We had our first Anthologies outing together on Saturday and it was so much fun! We participated in a local 12-hour Crop for the Cure to raise funds for breast cancer research. Anthologies donated several door prizes and two beautiful albums for a raffle.We also offered a make-and-take card (see below) for 70 or so participants which Susan designed for us.Isn't it wonderful?!?! It had to be relatively simple and quick and everything was precut. She used three beautiful patterned papers from Melissa Frances' Thankful line. Just to add to the fun...I provided a free 12x12 page lo kit for all of the croppers too! Many other vendors contributed to the door prizes and held M&T's for these lucky croppers and if you ever get the chance to eat at Sweet Tomatoes...take it! They provided lunch and it was oh so yummy!
My hat goes off to the coordinators of this 12-hour event! They did an amazing job! It was fabulous to be in a room full of 70+ croppers, many of whom are breast cancer survivors. Thank you for sharing your stories with us! Around $3500 in donations were raised as a result of the Crop for the Cure! All of us here at Anthologies are so thankful to have been a part of this incredible event!
(The below was posted months before opening, however I leave it here because it tells the story- come see us, I think you'll agree!) A very dear and respected friend has told me that I've not really told my story: the reason for launching off into this new endeavor. So, here goes. I will attempt it here. A few years ago, there was a wonderful place. A place where you could take your family, your memories and those things most precious to you and take them out of the shoe box and bring them into the light of day in a beautiful artistic way. Nothing could have been more comforting and fun than a visit to Recollections and we all remember it fondly. It was like going into 'Cheers'. Everybody knew your name, your children's names, what coffee you drank and, most of all, what was important to you. We all shared that. Well, we all lost something very near and dear to our hearts and that void has never been filled. Not completely. The people have stayed in touch, heaven knows that Tracy has done a great job at keeping the spirit alive and the ideas flowing, but still.... somewhat of a void existed. Now, let me be clear - that is gone. You cannot recreate it. It will never be exactly the same again - ever.
My wonderful husband has been after me for the last 18 months 'why don't you open a shop' and I have always told him that I would not attempt it unless I could do it 'right'. The bar was high and I would not attempt it at any other level. Well, life changes and I was recently presented with the opportunity to do this 'right'.
So, here we are - we now are the proud lease-holders on 3,820 square feet of retail space, contractors standing by to re-build the interior, product ordered, retail shelving acquired and a vision. A vision to be a safe and comfortable place for you to come and share and create your own anthology; to tell your own story, not for your generation or even the next, but to leave some things behind for your children's children that will tell them their story - from where they have come.
So, keep checking in here. We'll be very busy over the next 10 weeks. Yep, that's right - only 10 weeks and I can't wait.
That'll be us.... we'll keep the lights on for you.
Nita Turpin
Our basics list
We toss this term around alot and want to make sure that when you come for our fabulous classes that you have all the items that you need to complete your project.
Please be sure to bring with you:
Paper trimmer Scissors Adhesive or tape runner Glue dots or pop dots Super Tape/Tacky Tape/Red Tape Liquid adhesive (Zip Dry) Black journaling pen Brown and black small ink pads (Cat's Eye) Glossy Accents or Diamond Glaze Crop-A-Dile or hole punch
3 comments:
what a refreshing story..glad to see y'all had a great time!
It was an awesome event! Thanks for commenting!
Wow Nita this great. Love the blog...I'll check back often.
Lucinda
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