Designing memories
Lindsey Davis said she once asked a husband why he did not say a single word about his wife’s $300 bill at the scrapbook counter where she worked.
“He said, ‘Because my time is next. If I stayed completely silent through the scrapbook store and didn’t make a comment about her purchase, then she had to shut up for 30 minutes in the Harley Davidson store.’ And I rolled. I was like, ‘OK, I understand,”‘ said Davis, a senior in interior design who works for the scrapbooking store Memories in Logan.
Scrapbooking, traditionally viewed as a woman’s hobby, is often seen by nonscrapbookers as an expensive and sometimes obsessive habit. Some women throughout the valley even organize scrapbooking nights where friends get together to swap ideas, munch on treats, and, of course, spend time making pages. Often, this activity lasts well into the early morning hours.
Buying scrapbook supplies can be expensive, and Davis said she admits to spending her fair share. Her supplies have been so well stocked throughout the years, however, that sometimes she already has what she needs to create a page.
But Davis said scrapbooking isn’t just about spending $300 at the scrapbook counter. Instead, it’s about organizing memories in a creative and preserving way that allows the creator to show off his or her personality, she said.
She said she has completed more than 40 scrapbooks for herself and other people and is not only proud of her work, but loves doing it. Some guys, however, say they don’t understand what all the hype is about.
Brent Goodwine, a senior in professional and technical writing, said he thinks of scrapbookers as little suburban soccer moms who attend little scrapbooking clubs. With a mom and sister who both scrapbook, Goodwine said he is not stranger to the process.
“I think they’re all crazy,” he said.
Jonathan Case, a senior in history, said the only thing he enjoys about looking at scrapbooks is how “it makes the pictures look pretty.” Although his wife enjoys scrapbooking as a personal hobby, Case said he doesn’t think it’s a guy thing.
“I don’t see a guy picking paper,” he said. “I’ve gone with my wife, and I think it’s ridiculous. My wife is pretty distraught that Memories is going out of business. “
And Mo Haws, a senior in history, said that although he enjoys scanning family pictures and setting them to music to make movies, he does not consider his work scrapbooking.
“(Making movies) is kind of like an electronic scrapbooker, but I would never call myself a scrapbooker,” Haws said.
Davis said she is not surprised at the traditional gender division toward scrapbooking.
“It’s funny ’cause every once in awhile we have a guy come in that totally supports what his wife is doing, but I literally mean like only 10 percent of guys out there. “
Jay Bladen, a senior in family, consumer and human development, said he admits to scrapbooking once in his lifetime. An eighth grader at the time, Bladen said he created a total of three pages made up of pictures taken that summer.
“I have no idea, actually, why I did it,” he said. “I figured myself to be a pretty creative person, so I thought I’d give it a shot. “
Even though his mom and sisters enjoyed the hobby, Bladen said he didn’t see scrapbooking as something he wanted to devote his time to.
“I felt like it was destroying my manhood,” he said.
Now, Bladen said he keeps his memories in his head and puts any pictures he takes in a pile in a drawer.
Davis, a scrapbooker since 1997, said most of her guy friends think it’s funny how much money she spends on this hobby. They don’t make fun of her, however, once they see the end result, she said.
“When they find out how much money I get paid per page they shut up real fast because I make more than they did,” she said.
Depending on the customer, commercial or noncommercial, Davis said she can charge up to $50 per page and $400 per album. One of the most popular albums Davis said she makes in Utah is the wedding album. She said she once made three scrapbooks in two nights.
“I didn’t sleep,” Davis said.
To help guys ease the pain and better understand this hobby, Davis said guys should remember to look at the bigger picture.
“When guys come in with their wives or girlfriends, I jokingly say, ‘OK, you have to stand by the door,'” she said. “Because when they see how much everything is, they die. (Their wives or girlfriends) just spent like 30 bucks on paper and stickers.
“But they just don’t see the big picture. These are their memories that are getting preserved. In 25 years, their photos are going to be in a shoebox under the bed, where if it’s all scrapbooked, they’re going to look back and it’s something they can flip through, something they can keep, and it’s their memories. “
Besides being expensive, Davis said guys don’t seem to scrapbook because it is traditionally seen as a crafty, girly thing that asks for a lot of detail and time.
“Guys would have the creativity (to scrapbook) because I think there are lot of creative guys, but I don’t think they would have the patience,” Davis said.