Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Thursday is the first of the month, and I just want to let all of Scrapbook Generation's club members know that all three club packages will be available for pick-up beginning at 10 a.m. This includes Remember Me Club, Generation Page Kit Club, and Generation Card Kit Club.

Since we had hundreds of kits to complete, it's been a family project -- my mother was at the store yesterday, so we put her to work! Along with the rest of us, she spent several hours sorting and packaging so that we could have things done on time.

You can join any or all of the three clubs at any time. Remember Me is a 12-month committment, while the page kit and card kit clubs are continuous until you decide to stop. All three clubs have already exceeded our wildest hopes! For more info, check out scrapbookgeneration.com.

Correction: We did not receive the 12x12 Biggest Board chipboard from Fancy Pants, as I wrote yesterday. We have paisleys instead, because of a mistake in the order. I'll get the correct item here as quickly as possible.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Doodlebug's Sweetheart collection arrived at Scrapbook Generation yesterday -- cute pink papers and chipboard embellishments.

Also arriving yesterday, many Valentine's/love embellishments, including rhinestone words by Me and My Big Ideas, several Soft Spoken and Jolee's embellishment sets, BoBunny stickers, Kelly Panacci rub-ons, and more. We also got more BasicGrey chipboard sets -- letters, numbers, and shapes. Also, a new supply of corner rounders and wood letters!

Today, we received a new shipment of Bigger Board and Biggest Board chipboard shapes from Fancy Pants. The shipment includes the 12x12 scroll shapes that many of you have admired on Allison's page of Drew "driving" the lawn tractor.

Free Saturday Seminars:
For this Saturday, Feb. 3, all the first four advertised sessions for Crazy For Chipboard are full. However, we have opened up two more sessions to take care of the overflow. You can now sign up for sessions at 10 a.m. or noon. I'm looking forward to teaching the classes, especially this first one, because chipboard is one of my favorite embellishments.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Wow! The Scrapbook Generation newsletters have obviously arrived at your homes, because the phone has been ringing off the hook since Wednesday morning. To update you on the free Saturday Seminars, the first one, Crazy About Chipboard on February 3, is full except for two spots in the 2 p.m. session. The 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. time slots are full. In order to allow more of you to attend, we are opening new sessions not listed in the print newsletter -- now you can sign up for 10 a.m. or noon sessions!

Other news...the Remember Me Club now has 68 members...Generation Page and Card Kit clubs are growing every day...we had 21 croppers at Midnight Madness last night...we had several scrappers take advantage of the free crops we offered this week to anyone who had been without power...Laura Parks' children's album and page class went fabulously this morning...the store was full all day today! What fun!

But the most exciting thing that happened this week was that we had our first Internet sale on Thursday (which was followed by more on Friday)! It's hard to imagine that someone in a galaxy far, far away is clicking a button on our website and buying our stuff online. Technical guru Stacey has done a tremendous amount of work to get us to this point, and it is obviously going to be a successful venture.

For those of you who need to know the latest: the Doodlebug Sweetheart collection will be arriving Monday afternoon. See you then!

Friday, January 26, 2007

Yesterday, I spent part of my day at Ava High School, presenting a program on scrapbooking to a group of high school students and faculty members. Pat Henry, the history and video teacher, is organizing a scrapbooking club, and the great thing about it is that she has written a grant to partially fund the club.

We talked about the reasons why we should all be preserving our memories in an acid-free environment, and some of the basic steps in creating a page. Some of them are true beginners, while others just want to get more involved in the hobby. We had a great time talking and looking at sample pages.

What is impressive about the group is that they plan to meet after school every Thursday in the high school library to work on pages! They're also talking about making a "field trip" to Scrapbook Generation at some point.

It's always wonderful for us to be able to share our love for this hobby with others. Since we've been open, I've also presented programs on scrapbooking at the Missouri Lions Club Convention, the Tower Club, and on KOLR-10 television! Now we'll add Ava High School to the list!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007



New today at Scrapbook Generation: winter collections by Doodlebug (papers, stickers, chipboard elements, snowflake sequins, and more) and by BoBunny (papers and stickers). We also received the cute new mini Alphabet Soup acrylic letter sets by KI Memories!

