By MICHELLE COOK
Creating pages of memories with a personal touch has attracted many to the sensation known as scrapbooking.
“Everyone likes to have a record of themselves,” said Sherri Johnston, designer at Pebbles in my Pocket, a scrapbook supply store in Orem.
Johnston said scrapbooking adds more to photos than a photo album does. “It adds to the story,” she said. “It’s more of a history.”
Scrapbooking has evolved beyond the simple pasting of pictures into a photo album. It has become an art form.
“It’s addictive,” said Melanie Mortensen, a junior humanities major from Farmington. “It takes up a lot of time, but it’s fun. It’s a good outlet for creative juices.”
Scrapbookers can often be found peering out from under their heap of photos, scissors, hole punches, papers, stencils, templates and pens.
Scrapbookers enjoy adding life to their photo pages with textured paper, stickers, die cuts — pieces of paper cut into shapes, quotes, captions and borders. The pages often follow themes and can get quite elaborate.
“It’s a great release of creativity,” said Joy Huish, designer and teacher at Pebbles in my Pocket.
A “Scrapbook Basics” handout from Pebbles in my Pocket suggests: “Memories should not be scattered about in dresser drawers or stuffed into boxes. They are meant to be shared and enjoyed. If we don’t organize and label our memories, they will become lost or simply forgotten. How sad it is to end up with a box of life’s keepsakes and not know the stories behind them.”
The handout goes on, “Scrapbooks help us understand who we are and where we came from … for it’s the memories of life, both the good and at times difficult that truly tie us together.”
Sharon Murphy, event coordinator for Michael’s Arts and Crafts, in Orem, has been doing scrapbooks for five or six years. “It’s not just pictures on a page,” she said. She explained that scrapbook pages tell stories and make statements.
Amy Patten, a junior elementary education major from Orem, said, “I think it (scrapbooking) helps you remember things better.”
She remembers that when she was young she always looked at the scrapbooks her mother made her.
Huish enjoys making scrapbooks for her children.
She said her three children always look at their scrapbooks. The scrapbooks, Huish said, teach her children about their lives.
“It gives kids a sense of identity,” Johnston said. She explained that scrapbooks help children see they are important enough that someone took all those pictures of them.
Scrapbooking is a hobby that has attracted a large following.
Murphy noted that people of every age group are involved in scrapbooking, from grandmothers to children. She said mostly women are drawn to the hobby.
Coreena White, a senior sociology major from San Diego said she began doing her scrapbooks with a group in California. White said many scrapbookers are the type of people who are creative, teaching-oriented, and like to preserve family history.
“It’s the type of person more than just the face,” White said.
Some scrapbookers like to work on their hobby on their own; many enjoy working with another friend or in a group.
“In my neighborhood, we get together once a month,” Murphy said.
Murphy suggested taking a scrapbook class before getting started, to get an idea of what materials are safe to use.
Scrapbook classes are offered at local craft stores. These classes allow customers to use store supplies such as die cut machines, and to pay only for the paper and other materials used.
Scrapbooking is not only a local hobby.
Johnston said she has received e-mails from people in Australia and Canada, requesting information. She said many scrapbook companies are being created and many new products are being designed.
“It’s pretty much all over the place,” Johnston said.
Is scrapbooking a trend? Not according to Huish.
“It’ll never die,” Huish said. “People are realizing that photographs are the only thing they leave behind.”
Huish said scrapbooking is a rebirth of something our ancestors did. “But now we have color,” she said.
