ReligionLink

Scrapbooking – creating albums and memory books with family pictures and decorative papers – is one of the hottest hobbies around. According to the Hobby Industry Association, scrapbooking is a $1 billion-a-year industry, a figure that has quadrupled in five years. The hobby has also quietly and steadily grown into an informal outlet for the sharing of religious faith and fellowship.

Although there have always been scrapbooks, some in the industry trace the hobby’s current format – bright papers, decorative corner mounts, punches and coordinating accessories – to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), whose faith instructs members to keep personal journals and to preserve family history for coming generations. Many of the major scrapbooking companies, stores and magazines were founded by Mormon women and are based in Utah.

As its popularity has grown, scrapbooking has been adopted by members of other faith groups and is sometimes referred to as “faithbooking” – the chronicling of “the fingerprints of God” in people’s lives through photographs and Scripture. There are now scrapbooking circles and clubs for Jews, Catholics, Mormons and other Christians all over the country. Many use pages and albums to commemorate religious holidays, such as Easter and Passover, and life-cycle events, such as first communions and bar and bat mitzvahs. In some places, members of different religions work side by side in scrapbooking classes and clubs. In response, many scrapbooking companies are producing religion-specific products, such as background papers, titles, cutouts and punches with religious imagery and themes.

How do scrapbookers in your area express their religious beliefs through their hobby? How do they use scrapbooking to communicate their religious beliefs to their children? And to members of other faiths? At scrapbooking parties and stores, do they talk and work with members of other faiths?

Why it matters

Scrapbooking is one of many ways that religious faith is expressed outside the walls of organized religion, in neighborhoods and communities where people of different faiths sit elbow to elbow.

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National sources

• Lisa Bearnson is founding editor of Creating Keepsakes, the largest scrapbooking magazine, based in Bluffdale, Utah. A member of the LDS church, she says Mormons are encouraged to keep scrapbooks and journals to document family history and religious milestones. She has demonstrated scrapbooking on Focus on the Family television and is the author of The Joy of Scrapbooking (Leisure Arts). Contact her through Bremer Public Relations, 801-364-2030; ask for Chantelle.

• Marielen Christensen owns Keeping Memories Alive, a scrapbooking store in Spanish Fork, Utah. She is often credited with sparking the current form of the scrapbooking craze through preservation work she did for her LDS ward, or congregation, in 1976. Contact 801-798-3494.

• Sandra Joseph is the national director of Memories Expo and Memories Communities, a national association for scrapbookers. She is an evangelical Christian and frequently speaks to groups about scrapbooking as a spiritual journey. Contact 724-827-8549, treasures@pghfamily.net.

• Marni Kaner is a scrapbooker in Dallas, Texas, and an organizer of a Jewish scrapbooking circle. Her group brings together women from different branches of Judaism and includes a Christian or two. She says preserving memories of the Jewish activities in her family’s life, such as holiday observances and life-cycle milestones, is a way to safeguard Jewish culture in the face of assimilation. She has also worked to inform a number of scrapbooking companies about the need and demand for Jewish scrapbooking products. Contact mkaner@gbronline.com.

• Dr. Laura Vance is an associate professor of sociology at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Ga. She is familiar with the widespread use of scrapbooking among Latter-day Saint women and can place the hobby within the context of the faith’s attention to genealogy and journal-keeping. Contact 229-931-2314, llv@canes.gsw.edu.

• Dr. Brent Plate is an assistant professor of religion and visual arts at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He says scrapbooking is a natural outlet for religious expression because both are communal activities that commemorate rituals and involve the idea of passing on values and memories to subsequent generations. Contact 817-257-6444, b.plate@tcu.edu.

• Don Meyer, director of consumer and public relations for the Hobby Industry Association, says that scrapbooking is the third-most-popular crafting activity in the United States and that it is continuing to grow. Contact 201-794-1133, dmeyer@hobby.org.

Background

• The Hobby Industry Association estimates that 13 million Americans participate in scrapbooking. HIA statistics show that 20 percent of all crafters engage in scrapbooking.

• Read a Charlotte World story about the popularity of scrapbooking among Christians.

• Read a July 18, 2000, CNN article about scrapbooking.

• Smile New Orleans maintains a list of scrapbooking shows and events in the United States throughout 2003.

• Accu Cut maintains a message board for Jewish scrapbookers.

• Read an undated article from The Raleigh World about Christian scrapbooking.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Bonnie Lucas is the co-owner of Absolutely Everything, a rubber-stamp and scrapbooking store in Georgetown, Mass. She and many of her customers create scrapbook pages around baptisms, communions and other religious rites. Contact 978-352-7570, bonnie@absolutelyeverything.com.

• Susan Wentzell is co-owner of New England Scrapbook Co. in Canton, Conn., and can discuss scrapbooking’s popularity and how it can be used as an expression of faith. Contact 860-693-9197, info@newenglandscrapbook.com.

