By KALEY CONNER

kconner@dailynews.net

RUSSELL -- While many purchase their holiday greeting cards, others view the holiday tradition as an opportunity to be creative.

A group of women meeting Wednesday nights at a new scrapbooking store have spent the month of December crafting cards, gift tags and even personalized Christmas gifts.

Among them is Debbie Homeier and her sixth-grade daughter, Danielle. The Dorrance residents have been attending a weekly card-making class at Scrappy Days for several weeks and say the craft is addicting.

"After that, who wants to buy a card?" Debbie Homeier said with a laugh.

A display board hanging in the store's workroom displays the hard work of the season -- some of the homemade holiday greeting cards have been purchased right off the wall, said Melinda Wells, co-owner of the business.

The Russell store, located at 812 Main, opened Oct. 2, but owners Wells and Stacy Craig already had been in business for about a year. The scrapbooking supply store got its start in Craig's basement and the operation was mobile, meaning the pair traveled throughout the state to attend crops and host parties.

"Stacy's basement couldn't contain us anymore," Wells said with a laugh.

Both were avid scrappers, and decided to turn the hobby into a part-time business after completing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class, they said.

"That kind of inspired us to go out and take something that we enjoyed and work it," Wells said. "And so we got this crazy idea and it just kind of went from there."

Both work full-time jobs, so the store is open weekends and evenings.

The owners strive to provide everything needed for the craft, from albums to tools and embellishments. The business also hosts personal events, such as birthday parties and baby showers.

Classes are offered as a way to teach shoppers new techniques and highlight specific tools, Wells said.

"We try to come up with different techniques or different punches, something new every week, something to be more creative," she said.

December projects included "cookie sheet crafting" -- a baking sheet was made into a decorative advent calendar -- and a recipe board.

Audrey Varner, an avid scrapper, said she is thankful to have a supply store close to home.

"It's wonderful, having a store in town," she said.