We got the chance to share a fabulous giveaway and jumped on it. Big Picture Classes is celebrating their fourth year of the 4 experts classes and kicking it off is Stacy Julian. She has prepared an amazing experinece that will focus on storytelling, creative process, colors, products, just about everything relevant to scrapbooking. We have ONE spot to giveaway.

Learn more HERE and Stacy has posted a Q&A on her blog.

Leave a comment sharing one of your 2012 goals to be entered to win. Giveaway closes at midnight today Jan 4 at PST. Winner will be announced tomorrow morning and contacted asap.

Randomly selected winner is

Rosann Santos-Elliott

thanks everyone! happy new year

Continuing on with our best of Ella series below is a list of great photography posts and ezine articles.

How to Take Great Group Photos: part one by Bobbi Jo Grunwald

How to Take Great Group Photos: part two by Bobbi Jo Grunwald

Take better everyday photos by Rebecca Cooper

Perspective by Noel and Moon

Pictures that Pop by Noel Culbertson

Taking photos of kids being kids by Rebecca Cooper

Capture Action by Noel and Moon

Get great shots of tiny tots by Elisha Snow

Focus by Noel and Moon

Photographing Babies by Elisha Snow

Light by Noel and Moon

I've been enjoying going back and finding favorite posts and ezine articles to share with you all. This is the kick off of our Best of Ella highlights; photo editing and projects

Photo editing

3-Minute makeovers by Rebecca Cooper

Free photo Fun by Celeste Smith

Photo resizing 101 by Rachel Gainer

More free photo effects by Diana Chen

Photo projects

Photo coasters by Brenda Johnston

How to make a photo journal by Franciine Clouden

Make a photo cube by Monika Wright

Fun ways to display vintage photos by Jennifer Evans

Photo booth strips by Jennifer Larsen

Make a photo shape collage by Donna Januzzi

The Tastes and Smells of Christmas

Nothing tastes like Christmas more than hot chocolate. We think this homemade version is fit for Jolly Old Saint Nick himself! But even if your holiday agenda doesn’t include flying in a reindeer-drawn sleigh or delivering presents around the world, you too will need a break from the hustle and bustle at some point. Relax and enjoy this recipe—a perfect pairing with some peppermint bark or a couple of warm sugar cookies.

Now that your lights are up and your tree is trimmed, make your house smell like Christmas, too. This delicious-smelling potpourri recipe is sure to do the trick. It’s so easy to make with items you probably already have in your cupboard.

Check out the One Charming Party website for more great ideas for holiday parties, birthday parties, and more!

Another show is up and this one is all about decorating your books, check it out.

It's our annual Ella Friends call! See if you'd like to be a part of our 2012 team. (And meet our amazing 2011 team here.)

What We're Looking For
Passionate scrapbookers who are active online, whether via blogs, online scrapbooking galleries, Facebook, Twitter, manufacturer design teams, and more.

NOTE: Previous design-team experience not expected or required! We're looking to work with current influencers AND fresh new faces in the industry. This is not a popularity contest! And while we had nine Ella Friends last year, we are not limited to any specific number. We may choose eight, we may choose a dozen!

What You'll Do
Be Ella's online ambassadors, helping us spread the Ella news via blogs, Facebook, Twitter, scrapbooking forums and galleries, and more!

What You'll Get

How to Enter
Send an email to submissions@ellapublishing.com with "Ella Friend Call" in the subject line by Wednesday, November 30. In that email, attach pictures of four layouts or projects that you feel illustrate your scrapbooking or paper-crafting style. And in the body of the email, please answer the following nine questions:

1. Why do you want to be an Ella Friend?
2. Why do you scrapbook and/or what are your scrapbooking goals?
3. What are your top three sources of scrapbooking inspiration? (Apart from Ella, of course!)
4. Where and how are you active online?
5. How many people are you able to reach with your online efforts? (Share number of Facebook or Twitter followers and/or blog traffic numbers.)
6. What design teams are you on now or in the past?
7. How would you describe your scrapbooking style or philosophy?
8. Where are you from?
9. Give Ella one sincere compliment (insincere compliments are also welcome):

The new team will be announced on or around January 1, 2012.

This Saturday, October 1, is World Card-Making Day!

What are your card-making plans for the day?

Here's a quick round up of what's going on to celebrate this annual event. Feel free to add more events in the comments section if you know of any!

Challenges and prizes at Pink Paislee

Fun and giveaways at Moxie Fab World

$20,000 in prizes available at World Card Making Day Headquarters!

Massive blog hop at Operation Write Home

Individual events all over the world from Stampin' Up! demonstrators. Here's a list of cards you could make.

AND, October 1st is also the official first day of Card-Making Month at Ella Publishing Co.! All month long, we'll be bringing you blog posts, eZine articles, giveaways, and more—all leading up to the release of our NEWEST eBook, 31 Thank You Cards, by the sensational Kimber McGray, Kristina Werner, and Heather Nichols. Stay tuned for more details and information!

We're So Embarrassed!

We experienced temporary technical issues with our shopping cart today—shortly after we sent our Grand Finale email yesterday! (We clearly forgot to carry our lucky rabbit's foot* with us today.)

Rest assured that the site was still completely secure. We have multiple security layers in place, and an unforeseen error caused a security-certificate warning to pop up during checkout. The issue has now been 100% resolved.

If you were scared away by the error message (and we don't blame you), we've extended all sale prices and coupons through Friday at midnight! (Normally, we don't like to set one deadline and then change it at the last minute. We want you to be able to take us at our word. But this was a special circumstance!)

Here's what's going on:

And to make it up to you, we've also put our $10 gift certificate on sale for $8 through Friday, 9/2. Use it yourself or send it to a friend! Gift certificates never expire and can be used on anything, at any time.
NOTE: Our 200CENTS coupon code cannot be used to purchase gift certificates. Only one gift certificate can be redeemed per purchase, and gift certificates cannot be used in conjunction with coupon codes.

Thank you again for your continued support and for your understanding!

* We don't really have a lucky rabbit's foot, and we assure you that no animals were harmed (or even mildly inconvenienced) in the production of this email.