Supply list for Tammy Tutterow class on Saturday...
If you are one of the lucky ones enrolled in Tammy's class this Saturday, she has sent a list of suggested supplies. If you don't have any of these items, they will all be available at SG for purchase. We'll also have a huge new stock of Tim Holtz items!

• Vintage photo distress ink
• Ink blending tool
• Ranger craft sheet
• Glue stick (Tammy recommends Therm O Web Super Stick)
• Adhesive foam squares
• Quick drying liquid glue like Zip Dry
• Scissors
• Pencil

The Great Chipboard Canister Caper!

Just in case you haven't heard yet, I'm slightly less than perfect! Here's the whole story...
The people who received the first 200 numbers at our birthday celebration were given totes with a variety of goodies inside, including a canister of chipboard letters by Crate Paper. Here's where things got crazy! Some of the canisters were empty! So, apologies if you are one of the people who had a number from 1-200 and you ended up with a disappointing, empty, boring canister of nothing! I think this probably affects only about 20-30 people, but if one of them is you, please accept our/my apology! If you live close to us, just drop by the store and we'll give you the correct canister. If you live too far away to do that, just drop me an email with your name and address and we'll ship the correct canister to you.

Birthday thanks from all of us at SG!

It's hard to know where to start to tell all of you what special days Friday and Saturday were for us. I decided that the easiest way was to share some photos and thoughts of the birthday celebration in the order they happened.

Friday evening: Fiskateers Reception

We had a reception planned for Lead Fiskateers Rebecca Peck and Angela Daniels, and Unibind Photobook Creator guy Ken Oliver. As customers started arriving to meet our visitors, Christine Rantz, shown above right with her daughter, Amy Roller, brought in this absolutely gorgeous "cake" she had made for us. I can't even imagine how many hours she spent on this personalized creation which even has battery-operated "candles!" And that wasn't our only gift...Joanie Cutbirth, below, brought us this lovely floral arrangement she had made herself. We already knew it, but these two acts of friendship just confirm that we have the nicest, sweetest, most considerate customer/friends in the world!

The Fiskateers arrived and immediately started livening things up. Amy Roller won the first door prize...a huge bag of Fiskars products.

We set up a green screen in the classroom area, and with a few props that Rebecca and Angela had brought with them, people started getting dolled up for some photo fun. Corbi Beshears, right, got a little wild with the giant scissors, but no one was injured!

Deanna Goodwin also won one of the door prizes from Fiskars. I didn't get names of everyone who was a winner on Friday night and Saturday, because it got so crazy, but Kimberly Knapton (not shown) won the drawing for the Unibind Photobook Creator given away Friday evening!

Remember the group above, which includes Dani Buehler at the right. I'll be talking about some of their exploits during Saturday's festivities.

Rebecca. Angela, and Ken do one of the final prize drawings of the evening, plus explain more about the Fiskateers program and how it benefits crafters all over the country.

We gave away 350 tote bags on Saturday! The first 200 were filled with product valued at over $45, and the next 150 each contained almost $25 worth of products. We also had 200 presents just waiting to be unwrapped by the first 200 customers! It's a good thing I took a photo before we opened. Later, I couldn't have made it through the crowd before most of the gifts were gone!

Saturday: Scrapbook Generation's Sixth Birthday Celebration

When my husband Don and I arrived at SG at 6 am, there were already five cars in the parking lot, and we found out later that Dani Buehler's group of four gals had spent the night in a car! And it was a cold night! The line started forming about 6:30, and this is what I saw when I first came out at 7:30! I started giving out numbers so that everyone could go back to their cars or find someplace else warm! Stefanie Hayes, a perennial "first-in-line" at Scrap-a-Palooza, was the first in line at the birthday, too.

As people would come up to the door, I'd pop out and give them numbers so they wouldn't have to stand in line. About 8:30, the line started forming again, in anticipation of our early opening at 9. The line went all the way to the Sprint store, down the sidewalk, around the corner, and down another sidewalk! Some of the gals in the first class of the day are hanging out near the front door! The parking lot was so full that people had to park across the street, and when the Lead Fiskateers arrived, some of the local Fiskateers gathered in the middle of the parking lot and did a few cheers!

The buffet started out with a huge assortment of goodies! With the crowd we had on hand, the 20 dozen mini-cupcakes by Laura Parks of Something Simple didn't last long, and we eventually had to send Don and Jeremy out for more goodies later in the day! The next few photos show what the interior of the store looked like immediately after we opened at 9 am.

For a while, I stood outside and continued to hand out numbers. I think that I gave out #200 shortly after 9 am. I was hoping that the numbers would help alleviate any crowding problems, but everyone seemed to want to shop now! I couldn't believe that I was telling people as they walked up that they might want to consider coming back later in the day to shop! That's how packed SG was!

