THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509260105
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EARNING A LIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Suzi Marshall spent six weeks backpacking through Europe and almost six months putting the resulting pictures into photo albums.
The trip was three years ago and she still hasn't finished chronicling her adventure.
But, the monumental project did inspire her to start a part-time business helping other people chronicle their photo memories.
``I'm helping to preserve the past and enrich the present,'' said Marshall, 25, and a New Jersey native.
She became one of several local Creative Memories consultants three months ago.
As an independent contractor, she teaches folks how to construct creative scrapbooks using pictures, graphics, captions and colored ink and paper.
Marshall holds workshops in her home and among other things talks about magnetic photo albums made of plastic PVC. She said over time they deteriorate and sometimes stain photographs. The cost for her workshops is $20 and includes the materials and tools for creating the first page of a scrapbook.
``We put so much money into photography equipment, film developing and then we buy a $4 album and our pictures are destroyed in five or six years,'' said Marshall, explaining the importance of chemical-free chronicling.
She teaches different types of mountings for memorabilia, including pictures, such as two-sided tape or wet adhesive. She encourages folks to get creative by adding shapes like stars or hearts cut out of acid-free colored paper to complement each page's picture layout.
There are special scissors for decorative edging and acid-free pens for captions.
Marshall sells all of these products - the scrapbooks, the paper, the scissors and the pens. The books range from $23 to $36 and come with flex-hinges that allow the pages to lie flat.
All the albums come with 15 photo safe pages that are linen and acid-free and ``guaranteed for life,'' Marshall said. She sells refill pages for $11.85 for a set of 15.
She sells the acid-free colored paper and stickers, templates, scalloped scissors and four types of adhesive from tape to a permanent wet adhesive.
In the future, she plans to hold ``crop until you drop'' and ``supply swapping'' parties.
With a $160 start-up consultant's fee paid directly to the creators of Creative Memories based in St. Cloud, Minn., Marshall hopes to build her business into an empire of sorts with other consultants working for her. She hopes to build enough business to work full time out of her home.
Her first words of advice for students or customers is to start with the present.
``A lot of people don't know how to get from a bag of photos to a really nice scrapbook,'' said Marshall. ``I always say to start current and don't try and start with 10 years ago. That way you never fall further behind and you can always go back and do the past.''
Marshall, a full-time travel agency employee and Green Run resident, came to Virginia Beach on vacation where she met her fiance.
Claiming it was ``love at first sight,'' she went home to New Jersey, sold her brand new condo, quit her three jobs (one in a casino, one as a substitute teacher and one working with disabled children) to move closer to the man she plans to marry in 1997.
``I wanted something that's mine and that was flexible so that eventually I could be home with the kids,'' said Marshall, who's counting the days to her marriage. The number for Creative Memories in St. Cloud, Minn., is 612-251-7524. MEMO: Marshall's next Creative Memories workshop will be held from 7 to 9:30
p.m. Oct. 3. Call 471-6195.
ILLUSTRATION: ABOVE: Suzi Marshall teaches folks how to construct creative
scrapbooks using pictures, graphics, captions and colored ink and
paper.
AT RIGHT: One of her sample books shows how the results can look.
Staff photos by
MORT FRYMAN
KEYWORDS: PHOTO ALBUMS by CNB