Hobby evolves into career

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Few people can turn their hobby into a career. Amy H. Wickham is one of them.
Amy Lynn’s Attic at 315 East Main St. in Wytheville is the result of her love of scrapbooking. It’s stocked with everything needed to create zillions of photo pages and other related crafts.
“About 10 years ago, I got interested in scrapbooking,” noted the Wytheville native. “My husband, Steve, and I were living in Roanoke at the time. I got into it through a friend. I’ve been amazed how much people get involved in it.”
Scrapbooking is the process of using background paper and embellishments to design all kinds of pages for photographs. These pages can be placed together inside a scrapbook or used in various other ways.
“There are specialty magazines on scrapbooking,” Wickham stated. “You can create the same designs or you can use your own imagination. It’s limited only to what you can imagine.”
She has witnessed the popularity of scrapbooking escalate. The craft is gaining momentum in Wythe County.
“I believe scrapbooking will stand the test of time,” Wickham pointed out. “People have lots of photographs and they’ve always lacked a good storage method. This is a perfectly safe way to store and display the pictures.”
Scrapbooking, she said, primarily draws women. There are several scrapbooking groups meeting locally, according to her.
Amy Lynn’s Attic offers a variety of scrapbooking classes and workshops for all levels. It invites groups to meet there, too.
“I did a lot of festivals and bazaars to get a feel for the interest in scrapbooking,” said Wickham, who has a banking background. “I decided to take it to the next level and let the Lord lead me.”
She and her husband returned to Wytheville in 2004 after 10 years in Roanoke. Wickham worked for awhile at GIV in Bastian.
Quitting on Feb. 29, she opened Amy Lynn’s Attic on March 2.
“After years of working for somebody else,” Wickham said, “it’s nice to be your own boss.”
A certified McNess dealer, Wickham also offers a full line of the company’s products including pie fillings, gourmet seasonings, pain oil, mentholated salve, burn ointment and cleaning supplies. She can order any requested items from the McNess catalog, too.
“I try to keep the most popular items in stock,” Wickham commented. “The products are selling well. I have a lot of people tell me they hadn’t been able to get McNess products since Odis Felts retired. I remember when he used to come to my mom’s house selling McNess. He’s been dead for several years.”
Other items stocked at Amy Lynn’s Attic are a line of stationery, handmade olive oil soaps, vintage glassware and locally hand crafted purses and scarves.
In what little spare time Wickham has, she enjoys gardening as a member of the Wythe-Bland Region Master Gardeners. She also is active in her church, Spirit of Life Church, in Roanoke.
“I still enjoy scrapbooking when I go home,” Wickham added. “It does consume a lot of your time.”
Amy Lynn’s Attic is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .