Anaconda store showcases the art of scrapbooking

ANACONDA — Molly McCarthy’s business idea began after a friend’s scrapbooking party, where she fell in love with the idea of creating decorative album pages to showcase family memories. She and her husband, Kauz, will celebrate the first anniversary of Scrapbooker’s Schoolhouse on the day after Thanksgiving.

Their newly constructed store in the heart of downtown Anaconda serves as a haven for hobbyists, with scrapbooking supplies and sprawling work areas for “Crop Night� workshops and evening classes.

The business expanded this month to include a full line of quilting fabric, supplies and yarn, at the request of locals who didn’t want to drive winter highways for swatches of calico and other sewing notions.

The expansion is in step with industry statistics that show scrapbooking has skyrocketed into a $3 billion-plus business in the past decade, according to Internet sources.

It’s also not surprising that McCarthy, 34, turned her passion into profit.

Those statistics also say about 14 percent of the nation’s 3,000-plus scrapbooking stores are owned and operated by avid scrapbookers; customers are mostly mature women.

Getting started McCarthy, who had previous experience as a florist, admits she was “hooked� after her friend’s home-based workshop.

“It came really easily to me,� she said. “It was a surprise to me how much my floral design background helped me in designing my scrapbook pages.� Although scrapbooking is natural to many, others don’t know where to begin. Some are daunted by complicated pages covered with buttons, ribbons, embriodery and stitching, plus layers of decorative papers.

But projects can be tailored to person tastes and abilities.

“It can be as easy or as elaborate as you want it,� she said. “You can keep pages very simple or you can take it up to a decorative art.� Just getting started may be the hardest part for those who feel overwhelmed at the thought of organizing shoeboxes stuffed with photographs and memorabilia.

McCarthy eliminates that angst by helping customers with what she calls the essential first step of scrapbooking — a photo-sorting session. She advises gathering up the family snapshots — all of them — for this event.

“The biggest mistake you can make is not sorting all of them,� she said. It also saves time not to look at items in a nostalgic way while sorting, so they can be dealt out quickly, card game style, into organized stacks that will become treasured memory pages.

“I’ve had people come in here with two big laundry baskets full of pictures,� she said, “and we get them started.� Most of the classes she offers weekly are geared to beginners.

The Man Zone and more The 2,800-square-foot building, formerly RK Sports, is perfect for the growing business, generating warmth with honey-colored pine furnishings.

A massive river rock fireplace with pine furniture is called the Man Zone. Designed for the comfort of husbands, the space serves as a waiting area where men browse hunting magazines as their partners finish up after class.

While industry statistics show the craft appeals mainly to women, many of McCarthy’s customers are men.

“But they don’t call it scrapbooking, they call it genealogy,� she said.

McCarthy, who was a stay-at-home mom, had just finished up online classes to earn a degree in accounting when the couple launched the new venture last year.

They’ve worked to create a family-friendly atmosphere away from home.

The floor plan includes a family room where sons, Jake, 13, and Connor, 8, do homework and relax after school. Four-year-old Curtis accompanies his mom to work three days each week.

Classes and workers include a four-person design team and McCarthy’s right-hand helper, assistant store manager Brenda Krattiger.

She also specializes in securing supplies for any hobbyist. Recently, she ordered items for creating gravestone rubbings used as frameable art.

“I pride myself in being able to get those hard-to-find items,� she said.

In the future, the McCarthys hope to build their inventory of craft and fabrics. Another large classroom may be added to the rear of the building.

The Scrapbooker’s Schoolhouse offers the following holiday classes, coached by design team members:

Sittin’ at the Kid’s Table, $7.50. Nov. 14, 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.

Create a two-page layout and remember the silly things that happened at “the kid’s table.�

Crop in the Shop, $5.

Dec. 1, 6 p.m. to midnight.

Bring your project and get ready for a night of fun. Crop nights are a fun, relaxing evening to work amongst the other crop “chicks.� Staff is on hand with ideas and the die cut center and tool area is available.

Bags and Wraps for Holiday Snacks, $9.95. Nov. 16, 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.

Learn paper-piecing techniques and walk away with bag toppers, candy bar wrappers and other embellishments to decorate holiday snacks. Cellophane bags for goodies are included.

Traditions, Mini Flip Book Album, $9.95. Nov. 20, 6 to 8 p.m.

Design and complete a flip album ready to add pictures and journaling. Make one for yourself and more to give for holiday gifts.

Holiday Card Holder, $9.95. Nov. 28, 6 to 8 p.m.

Display Christmas cards in style with a hanging holder that may be incorporated it into your scrapbook as a card holder page after the holidays.

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