IN THE EAST• Rhonda Hack is a Creative Memories consultant who runs a scrapbooking business from her home in Rockland County, N.Y. She can discuss faithbooking and Jewish scrapbooking. She says that the nature of scrapbooking is spiritual and that the kind of scrapbooking that will last is that which documents not only what people do, but what they believe. She recently organized a scrapbooking event through her synagogue. Contact 845-369-3243, RJHMemoryshop@aol.com.

• Lori Ducharme is the east regional director for Creative Memories scrapbooking and can discuss the hobby’s popularity and use as a form of religious expression. Contact 419- 683-4764, chicklet8747@yahoo.com.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Meg Moody is the webmaster for georgiascrapper.com in Marietta, Ga. She can discuss how scrapbooking can be used to express one’s faith. Journalists may post queries on her message board with her permission. Contact webmaster@georgiascrapper.com.

• Naomi R. Shed of Acworth, Ga., is the author of Pictures with a Purpose, a self-published book that describes faithbooking. Contact 888-925-5691, naomi@walkingwithwisdom.com. She also has a web site.

• St. Paul United Methodist Church in Largo, Fla., has a scrapbooking ministry. Contact 727-584-8165.

• Amy Lowe lives in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and is a designer for Scraps Ahoy, an online scrapbooking store based in Winter Park, Fla. She routinely incorporates her Christian faith, including Bible verses and Christian music lyrics, into her scrapbooking. She founded and moderates a site for Christian scrapbookers on Yahoo.com. Contact 843-671-6862, amynva126@aol.com.

• Faithbased Pages is based in Huntsville, Ala., and specializes in providing products for Christian scrapbooking. Contact info@faithbasedpages.com.

IN THE SOUTH

• Westport Road Church of Christ in Louisville, Ky., has a women’s scrapbooking circle. Contact 502- 893-0342.

• Smile New Orleans is a web site with Louisiana scrapbooking store and consultant listings.

• Peggy Wenger is a Creative Memories consultant who lives in Indian Hills, Ark., and incorporates her Christian faith into scrapbooking. Contact 501-835-9658, wengfam@juno.com.

• Melanie Lawler organizes a monthly scrapbook fellowship for women at First Baptist Church in Lexington, Tenn. She says women from several churches attend and have formed friendships and that “once or twice revival has almost broken out.” Contact 731-968-3685, fbcmelanie@charter.net.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Marci Whitford is the Midwest director of Memories Expo and Memories Community, an association for scrapbookers. She oversees scrapbooking events in South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota from her home office in Pekin, Ill. She expresses her own faith in her scrapbooks and says it is an important way to share her values with her children. Contact 309-347-5860, ccmt4@grics.net.

• The Rev. Christopher R. Smith of University Baptist Church in East Lansing, Mich., has given a sermon on journaling and scrapbooking as a spiritual discipline. Contact Dr. Smith at 517-351-4144, revdrcrs@aol.com.

• Denise Patch is a scrapbooker and former scrapbooking consultant in Indianapolis, Ind., who can discuss how the hobby can be an expression of religious faith. Contact 317-882-8264, ddpatch@worldnet.att.net.

• Carol Hughes is webmaster of Midwest Scrappin’ Babes, a site for 225 scrapbookers in the Kansas-Missouri area, and organizer of a group of more than 60 scrapbookers who meet monthly at the Daybreak Community Church in Shawnee, Kan. She expresses her faith through scrapbooking and says the hobby can be a tool for evangelizing. Contact 913-721-2526, joecarolhughes@earthlink.net.

• Chris Hill is a Mormon and an independent scrapbooking consultant in Ankeny, Iowa, who can discuss the hobby’s general popularity and its link to LDS culture. Contact 515-965-1363, CTMHprints@aol.com.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Jennifer Cassius is a scrapbooker who lives in Plano, Texas, who can discuss how scrapbooking helps her preserve and pass on her Jewish heritage. Contact cassiusfamily@cs.com.

• Lisa Vinson organizes a monthly scrapbooking session at Scottsdale Christian Church in Scottsdale, Ariz. She says that people routinely chronicle religious events and holidays in their scrapbooks and that scrapbooking can be a way to introduce people to the church. Contact 480-221-8377, lisa@scottsdalecc.com.

• Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church in Anthem, Ariz., has a monthly scrapbooking club for women. Contact Margaret Dixon, 623-742-7329.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST• Leigh Anne Wilkes is a Creative Memories consultant in Portland, Ore., who can discuss the popularity of faithbooking, which she has incorporated into her family albums. Contact 503-645-8796, leighannew31@attbi.com.

• Michaela and Brad Roekle are born-again Christians and owners of EverythingScrapbooks.com in Southern California. Contact michaela@everythingscrapbooks.com.

• Jennifer Ogren is the owner of Memory Muse, a scrapbook paper company in Portland, Ore. She says she has seen an increase in demand for religiously themed papers, especially Judaic papers. Contact 503-287-7952, jennifer@memorymuse.com.

• Mindy Hamlin is a consultant for Creative Memories in Seattle, Wash. She says she is seeing more religious groups and people express their faith through scrapbooking. She can provide a list of Seattle-area scrapbookers who have commemorated their faith through their hobby. Contact 206-275-0764, cropnqueen@yahoo.com. She will be available only by email March 24-April 7.