Wow! The third Scrap-a-Palooza of 2009 is over, and we are thrilled with the wonderful response to this mega-crop. We had a record 204 ladies in attendance, and a record number of other vendors participating, including Lawrence Photo, who gave free prints to everyone. We gave $25 goodie bags to everyone, hosted a free card class for everyone, and taught three free mini-classes including a Christmas tag, a paper bag Halloween card, and a Halloween treat bag (using the cute "Boo-tiful" collection by the Springfield-based company Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker (Nikki is shown with me in the above photo). Allison Davis taught the free card class, a free 12x12 layout class (with materials donated by Crate Paper!), and gave great big-screen demos on Glimmer Mist and how to vary a sketch five ways.

As I've told you in earlier posts, we had about 50 new collections, especially in the areas of Halloween, autumn, and Christmas, although most major scrapbooking themes were represented. People shopped like crazy! At times, the best way for me to describe the cash register line is that it looked like Best Buy at Christmas! We are sensitive to the fact that while we loved that image from a financial standpoint, we also hated for people to have to spend time in a line. To fix that for future Paloozas, we already will be getting a faster computer to replace the one at the store that we are doing the remote hookup from, and we'll have two laptops at Scrap-a-Palooza so that there will be two checkout lines! That should make the shopping experience quicker for everyone!

And for those of you who were unable to attend, we'll have SG transformed with hundreds and hundreds of new papers and embellishments just as quickly as we can get it all unboxed and out on the shelves! Even though people shopped freely, all of the collections are still available and intact, because I ordered extra supplies of just about everything! We don't want to shortchange our regular, loyal customers!

Welcome to Scrapbook Generation's September blog contest! From now until midnight on Tuesday, September 15, leave a comment on the following question, and you'll be entered in a random drawing to win a prize package valued at $50. We'll announce the winner on Wednesday, September 16.

Here's the September question...
Which do you prefer: scrapbooking as a solitary activity or as a social activity. Why?

Updates on events...
-- Designers Challenge Club will meet for the first time on Thursday, Sept. 17. I've already gathered the materials for the first packets, and I'm really excited about our first meeting! (To read a complete description of this fun new club that will meet once a month, see the blog post on July 25.) We've had some requests from people who don't live in Springfield or the surrounding area and can't come to the monthly meetings, inquiring if they can still be involved. The answer is yes! We'll be happy to ship the $15 monthly club packet anywhere in the U.S. You can email us photos of your projects and have access to the blog, just like the other club members! Next week, I'll post a picture of the supplies in the first packet!

-- Please consider adding our Scrap Pink crop on Friday, Sept. 25 to your schedule. We still have spots left, and this is a wonderful way to support breast cancer research, since $10 of the $25 fee goes directly to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. The 5 pm - midnight crop will have pink decorations, pink snacks, Scrap Pink mugs, and lots of prizes! And don't forget to wear pink!

-- Don't forget to sign up for the free Scrap Pink sketch sessions the next day, Saturday, Sept. 26. Allison and I will use the same set of pink papers, design two sketches, and you'll be able to make two great pink layouts at a cost of only about $4. As always, the sketches are free! Sessions are held at 10, 11:30, 1, and 2:30. Please call or stop by to pre-register. And don't forget that everyone making a purchase of at least $25 that day will receive a special-edition pink page kit, a $12.99 value. Everyone making a purchase of any amount can choose 10 pink buttons, free! (Both offers are for adults only, one per family please.)

-- And something new! Don't forget to make plans to join us for World Card Making Day on Saturday, Oct. 3. You can stop by our "card bar" and make five free cards. Sign up for sessions at 10, 11, noon, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Call or stop by to pre-register. And to make it even better, if you make a purchase of at least $25, you get your choice of a free card kit or free page kit, both valued at $12.99.

