Making Memories

As part of the "Hiving" trend that was born from 9/11, families are finding more and creative ways to connect with one another. Scrapbooking - the practice by which pictures are graphically teamed with their stories - has skyrocketed in popularity for two reasons: it offers a creative outlet, and it reinforces the bond between families.

Making Memories is putting an end to the phrase, "But I'm not creative!" With the aid of a few easy-to-find and inexpensive materials, self-prescribed unimaginative folks can start scrapbooking - with eye-pleasing results - to the awe of even themselves.

Scrapbooking's time-consuming reputation is ill-deserved. With the aid of some of the practices' newest material, family legacies can be created in mere minutes. By simply combining Making Memories' Perspectives pre-cut pages with a few photos and a metal embellishment or two, new scrapbookers can create layouts in a snap.

For the "yeah, right!" skeptics: Making Memories' metal Details genuinely facilitate simple, "glue-and-go" handmade gifts for any occasion. From wood boxes and picture frames, to clocks, home accessories and even technical gadgetry, Making Memories offers gift-givers an easy way to personalize any present.

Craft-born embellishments are penetrating an unexpected market: graphic design. While embellishments and their related techniques were originally designed to promote graphic design-inspired projects among the "creatively challenged," graphic designers are incorporating Making Memories' metal Details as accents on professional brochures and marketing materials.

Children suffering through trying preteen years have attested to the self-esteem value of their own scrapbooks. When peer pressure and hormones collide, teens will turn to the scrapbooks their mothers designed as a reminder that they are loved, appreciated and worthy.

Soon-to-be stepmothers have been known to create special "Getting to Know You" scrapbooks solely for the purpose of easing introductions to their future stepchildren. The gesture proves helpful in learning more about their future family, while also opening the door for a caring relationship.

After listing family and pets, the most-often named object people will grab during a fire are cherished family photos. More and more, however, casual photographers are learning the risks of exposing pictures to the elements. Scrapbooking, while naturally being a commemorative tool, also employs acid-free and archive-safe materials, thus helping preserve a photograph's original integrity for generations.

Genealogy has given birth to a trend - one that does more than capture a family's history and elevates is meaning as a legacy. Scrapbooking is the means through which family photos are paired with descriptive journal entries that describes the subject's history and the role they played in forming future generations.

When asked, many women cannot list their "hobby" because their time has been spent raising children, caring for family members, and working. Scrapbooking is an easy-to-start hobby that allows women to still fulfill their desire to care for and memorialize their families' achievements.