GILROY
– When Morgan Hill resident P.J. Rundle’s husband joined an
Impala car club, she started a scrapbook project to help him keep
fresh the events and good memories he had with his group of
buddies.
GILROY – When Morgan Hill resident P.J. Rundle’s husband joined an Impala car club, she started a scrapbook project to help him keep fresh the events and good memories he had with his group of buddies.
But Rundle’s wasn’t your ordinary scrapbook of photos and newspaper clippings haphazardly pasted on paper that will yellow in coming years. Hers was a beautifully crafted scrapbook designed to look exciting and unique and last for decades on acid-free paper.
Having so much fun putting that first scrapbook together, Rundle found herself hooked on the hobby. Scrapbooking is now a trend, that in the last two years, has boomed throughout the nation, she said.
“It’s absolutely exploded in the last few years,” Rundle said. “I watch every day on the DIY (Do It Yourself) channel on Direct TV, a show on scrapbooking.”
So extensive is the hobby that there are expositions around the country, scrapbook speciality shops and even cruise packages devoted to scrapbooking.
Rundle created a scrapbook on the 9-11 tragedy of last year, basing it on photos she took of the burning Pentagon building when she was in Washington, D.C., at the time.
“Now I’m working on a heritage album doing our family history,” she said. She described how she’s putting old photographs and journal entries and family events into her latest scrapbook.
“I’m going back as far as I can in our history,” she said. “It’s something I want to leave for the kids.”
Wal-Mart, and San Jose shops such as Scrapbook Paradise and Scrap-a-Rama sell materials needed for hobbyist to create their scrapbooks. Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts in Morgan Hill and Got Memories on First Street in Gilroy sell some scrapmaking supplies and Beverly’s Fabrics in downtown Gilroy has found it is such a big business it has a large aisle devoted to scrapbook-making merchandise. Its selection has grown immensely in the last two years as the hobby grew more popular, said Beverly’s Manager Tara Guerrero.
Starting in December, the store plans to hold weekly “cropping” meetings where scrapbook enthusiasts can get together and share ideas. The store plans to also give a 25 percent discount on scrapbook material to those attending these free meetings, Guerrero said.
People create scrapbooks on a variety of themes, she said. For example, many of Beverly’s customers make scrapbooks an “annual” of their family’s life, placing photos and other souvenirs of events to remember their family’s year.
Other themes include birthday parties, vacations, pregnancies, pets – you name it, someone certainly has a scrapbook dedicated to that topic, she said. And depending on how elaborate they want it, they can spend from $10 to $1,000 on their scrapbook.
One of her customers is working on a scrapbook for her daughter’s wedding that, when it is finished, will probably cost about $1,000. And the Gilroy High School senior class is working on a scrapbook to commemorate their last year in high school.
Guerrero lives on Summit Road on Mt. Madonna and took pictures of the Croy Canyon fire this summer. She put together a scrapbook of the fire and the emergency crews and gave it as a thank-you present to the local volunteer fire department.
Stores such as Beverly’s provide a large selection of materials to choose from to build a unique and long-lasting scrapbook. Stickers are available on any image imaginable from dinosaurs to flowers to angels.
Specially printed papers to place scrapbook mementoes on also are available. They range in themes such as soccer balls to lady bugs.
Scissors are available that cut paper and photographs into unique designs.
Specialized acid-free “Zig pens” – used for scrapbook journal writing – are available in a cornucopia of colors including chocolate, baby pink and plum mist. Stamps allow hobbyist to create inked designs or emboss paper in their scrapbooks. And hole punches also have themes such as whales and carpenter tools.
The growing popularity of scrapbooks seems like the Beanie Baby crazy that swept the country a few years ago, but Guerrero said scrapbooks are different.
“This is something that’s not going to go away,” she said. “It’s getting bigger and bigger.”
The hobby also is one a family can enjoy together, Guerrero said.
Her son, Austin Guerrero, an 8-year-old St. Mary School student, loves spending time putting his scrapbook together with mom’s help. He’s working on a scrapbook called “All About Me” which focuses on his life and school work.
“I like everything about it,” he said. “And I like helping my mom with hers.”
His mom is working on a scrapbook on the family’s Hawaiian vacation. He enjoys pasting and putting sticker on the pages and cutting photographs with the scissors.
“Long things that won’t fit on mine, I cut the rest of it off,” he said.
Rundle agrees that scrapbooking is fun for the entire family. She said she enjoys seeing her grandkids having fun putting their scrapbooks together instead of letting their minds go mushy watching television.
“When my grandkids come over, I get all the (scrapbook) stuff out,” she said. “They just sit forever. It’s fun to see how creative they get.”
