Making Memories Last

Scrapbooking has recently witnessed a surge in popularity, as more people discover this simple, creative way to keep memories alive. The pastime involves putting memories on paper with pictures, stickers, and other accessories, then journaling about the occasion to capture the emotions of that moment.

Parents use scrapbooking activities as a great way to spend quality time with their children at home. Not only does it allow everyone to reminisce on happy, nostalgic times, but it serves as an outlet for one's creative inspiration.

Angie Randall, the editor in chief of Paperkuts, a magazine devoted solely to scrapbooking, visits The Early Show to show us how to get started.

For Randall, scrapbooking is not only about savoring life's big occasions, such as birthday parties or anniversaries, but about treasuring all the everyday, ordinary events as well.

Growing up, Randall always saved an assortment of memorabilia, such as pictures and souvenirs. It wasn't until she reached adulthood, however, that she discovered the joys of scrapbooking. She is now able to display these tokens from her past in very inventive presentations.

For Randall, the journaling aspect of scrapbooking is so important because as the years pass, people don't always remember everything. Expressing the feelings of that particular moment in words will help you remember for a lifetime.

To her, the everyday memories, like hanging out with the family on a Sunday, are a lot more special than some of the bigger events, which is why she prefers scrapbooking those types of days.

Angie has brought in a few of these, as examples of her own scrapbooking. She walks us through the simplicity of the designs and the ease –- and not to mention fun -- in putting everything together.

Scrapbooking is very special for her and her family. It creates together time and years from now they will be able to look back.

THE THREE MAIN STEPS TO SCRAPBOOKING:

• Getting the products: background card stock; photos; stickers, embellishments, etc; pen for journaling; scissors/paper trimmer. Even if you don't have a lot of embellishments, you can always make a page look nice if you have colored paper.
• Assembling the page
• Journaling and writing about the event

A FEW TIPS ABOUT SCRAPBOOKING:

• Kids ages three and older can scrapbook. The older they are, the more involved they seem to get in the projects. Scrapbooking is a very gender-neutral activity, both boys and girls can enjoy it, adding whatever colors and flares that pertain to one's preferences.
• The standard scrapbook page is 8 by 11-1/2 or 12 by 12.
• You need to use acid-free products to assure the pages will last forever.