The phone has been ringing off the hook today -- it's obvious that the newsletters have been delivered, and the four free Saturday Seminars in February are extremely popular. Some of the time slots are already filling up, so if you want to attend, I'd advise calling as soon as possible. We're going to tackle the topics of chipboard, edging, patterned papers, and Primas, and have lots of fun along the way. And the best part, all materials are free. You'll leave each session with a 6x6 two-page layout ready for photos!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Scrapbook Generation's February/March newsletter will be going in the mail today, and it has several exciting possibilities for area scrapbookers. The newsletter includes information about a special sale, four free seminars, and the 32 classes we will be offering during those two months.

Of special note, between Feb. 1 and Feb. 13, we have eight classes geared for Valentine's Day, including cards, coupon books, mini-albums, and more.

Membership continues to grow for all of our clubs. Remember Me Club now has almost 60 members, and the Generation Page Kit Club and the Generation Card Kit Club continue to add members each week. To read more about all three clubs, check out the easy links at scrapbookgeneration.com.

We also want to let you know that you are welcome to come by the store and crop most any time this week for free (that's a standing offer with us, but we wanted to emphasize it during these stressful times). We've heard so many stories about hardships during the ice storm, and we know that some of you just need a change of scenery for a few hours. Hopefully by now, all of you have power back and aren't in the cold anymore. We've had people tell us about scrapbooking by candlelight, scrapbooking by fireplace light, and more! What a dedicated bunch you are! (We're also getting in a new supply of winter papers and embellishments Wednesday!)

Times this week you can stop by and warm up, work on some scrapbooks, and get away from it all include the following:
-- Tuesday -- 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
-- Wednesday -- 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
-- Thursday -- 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
-- Friday -- 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. (Midnight Madness starts at 5 p.m., and that has a $10 fee.)
-- Saturday -- 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (We have a No Frills crop scheduled, at a normal fee of $7, but we are going to waive that fee on the 27th for anyone who has been without power for at least 24 hours! Come crop Saturday for free -- we would like to brighten a few lives in a small way during this nightmare of ice and trees.)

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Anybody want to be a pirate? We just received a really cute group of pirate papers, stickers, and embellishments, straight from Sandylion. Also included in the shipment, a great collection for Easter, and a new grouping in shades of pinks and corals by Kelli Panacci.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Reminisce goodies came in today! They include the complete collections for Disney, Vegas, and monkeys (papers, stickers, rub-ons, epoxy stickers, alphabet stickers). We also restocked all the state and country destination epoxy mini-maps.

From All My Memories: a new supply of all six colors (black, brown, red, kiwi, pink, and blue) of the 6x6 Urban Chic albums. A word to the wise -- AMM is discontinuing the 6x6 Urban Chic albums, so this is probably the last shipment we will have of them. In addition, the kiwi and blue colors will not be available in any size. They're coming out with new colors: navy and raspberry!
We're back!!! We closed down for Saturday's icy mess, and then didn't have power Monday, but Scrapbook Generation is back in business as of Tuesday morning! If you're signed up for a class or crop this week and can't make it because of all this nasty weather, just call and let us know and we'll be more than happy to reschedule for you.

Before the worst of the weather hit, we had already moved the children's album class to noon on Saturday, January 27. Those of you who were signed up for the January 12 Midnight Madness crop are welcome to transfer to the January 19 Midnight Madness crop. We have a private crop for that night, but have room enough to accomodate both activities.

We still have room for people to sign up for the 12-hour Mardi Gras theme crop on Saturday. Just call 417-886-0440 to register.

Hope that all of you have survived as best as possible, and are staying safe and warm. I live far enough east and south to have escaped the devastating tree damage. We have ice on our trees, but not any breakage to speak of -- and no loss of power. However, as I drove to Springfield this morning, the closer I got, the more ice there was and the more damage to trees. Driving down Jefferson between Walnut Lawn and the store was sad, seeing all those beautiful huge trees destroyed and on the ground.

