Scrapbook Generation's CHA Sneak Peek!









We're so happy to finally be able to show you what all seven of our sketch books will look like for their debut at the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) summer show in Chicago later this month. Some of you already have volume 6 of Sketches for Scrapbooking and have seen first-hand the improvements from our "home-made" books to the professionally printed ones. Soon, the other five scrapbooking sketch books will be available in the revised versions, and Stacey's cardmaking book has also received a make-over!

Wish us luck! We've invested so much energy and time into becoming Scrapbook Generation Publishing, and we're extremely anxious to see how it all turns out!

Join us Saturday for the Debbie Sanders sketch sessions...

This is the layout we'll be making this Saturday in the Debbie Sanders free sketch sessions. The Queen Bee collection from Pink Paislee is the featured paper group, and I had so much fun designing with it! Your cost to make the layout here at SG will be about $4, and as always, you can choose to use other papers if these don't work for you. The great thing about sketches is that you can use an infinite number of papers and always end up with a great looking layout.

To sign up, just give us a call at 417-886-0440. The sessions are held at 10, 11:30, 1 and 2:30, and no payment is required until you've completed your project. (If you can't attend and would like for us to make a kit for you, the fee is $5 and is due at the time the kit is requested.)

Super Sketch Club members...
• This sketch and layout materials will be included in your July kit!

CHA, here we come!
We're putting all the last minute touches on our products and our booth for the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) summer show in Chicago. It's a mad dash to get the first five volumes of Sketches for Scrapbooking revised and updated so that they match volume 6, and we're also adding a few new touches to Sketches for Cardmaking before it is printed.

Our printer is working overtime, too! We'll have new forms of all seven publications ready to display at CHA. Scrapbook Generation Publishing will be in booth 648, right across the aisle from Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker! And in addition to updating the books, we're working on booth decor and signage, brochures and order forms, and just more stuff than you can imagine!

At this point, we've done so many sketches that they are more or less a blur. But about midnight last night, I found myself working on the very first one that I created for our first Saturday sketch session here at SG, and reminiscing about how it started out as such a simple idea for store activities, and how it has become so much more.

Our August and September schedule of activities will be light (for us!) as we make the transition from being a retail business to also being a wholesale business. We're in the process of transforming the back room we lovingly call The Dungeon into a warehouse/shipping area, and we hope to be back to "normal" by early fall as we settle into our new routines.

We've had several retail stores that will not be represented at CHA inquire about setting up wholesale accounts. To do that, just send an email to stacey@scrapbookgeneration.com and we'll get the process started! (And if you are one of our "long-distance" blog readers and want your LSS to carry our sketches books, please pass this info on to them!)

New products at Scrapbook Generation...

We R Memory Keepers "Out and About" collection

Creative Imaginations's "Loolah" collection

Little Yellow Bicycle's "Pack Your Bags" collection

Echo Park's "A Walk in the Park" collection, plus "Sweet Summertime"

Crepe paper from Melissa Frances

Pink Paislee's Queen Bee collection is ready for sketches this Saturday...

I have no idea how many paper collections we've seen in Scrapbook Generation's almost-six-years of existence, but the number is large. I've liked lots of them, but there have been a few that just absolutely captured my admiration in a huge way, and Pink Paislee's "Queen Bee" collection falls in that latter category. I've been longing to create something with these papers since the moment I saw them!

We'll be using the papers above for this Saturday's Debbie Sanders free sketch sessions. I'll post the actual layout later in the week. We hope you can join us at one of the four sessions -- 10, 11:30, 1 and 2:30. Your cost for the layout will be less than $4! (And if you're not as excited about these papers as I am, you always have the option of choosing other papers.) Just give us a call at 417-886-0440 to sign up.

Save these dates...
I'm running late with the August-September newsletter as we try to get everything ready for "going wholesale" at CHA in Chicago in two weeks. Please make a note of these dates for the next few months.

• Saturday, August 21 -- Graphic 45 Design Team member Tammy Roberts will teach her first class at SG, a one-page vintage layout.

• Saturday, September 11 -- Tammy Roberts will teach a mini-album class using the new Graphic 45 Halloween papers.

• Saturday, September 25 -- Scrap-a-Palooza at Remingtons in Springfield. Registration is already open with the radio station.

• Saturday, October 9 -- Megacrop Scrapmania at Lake of the Ozarks. Identical to Scrap-a-Palooza, just in a central Missouri location. Registration is open with Scrapbook Generation.

• Saturday, November 6 -- SG's sixth birthday celebration, with more free stuff and more activities than we've ever attempted!

• Friday and Saturday, November 12-13 -- The talented Tammy Tutterow from St. Louis will be back to teach more classes. Specifics will be announced later.

Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker Day was a huge hit!

It was a party all day long as SG hosted the world premiere of two new collections by Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker, a locally-based scrapbooking company that has just been in existence for about a year. Nikki's local Design Team, headed by Katrina Hunt, was here teaching free mini-classes all day long. I'll tell the story of the day with help from the following photos.

The Nikki Sivils team...DT member Karen Taylor, DT member Stacey Atchley, graphic designer Heather Schroeder, DT member Laura Parks, and Nikki Sivils. (Katrina Hunt, DT leader, had to slip out before the craziness of the day had died down enough for us to grab a few photos.)