Ken, Rebecca, and Angela were tireless. They had materials prepared for 200 people, and when those were all used up, they prepared more for all the gals and guys who wanted to make the cute purse mini-books using the Unibind Photobook Creator and the Fiskars border punches and other tools.

Once Stacey, Jeremy, and Karin started checking everyone out at the cash registers, it was hours before they stopped. The wait in line for some people was as much as 45 minutes, but as I walked in and out of the lines, everyone seemed to be enjoying all the craziness, and they were extremely good sports about the wait.

Unibind and Fiskars did drawings for door prizes every hour, and they were all generous prizes!

Don and Allison were in charge of the birthday gift area. The gifts ranged in value from $4 to over $200, and later in the day when things had cleared out a little, Penny Peck gets her chance to pick out a gift.

Throughout the day, Rebecca was also keeping the Fiskateer world up on what we were doing via her laptop. We all waved and screamed and just generally had a great time doing a few Fiska-cheers!

Karin helps a customer decide on which free birthday page kit to choose. We made 150 kits, but ran out in early afternoon. Some chose other page kits we had on hand, and others elected to get a rain check for one of the kits shown above.

Frequent Saturday sketch class gal Ashley Linton won one of the five or six (I lost track!) Unibind Photobook Creator machines that were given away on Saturday! These machines sell for $99.99, and we're currently taking pre-orders!

This photo says it all...lots of orange for Fiskars, red for Scrapbook Generation, some Unibind black. Rebecca, Ken, and Angela share some fun with Reginna Hagemeier and her mom, Joanie Cutbirth.

Gwen Lind won the end-of-the day grand prize from Fiskars, a huge basket of goodies!

This is the combined group of scrapbooking craziness that was Scrapbook Generation's sixth birthday celebration. Front, Rebecca Peck and Angela Daniels; back, Karin Rush, Allison Davis, Stacey Atchley, Debbie Sanders, Don Sanders, Jeremy Atchley, and Ken Oliver.

Stacey, Karin, myself, and Allison. This may be one of our last photos in our original store building!

Again, what do I say about such a glorious day. We had the time of our lives! It was our best single day ever, and we have the empty paper trays to prove it! Entire paper collections were totally wiped out! It's a good thing that we have two stacks of boxes higher than our heads full of new goodies to put out starting Monday morning.

But our birthday celebration was never about having a good profit day. It was about honoring the people who had been instrumental in our success...our faithful, loyal, and fun customers. We estimate the number of people at SG on Saturday to be between 450 and 500, which is a huge number for the size of our building. I was just overwhelmed all day by the cards, compliments, thank you's, smiles, hugs, and wishes for our continued growth.

I'm hoping I don't leave anyone out, but so many of you asked if you could help as you saw how huge the crowd was, and several pitched in to help where they could. My childhood friend Debbie Seitzer called back after she left to see if she could bring us lunch. Donna Cartner helped me set out the class materials several times. Corbi Beshears took over what we call "hook patrol" and helped remove the hundreds of empty hooks off the racks. Laura Parks handed out numbers and replenished the buffet and helped pack tote bags and, at one point, even started answering the phone! And we were pretty much down to our last bit of energy when Kim and Mike Koch walked in at 5 pm with two huge trays of yummy Frosty's!

This is probably the last celebration we'll have in our current building. Next time, we'll be in spacious new surroundings. We don't have to squeeze around each other to get from one spot to the next. We won't have to rush through classes. We won't have to stand in such long lines. But I'll forever remember this day at Scrapbook Generation. Thanks for helping us celebrate our six years with the best customers on the planet!

Additional thanks to manufacturers My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, BoBunny, Creative Imaginations, SEI, SugarTree, Best Creations, and Three Bugs in a Rug for their generous donations of prizes of all shapes and sizes!

Congratulations to our Grand Prize drawing winner! 

Julia Casella of Republic is the winner of the Scrapbook Generation Grand Prize drawing held at the end of our sixth birthday festivities. Julia wins a year's membership in our popular Remember Me Club, volume two, a value of over $200!

Questions about Scrapbook Generation Publishing Creative Team...

A couple of you have left comments here asking about the inner workings of the SGP Creative Team which will be chosen soon. I think Allison can better answer your questions that I can. To ask her specific questions about the selection process or other aspects of the creative team, please email her at alidavis1919@hotmail.com.

Join us for some Friday night fun!

Our birthday celebration kicks off Friday night from 5-7 pm as we welcome Lead Fiskateers Rebecca Peck and Angela Daniels to Springfield! We'll also be greeting Ken Oliver of Unibind Photobook Creator!

These crafting ambassadors from Fiskars are ready to award door prizes, meet Scrapbook Generation's cool customers, and have some photo-fun! And because you may have the munchies after a "hard day at the office," we'll have plenty of snacks on hand!