Anyway, if you need a break from all the gloom, feel free to bring your scrapbooking supplies to Scrapbook Generation and crop with us all day, any day. We'll keep the thermostat turned up!

Thursday, January 11, 2007


Love a little bling? Bazzill Bling cardstock just arrived at Scrapbook Generation, and it is awesome! We have all 10 color packs, and the photo above doesn't do them justice. The cardstock has a great shimmer effect, and each pack has three shades of the color. Even the names are fun: bling, diva, tootsie, sugar daddy, bank roll, glitz, red carpet, black tie, prince charming, and flirty!
News flash! The huge crafts story featuring Scrapbook Generation will be in Friday's Springfield News-Leader!
For those of you who were a little too frazzled before the holidays to know what your spring schedule was going to be like, we have a deal for you! We were able to get an extension from Lodge of the Ozarks in Branson on when we had to submit the final rooming list for the March 2-4 weekend retreat, so we will be able to take reservations until Saturday, January 27.

Right now, we have over 30 scrapbookers signed up to attend, and we won't take more than 50, that way each of you will have plenty of room to spread out in. We'll be spending most of our time in the hotel's Crystal Room, which is absolutely huge. At our last retreat, in Eureka Springs, we had enough room for each person to have an 8-foot table to herself! We hope to be able to provide the same amount of room at this retreat in Branson. The room even has a raised stage area where we'll set up the traveling Scrapbook Generation store.

There is a separate room for us to hold classes in, and we have lined up an excellent teaching staff, including Marti Blattert, Laura Parks, and Allison Davis, all members of our Design Team. I'm also planning on teaching a couple of classes.

For the spring retreat, we're using a Wild West theme, which will be carried out in decorations and activities. Other features of the retreat include a die-cut center, favors, and prizes (hundreds of dollars worth!). All of your meals, snacks, and drinks are included, and we have several layout contests available for those who are interested. And to make things easy on you, the cropping room, classroom, and your sleeping rooms are all in the same building!

Cropping starts as early as 3 p.m. on Friday, and continues non-stop until noon on Sunday. If you want to stay up all night, we'll be right there with you!

If you want to read what others had to say about our most recent retreat, check out the early November posts on this blog.

All-inclusive prices are $285 per person for one in a hotel room, $245 per person for two in a hotel room, $235 per person for three in a hotel room, and $225 per person for four in a hotel room.

Talk about it with your friends, then give us a call at 417-886-0440. (We also have several croppers who are coming by themselves, and our retreats are a great way to make new friends!) We're veterans of two retreats now, and believe that we offer an outstanding themed get-a-way with great cropping space, food, fun, and fellowship.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007





We're still anxiously awaiting the Springfield News-Leader story featuring Scrapbook Generation and its Midnight Madness crop last Friday. Maybe tomorrow will the day!

Thought I would update you on upcoming activities.

-- Thursday, January 11 at 6 p.m., Remember 2006 Mini-Album class with Allison Davis. This is a supercute book, and you're getting a great value for your class fee of $10.

-- Friday, January 12 from 5 p.m. - midnight, Midnight Madness crop. For $10, you get seven hours of cropping, pizza, snacks, and drinks.

-- Saturday, January 13 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., No Frills crop. For $7, you get seven hours of cropping, snacks, and drinks.

-- Saturday, January 13 at 10 a.m., Kid's Series Album and Pages with Laura Parks. This is an ongoing, year-long album creation class for youngsters 7-12. With the first session fee of $12, the album is included. After that, the classes are $8.

-- Saturday, January 20 from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., Mardi Gras theme crop. Join us as we celebrate this New Orleans tradition Cajun-syle with toss beads, masks, and more. Twelve hours of cropping, lunch, dinner, drinks, snacks, favors, prizes, all featuring a Mardi Gras theme. An optional contest wil be held for pages using gold, green, or purple as focus colors. Fee is $25.

