8/21/10 - I'm still pinching myself...the boys are finally back to school, the summer heat wave seems to have finally broken and football games are just around the corner.  This is my favorite time of year as we get ready to enjoy all the gorgeous leaves turning beautiful colors, preparing for our annual holiday family photo and the excitement of all the new scrapbooking goodies that we found at the craft market in Chicago during the summer.  We stuffed our cars full of all the treasures we could squeeze in and continue to welcome the UPS and FED-Ex delivery staff as they bring box after box of new scrapbook products to our door (see the new products section or log-on to our facebook page for more details)!  We attended more than our share of education classes so we could not only learn new techniques and work with all the new products first hand, but took lots of notes and can't wait to share all our new found talent with the wonderful class schedule we have lined up for you this fall.  Yes, I still continue to bite my nails and see lots of grey hairs sprout as Michael continues to learn how to drive but I'm taking solace in the fact that he doesn't get his driver's license until March 2011 and hopefully that's a long way off!  For now, it's football games, homework and hopefully seeing you soon to have fun together preserving life's precious memories...

March 2010

3/8/10 - Yes, I will accept all the sympathy I can get as my oldest son, Michael has now turned 15 and yes, driver's education training is upon us.  Just when I thought my gray hairs were getting under control - look out!  As for my scrapbooking world, we are having more fun than 2 bichon puppies with a chew toy and regular belly rubs!!!  We've got LOTS of new products (see our new product area for more details) along with expanded cropping room, tons of Cricut cartridges starting at just $24.99 and more new scrapbooking lines that just continue to arrive daily.  It's a very fun time of year so stop on in and join us for all the fun.

January 2010

1/20/10 - time continues to fly but we've been busy as can be ensuring that we continue to provide the hottest products for scrappers.  We've also scheduled in February the neatest events (crops/classes/creative cafe/parties) that you will definitely want to attend.  As we said - 2010 is going to be a great year and one of the things that is going to be great is the opportunity to complete a significant amount of scrapbooking and/or papercrafting.  We want this year to be momentus for all of us so don't miss out on all the fun...be sure to check out the February 2010 event calendar to get signed up for all your favorites!

Time has flown again and we're scrap happy to have LOTS of exciting news.  New Year's resolutions include keeping our website/calendar and regular emails updated so you can keep ahead of the crop with all the exciting events happening in the scrapbooking and paper crafting industry at Scrapbook Your Story.  One of the best items of news is our crop space expanding so we will be able to have more scrappers attend crops.  The CHA winter show is right around the corner so stay tuned for all the new creations due out very soon.  We continue to keep the hottest Basic Grey (Sugar Rush) and other hot lines in stock but best of all - we have great new holiday products in store to help you preserve those memories that we just captured.  And for all you cardmakers - the Valentine products are right around the corner.  We are looking forward to an exciting 2010 as we begin to enter our 7th year of business - it's going to be a very lucky number!!!  J

August 2009

Where has the time gone, or more like, flown by?  Since the CHA (Craft & Hobby Show) was held recently and significant changes were made to the format including the location change from Chicago to Orlando, FL, we were unable to attend but we've been busy getting all our orders turned in for the great new products that should be arriving within the next week to 3-4 months.  The really HOT stuff arrives around the end of the month (especially all the new Basic Grey!!!)  We're really excited about the new scrapbooking goodies and our new staff are excited about getting us up and running on facebook so keep in close contact to not miss out on any of the new, fun things we have in store for this fall.   J

December 2008

12/21/08 - Baby it's cold outside!!!  Only 4 days until Christmas morning and the boys are counting the days, I'm baking cookies, Kevin's reading the sale ads and our gift certificates are flying out the shop door!  I've gotten the January and February calendar's posted and the only items missing to the calendars are the Cricut classes that we're working to finalize.  The details are still in the works so stay tune and call the store to pre-register to reserve your spot (especially if there's a Cricut under the tree from Santa on Christmas morning).  Due to demand, we'll be having this class series similar to our super-popular monthly card class.  Mimi & I are on our way to the store to open so we hope to see you soon!  J

