Happy New Year!!!

Hi Everyone,

I am so looking forward to this year, you wont believe how much!

After all the chaos at the end of the year with dad and a delayed Christmas, I am so glad that we are starting fresh again...more layouts, more classes, more challenges, more designers, more everything.

For example, I am trying to keep track of my layouts for the year to see if I am getting enough done. My goal is 365 layouts for the year which translates into 1 a day. With 3 layouts under my belt and this being the second of the month I am well ahead of the pack.

LO 1/2 - A two page layout with the new CI paper and thanksgiving pictures of the kids

LO 3 - A chatterbox layout with photos of my sister in law and her stepdad.

I also started a few yesterday that I hope to finish before the end of the week, because once I go back to school next week I will be off the grid for about a week. So, I have to make extras so I don't fall behind.

For Jen S. this has translated into a 365 class where the goal is to combine journaling and photos for each month and create a layout to reflect on what's occured that month - it's kind of a take on the photo a day - which for most humans is impossible - but she hopes to inspire you to get as close as possible. She is hoping to have her samples in a couple of weeks. The classes will result in 2 double page layouts each. The first class is sheduled for January 24 at 4 pm - let me know if I should sign you up.

Sharon, one of our newbie designers, is also working on a 3 pages & 3 cards class for $23.00 which is awesome - great price. So, those of you who are afraid to try cards or vice versa you can take a crack at it and see how it goes while still working on a layout/card and not be totally out of your element. This is also an awesome class for beginners to pick up new techniques - so if you are short on the new techniques then you can try this out and see how you like stamping,etc.

Also, I have revamped the customer rewards program to increase in 1% increments for every hundred dollars:

Spend $100 ---- get 1% off for the rest of the year
Spend $200 ---- get 2% off for the rest of the year
Spend $300 ---- get 3% off for the rest of the year
Spend $400 ---- get 4% off for the rest of the year
etc all the way upto 1500 and 15% off for the rest of the year.

But it doesn't end there. When you get to the $1000 mark you will get a $25 dollar gift certificate to Dee's. Get to $1500 mark and get a $50 dollar gift certificate to Dee's.

Oh and that's not even the end of this entry.

Jen S. came by today with not 1, or 2, but 3 double dee's for this week. Let me tell you that they are all awesome. I am so impressed by the girls. I can't believe how amazing they have become - they were good before but damn they are fantastic. My favorite double dee has to be the blue and yellow layout with the butterfly paper. It's absolutely beautiful. I forgot to take picture today, but I will take pictures tomorrow and put them on flickr for you all to see. But, don't wait too long we already sold some of them today...it couldn't be helped they were ready and the girls couldn't contain themselves. So, they are already in limited quantities. My favorite thing about these double dees were the color combinations. I would never have put them together, but because she did I was so super impressed by how they look together. I love to see how things come together and challenge me to think outside the box, whether it's with color, photo techniques, positioning, embellishing, etc. Anything that stops me from making 50 layouts that look like each other is awesome.

Well, I am going to finish up a couple more layouts before bedtime and I am trying not to stay up to 4 am again. I have to get back into the school zone.

Happy New Year!

Write soon,
Dee