Scrap-a-Palooza, here we come! I'm going to give you a quick preview of all the goodies you can expect to find at our mega-crop for 200 ladies this Saturday. (And if you aren't going to be there, don't despair! We'll have all of these same groups here in the store next week just as quickly as we can get them on the shelves.) We have 45-55 new paper and embellishment collections ready for Palooza! Stuff has been coming in so fast that I've lost track of the exact number.

Here are NEW groups for Scrap-a-Palooza that we haven't had in the store yet...

Halloween: Reminisce, Best Creations, Making Memories, Nikki Sivils: Scrapbooker, Pink Paislee;

Fall: SEI, Reminisce, K & Company, Pink Paislee, Little Yellow Bicycle;

Christmas: Webster's Pages, Nikki Sivils: Scrapbooker, Reminisce, Making Memories, Cosmo Cricket (also, this is just the start of the Christmas collections...many companies aren't even shipping their holiday collections just yet!); 

Water play: Best Creations;

Girly girl: Best Creations;

Birthday: Best Creations;

Safari/jungle: Reminisce;

Baby: Kaiser, October Afternoon;

Wedding: ANW Crestwood;

Dog: ANW Crestwood;

Tropical: Rusty Pickle;

All Sports: Scrappin' Sports;

General Themes: My Little Shoebox (6 groups), Sassafrass Lass (6 groups), October Afternoon, Three Bugs in a Rug.

Other NEW goodies for Scrap-a-Palooza...

Maya Road: tons of sheer and chipboard sets, lots of mini-albums;

Crafters Workshop: lots and lots of new 12x12 templates;

Prima: a huge assortment of new flowers (totally different from their past products) and bling.

By far, this is going to be the best shopping experience we have offered at Scrap-a-Palooza. Can't wait for Saturday!

Here's a sneak peak at the free Halloween page kits that will be given away at Scrapbook Generation during our Labor Day sale on Monday! The first 50 people who make a purchase of at least $25 will get their choice of the two page kits, which have a value of $12.99 each, and are made with papers by My Mind's Eye.

To make the day even better, for the first time ever, all of the Scrapbook Generation page kits will be 20% off! Karin and I will be here from 10 am until 5 pm, and we hope you can drop by and take advantage of these great deals.

We've had a fun and hectic day at SG on Saturday, with almost 70 people participating in the September Super-Saver Scrapbooking sessions! We had quite a few new people trying out the sessions today, including a lady from Rogers, Arkansas that we met at our booth at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Tulsa a couple of weeks ago.

We don't have our usual amount of activities coming up this week because all four of us are working hard to make sure this third Scrap-a-Palooza on Saturday has the same "wow" factor as the first two! We're planning classes, unboxing shipments, and packing goodie bags as fast as we can!

The new vintage area at Scrapbook Generation is well-stocked, with more items still to come in! We have a great selection of Tim Holtz products, including metal embellishments, grungeboard, grungepaper, alcohol inks and all the accessories needed, distress inks, and distress Stickles. We also have a huge line of stickers and other embellishments by a company called Crafty Secrets. The three new Graphic 45 collections are still on the "new wall" and are going quickly, (and have all been re-ordered), plus we just got in an assortment of papers from this popular company's earlier collections. The shipment from Webster's Pages has arrived, but it's buried somewhere under the avalanche of boxes that have arrived in preparation for the Scrap-a-Palooza mega-crop.

I'm still working on the Super-Saver Scrapbooking pages for this Saturday. Hopefully, I'll give you a preview sometime on Friday. Right now, there are a few spots left at 1 pm and 2:30 pm, one spot left at 11:30 am, and the 10 am session is full. We'll be using fall-colored papers and rub-ons by Scenic Route!

The other big event coming up is our Labor Day sale on Monday, September 7. We've just re-stocked the "kit wall" with almost 20 new kits. This is the first time that we've had a 20% off sale for our page kits! In addition, the first 50 people to spend at least $25 get a free Halloween page kit (using My Mind's Eye papers), a $12.99 value. Hope you can join us!

