YOUR LIFE ON PAPER
A journey behind the passion, creation, provisions and memories of scrapbooking

Story by Brindi Bays

Yellow paper. Sunshine and mustard. Banana and sunflower.

There are more than eight shades of this primary color. Some are covered with writing, while others use different designs to catch the eye. Stacked shelves hold rows of every color imaginable spanning four 18-feet aisles. And this is just background.

There are plain or themed pages. Sheets ranging in a variety of sizes: 12-by-12, 8 ½-by-11, 4-by-7.

One sheet is trimmed in a pattern of Christmas lights. Another has an arrangement of small martini glasses. Another displays the outline of a basketball court and another the outline of a black and white grand piano.

On another sheet, “September” is scrawled across the bottom of a brown background with hints of greens and yellows.

A woman in a burnt orange peacoat picks up two sheets of the September background.

“I’m making a book for my boyfriend,” she smiles. “His birthday is in September.”

She moves down the aisle, selecting more backgrounds, including a white piece with the word LOVE scripted in a Mistral font down the side.

Two aisles over, another woman pulls a few pictures from her purse, holding them up to a row of embellishments. Laying a background on the shelf, she places the pictures around the page. Next, she selects some brads and a beach-themed embellishment.

“I have to make sure it looks right,” she says, after realizing someone was watching.

A few minutes of moving the items around, and Genevieve Medvetz is satisfied with her layout and heads to the checkout counter.

The damage: $47.21.

And this will only create five pages.

“A few more paychecks, and I’ll be back,” she jokes as she heads to the parking lot.

Scrapbooking is passionate and very expensive. It is not a hobby that can be rushed. Instead, it takes an impressive extent of patience. However, the trend is flourishing across campuses. For beginners and professionals, scrapbooking can seem overwhelming. However, Michael’s craft stores offer guidelines and advice to help any scrapbooker.

More than just creativity

“I started scrapbooking when my neighbor did,” says Medvetz, a junior psychology major at Kent State. “Her mom told her to make a scrapbook of her life to display at her high school graduation. I thought, ‘I want my life laid out like that, too.’”

Medvetz’s reasoning is similar to other scrapbookers.

Ashley Williams, also a junior psychology major at Kent State University, started scrapping to preserve her life in order to share it with others.

She explains that she became interested in scrapbooking when she had an internship in Chicago.

“My best friend and I had to spend our summers apart,” says Williams flipping through her album. “We decided to create a scrapbook so we could show each other our summer experiences.”

She stops on a page with a black and red grid. Big white pop-up letters spell out the word Chicago. She says this is one of her favorite pages and runs her fingers across the photos of the city lights during Christmas time.

“When I began, I scrapped all the time. But this year I’ve been so busy and stressed, I haven’t been able to create a single page.”

Scrapping: more than a hobby

Hobbies are a big stress relief, says Sheethal Reddy, assistant clinic director at Kent State’s Psychological Clinic. College is stressful and students develop hobbies as a way of finding a balance.

“Scrapbooking is healthy,” Reddy says. “Like other hobbies, it allows for students to make time for the things they enjoy and have the talent for.”

Not every major, or career, is able to meet a person’s needs, Reddy says. Hobbies are like an escape.

“It’s something different,” Williams explains. “My field doesn’t give me much room to be creative. It’s pretty much by the book. I feel relieved when I meet with family and friends and see our pages, punch-outs, pictures and embellishments scattered across the floor.”

A learning process

Michael’s craft store offers an assortment of scrapbooking classes. These classes are available to all customers and are there to influence and support people who enjoy the hobby and help them with their designs, says Joanne Otterbacher, operation specialist at the store’s Mansfield location.

The class levels range from beginner to intermediate and include theme nights such as Christmas, springtime, vacation or birthdays, picture cropping and bottle cap art, Otterbacher says. The classes can cost from $5 to $30. Some classes allow participants to use the store’s equipment and others include a supply fee.

“No one is required to take a class,” Otterbacher says. “It depends on how you learn.”

Some people are hands-on, she explains. Others like to watch scrapbooking programs on HGTV. Some prefer to learn by picking up a book and reading about design.

“We have publications out the ears if that’s what you like,” Otterbacher says. “But whatever it is, we’ll work to help get you successful in your project.”

When diving into the craft of scrapping, Otterbacher says it all depends on the individual person and his or her comfort zone.

Books were a major resource for Medvetz when she began her new hobby. It was easier to get ideas from their examples than to create her own, she says.

 “I would love to take a scrapbooking class to learn how to create my own and not be so dependent on the books,” Medvetz says. “Sometimes I feel like I’m not doing it right.”

If people are interested in hands-on learning, they can sign up for classes at the store. However, if reading about it is more comfortable, books such as The Me Book by Erin Trimble and Shelley O’Hara, The Amazing Page and Quick and Easy Scrapbook Pages by the editors of Memory Makers are available.

