From retail demands to collecting spot, Scrapbooking 101 serves Cherokee, place | News

CHEROKEE, Okla. — In 2007, a few buddies in this northwestern Oklahoma group ended up on the lookout for a typical house to welcome some others into the craft they beloved, and they observed it in Scrapbook 101.

Brenda Miller, the only remaining husband or wife, stated she, Beverly Jantz and Judy Broce ended up looking for a excellent space in Cherokee when they stumbled on the old youth middle.

“It was ideal across the street from another place we ended up contemplating, and it was ideal for what we essential,” Miller reported. “We all kicked in a third and purchased it. We had no notion if any one would display up, but we figured we could use it ourselves. It turned out to be really well-known.”

A position to assemble

The place is substantial enough to accommodate a retail operation, tables for scrapbooking or crafting and a small kitchen area. In excess of the decades, Miller has applied all three areas to produce what is now obviously a group center.

“We begun off educating lessons, selling elements, web hosting ‘crops’ – it is a get-together exactly where everybody operates on their possess things – and expending time in the place just receiving to know each and every other,” Miller claimed. “Judy died seven or eight a long time in, and now it is just been me for the previous many yrs.”

Effects of COVID-19

The enterprise remained very well-trafficked appropriate up until finally COVID-19 strike, and then Miller saw every thing arrive to a close to halt. She ongoing to open up on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons — she still does — and she hosted a crop on the 3rd Saturday of every single month. Men and women from the spot confirmed up in smaller sized numbers, but they nevertheless showed up.

“Mostly, it became visitation time with area women of all ages,” Miller said. “We have a lot of widows and singles, and they’d halt by just to visit just as a lot as invest in craft materials or function on a venture. The objective of Scrapbook 101 was always for all people to sense welcome, so I adore the changeover we’ve witnessed.”

‘Women’s pool hall’

Miller claimed females prevent in from all more than the spot: Alva, Enid, Kiowa, Wakita, etcetera.

“The adult males have a location they go twice a day,” she stated. “They all meet up at the new Jiffy Excursion, so the ladies have to have a place, also. This has worked as that meeting place. We’ve begun calling it the Women’s pool hall.”

Scrapbook 101 is still a imaginative house for critical, and not so significant, crafters. Buyers even now acquire elements, and they continue to do the job on assignments to submit to the county and condition fairs, as we all as items and property decorations.

Emphasis on playing cards

Through the pandemic, a great deal of the emphasis shifted to cards.

“The store is pretty busy with cards proper now,” Miller stated. “We’re definitely a ministry of playing cards. Too a lot of people today are lonely, and a lot of of them only ever get charges in the mail. We’re seeking to get to out with cards. It’s an old apply that we’d like to see arrive back.”

Ultimately, Miller mentioned Scrapbook 101 is equally what she intended for it to be — a creative and retail area for crafters — and a local community middle that fills an vital need to have in Cherokee and the bordering location.

“It’s a thing the town demands,” she said. “You really don’t have to invest in something just come in and stop by. Everybody is welcome.”