, we received 24 new sheer organdy swirl ribbons from Creative Impressions. My previous favorites were the sheer dotted ribbons by May Arts, but I fell in love with this scrolly swirly ribbon at CHA in Chicago. Colors include burgundy, orange, aqua, soft blue, celery, pumpkin, black, denim, magenta, yellow, olive, white, lime, navy, lavendar, seafoam, rust, red, dark blue, dark green, pink, brown, cream, and white with black swirls.

-- Jordan from Fancy Pants said our shipment of papers, rub-ons, ribbons, acrylic stamps, and chipboard shapes may possibly arrive on Tuesday! If it gets here Wednesday I'll be happy! Anything that comes from Utah seems to take forever. (Felt shapes and two more paper collections will follow in about a week.)

-- Scenic Route will be arriving Tuesday afternoon for sure...0ver 50 papers, including all four of their new collections, plus six sets of chipboard shapes.

-- The Confetti collection from My Minds Eye (tons of papers, die cuts, journaling blocks, titles, and more) is set to arrive next week also. It was one of my must-haves at CHA, and I think you'll love the bright colors and all the great matching "accessories" for your pages.

This should be our biggest week for new arrivals from CHA since Allison and I returned from the show in Chicago. And it's just the beginning! On the horizon, the entire Bohemia 2 collection from My Minds Eye! Then it will be time to make room for tons of new goodies for Halloween, fall, and Christmas. We're absolutely dedicated to providing Springfield area shoppers with the best the scrapbooking world has to offer!