 |
| SUMMIT PHOTO BY MARY LODEN
Scrapbook enthusiasts gather at Treasure It in Forest City for a Friday night scrapbooking party. From left is Dawn Evans, Marla Betts, owner Jan Ulses and Pauline Schachtner. |
Preserving precious memories
Jan Ulses teaches “scrappers” how to turn photos into a treasured family album
By Mary Loden
Of The Summit
Since the time of Aristotle in the last 1500s, where men kept paper records of religious and political discussions, to the present digital age, people have scrapbooked.
Jan Ulses, of Forest City, turned her love of the hobby into a business almost three years ago. Treasure It Scrap-booking Store, located on North Clark St. between Sally's and Wilson Dental, is a full-service store, which offers both product and instruction.
For those who aren't familiar with scrapbooking, this hobby involves creatively putting together cherished memorabilia - anything from photos, newspaper clippings, movie tickets, post cards, a child's drawing - into a synergistic layout that tells a story through a visual dialogue.
“My daughter discovered this [while living] in Dallas and she said, ‘Mom, I found something you might like.'” It wasn't long before she was hooked.
“We went shopping and looked at the samples. We were big shoppers,” Ulses said with a chuckle and explained how the store clerks would show them how to use the various tools of the trade.
Mom and daughter soon started meeting at a halfway point between Iowa and Texas and would spend a long weekend scrapbooking together. She grinned at the memory and said, “We'd move all the furniture out of one room and move in our rolling suitcases, computers and scanners and scrapbooked for three solid days.”
They did, however, take time out to shop at some of the larger scrapbook stores in the area.
“I scrapbooked a long time before I opened a business,” she said. Her store was in Lake Mills for a year before she and her husband moved to Forest City and she re-opened on North Clark St. almost two years ago.
The products she carries, from colored and textured cardstock, page embellishments to tools, represent many companies. “These are national companies sold worldwide. What I have in here is what I myself use,” Ulses said.
But she doesn't just sell scrapbooking products - she loves introducing people to the hobby.
“I like teaching. I'm good at teaching the beginning stuff,” she said. “There are a few basics and I'm real patient with beginners. Then they're left to be creative. I bring the best they have in them out.”
Those basics include learning to mat and what adhesives work for what she said. The best part is there is no right or wrong. Scrapbooks can be simple or elaborate; it's whatever fits a person's personality.
“All you need to get started are trimmers, scissors and adhesive,” Ulses said, “and you can use my tools until you decide what you would like to purchase for yourself.”
As evidence to the number of people in the North Iowa area who scrapbook the walls that display tools are usually pretty sparse.
Empty shelves are sometimes a good thing. “The tool walls are bare because I can't keep up,” she said. “They're inventing so many new things. The girls tell me what they see and like and I order it.”
Work tables, set up down the center of the shop, allows Ulses to teach beginners and gives the “regulars” a place to scrap a few pages.
Each Friday, except for major holidays, the store stays open late for anyone who would like to come in and scrapbook at no charge.
“This is an addictive hobby,” warned Ulses, with a huge smile on her face. “Some people who come stay for hours. If they're in there and on a roll you can't expect someone to put their stuff away and go home. We have sometimes been here until 2:00 in the morning.”
Scrapbooking may not be for everyone but everyone usually enjoys the experience of viewing a wonderfully made scrapbook.
“This is art work,” Ulses said. “Each one of these books (finished scrapbooks) is usually estimated at $200 considering the amount of time and creativity involved.”
It's also a source of great family bonding time. Ulses, and all three of her daughters, scrapbooks and shares the memories.
“This is an exploding hobby. I mean, who doesn't want to put their pictures down on paper and tell their story,” Ulses said. “I can't tell it for you, but I can help.”
Story created Feb 26, 2008 - 11:40:29 CST.
|
