It has been a busy nine months for
Brian, Lisa Horn and son Jaxon. Moving to Palisade from North Texas they are probably
the Town’s newest residents.
But adjusting to a new home, new
city, and another state is not their only new adventure, according to Lisa.
“I have been working and
planning at the same time to start a scrapbooking store. I am so excited that
this weekend to officially have the Grand Opening for my shop, Lisa’s
Scrapbooking Boutique, on Friday, March 8.”
Back in August when her
husband Dr. Brian Horn accepted a position as the
Secondary Licensure Program Coordinator for Colorado Mesa University's Center
for Teacher Education, Lisa spent a week in the Grand Valley looking for
their next home.
“I rented a car and drove the
entire area. When I came to Palisade, I knew this was the place we wanted to
make our home.”
At first she had her hands full
with making a home in a new house, being miles away from family and old friends
while Brian adjusted to his new job, and
8-year-old son Jaxon became a 3rd grader at Taylor Elementary.
But this stay-at-home wife and
mother is a bundle of energy, and she confesses, “I like to stay busy.”
First and foremost for her is
family, so she got involved with her son’s school, completely. “I was at the
school almost every day, helping in any way I could.”
Because of her creative spirit she
offered to help with decorations and stage sets for the school plays, but her most
visible artistic gift was to design the two walls outside the Principal’s
office proclaiming, “TAYLOR loves to read.”
Two big hearts outlined with
individual photos of the students who complete each level of reading 500 to
1000 minutes outside of class time note the success of these growing readers.
Each reader receives a book, and a
small heart sticker placed by her/his name on a facing wall display. She
created these in October and the displays will remain until the end of the
year, giving each child the motivation to earn a book, a sticker and their
photograph for all to see.
Remember, the family had just moved
here, moved in, and was still adjusting to the area, the schools, everything,
when she began her quest of opening her business in Palisade.
The idea grew out of Lisa’s
passion, “I love to scrapbook. I started doing it eight years ago when Jaxon
was born.”
“Where we lived in Texas, there
were lots of scrapbook stores. Friends and mothers of kids my son’s age would
have scrapbook parties. Some Saturday nights we might stay at a friend’s house
sometimes until 2 a.m. still scrapping,” she recalled.
So she sought advice from everyone:
talking to friends, attaining the legal certifications, looking for the best
location, and signing a lease.
“I did my research (when she
started thinking about starting her business). I found that most scrapbook
stores are gone.” So she saw this as an opportunity to keep busy by combining
all her loves: family, photography and scrapbooking.
Lisa couldn’t set a date to open until
she had the shop renovated and stocked her supplies.
“I received my Federal Tax number on Feb. 23. We are open
now, but look at everything I still have to do,” the blond-haired energetic
young woman said with a smile as big as Texas.
Lisa is constantly in motion,
talking and laughing, enjoying every aspect of her new venture. In and out of
her store unloading, displaying the items she will sell during the posted hours
of 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Jaxon does his homework at one worktable
in the shop while she sits, rolls and swivels around in her “signature” chair; a
tall, white-and-red leather office desk chair with the familiar crimson “OU”
letters. She laughs and explains
why she has an Oklahoma chair in her Colorado store.
“Brian is from southeastern
Oklahoma. He went to University of Oklahoma, and we are proud OU fans. This is
his favorite chair. He used this chair at every school he taught at. When he
took the job at Colorado Mesa University, he didn’t feel it was ‘proper’ to
have an OU chair sitting in his CMU office.
“So, now it is mine.” Lisa
continues opening new stock and creating signs and displays of her new
scrapbooking wares while talking all the time.
She has a moment of seriousness
when she explains her main reason for having a scrapbook business. “Coming from
a family of five kids, three girls and two boys, I’m the next to youngest. I
have only three baby pictures of me. I want to capture every moment of my son’s
childhood.
“I want to provide the items and a
place to help other people put together important moments through their photos
and words, so the memories are not forgotten.”
With eight years experience and lots of finished scrapbook
pages filled with Brian, Jaxon, his cousins and his grandparents as the models,
Lisa feels confident that she is ready for this new step in her life.
This Palisade
resident and business woman is hard at work getting ready to cheerfully help
old and new friends capture their memories and have fun at Lisa’s Scrapbooking
Boutique on Main Street, Palisade, after the Grand Opening and ribbon cutting
by the Palisade Chamber of Commerce on Friday, March 8 at 3:30 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment