The Crystal Croppers

Once upon a time...a long, long time ago (o.k., it was around 2000)....in a land far away (o.k., it was in Pennsylvania) there was a Frugal Scrapper who "had a dream...".

Her dream was to start a scrapbooking business where everyone could learn the awesome art of scrapbooking without taking out a 2nd mortgage to fund this great hobby.

This dream started out small, she started by researching and purchasing scrapbooking tools on a "cost per use" basis. Soon after, she began to hold monthly crops at her home in her kitchen where friends, family and all could come to crop and share tools. Her husband was very supportive of the crops and was always available to help with setting up, getting lunch ready and tearing down after each crop ended.

It wasn't long before she started teaching "frugal scrapping" at craft stores, the YMCA and through the community education programs offered by the local school district.

Her next step was creating page kits, cards and other gift items and selling them at a local craft consignment store. She also sold her creations at local craft fairs.

Soon an addition was added to her home, part of which included a 28 ft. x 16 ft. scrapbook studio. This studio has windows all the way around on 3 sides which gave it alot of natural light. It also gave the feeling of being in the great outdoors. Each season brought a new refreshing view, perfect for daydreaming and kicking those creative juices into high gear.

Low and behold, though, after a few visits to the west coast, this frugal scrapper felt the calling of a move to sunny southern California. She packed up her belongings (of course the scrapbooking stuff was packed first) and she drove her Honda Accord across country to Carlsbad, California.

A group of her best scrapping buds formed the official "Crystal Croppers" after she moved to California, however the name of the "Crystal Croppers" was derived from the first place this awesome group of scrapbookers met...at 95 Crystal Dr.

To this day, the Frugal Scrapper makes every effort to scrapbook with her Pennsylvania cropping buddies whenever she visits PA. (and she still owns her home on Crystal Drive where it all began...)

Thank you Anne McCausland, Cindy Schwenk, Robin (Fenstermacher) Snyder, and Teresa Fenstermacher for being the best east coast scrappin' buddies a girl could have:)

Happy Scrappin' (and leave the light on, ya hear?)

Lori McCausland

Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire