Welcome to Make it Yours Crafts

Make it Yours Crafts was born of owner Ann Lenth's love and passion for scrapbooking.  Located at 411 Main Street, Welton,  Iowa, we are just North of DeWitt and South of Maquoketa.  Easy to get to from anywhere and closer than you think!

Here is a little background info. on owner Ann Lenth and how many things in Ann's last 20 some years brought her to this moment in her life:

Ann has been an avid scrapbooker for 6 years but is not new to design work or sales.  In 1990, she worked for 2 years at  the J.C. Penney Advertising District Office, creating newspaper ads, postcards and the like, until the office closed and consolidated elsewhere.  She then moved on to L.W. Ramsey Advertising where she worked in sales and helped run the How to Plant division of the company.  How to Plant was the signature booklet developed by the company's founder many years ago.  Through vast research, Ann helped to update the booklet that was used by Nurseries across the country, and helped develop over 6 new booklets.

Ann made a move to owning her own business in 1996 when she started Annie M's Collectibles (a play on her name Ann Marie and Auntie Em, from the movie) from her living room in East Moline. The business specialized in selling Wizard of Oz Collectibles. The business sprang from her love of the Wizard of Oz movie and was just a fun hobby to collect, until she saw the thousands of visitors at a Wizard of Oz festival in Indiana.  People were lined up and down city blocks to buy Wizard of Oz stuff. The items ranged from the original books to items created based on the 1939 MGM movie; t-shirts, dolls, toys, figurines, jewelry, etc. And many of the original 150 Munchkins from the movie were in attendance, signing autographs and wearing replicas of their costumes. She then decided that her hobby could become a business!

 Ann created a printed catalog on her home computer, made a one page web-site and ordered merchandise from licensed vendors. Her catalog and products were a hit and soon she had quite a following. Ann and husband James were featured in local newspapers and t.v. for the business as well as their own vast collection of Wizard of Oz items.  A very special moment was when they received a call from New York and asked to be a part of a show called Personal FX.  The show was about super collectors and went to homes around the country to help showcase people's collections.  The show was co-hosted by Tom Bergeron, who is now the host of America's Funniest Home Videos.  Ann and James  were nominated by the show's staff as one of Super Collector Couples of the year in 1997.  Although they did not win, it was quite an honor, nonetheless. 

 Come back this week for a new post about how Make it Yours Crafts came to be.....