We're also gearing up for Scrap-a-Palooza! Shipments have come in from Graphic 45, SEI, Best Creations, Webster's Pages, My Little Shoebox, and Reminisce. Also on the way are orders from Crafters Workshop, Three Bugs in a Rug, Prima, Making Memories, K & Company, Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras Lass, Nikki Sivils: Scrapbooker, and Pink Paislee!

We're extremely thrilled to announced that one of our absolute favorite companies, Crate Paper, has donated all the goodies for the free 12x12 layout class for all 200 of you attending Scrap-a-Palooza on Sept. 12! They've been very generous, and Allison will teach the class on the big-screen like she did last time!

Thanks everyone! Scrap-a-Palooza is officially full, with almost two weeks left before the event. I know that on September 12, 200 people will be having a great time! Thanks for the great response to the third Palooza of 2009!

Congratulations to Michelle Dorland, the winner of our August blog comment contest. For lack of a more technologically advanced way of picking the winner, Karin drew the number "3" out of a box, and Michelle wrote the third comment! Michelle will receive the prize package shown above, which includes over $50 of products, including a 12x12 set of Fancy Pants chipboard, a set of clear stamps by locally-owned Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker, and some matching papers, chipboard embellishments, and glitter embellishments by KI Memories.

We had lots of fun with this contest, and enjoyed reading all the comments you provided. Thanks so much for entering. Don't miss the September blog contest, which starts September 9.

Also, today is the day that we're changing things around a bit here at the store, making room for an area dedicated to all things vintage. As soon as we get things "beautified," I'll post some pictures. There will be a huge amount of new items to fill this new vintage area, including Tim Holtz goodies!

Scrap-a-Palooza news! There are only 9 spots left! We have 191 people registered, and the event is going to be a sell-out again!

New goodies! Pieces of the seventh new BoBunny collection came at different times and so we were holding it back until it was complete. It's a beautiful combination of creamy yellows, blues, and browns, and you'll love the innovative twist that BoBunny has given the die-cut papers.

Scrapbook Generation also has lots of new chipboard albums, chipboard shapes, and sheer shapes by Maya Road. Actually, this order came in on Thursday, and everything is selling so quickly that as soon as I finish blogging, I'm placing another order!

And don't forget the August blog contest! Go to the August 23 post and leave an answer to our random contest question. You may win a $50 prize package! The winner will be announced on Monday. And even if you don't want to enter, take the time to read the comments that have already been left...it's fun to read about what others are scrapbooking, and how they feel about their projects.

As we gear up for Scrap-a-Palooza, the shipments of new goodies are starting to increase! The following orders are already on the way to us:
-- Maya Road -- arrived today! (chipboard shapes, acrylic shapes, and lots of cute mini-albums);
-- Graphic 45 (these papers have been selling so quickly at Scrapbook Generation that we've already re-ordered all three of the new collections so that the Palooza shoppers won't miss out);
-- SEI (a beautiful new fall collection with some unique die-cut papers and more);
-- Best Creations (four or five new glitter paper collections, plus more colors of their great solid glitter paper that doesn't shed and works in Cricut machines);
-- My Little Shoebox (several collections, plus some mini-alphabet stickers and - my favorite - glittery epoxy-like letter stickers);
-- Reminisce (a huge amount of new collections, including jungle, Halloween and Christmas, all with glitter, flocking, and more fun touches)
-- Sassafras Lass (a new collection in their unique and playful style);
-- K & Company (a fall-palette collection of papers and embellishments);
-- Flair (new Christmas and Halloween collections).

Don't forget to enter our August blog contest by going to the August 23 post and leaving a comment answering the question. Reading your answers has been lots of fun! Someone is going to win a $50 prize package!

Numbers for Scrap-a-Palooza are awesome! We already have over 175 people signed up and it isn't even September! This one is definitely going to sell out early. Hope you can join us...don't wait too late!

Thanks for all the great answers to our August blog contest. You have almost a week left to leave your comment and be entered in the drawing for a $50 prize package. See the previous post and answer the question for a chance to win.