Scrapbooking supplies are everywhere, cutting and pasting themselves into the aisles of large retail chains.
Once a small-business niche, scrapbooking has exploded into Meijer, Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts and dollar stores. There are workshops, scrapbooking weekends at bed-and-breakfasts, and some people are paid to make scrapbooks by the page.
"Since 9/11, people are just really concerned about preserving their past and their memories," said Pamela Johnson, owner of Pages in Time, 6323 W. Saginaw Highway, suite C, in Lansing.
Growth in the scrapbooking industry has more than doubled since 2001, said Jill Rinner, owner of Our Favorite Things, 1715 W. Grand River Ave. in Okemos. She also said she's seeing more college students and men in her store.
"We know when all of the (school) projects are due because you see guys in the store," said Rinner. "(Men) come in with this kind of lost look on their face."
While most of her customers are women between the ages of 30 and 50, Johnson said students make up 20 percent of the clientele in her store.
Some classes at area high schools and MSU require students to create portfolios and scrapbooks so they can showcase their work. Rinner said she taught an MSU class how to make fashion portfolios. Education students make scrapbooks to take to job interviews, Johnson said.
"I was thinking about having my students do a scrapbook and go through each of the subjects we've covered," said Suzanne Rojas, a Lansing resident and high school teacher, who was working on her scrapbook at Pages in Time on Friday night.
Lansing-area stores offer stickers, paper and scrapbooks with the MSU logo, an attempt to cater to the many students who are memorializing their college years.
As historian for the Tower Guard, an MSU honor society that helps visually impaired students, Spanish sophomore Kristin Guina is working on the group's yearly scrapbook.
Education senior Beth Provost made a scrapbook for a sorority sister last year.
"She really, really liked it," Provost said. "It's a fun and creative way to show your memories through pictures, and if you save brochures and other things, you can put them all together."
Kim Browning, a Grand Ledge resident, said scrapbooking is very time consuming, but the benefits are worth the cost.
"My 4-year-old daughter will say, 'Mommy, let me see what you did last night,'" Browning said. "She loves looking at it. I love it so much I'll probably continue to do it.
"(The scrapbook) is a wonderful keepsake that you have forever."
Scrapbooking will probably last beyond any other craft trend, Rinner said.
"The cycle of any craft trend is about 10 years, and you saw that with macramé in the '70s, cross stitching was huge in the '80s and in the '90s there were a lot of people doing rubber stamping," Rinner said.
"I don't think scrapbooking has even reached its peak."
