![Crazy Bout Craftin is a smart concept housed in a Mt. Pinos Way cottage that has been a sporting goods store, a natural foods store and briefly a flower shop. Debra Magaña and her husband are excited entrepreneurs. [photo by Patric Hedlund]](https://mountainenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/Craftin-324x229.jpg)
Crazy Bout Craftin is a smart concept housed in a Mt. Pinos Way cottage that has been a sporting goods store, a natural foods store and briefly a flower shop. Debra Magaña and her husband are excited entrepreneurs. [photo by Patric Hedlund]
Cottage Garden and Crazy Bout Craftin open in Frazier Park—in cottages
By Patric Hedlund
Jean Miller has a tablet in her hand and the look of a lonely hunter in her eye. She is intense, about to embark on a dream. She has friends and family who believe in her. But this week and last she’s been stalked by surprise electrical and plumbing problems as she renovates a cottage on Mt. Pinos Way.
Miller is working to open a new flower store and nursery, across from the Frazier Park Market.
Just down the street, across from Ace Hardware and The Mountain Enterprise newspaper office, is another brand-new Mt. Pinos Way business, Crazy Bout Craftin.
Debra Magaña has been open now for a couple of months. Her colorful yarns adorn one wall. The front of the store is a toy box of colorful items for all kinds of crafting.
There are jewelry-making supplies, threads, scrapbooking treasures and her homemade apron designs—‘the tulip’ and ‘the Barbie’—all lovingly displayed.
She says she wants quilters to tell her about their needs. She plans to have bolts of fabric available in the back room, which is also converted into a crafts classroom for use by talented artists who want to teach others. She says her prices will always be competitive with Michael’s, Hancock’s and JoAnn’s in the city. “I’ll even honor their coupons,” she said, “just show them to me.”
Magaña and her husband Ernie have lived in Piñon Pines for 10 years. She is a retired lawyer who fell in love with crafting. “We created this ourselves,” she says. “It was my husband’s idea… to get my stuff out of his man cave! Business is really good. We opened on November 15, and the store is supporting itself. We don’t have to pull out of our own pockets.”
Crazy Bout Craftin is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day but Wednesday and Sunday (661-363-9063).
Meanwhile, back over at the Cottage Garden (which was once Tecuya Feed) a pickup with a trailer rolls up, overflowing with beautiful varie-ties of evergreen trees. A troop of eager teenagers tumbles out, all exquisitely polite. They begin to carry the trees into the yard surrounding the cottage. Christi Aguilar—Jean Miller’s daughter— is like the den mother.
Michelle Maga is bringing over the plants from her Redtail Ridge Nursery in Cuddy Valley to start Jean Miller out with inventory.
Maga says the two got to know and trust each other years ago when they both worked at the Big Sky Nursery in Lake of the Woods. She is delighted that Miller will be able to offer cut flower arrangements as well as flower seeds and large plants, for interiors and landscaping. Miller hopes to be able to open by the end of January.
A salute to the work crew: Audrey Aguilar, Sash Johnston, Anthony Aguilar, Michael Bohan, Jacob Webber, Bryson Jennings, Alex Oman, Justin Abell, Wyatt Deyoung and Eric Steiger along with Anthony DaLessio and Frank Maga.
Cottage Garden is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (661-245-5459).
Photo captions:
Miller and Michelle Maga decide where to place inventory.
Jean Miller checking her lists.
Crazy Bout Craftin is a smart concept housed in a Mt. Pinos Way cottage that has been a sporting goods store, a natural foods store and briefly a flower shop. Debra Magaña and her husband are excited entrepreneurs.
Debra Magaña and friend Jill Curtis talk crafts.
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This is part of the January 17, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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