12/18/08 - As I'm writing this to all, it's raining outside and I have my fingers crossed that we do not have another record setting ice storm.  I still remember when I was much younger and out of power for over a week - we cooked on the outside grill and I didn't want another burger for months!!!  Those were the days!  Now, the kids are counting the hours until school is out for the holidays and have their fingers crossed that school is cancelled tomorrow (and mine are crossed that school is in session - just one more day of peace!)  Hopefully you received our email and received to see the photo of the boys, Mimi and Boo-Boo (our recent addition to the family) - he's such a sweet puppy and will be such wonderful scrapbook material.  Be sure to watch for pet page classes in the future!  Speaking of classes we have great classes coming up in January and February 2009 - check out the calendar page as class postings will be coming soon.  We also have put together the Jan/Feb crop schedule and it will be there too!  We also have great new products and re-stocks in the store so we hope to see you soon.  Watch for Santa and one of our great original gift certificates that we have handmade this season for you - they are awesome!  Been naughty or nice?  J

November 2008

11/27/08 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL from Scrapbook Your Story.  We wish all of you a very blessed holiday to you and your families.  May we all be very thankful, enjoy special memories during the holidays and celebrate the many joys of the season. 

We want to remind you that on Friday, 11/28/08 we will have a BLOWOUT sale at our store and the best news is that you can sleep in because we will be opening at 10 am!!!  Our crop room/store will be open during regular hours of 10 am to 6 pm for open cropping/shopping and there will be LOTS of sales that you will not want to miss out on.  If you receive our email you will know a sneak peak of the details but ALL QUICKUTZ dies will be discounted (and especially for our REVOLUTION owners a special price for you)!  We will have a limited number of REVOLUTION die-cut machines left at only $39.99, regularly priced at $109.99 (quantities are VERY limited)!!!  Don't miss out and we hope to see you this holiday season!

It's not too late to start on those special Holiday cards - check out our samples that are creative, unique and gorgeous!  Start a tradition this year for all your family!

11/1/-8 - OK - Where has all the time gone - it just seems like we ate birthday cake to celebrate our 5th birthday and now we have a new president- elect, the kids are back in school, fields are being harvested, snow is in the forecast and we are counting down the days to Christmas.  The best news for all of you Scrapbook Your Story fans is that we have TONS of great holiday ideas for cards, gifts and all your wonderful photos taken from summer/fall/school and pre-holiday photos.  I'd love to list all the new products that have arrived since we attended market in July but you'd be reading on for days so hopefully you've already been by and have been reading your emails to keep updated on all the hot products that have continued to arrive.  If not, I just have to mention our most recent arrivals including the full line of Little Yellow Bicycle's Christmas Magic which is gorgeous and selling fast, clear paint canisters (in 3 perfect sizes) that are perfect for holiday goodies that you can decorate with photos/transparancies and more.  We've also received the new, hot pink Zutter binding system along with the all new Quickutz die-cutting products, new Disney (as you can expect) plus lots more.  I'll stop for now but if all else fails, remember gift certificates always light up their little faces on a gloomy day!  Our crop room is always toasty warm, free to use and available during regular business hours - we hope to see you soon...

May 2008

May 24, 2008 - What is today?  Our 5th Birthday Celebration!!!  Don't miss out on all the fun and savings!  Join us for cake & lots more!

May 11, 2008 - We will be closed in observance of Mother's Day!

May 1, 2008 - Our class/crop calendar is updated for May & June 2008 so don't miss out on all the activities that will be happening!  Please note that our store will be closed on Sunday, May 11th in observance of Mother's Day and will be closed on Monday, May 26th in observance of Memorial Day.  We wish you much happiness and hope to see you soon.  Don't miss out on all the new merchandise that continues to arrive - new albums, great travel pages and much, much more!

April 28, 2008 - We all survived tax season and it's time to get ready for National Scrapbook Day which is just around the corner on Saturday, May 4th.  What will we be doing?  We have a great, new mini-album project available in our Creative Cafe for existing and new members.  The cafe will be open from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Stop by and complete a wonderful mini-album direct from Creative Imaginations.  We will have enough albums (including full color instructions) for current cafe members and a few extras.  If you are a current Cafe Member, are unable to attend and would like to purchase the mini-album kit, please contact us at (217) 529-7701 by May 15th to pick up your kit.  Any albums not purchased by then will be available to our customers for sale.  The album will take at least 1 1/2 hours to complete so please plan your time accordingly. 

