It's your typical Hallmark holiday, meaning it is manufactured to make us spend money, the only difference being the sponsors want you to make the cards not buy them.
This is not to be confused with a Hallmark moment - that perfect instant when all expectations are met or exceeded - which is what I experienced two Saturdays ago.
It was a 70-degree day in Sunnyvale, Calif., and we were finishing up a four-day conference on the future of journalism. I went in search of some "holiday" sales and found nirvana instead: a scrapbook store AND coffee shop.
Craf'it and A.B.O. Coffee and Dessert are owned by Ada Yue, a software designer, baker, scrapbooker and savvy entrepreneur. Not only has she found a way to combine her passions, Yue may have found a business model for small scrapbook retailers trying to survive a souring economy.
Yue says the coffee shop has been a lifesaver, especially in the summer when the craft store sees little traffic; the other Sunnyvale scrapbook store recently closed after eight years in business.
When Yue opened her store in 2003, scrapbooking had just been declared the fastest growing segment of the stationery market, with consumer sales of $1.2 billion. Michael's had just opened a chain of scrapbook stores called Recollections, and greeting card companies were starting to take notice.
One survey of 50 stationery companies found that fewer than 10 percent offered products to the scrapbooking market. Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the study, called it a huge missed opportunity.
"Stationery companies need to venture beyond their comfort zone of greeting cards and traditional stationery products to capture some of the dynamic growth and market potential available in the scrapbooking trend," Danziger advised.
Another survey, this one from Creating Keepsakes, showed 79 percent of scrapbookers spend $25-$50 or more per month on scrapbook supplies, and more than 80 percent of them do it at craft stores and specialty stores.
Statistics like these enticed many hobbyists to open their own stores, people whose passion exceeded their business sense. I should know. I single-handedly kept a couple of them in business for six months longer than was advisable.
Yue was smarter. As a scrapbooker, she could see the potential in scrapbooking. As a software engineer who lives in Silicon Valley, she understood how quickly startups can go south.
And so did potential landlords.
"We felt if we banked on one thing, it would be too risky," Yue recalls.
That philosophy applies to the menu as well as the business model.
Craf'it has vellum and brads, but also stuffed animals, refrigerator magnets and party balloons. Brands like Making Memories and Autumn Leaves are sold alongside Kodomo and Tatebanko. Homemade origami earrings share shelf space with Hello Kitty charm bracelets.
And - listen up Utah - you can get a burgundy cherry gelato or a smoothie instead of a latte.
I asked Yue if she had reservations about selling food in proximity to luxury papers, and she acknowledged that for six months she didn't allow food or drinks to be carried into the craft side of the store.
"But then we realized most people were well-behaved. If we had a lot of kids in the store, I might reconsider."
That could be a hurdle for Utah retailers, but I doubt it's a deal breaker. Many scrapbook shops already cater to kids with playrooms. In fact, that gives me an idea: McScrapland.
Workshop: sports pages by Rebecca Walsh
Unless you're a professional sports photographer, it's hard to get good shots of the action. Here are a few tricks for enhancing sports pages:
- Use "Before" and "After" pictures and headlines to highlight the athlete's exertion, the mud, the sweat.
- Create a mini-book from marginal action shots. In this case, we used a die-cut of a running shoe on the front, bound the book with a shoelace and tucked it into a vellum pocket.
- Finally, on top of a scrap of stitched contrasting paper, we pinned the runner's race tag onto the page - instant background or embellisment.
Buy the book
Designing With Recipe Book (Autumn Leaves, $19.95)
This idea book contains all the ingredients for 100 layouts and projects - minus the supplies, of course. It may not suit the gourmet scrapbooker, who likes to design her pages from scratch. But it's a terrific resource for scrap-lifters.
Products we like
- Nellie's Farm stencils, $4.50
- SRM Studios "I'd rather be skiing" stickers, $1.45
- Sunny-Shchina 3D Stickers stickers, $2.95
- Origami paper, 10 sheets for $4.95
- Hot Off the Press Candle Brads, $2.99
One for the money
If you want to save money on scrapbook supplies, search on Craigslist or eBay. You often can find several good deals on craft items, and in some cases, an entire collection, at steep discounts.