Rebecca and Angela are bringing a "green screen" with them. You can stop by and have your photo made with them, with us, by yourself, or with family or friends -- it's all up to you. No telling what the background of the photo will be! That's part of the fun. Rebecca and Angela will print you out a free photo for you to take as a fun souvenir of their visit.

No reservations necessary! Just drop by for some scrapbooking, papercrafting fun with some gals who really know their way around a pair of scissors!

Saturday is the big day!

· Doors will open at 9 am and store hours will be extended until 6 pm.

· Enjoy the free all-day birthday bash buffet featuring gourmet mini-cupcakes and other party snacks.

· Stock up on Fiskars products -- they'll be 20% off all day in honor of our special guests, Lead Fiskateers Rebecca Peck and Angela Daniels!

• Learn about the Unibind Photobook Creator and find out how you can bind your own photobooks at home! Ken Oliver of Unibind will be here to show us all how to use this cool machine.

· And don't forget all the other freebies and fun activities we have planned. 

We've expanded our tote bag give-away to 350 people (see below) 

so that you won't have to wait in lines or miss out on all the fun!

The first 200 adults (one per family) who make a purchase of at least $15
on November 6 get the following:
· A free Scrapbook Generation tote bag packed with over $45 in goodies!
-- four sheets of single-sided paper with matching 12x12 letter stickers
-- three sheets of double-sided paper with cut-out sheet of shapes and titles
-- three sheets of double-sided paper with 12x12 die-cut sheet and cut-out sheet
-- 12x12 sheet of lightweight chipboard letters
-- canister of heavyweight chipboard letters
-- two-tipped archival scrapbooking marker
-- sheet of themed cardstock stickers
-- and of course, an SG page kit!

· In addition to receiving the tote bag, you also get to unwrap one of the 200 "birthday presents." Values start at $4 and continue upward to over $200.

WE'RE ADDING MORE FREE STUFF!
The next 150 people (adults only, one per family) who make a purchase of at least $15 will get a free tote bag filled with over $20 in goodies, including a paper collection kit and an SG page kit.
· Put simply, with the qualifying purchase of $15, at least 350 people are going to get free tote bags and goodies. There will be no need to worry about standing in lines, or getting here at the crack of dawn.
WE'LL BE GIVING OUT NUMBERS!
So that you don't have to rush to the checkout line once you arrive in order to get one of the tote bags, we'll be handing out numbers to those who think their purchase will qualify for the free gifts. You can take your time shopping, or even delay it until hours later, 

and still be assured of getting one of the tote bags.
This should make your day more enjoyable!

Every adult (one per family) who makes a purchase of at least $25 gets the following.

· choice of birthday-themed page kits valued at $12.99

Every adult who is a registered Fiskateer and wears some kind of orange that day gets the following.

· a gift bag from Fiskars

No purchase required for the following festivities.

· free mini-class hosted by Fiskars and Unibind Photobook Creator
· entry in hourly door prizes from Fiskars
· entry in grand prize from Fiskars
· entry in grand prize from Scrapbook Generation

Over 140 people will be participating in the special Super-Saver Scrapbooking sessions and making three double-page layouts for only $6.

(At this time, all the new spots we were able to open up have been filled from the waiting list.)
· sessions are at 9, 10:30, noon, 1:30, 3, and 4:30
· please bring the supplies you would normally use to work on a scrapbook page, like a trimmer, scissors, ruler, adhesives, inks, etc.

It's time for the November blog contest!

We have so much going on today that if Karin hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten that today is the day I'm supposed to announce the question for the November blog contest!

For the chance to win a prize package valued at $50, leave a comment answering the following question.

"We've just announced that we're moving to a new location that will give us an additional 2,000 square feet of space. What could we do with this extra space that will make Scrapbook Generation the "perfect" scrapbooking store, in your eyes?"

Scrapbook Generation Publishing/Allison Davis Creative Team call...

On Monday we announced the news of Scrapbook Generation's expansion. Today it's time for some Scrapbook Generation Publishing news. We are thrilled to announce our SG Publishing/Allison Davis Creative Team call. On January 1, 2011 we will be launching a new site with all sketches, all the time. You asked for Sketch Month and that is what you are getting.

The new site will feature not just two-page sketches but one-page sketches, card sketches, and something a little different, add-on sketches. We'll share some more details as we get closer to the launch date. To help make this possible, we are looking for a creative team.

The SG Publishing Creative Team duties will be creating a minimum of two projects per month. Sharing your projects from the sketches on your blog or in your online gallery is expected as well, however, a blog and online gallery are not requirements, just a big plus.

