Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a great way to have fun while preserving family memories. One in three households have someone pursuing this popular hobby.

The joy of scrapbooking
by Lisa Bearnson.
Little Rock, AR : Leisure Arts, Inc., 2008.
"Creating Keepsakes scrapbook magazine"--T.p. verso.
     
Death swatch : a scrapbooking mystery
Laura Childs.
New York : Berkley Prime Crime, 2008.
"Amid Zydeco rhythms and popping champagne corks, bead-draped revelers are moving into the streets, and Jekyl Hardy is playing host to a party in his elegant French Quarter apartment. On a wild night like this, anything can happen. The guests - including scrapbook-store owner Carmela Bertrand - never imagine it will be murder. But as the evening progresses, Jekyl's neighbor, float designer Archie Baudier, is found on the balcony choked to death with a barbed wire garrote." "The only things wilder than the crime are the far-flung theories about who did it - from a ritualistic slaying to a mob hit to the outlandish work of a rival Mardi Gras float builder. Handsome detective Edgar Babcock isn't buying any of it. Neither is Carmela, and the odd clues are bringing out the sleuth in her: gold paint on the victim's shoes, a strange coin found next to his body, his ransacked apartment, and the peculiar fact that no one at the party really knew him. Only one thing is clear: Whoever killed Archie is following Carmela - straight into the chaos of Mardi Gras."--BOOK JACKET.
     
The scrapbook in American life
edited by Susan Tucker, Katherine Ott, and Patricia P. Buckler.
Philadelphia, PA : Temple University Press, 2006.
"Keeping a scrapbook" is a long-standing American tradition. In this fascinating work--the first book about the history and practice of scrapbooking--14 contributors offer the first serious, sustained examination and analysis of scrapbooks. "Delightful."--"Publishers Weekly." 65 b/w illustrations.
     

Today's 'scrapbookers' or 'scrappers' do more than date family photos and paste them haphazardly in albums. Time is spent gathering the stories about the people, places, and events in the photos. Telling these stories, or journaling, is as important as organizing the photographs.

Advances in photographic preservation, the number of discount and craft supply stories stocking scrapbooking materials, and classes for new scrapbookers make this hobby is an easy one to start. Scrapbookers get together at events called 'crops' to exchange ideas.

Digital scrapbooking

Computers, scanners, & digital cameras let scrapbookers supplement traditional techniques.

(P. Jones, avid scrapbooker, talks about digital scrapbooking)

To get started:

  • Explore materials and tutorials
  • Organize your photos--select the best ones to use
  • Choose an album--consider size, binding, and safety
  • Gather tools--scissors, acid free markers
  • Add stickers and other embellishments
  • Add journaling--include'who/when/what/why'
  • Select a layout--look at what other scrapbookers use
  • Begin scrapping

Every scrapbook is different. Each scrapbooker learns from the works of others, yet develops their own distinctive style of capturing and displaying cherished memories.

Article by: St. Louis Public Library staff.