Sink your teeth into Scrappin' Attack and scrap outside the box!
This little scrapbook store in far-off Santee reopened its doors less than a year ago and the positive improvements are amazing! New owners, mother and daughter team Eva Smith and Stacie Riley, have transformed Scrappin’ Attack’s design and product lines into a seemingly larger store filled with all the necessities and goodies every scrapbooker, newbie and old-timer, could dream of.
Eva and Stacie, new kids on the scrapbook store owner’s block, have learned a lot over the last eight months. “It’s an ongoing science,” says Eva regarding the strategy they use to design classes to teach at the shop. Stacie echoed that this idea of learning by doing also holds true to ordering an eclectic array of product to meet every scrapper’s desire. Her first impulse was to buy what she likes, but knew that tastes vary greatly, and filled her store last autumn with industry standards like Bazzill, Basic Grey, and Bo Bunny. However, they also carry lines that are specifically produced in the USA, like Rusty Pickle, Webster’s Pages and Cook Bookin’. “We carry product lines that few others carry like Ruby Rock Its and Scribble Scrabble,” said Eva, “which provides our customers with a great variety of styles to choose from.”
When asked where they see paper crafts and scrapbooking moving in the near future Stacie feels that with the economy slowing so will go the release of new product lines by large and small manufacturers. “This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though,” stated Stacie, as it will allow customers a chance to really see and try out the lines that do come out before they’re inundated with tons of new product. Keeping pace with the thousands of new product usually released at the semi-annual Craft and Hobby Association’s (CHA) trade fairs can be daunting, so this projected slow down may end up proving helpful to store owner and customer alike. Eva believes paper crafts will continue to evolve, becoming more and more artistic, with product lines pushing into various art mediums that might not have been “discovered” if the art stuck closely to scrapbook page layouts only. Wearable art is very popular now as well as smaller projects, including cards, invitations and mini albums.
Stacie’s favored design techniques run mostly toward the urban-type “Tim Holtz style”, with lots of metal and repurposed embellishments. Eva tends toward a vintage flair, preferring clean layouts and a more “home arts” appeal. Their classes represent these styles and they welcome paper crafters who want to challenge themselves to move outside their normal “box” or to dabble with new styles. Never fear though, standards and favorites are offered on a frequent basis at Scrappin’ Attack, too. One of their most popular classes is Scrapbook 101 and a three-part Cricut class, where students learn everything from taking their new machine out of the box and setting it up properly, to how to use the machine to its fullest capabilities, and then expanding that to using various media and the array of alphabets and designs the machine can provide. And if the ownership of a Cricut die cutting machine isn’t in the immediate future, Scrappin’ Attack has one available for customer requests, at a reasonable fee, to provide the coolest titles and graphics to layouts and projects.
Both Stacie and Eva admit that being new scrapbook store owners is a challenge unto itself, so learning to understand what their customers want and working outside their own “personal box” will continue to be goals they work toward. They firmly believe that their outstanding customer service and willingness to “go the extra mile” for their clients is what will build their business and continue to bring in new customers as well. Design assistance is willingly provided to customers who want to bring some “oomph” to their projects and to make a project they’ve thought about for a while but were unsure how to get started come to life simply by asking Eva or Stacie for their ideas. “We love to share and help people produce something they’ll love and be proud of,” Stacie stated.
Finally, both ladies had some sage advice for new scrapbookers. “Go slowly and start small,” is Eva’s advice. “Don’t go overboard on embellishments and bling before purchasing a few essential tools.” This helpful advice is shared in their often-requested Scrapbook 101 classes. “Think outside the box and explore various categories or themes,” Stacie tells veteran paper crafters when looking for items and embellishments for a particular project. If the project’s theme is school, check out the Halloween section too, because you just never know what you’ll find! Check out Scrappin’ Attack at 9225 Carlton Hills Boulevard, #1 in Santee. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at its transformation and wide range of great products and tools.
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