A New Scrap-booking Experience

I have been scrap-booking since High School. I have so many scrap-books it isn't even funny. I have one of High School, one of just my Senior year, one of College days, about five or six of Dan and I (I have lost count of how many we have), two for Trinity, and one for Nehemiah. It takes a lot of organization and time to scrap-book, but I LOVE looking back through my books! Such great memories!

My good friend Marci is just getting into scrap-booking. She asked me about a year ago if I would be interested in meeting up with her to work on our books together. I had never gotten together like that before and it sounded so cool. We started meeting once a month and I had actually gotten caught up on one of my books I was working on.

Then I had Nehemiah. Life had to slow down a little with a newborn so we stopped meeting together. Now that he is a little over three months old, I have slowly been getting back into it on my own. I may do a page or two during nap time or try to just work in the floor while Barney is on for my two year old and the baby is laying next to me watching my every move.

Marci sent me a message last week asking me if I would be interested in going to Chesterfield Mall to a store called Archiver's. She explained that they have work rooms you can use and then if you need any supplies, you can just walk right out and get what you need. I was so excited! I called her right away and we discussed what day we would go, what time to meet, how we would meet up, etc.

When we got to Archiver's I was blown away! The store is like scrap-book heaven! I couldn't believe how big it was and how much stuff they had. I walked through the store about four times just going aisle to aisle looking at everything. The only thing I was disappointed with is they didn't carry many fire fighting items. Other than that, this is one of the neatest stores I have been to!

I ended up only spending $22...and that was counting a $5 deposit to reserve a seat in the work room (which they let us use towards whatever we purchased) and page refills. Marci spent under $10! We had so much fun! We were able to sit at a table by ourselves and just spread our stuff out all over. They had tools laying out that we had full access to as well. The best part: there were NO DISTRACTIONS!!!! If we were at her house or my house, we both have husbands and kids so it's very likely that we'll get interrupted at some point.

Since I had walked through the store so much, I only got about 4 pages done. I also spent some time organizing my book though. Marci got so much done I have even forgotten the details of everything. She said that was the most she's ever gotten done at once.

It was such a fun evening and we both decided that we had to do this again...like once a month! When we were checking out, the lady behind the counter told us that their work rooms are open like that anytime the store is open. She said they advertise and charge the $5 deposit on Friday and Saturday evenings because it's the busiest time. Any other time, it's just first come, first serve.

I have found that I am such a better Mommy and Wife after I give myself some time to do things like scrap-booking and blogging! We'll definitely be going back to Archiver's! I highly recommend it to anyone that's is interested in scrap-booking.