Scrapbooking is a growing pastime

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Americans, of course, have been "cocooning," as trend forecasters put it, in recent years. They've spent big money on their homes and settled into their couches, where they felt safe.
But times change. Today they are "connecting." They are reaching out to relate to friends and family. And they are making scrapbooks.
Pam Danziger, a trend analyst and author of "Why People Buy What They Do," says it's an idea whose time has come. Retail sales of scrapbook supplies jumped 30 percent to $1.2 billion in 2002. Six years ago, the retail category didn't even exist.
Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, says the materialistic aspect of cocooning is history. What matters now is relationships. Scrapbooks are life affirming. "They connect your story, past, present and future," she says.
Craft stores are expanding their scrapbook areas. And Creative Memories, an international company that markets instructions and supplies for a party plan, features letters from enthusiasts on its Web site, creativememories.com. Women write of healing rifts, finding close friends and reconnecting lost relationships through scrapbooks.
Now where did you put those high school graduation photos?