For many, scrapbooking is not just a hobby. Rebecca Haake, a consultant for the scrapbooking sales company Close To My Heart, says her customers have a “Scrap Club” every other month, and many of them enjoy the fellowship of getting together and creating. They are all excited about telling the stories behind the pictures, she says. “When you were a child you had art class. Scrapbooking is like that, but for adults,” Haake says.

Why we do what we do

People deal with divorce in a variety of ways. For Haake, beginning to scrapbook was just the solution. “I started scrapbooking after my divorce to help me work through those issues,” she says. Much like her life, she got rid of all her old albums and started fresh. She says by scrapbooking, instead of just putting pictures in an album, you get a more personalized book.

Dena Broderick started scrapbooking after a trip to France in 2001. Broderick, Kansas alumna and consultant for Creative Memories scrapbooking sales company, wanted a different way to display her photos than just in albums. She wanted to tell the story of her trip. Broderick is an engineer and she says she wasn’t sure if she had a creative enough mindset to actually put together a decent looking page. But two pages into it she “was hooked.”

In 2002, Broderick became a Creative Memories consultant. The mission of the company is based upon getting stories and preserving memories in scrapbooks, Broderick says. The main reason to put events down on paper is so that one day you or other family members can look back and actually know what was taking place in each photograph. “No matter what you think, you will forget. You’ll forget people’s names or the little details that made the event special for you,” she says.

Scrapbooking can also produce books that someone will cherish forever. Broderick says when her friend’s parents passed away, her friend made a scrapbook of them, thereby preserving their memories and the special times she had with them forever. As a consultant, Broderick says she has also helped husbands and boyfriends make books or small projects for wives and girlfriends.

The scissors and glue of it

To get started scrapbooking, you’ll need a few basic materials. Brittani Boyd, LeMars, Iowa, senior, says that in addition to your photos, all you need is basic craft stuff like paper, scissors, glue and stickers. Boyd has been scrapbooking since high school. She shops at Hobby Lobby or Michaels Arts & Crafts store, where they sell all of these supplies.

Aunya Brown, Hutchinson junior, says it is important to have some sort of idea what you want the page or book to look like before you start. If you have an idea for a theme or layout based on your pictures then you can find paper and adornments to match, she says. Many stores also sell pre-made kits. “These are kind of like dummy kits for scrapbooking. They have matching paper and embellishments, and some tell you how to put them all together,” Brown says.

Is it for you?

When asked if this was a hobby anyone could have, all four women agreed that it was. Brown is a chemistry major and didn’t think she was creative at all, but she attended a class at a store in Hutchinson and has been scrapbooking ever since. She was amazed by all of the different layouts, themes and directions a page could take, and with the added bonus of kits, the creativeness is right in front of you.

Haake says Close to My Heart sells packaged papers that are for different levels of scrapbookers. The Level One packages have preprinted pages with spaces for the photos already positioned on the page. A more experienced scrapbooker could buy a higher-level paper pack and play around with the design a bit more, she says. Haake also notes that with so many different kinds of products out there you just have to find some paper and embellishments that go with your pictures and put it all together. She says it is definitely easy for everyone.

This does not seem to be a man’s pastime, though. Broderick says there are male consultants, but she hasn’t ever had a male customer who scrapbooked on a regular basis. Men will scrapbook gifts for people, but will not necessarily take it up as a hobby. “Many people see this as a girly, crafty thing. The men that I have seen do this are usually photographers, and they are more interested in the art aspect than the preserving or telling a story,” Broderick says.

So, if you are looking for a new hobby or just a different way to display all those wonderful pictures from your last vacation, peruse the scrapbook aisles in your local stores.

Check with your local store for classes or clubs to help you get started or to meet other scrapbookers. You can also go to Haake’s Web site at rebeccahaake.myctmh.com, or Broderick’s Web site at www.mycmsite.com/sites/dena.