Today, the art of preserving photographs has become just that; an art form. In fact, archiving precious photos in the form of intricate scrapbooks has become a fun, yet time consuming hobby; an obsession even, for people across the U. S. I, for one, am hooked and have recently discovered a scrapbooker’s haven at Archivers stores which specialize in picture preservation and have forty locations throughout the country.
These large, brightly lit showrooms offer crafters everything they could possibly need to design their timeless treasures like: patterned papers, cardstock, scissors, adhesives, all occasion stickers, decorative hole punches, rubber stamps and various cropping tools. Archivers also promotes an array of nifty embellishments like: ribbon, glitter, jewels and brads that add pizzazz to any page.
A state of the art color copier is on site and ideal for holiday cards, invitations, replicating vintage photos, shrinking and enlarging items, improving damaged pictures, duplicating children’s artwork for family members, designing color calendars and more. Prices range from about 33 cents up to $3.00.
During the week, Archivers’ tool stocked work room is open to the public. Customers are invited to assemble their projects atop the stores’ expansive tables and utilize their scissors, cutters and die cut machines. My friends and I have spent many hours in the work room producing one of a kind wedding invitations, baby announcements and more. And an Archivers employee is always close by with a helpful tip or creative advice.
On Friday and Saturday nights from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm, stores offer “Scrap Mania” which costs $15.00 and includes unlimited use of the workshop plus prizes, demonstrations, freebies and even dinner! Six hours may seem like an awfully long time to scrapbook, but honestly the evening just flies by!
Throughout the year, numerous hands-on classes are offered at Archivers for free! The Rubberstamping Basics Class demonstrates various artistic techniques using stamps and stamp pads. The Scrapbooking Basics Class features great ideas for page layouts and invites you to design your own page with your prized pictures. The Holiday Card Showcase is a presentation of dozens of homemade holiday card ideas. I have used many of these ideas for my annual Christmas cards.
Archivers also advertises numerous other classes for $15.00 to $45.00. The Twelve Tags of Christmas costs just $15.00 and allows you to create intricate tags perfect for attaching to your Christmas packages, while the Glistening Greeting Card Class demonstrates the creation of four sparkling holiday cards. For $25.00 join the Create-A-Calendar Workshop and take home a personalized treasure. Or enter the Hip Household Organizer Class that teaches you to make a decorative pocketed book for storage of menus, schedules, business cards, postage stamps and more also available for $25.00. And for $45.00, participate in the Little One’s Album Workshop to create a twelve inch by twelve inch scrapbook jam packed with twenty pages of adorable boy or girl designs. All supplies, except for your photos, are included.
Sign up for the Archivers newsletter and receive discounted color copies, free cardstock coupons, tips on new products, organizational ideas and special events. The more you spend at the store, the more discounts they send you. I never enter the store without a coupon in my wallet! For more information on Archivers and for monthly class calendars, log onto www.archiversonline.com.
