The Whole Scrapbooking Picture

As owner of a small retail scrapbook supply shop in Israel, I was sitting with my husband this evening and discussing my vision for where I want to go with the business.  What are my goals?  I could answer that question, but that would be another blog entirely.  What came up in the discussion is what scrapbooking has evolved into in the States.  It’s really quite mind-boggling.

I’m not sure how many people know this, but Cheryl Lightle, founder of Creative Memories basically “invented” scrapbooking in the photo-safe sense of the word.  She discovered the importance of preserving personal histories and memories and passing them down to future generations and basically cashed in on that (if I may be so crude with my terminology).

What’s incredible is that a mere 20 years later, the industry has grown so huge — forget about the literally billions of dollars which are spent on this hobby by consumers per year – that it has branched out in ways I’ll bet even Cheryl never envisioned (and that’s saying a LOT since she was/is such a visionary). 

For instance, scrapbooking is more than just retailing supplies, manufacturing supplies and distributing supplies wholesale.  It’s about crop sessions and workshops and conventions/conferences.  Did you know that on any given weekend, there is a scrapbook retreat happening SOMEWHERE in America?  That’s quite incredible.  It means that if someone wanted to, they could spend every weekend away scrapbooking with “the pros.”  Pretty cool way to spend a year.  Creating Keepsakes alone hosts/plans 17 retreats throughout the year… each in a different city, of course.

Jeanette Herdman hosts a television program dedicated only to scrapbooking.  Okay, now let’s just step back and think about this for a moment… a television program which focusses solely on anything having to do with scrapbooking.  The end result of such an awesome idea… it’s Julia Childs goes Oprah on Good Morning America with everything scrapbooking.  (I love it!) And the show brings in thousands of viewers!

Here’s another one that’ll keep you tingling for a while – a scrapbook Bed & Breakfast in West Virginia.  Get Crafty Studios opened its doors to all female scrapbookers for just $199/weekend.  A scrapbookers haven where you can even get a massage for any $30 in between page layouts with all meals, snacks and accomodations included.  You do nothing but scrap and scrap and then scrap some more.  They even provide enormous amounts of tools to use for FREE and many supplies for purchase.

Hobby magazines for the sole purpose of inspiring and teaching scrappers everywhere a thing or two about the hobby have circulations in the 10’s of thousands, if not millions.

My list goes on and on.  Scrapbooking is not a simple hobby that your grandma does with her friends on Sundays after Church.  This hobby covers ALL ages folks – from 3 years old (as long as they can hold a scissors and cut – and my 3 year old does both… cuts with scissors and makes her own scrapbook) through to the 100 year old.

It’s become a hobby with 6 degrees of separation.  I heard somewhere (forgot where) that everyone either knows someone, is related to someone or is someone who scrapbooks.  If you’re not a scrapper and you’re reading this, I’ll bet you know or are related to someone who does.

Here’s one last thought on the subject… I read in Forbes magazine about a year ago that scrapbooking is the 3rd largest grossing hobby in the world.  I’d like to know what the first two are.

Happy Scrappin’!