Michael’s also offers “Digital Scrapbook,” which helps the customers lay out their pages and place their pictures on the computer, Otterbacher says.

 “It takes you step by step through Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0. It allows scrappers to create more pages in a less amount of time.”

No one person can create a page in a few minutes every single time, Otterbacher says.  Even professional scrappers lay out their pages all over the floor for hours before finally sticking with their design. Guidebooks and digital layouts are popular among the teachers and professionals in the field of scrapbooks.

Beginners need to know that using an idea from someone else’s page, along with going to the nearest craft store and asking for help, is encouraged.

“If you need help, come to the store and find somebody,” she says. “I gave a customer painting lessons in the aisle once.”

Creativity isn’t cheap

Pictures are dear to the memory, Otterbacher says. To preserve them, there are a few basic supplies you must have before designing a page.

First, customers need their photos. These are the base of the page, she says. Second, select the right album. The 12-by-12 album with page protectors is the most popular, but other styles include post-hinge, strap-hinge and the classic three-ringed binder.

 “It’s really your own preference,” she says. “I prefer the three-ringed because I don’t scrap in chronological order. With a binder I can just open it and slide my page where I want it, but with a hinge you have to take the whole book apart.”

Album prices can range from $20 to $80. Some can cost a customer up to $300.

 “The most important thing to remember is acid-free ... for everything,” she explains. “Acids will deteriorate your pictures.”

To prevent this, Otterbacher suggests going all the way with acid-free page protectors, glue and tape.

 “If you’re going to put a lot of time into this hobby, you might as well do it correctly.”

She also advises her customers to purchase a nice 12-by-12 paper cutter, explaining that “anything smaller is ridiculous.”

 “We offer our customers scrapbooking kits, which includes the background, embellishments and some quotes,” she says. “All they have to do is mount the photos and do some of their own journaling.”

When asked, Medvetz says the most important supplies she needs when designing are her pictures.

 “I first bought an album, but had no idea what to put in it,” she says. “I went home and spent the next week going through all of my pictures.”

Another way of finding the supplies you need is by taking your pictures with you when you shop at places like Michael’s, Medvetz says. She associated her backgrounds with her topics by holding up her pictures to the pages.

 “It’s how I decide what works and what doesn’t,” Medvetz says. “I’m not the type that can picture something. I need to see it.”

Included on the must-have list: a couple of good scrapbooking guidebooks.

 “Customers don’t have to do it verbatim,” she explains. “The books are not there to tell you it has to be like this. You are not locked into it. Scrappers need to think outside of the box.”

The college budget

Scrapbooking, along with all of the needed supplies, can put a dent in one’s bank account. However, smart designers should stay within their budgets. Some supplies people should splurge on, and others can be scrimped on, Otterbacher says.

Paint and colors are supplies that do not require a splurge. Yet, there are three basic things to get the credit card out for: the scrapbook album, the paper cutter (most range from $20 to $40) and the storage system.

 “These are the things that will last you forever, but you should always get the best you can afford.”

Medvetz’s advice when it comes to the price of her new hobby: save up first.

 “It’s very expensive. I like to go to craft stores and look for sales. The backgrounds are always on sale, which makes me buy even more,” she says and laughs.

Williams agrees, but in the end, the albums are something scrappers will have forever and that makes it worth it.

 “Scrapping can be expensive for college students. I suggest looking for coupons,” she says.

But she says there are ways to make the college budget work.

 “Meet with other scrappers and share supplies and ideas,” she says. “I meet with my family, and we share our materials.”

She says scrapping with others also helps generate ideas. Instead of purchasing guidebooks, take a look at other’s albums, visit Web sites and attend free classes.

Medvetz also suggests scrapbooking with a friend.

 “If I’m looking for a few pop-up letters, and my friend has it, we share,” she says. “It’s smarter than going out and buying a whole pack for myself that I don’t know if I’ll ever use again.”

There’s a story here

Scrapbooking is a hard hobby to dive head first into, Williams says. Supplies are not cheap for beginners. Williams explains how it can be frustrating trying to create a page without any embellishments or a sensible design.

 “My very first page is horrible,” she says, flipping to the pink and purple design.

The word “freshmen” is scribbled across the middle, flanked by two pictures of friends. “Kent State” in blue and gold appears odd against the feminine background.

 “It’s a really random and not very creative page,” she says, “but I love it because it displays two of my favorite pictures.”

She continues to skim through her album and stops.

“I remember when those were really popular,” she says laughing, pointing to a picture of her and her friend wearing huge belts.

She rolls her eyes as if to say, ‘What were we thinking,’ and hands the page to her friend, ready to tell the story behind it.

When it comes down to it, after all the money and time is spent, that — one story, one moment, one day captured — is why so many scrap.