Remembering the past can be a difficult experience, especially if you also can't remember that you aren't Millard Fillmore. Make all your memories more maintainable with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of scrapbooking materials and more at Memories & Beyond in Downers Grove.

A memory maintainer's paradise, Memories & Beyond houses colorful paper, custom die cuts, and eye-catching trimmings under one roof to keep avid archivists well-stocked in nostalgia-nabbing necessities. Start a crafty jaunt down the memory aisle by perusing the Chicagoland area's largest collection of Bazzill paper ($0.65 per 12"x12" sheet), available in a prismatic panoply of colors ranging from pretty pink, fire-engine red, and Colonel Mustard's pet-canary yellow. Once you've set the backdrop for past-experience provocation, add artful touches with Copic markers ($5.99), custom fraternity and sorority die cuts ($1.99–$2.49), or a thought-provoking sticker of a dog giving a thumbs-up. Stamps from Hero Arts, Penny Black, and Lockhart add a refined rubber residue customized for any occasion, and custom Chicagoland papers ($1.69 each) allow scrappers to immortalize their pride of the metropolitan motherland.

In addition to the chromatically covered shelves filling the front of the store, a back room with large craft tables allows remembrance reapers to gather for Crop Nights on Fridays and Saturdays. The scrapbook-minded staff of Memories & Beyond is always on hand to help you materialize memories, choose prints, or locate a particularly elusive laughter-colored marker.

Reviews

Five Yelpers give Memories & Beyond a near perfect average of 4.5 stars:

• The best thing about Memories & Beyond is the inventory and variety of items available for scrapbookers/stampers/card makers. – Aimee M., 1/28/10
• A wonderful store with so much to offer. – K B., 4/6/07

Customer Reviews