What else is new?  We have received LOTS of new CRICUT cartridges including Disney cartridges and great cartridges for teachers.  We have special in-store pricing so check us out soon.  We also carry replacement blades, cutting mats and more.  We also have a Cricut Expressions machine in stock at a wonderful price so don't delay.  Get yours today.  We will continue to carry all the great Cricut products so if you don't see what you're looking for, pre-order and we'll get it in for you (delivery times are based upon manufacturer's schedule). 

January 22, 2008 - News Flash!!!  Please note that all stock at our White Oaks Mall store is 45% off (and all sales are final) - yes, there isn't a typo - all stock 45% off at the mall store - Save! Save! Save!  We are including some of the fixtures with this sale (wire paper trays & all - if you're a cardmaker - you will definitely want to check out some of the fixtures!)  Please note that fixtures are cash & carry only and VERY easy to remove from the mall with our convenient location.  What does this mean? 

Yes, we will be closing our White Oaks Mall store location as of Saturday,  January 26th - BUT our Stevenson Drive location will continue to be open 7 days a week, as always.  We are disappointed that the support of a mall store was not financially feasible to continue but we are full steam ahead at our main store.  With all the new stock continuing to arrive daily at the Stevenson Drive store - don't miss out on all the great stuff (Creative Cafe, new albums, new Making Memories products & more!)

January 9, 2008 - Yippee!!!  The NEW BASIC GREY "TWO SCOOPS" has arrived - that's right - we're hopefully one of the FIRST stores to get this great new line of Basic Grey in - don't wait because you know the demand in terrific for this great line of products and you will love the new brads, ribbons, clear stamps and more!!!

January 8, 2008 - Finally!!!  The schedules for January, February and March 2008 are posted to our site.  Please review all the great classes and crops available to you and sign up early - don't miss out on all the fun!

January 4, 2007 - Happy Birthday to my Father who is one of the most admired people in my life.  Thank you for sharing your never ending work ethic with me - your values keep me going.

OK - on to business - we've been working late and long to make sure our classes and crop schedules are correct, accurate but most of all FABULOUS!!!  Remember - every Saturday you can join us in the Creative Cafe from Noon to 5 pm for a wonderful, fun project and we've decided that 2 of the 4 weeks each month will be a 12"x12" page layout that you will enjoy creating.  So, click on the left for our Calendar and Creative Cafe to check out all the great stuff we have in store!!!  We will be posting photos of the samples from Creative Cafe and classes as soon as possible so watch for even more to come!  Don't delay in signing up because you all know, crops and classes fill quickly!  No need to register for Creative Cafe - just join as a member for $5 and come on in!  Everyone is welcome...

OK - We don't know where the month of December went but everyone at Scrapbook Your Story (including Mimi) hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for a terrific, scrappin' New Year in 2008. 

November 29, 2007 - OK - I just couldn't wait until December to keep you informed of the new goodies and all the activities coming up.  First, we've just gotten in all the new Making Memories Christmas papers and more.  There are beautiful new paints, embellishments, fibers/ribbon sets, calendar kits for baby girl, baby boy and general that are amazing.  The Making Memories "Season of Joy" idea book is wonderful and you will be too excited of where to start with you projects!!! 

I also just had to share my recent layout with Mimi and Santa Clause.  For all you pet lovers, remember that you can get your pet's photo taken with Santa at White Oaks Mall from 5 to 7 pm.  I snuck Mimi and the puppies in recently for photos as you will see and the Santa was wonderful as the photo shows!  If you would like the information from my layout - it's on display at our Stevenson Drive store, right inside the door!   (PS - the Elf at the mall said last Sunday when the photo session for pets was held they only had 4 pets show so let's really show them that we appreciate the photo opportunity with a handsome Santa and get your pets all gussied up for this Sunday- remember no reptiles allowed!)

We also have a GREAT super special on paper storage totes.  They are regularly $54.99 and we have them on special for only $29.99.  The even better part is - we've wrapped them for you so all those wrapped Christmas present boxes in our store window are storage totes waiting to find a Christmas tree.  The totes come with a clear cover top, 2 handles, 10 hanging file folders and hold up to 600 sheets of scrapbook paper - what a great deal!!!  We do have a limited number and when they are gone they are no longer available (but we will continue to carry the hanging files) so help us empty out our window of all the wrapped presents by surprising your favorite scrapbooker or treat yourself to a jumpstart on organizing all your favorite papers! 

