It Happened this year at The Create Exchange- a little review

Two years ago today, The Create Exchange opened it's doors for the very first time. Looking at the pictures from our little 800 square foot shop on 9th St., it's easy to see how much we have grown. We moved to our wonderful Czech Village location after only 5 months, and expanded into the building next door one month later. Nov. 5, 2015, after just 6 months in the village the now 3000 square foot store was filled to the brim! September 22, 2016 we received the news, a major flood was coming! With the help of countless volunteers we evacuated the building in just 3 short days (actually 3 very long days). It took a lot longer to get everything back in order but we re-opened better than ever on Oct. 8th.

It was been a great year, full of new friends, cool crafting and, inspiring and challenging moments.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your continuing support and generosity!

Thanks to all of you, we have kept 10’s of THOUSANDS of items from the landfill and, made arts and craft supplies more accessible to more people.

Thanks to you, we have donated 10’s of THOUSANDS of items to local teachers, churches and individuals for charity work, and have participated in many community projects and activities.

Thanks to you, more people are more inspired to create beautiful, interesting and useful things.

Remember, it's not what you have, it's what you make of it. We are looking forward to making year number 3 even better, thanks to you.

We are thankful for many, many things. Here’s just a few…

Fun Customers and New Friends

Great Community- Czech Village/ New Bohemia Historic Main Street District, GoCR, City of Cedar Rapids, Czech Village Association

Talented Makers
Flood Volunteers and No Water

Quirky Fabrics

Snow Removal

Fun stuff we have done this year…

Groups and Class including- Beginning Knitting, Beginning Crochet, Glass Etching, Needle Felting, Book Wealth Class, Harry Potter Necklace Class, Adult Coloring and Zentangle Group, Art Journaling Group, Fiber Arts Group, Card Making Group
Make and Takes- Alcohol Ink on Glass, Bracelet Making, Gelli Printing, Upcycle Glass, Sugar Skull Wall Hanging
Community Art Projects- Window Wonderland Hand Made Ornaments, Ugly Sweater Contest, Houby Days Make and Take, CzechFest Scare Crow Contest, Share It on Sunday

Favorite Projects This Year…

11/6/2015, Crystal Bozeman created a stunning comb for her wedding

4/19/2016 Flapper Headband

7/16/2016 Sarah Parmenter took a bunch of pieces and without a pattern, finished this beautiful afghan

8/10/2016 Window Display

8/14/2016, Lindsay Marie Klienmeyer’s 7 year old daughter was inspired, by our window , to create a colorful window hanging of her own.
Private Group Sand Art Project
Flood Fish