Allison has posted three sketches on her blog that you can download to use to prepare your entries. To enter you'll need to make three layouts, cards, or projects and email them to us at creativeteam@scrapbookgeneration.com. You can make three from the same sketch, or one of each, or two of one and one of another, whatever combination you want.

In your submission entry you'll also need to include:
• your name
• address
• link to blog and online galleries

Also, please answer these two questions.
• Do you mainly make two-page layouts, one-page layouts, cards, etc.?
• Why do you want to be on the Scrapbook Generation Publishing Creative Team?

The deadline for submissions is Monday, November 22. We'll send out emails to the selected Creative Team on Monday, November 29. When you send in your submission you will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours.

What we are looking for:
• Scrapbookers and cardmakers who are comfortable using sketches and have the ability to fit them to their style.
• All styles of scrapbookers and card makers. This includes those who use 8-1/2  x 11", 8x8", 6x 6", etc.
• The ability to take good pictures of the finished product.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. We look forward to seeing your entries.

Click here for Allison's blog so you can access the sketches.

Tammy Roberts' class for Thursday night is on hold...

Tammy just called and let us know that her brother is in the hospital in a very critical situation. Her sold-out class for Thursday night is canceled. We'll try to reach everyone by phone or email today. She wants to reschedule the class for a later date. Our thoughts and prayers are with her right now. It wasn't long ago that another brother died, so I know that makes this an even more difficult time for her.

I can’t believe I’m saying this...

Scrapbook Generation is moving to a new location.

It’s bigger!
It’s better!
It’s beautiful!

The best part?
You won’t have to reprogram your GPS to find us, because we’re only going a few steps away.

We’ve occupied Suites B and C of 330 E Battlefield for a little over six years. Soon, we’ll be settling into Suites D and E, where the Way Faith Community Church is currently located. With that slight change in address comes a huge change in size. We’ll be expanding our store from 3,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet!

Same great location. Same easy access. Same large parking lot. But everything else will be SO different!

Reasons you’ll love our new home:
• Our retail space will double. For example, after Scrap-a-Palooza, we won’t have to wait weeks before we can find space to display all the new paper collections. We’ll be able to have more paper collections all year round, plus bring in other products we’ve wanted to add to our inventory for some time. We’ll also be able to display products in a better way. Right now, I’m picturing a whole wall of Thickers!

• Our classroom will be spacious, and separate from the retail area. We think we can seat as many as 30 people comfortably (two at a 6-foot table) for classes and crops. Since we can seat more people at one time, we’ll be able to allow longer class times on Saturdays. No more rushing to get finished so the next group can get started! We’ll also have room for larger classes when popular guest instructors are teaching at SG!

Reasons we’ll love our new home:
• We’ll finally have a storage area. Right now, we have none. We’ve taken over a hallway and the loading dock where we are, and we have stuff stacked floor to ceiling in the office, but we’ve never had a place to organize and store the new shipments, retreat decorations, Palooza racks, and all the other items you seem to need to run a business. We waste a lot of time looking for stuff!

• We’ll have a better office. I’ve always described our current office as a hallway that wraps around a bathroom, and that’s pretty accurate. We’ll now have an office that can be a smooth-functioning area instead of a catch-all space for everything we can’t find a home for anywhere else.

• We’ll have a second office strictly for Scrapbook Generation Publishing. This area will also be our SGP shipping area, which is an important part of our business.

The next couple of months are going to be exciting!
The retail space has the potential to be an awesome, inviting area! The ceiling is exposed, with the ductwork showing, which makes the area look even larger. It’s just a really cool look. There is also an entry area that we can do some fun things with, once we can get in the building and really start making it our own.

And when will that happen? Much of our plans concerning when we move will depend on what the church decides to do. The orginal plan our landlord proposed had us simply switching places. However, the church may choose to buy or rent another building, and that affects what we do and when we do it.

Our new lease begins January 1, and the church will be out of the building by then. If the membership decides to take our current building, the move will be more hurried and we’ll have less time to renovate. It’s possible we would have to close for a few days if that is the situation. If the church decides to find another home, and moves out prior to January 1, we’ll be able to spend more time redecorating and getting things set up just the way we want them, without having to close down the store.

Of course, we’ll keep you updated on when the actual move will take place, and if we need to close for a few days, we’ll make sure you know well in advance.

I hope you join us in our utter excitement over this change. Six years ago, when we were looking for a place in which to start Scrapbook Generation, Karin and I peeked in the window of the 5,000 square foot part of the building, but we knew we couldn’t afford it. We took the smaller area instead, and it has allowed us to thrive and grow, with your help and continued patronage. It’s wonderful to be in a position to be able to make this change not with fear, but with confidence. And we have you to thank for that state of mind.

Now that you know our secret, what do YOU think? We would love to hear your comments!