Monday, January 08, 2007






Congratulations are in order for Allison Davis, teacher and Design Team member at Scrapbook Generation (and also my daughter!). About a month ago, Allison found out that she was the third place winner in an online store's contest. Layout entries were required to focus on Daisy D's paper. Ali entered a page using the gorgeous Gypsy Harvest papers from Daisy D's (see the top photo), and won third out of a ton of entrants. She received all kinds of fun Daisy D's products as a prize.

But the best news happened just a few days ago. Allison has been chosen as a Fancy Pants Design Team honorable mention! She submitted four layouts and a project (a cute chipboard album made from "Bigger Board" chipboard sheets -- watch for a similar project as an Allison class in a few weeks!). Her work will soon be shown at fancypantsdesigns.com. Fancy Pants is one of our favorite new companies -- love the papers and the huge chipboard shapes. Now that Allison is teaming up with the company, watch for us to carry even more of their products!

As a mom, it's fun for me to hear all the compliments that people pay Ali's pages here in the store. It's nice as well to see her work continue to be recognized as outstanding. She's been submitting pages like crazy, and it seems like it should just be a matter of time before she gets something published. If I were choosing the pages, I know she would!

Friday, January 05, 2007

I can't wait until Tuesday! A reporter and photographer from the Springfield News-Leader were at the store tonight doing interviews and taking pics of our Midnight Madness croppers. We will be part of a story about crafts which will include the topics of leatherworking, beading, quilting, and stitching. We're so happy to be part of the article, and can't wait to see it.
If it's Friday, then it must be Midnight Madness! Karin and Stacey and I have spent most of the day moving stuff around the store to make room for the 23 gals who will be here tonight cropping, eating, and laughing until all hours. It's fun to have such a large group at Scrapbook Generation at one time, because that just seems to add to the fun. (Later tonight, I'll also have a little secret to share about something that's going to take place at the crop.)

For you BasicGrey addicts, we received a new supply of everything chipboard today, including the monograms, mini-monos, tags, numberpile, and hardware (punctuation shapes, etc.).

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Design Team member Jennifer Mattix 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.

Design Team Member #5: Jennifer Mattix
Occupation: formerly in catering/sales, Jennifer just started a new job as the high tech sales specialist for Patterson Dental
Spouse: Joshua
Children: Tyler, 14 and Aaron, 10
Hobbies other than scrapbooking: gourmet cooking, photography, art and reading, women's ministries

-- How long have you been scrapbooking?
I was scrapping long before it was scrapbooking. I became a hard-core scrapper in 1999.

-- When and where do you usually scrapbook?
Any place I can spread out my "scrap crap!" I scrap every Thursday night at the very least. My scrapping is usually done at home with a lot of input from my husband and sons! I'm a late night scrapper, that's for sure!

-- How many pages do you complete in an average month?
10-12 double layouts and 7-8 single pages on average in a month.

-- Describe your scrapbooking style.
To describe my style is hard. If I could sum it up I would use the word heartfelt. Every page is done with my heart as well as my hands to help create something that is meaningful and expressive. I want to convey what I think and what I feel. As far as a style...I would say clean. I love clean lines that allow the focus to be on the photos, the journaling and the memory.

-- What do you enjoy most about scrapbooking?
I love the creative outlet that it allows me as well as an opportunity to share it with other people. It's like taking a memory and turning it into a dream. It is a chance for me to work through the things that have happened in my life that were painful or hard to share with others. I began scrapping right after my husband died in 1998 and it was a wonderful way to work through the loss as well as capture the memories when they were so fresh and vivid in my mind for my boys. I love that I can bring joy and happiness to people with what I do.

--Why did being on the Design Team at Scrapbook Generation appeal to you?
I want to grow and learn. I want to continually evolve with the changes that are always coming in this business and I want to master new techniques. I want to use the time to really inspire others and myself to make dreams spring to life. and I want to meet as many people as I can and touch others in an effort to help them create, learn and grow.

-- Why is Scrapbook Generation your favorite scrapbook store?
Because everyone has always made an effort to get to know me and who I really am. They are genuinely interested in my work and ideas. It's the most fun place to be!
 
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