November 27, 2007 - You will be so excited to check out all the information now available on our website in the Creative Cafe Section.  We've posted photos, descriptions and lots more.  We hope to see you this Saturday for our first project and opportunity to join our Creative Cafe Members. 

We also have great specials for all the Scrapbookers on your list and if you are completely stumped - Gift Certificates are always LOVED!!! 

PS - We've also just received Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line of Christmas products so don't delay - stock up today and enjoy!!!

November 19, 2007 - Happy Thanksgiving to all from Scrapbook Your Story.  Please note that our Stevenson Drive Store will close at 2 pm on Wednesday, Nov. 21st to begin holiday preparations.  The great news is our White Oaks Mall Store will be opened on Wednesday until 9 pm for those of you who won't be cooking and the mall store will also open at 6 am on Black Friday and Saturday with an amazing special buy limited in quantity so don't miss out.  Our Creative Cafe will have the 1st project layout on Saturday, December 1st so don't miss out on joining the Cafe for all our projects.  The first project will be a 12x12 layout with felt flowers - a sample is available to see and we will be building a section of our website for the Cafe Details.  Keep watching for more details and thank you for your continued support. 

Happy Fall 2007 - Where do we start to update you of all the great things that have been happening around the store???  In July, we attended CHA 2007 and basically is we saw it, we got it and the summary of that is new merchandise continues to arrive every week. 

Toward the end of August, we took my first "Camping Trip" with Mimi in tow and it rained almost the entire week.  The bad news was that poor Alex didn't get to go canoeing but the great news is that we got to visit a large mall near Valparaiso and discovered a scrapbook store within a mall (no, it wasn't an Archiver's)!!!  After shopping and getting time to speak with the owners of the store (who also had another free standing store like ours) - we realized that it just might be possible to have a store at our mall.  As the saying goes, the rest is history.  We opened our 2nd store on the 2nd floor of White Oaks Mall (outside of Bergner's) on October 1st so you can see where most of our time has been spent.

More personal, exciting news...Mimi is a proud mother (Bishon Frise) of 4 puppies, 2 boys and 2 girls.  It was a pretty exhausting delivery for Mimi and me since we labored for 3 days and if it wasn't for Dr. Janet Hill and her wonderful staff - the babies wouldn't have fared well.  They are amazing, talented professionals and if you ever need help - they are highly recommended.  (PS - Mimi doesn't care for Dr. Janet's white lab coat but without the white lab coat Mimi is convinced that she's pretty great human!)

Most of all - we appreciate your patience as I've finally gotten up the courage to begin managing our website without the hand holding of Dan (my computer guru and buddy) who is currently protecting our country over in the hot desert (and there's no chocolate fountains involved).  We all miss him terribly and hope all our great scrappers will be patient with me as I get this learned!!!

In regards to classes - we are having classes and they are going terrific.  Arlen's Holiday card class with Arlen was AWESOME and we are busy continuing to schedule more great classes.  We'll be sending you more information regarding the November classes in our weekly emails.

I also have good/bad news - the good news is our November 2007 crops are scheduled - the bad news is both are already sold out.  We will not be having any crops in December 2007 due to the busy holiday season of personal schedules but we promise to continue to bring more great crops in January 2008. 

Just another note - our CREATIVE CAFE from Creative Imaginations has arrived and we are busy getting ready to have this wonderful program set up at our store on Stevenson Drive.  There are LOTS of details to work out but you are going to LOVE this line of NEW products and FABULOUS projects.  We're very excited and again, will keep you updated via our emails.

Stay in touch and I'll do the same - Smiles,  Jill

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Don't forget, we offer fabulous classes with teachers who have years of experience and creativity when it comes to scrapbooking. See the following for a list of our upcoming events!

·  Our famous 6 to midnight crop on April 13th, $15.00. You'll have nothing but good luck cropping with us, eating a wonderful dinner, scrapbooking and winning door prizes! Reserve your spot today as our crops fill up fast! - sorry but this one is sold out - next crop is April 27th with just a few spots left!

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