Why did you start?

I had always just put my pictures in photo albums, and when I kind of got into it, I was already so far behind because I didn't really scrapbook. It's just so important to voice your thoughts and what was going on and everything. You know, beside the pictures. Making albums, it's all about preserving the legacies and the stories in your life.

Why are people drawn to making a scrapbook?

A lot of people are more sentimental now. There's one girl, one of my customers, a friend of hers has cancer, and so we both decided to help her finish some of her albums, because that's one thing that she can leave for her children that they can look at when they get older and remember the good times. They're going to be sad, but you want them to remember the good times.

Has the digital age changed scrapbooking?

A lot of my customers, they have the digital cameras. They're doing the digital thing, but actually, it's not affecting their scrapbooking. They're still wanting it scrapbooked. They're keeping the digital pictures on file, but they're being able to pull the best pictures out, rather than just snapping a picture. In photography classes, they tell you you can never snap too many, but in scrapbooking you want to kind of choose the best ones.

What do you suggest for a beginner?

I suggest to start simple. Get your pictures organized first. We have what we call little shortcuts. We have paper packs. We try to teach you to keep it simple. In fact, our Creative Memories motto is "simple pages, completed albums." Now, once you've been doing it for a certain period of time, if you want to get more and more fancy.and they're gorgeous! But it just depends on the time you have. The main thing is to get them in the photo- safe albums and to journal. You know, who's in that picture? The main thing is if you're just going to get them in an album, at least put down who they are and a date, because so many pictures are passed down from generation to generation that were in old albums where no one's name was on them.

What about supplies ?

The main thing is the photo-safe album, your (acid-free) adhesives, and your page protectors. To start out, those are the things you need.