As most of you guys know, I currently work for Duncan Enterprises in Fresno, California. The funny thing about me working there is the fact that I’ve already had a 20 year or so relationship with the company, because of the Scribbles Paint you see above. Let me explain…

This was me…around age 11, 5th grade to be exact. I look very wistful in this photo (I remember specifically trying to be modelesque as my dad shot this photo-ha ha). Around this time in my life, I was a very crafty girl. This was the year I got my first glue gun to make ribbon hair bows (I even had glitter glue sticks to go with it). I also loved making macrame bracelets using my fingers as a loom out of those neon nylon loops (which I learned that year in Bible school). For me and the rest of the crafters in this country, this was also the year of the painted t-shirt and sweatshirt!

My mom and I would go to the little Wal-mart (it was super tiny) in our town and I’d scour the fabric section for the perfect print to make a custom sweatshirt out of. The designs came printed just for the size of a sweatshirt, so that you could just cut the image out, Wonder Under it onto some fabric with an iron, and then outline it with your favorite Puffy or Slick paint. The swatch below is something I’ve kept all these years as a momento from my childhood. I made a black sweatshirt with this exact same design outline and embellished, but unfortunately I don’t have it today. The print is from Daisy Kingdom. Back in the day, Daisy Kingdom had a huge line of fabrics and patterns. Many patterns featured matching mom and daughter dress designs like this. Even back then, I was totally all about Halloween and apparently cute bears (don’t ask me why about the bears part).

I specifically remember being enamored by the Scribbles Paint in the Hancock Fabrics store that we went to in Owensboro. As a kid, I would spend hours in there with my mom as she perused through the pattern books and fabric, so I was bored a lot! The fabric paint was ALWAYS something I was very much gravitated to and I remember studying the bottles and usually pulling my mom’s arm into buying me a bottle or two to make a shirt with.

So back then, I had no earthly clue where this paint was made. I had no concept of the craft industry or that an industry such as it even existed. It just is funny to me that I work for the place whose products captivated me as a child.

I make a point now to tell my nephews and crafty niece about how things are made and explain the inner workings of how our products that we buy come to be. In there era, there is so much information at their fingertips and a big ‘ol world out there for them to explore. Having some additional perspective and knowing that they have options will hopefully give them even more opportunity to go after what they want in life and a career.

So anyway…that’s how Swell met Scribbles! Hope you enjoyed!

Until next time Swellions!

Alexa