The two lines we revealed Saturday were "My Friend Birdie" and "Blueberry Hill." We had sold out of both lines by 2 pm, and Nikki's husband Dan had to bring us a new supply of both collections! Always a great problem to have!

We had several of Nikki's earlier collections here as well, at 20% off for the day. The Design Team brought in some awesome samples for everyone to look at.

Nikki Sivils teaches one of the free mini-classes. The four projects are shown below, and she was extremely generous with materials. Just using my simple math skills, our customers went home with over $10 in products FREE (!) if they participated in all four classes.





Design Team leader Katrina Hunt teaches one of the four free mini-classes that were scattered throughout the store on Saturday.

DT member Laura Parks and graphic designer Heather Schroeder team up to teach one of the four free mini-classes.

Nikki Sivils explains how to make one of the four projects that her team provided for anyone interested in making them.

Design Team member Karen Taylor works with a group of ladies who are working on one of the free mini-class projects.

My favorite sample brought in by the Nikki Sivils group...Katrina Hunt used the "Blueberry Hill" line to immortalize one of my more goofy moments from Scrap-a-Palooza a couple of weeks ago! I loved it!

As usual, the chocolate buffet was a huge hit!

In addition to being a talented member of the Design Team, Laura Parks also makes great gourmet mini-cupcakes. Her company is called Something Simple, and we'll be happy to put you in contact with her if you can't find her on Facebook.

The Mini-Super-Saver sessions were a huge hit, with about 70 people participating in four different time periods. In addition to making two layouts with the new "Blueberry Hill" collection for only $7, the participants also got free gifts from both Scrapbook Generation and Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker totaling $6.



And I can't quit without saying "thanks" from the SG gang...Karin, Allison, Stacey, and me. You can't have a party without people, and we had both in abundance this past Saturday. It was a hugely successful day for the Nikki Sivils team and for the Scrapbook Generation team. One of the things that impressed me the most was how many people made it a point to look one or more of us up and say "thank you" for all the activities and the free goodies!

We had a great time, and we'll do it all again in January just before the Winter CHA!

Winners of the prize drawings at the end of the day...
• Debbie Seitzer
• Diana Vaughn
Just stop by SG and pick up your prize packages, donated by Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker!

Free kits for Saturday's Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker Day...


Even if you aren't planning on attending one of the Mini-Super-Saver sessions this Saturday, we still have plenty of reasons for you to stop by Scrapbook Generation, and the photos above are part of the story.

• If you spend at least $25, you get your choice of one of the page kits shown above. We've gotten in the habit of giving you at least two kits to choose from, and also making one of them "boy colors" and one "girl colors." That way everyone should be happy! (Adults only, one per family please.)

Other reasons to stop by...
• Free mini-classes all day long! Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker's local Design Team has four different free mini-classes for you to participate in.
· All Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker products will be 20% off.
· Lots of prize drawings all day long.
· A giant and tasty chocolate buffet will be available all day, and it will be stocked with lots of delicious treats, including gourmet mini-cupcakes!

Welcome to Blueberry Hill!


Here is a sneak peek at one of the layouts we'll be making Saturday at the Mini-Super-Saver Scrapbooking sessions during the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker Day festivities. The new "Blueberry Hill" collection is so bright and cheerful in reds, blues, greens, and yellows. I think you'll love the new cut-out sheets that have lots of word strips, and the papers just scream summer fun.

We already have almost 70 people signed up, and we have spots for about 10 more people. If you are interested in making two cute layouts for the low cost of only $7, just give us a call at 417-886-0440. Don't forget that SG and Nikki are joining forces to give $6 worth of free goodies to everyone who attends the sessions!

And check out the earlier posts here for a description of all the hoopla we'll have going on during the day, including great sales, prizes, and our special chocolate buffet!)

Note to Super-Sketch Club members: This special Super-Saver is not included in your kit, but if you are interested, we'd be happy to add it. The additional cost would be $8 if you pick up in the store, and $10 if we ship to you (includes the extra shipping cost.) We would need to know by July 16 if you want this add-on. Either call 417-886-0440, or email us at stacey@scrapbookgeneration.com.

Cutting it close!
We had a bit of excitement this week when Nikki Sivils found out that her new papers were going to arrive at her Springfield warehouse on Monday. Yes, Monday, two days AFTER Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker Day at Scrapbook Generation! Anyway, she performed some shipping miracles, and I have two of her new paper collections here at SG right now, and they are as cute as promised!

This Saturday, we'll be debuting the "Blueberry Hill" and "My Friend Birdie" collections, and I think you'll love them. In addition to double-sided papers and die-cut papers, the new collections also have 12x12 sticker sheets that make a nice addition for both scrapbookers and cardmakers.

We hope you can join us! We have so much fun planned for you...
-- Mini-Super-Saver Scrapbooking sessions ($7 to make two cute layouts -- call to pre-register and pre-pay);
-- $6 in free stuff to those who attend the mini-super-savers;
-- Purchase $25 and get a free SG page kit;
-- Free mini-classes all day long;
-- 20% off all Nikki Sivils products;
-- Lots of other prizes;
-- And best of all, a chocolate buffet featuring gourmet mini-cupcakes!

Customer email makes our day!
I wanted to share an email we received yesterday. Makes us feel so great!

"Hello! I got Volume 6 in the mail today and wanted to let you know I love it! I have already done a LO from one of the new sketches! Many thanks for another fabulous book. I love the changes and upgrades. You made a wonderful product even better!"