2008 is going to be quite a year for me, and I hope it will be for you as well. My big news is that AnnTheGran is getting a complete facelift! No, I don't mean me -- I like myself the way I am (well, most days anyway) -- I mean my site! You see, as we've grown, some of my site's users have run into issues getting around on the site, especially as we've added new services and products over the years to keep up with your requests and try to offset some of the costs of running the site. I certainly share some of that frustration, but there's a good reason for it. We started off as just a group of ladies sharing designs; the original site was never meant to do all the fancy things it does now.

Well, after compiling all your comments together, my team has spent a very long time and a ton of effort developing an absolutely incredible new web site, of which I am so very proud. I'm going to give you a few sneak peeks now and over the next few weeks, as we prepare for the official launch of the new site in February. Click on any of the images in this post for some enlarged screen shots of what we have in store for you.

You're going to be able to "do some really cool stuff", as my grandkids might say. First of all, the layout and navigation is going to be ever-so-much better and cleaner, and you'll be able to get around the site much more easily. If you're a shopper, the shopping experience is improving by a factor of about a million, as our new structure will allow us to offer you one-click access to all our most popular products and much better and more frequent bargains.

What I'm most excited about is our new Community section. I love it because it brings us around full circle to where we began, which is as the best place on the Internet to share the results of our creativity with others. With a simple mouse click, even the most basic computer user will be able to upload tips, projects, videos, design files -- pretty much anything really -- to share with our entire community. The most popular ones will even make it to the AnnTheGran.com home page, the busiest place in the embroidery universe! How's that for bragging rights on your latest project!

Some of our best features of all will be reserved for my biggest supporters, our Ann's Club members. We'll be adding additional benefits to all of the great things Club members already receive, with so many treats that I don't think anyone will be able to resist getting onto "the inside track" with us.

So stay tuned to this space over the next little while as I tell you about my new site and all the fun you are going to have on it. At the same time, please keep sending me your creations while we wait for the new site to go up, and I will keep posting them. If you're not sure how to do that, click here for info.

Happy New Year! All the best to you and yours in 2008!

Ann (AnnTheGran) Cobb