A pair of scissors lies on the table. Brightly colored construction paper scraps adorn the floor. A box of markers and gel pens sits by the album, and dried glue peels off of busy hands.This picture may sound like a kindergarten classroom but little kids aren't the only ones who like getting their hands dirty. When it comes to designing scrapbooks, college students cut and paste like it's their job.
"I have always been crafty, and to me it is like a project or a craft," fourth-year College student Florence Childress said.
Second-year College student Joy Burka agreed.
"It is more of an art project and allows you to be creative," Burka said.
After a friend introduced her to the hobby in tenth grade, Burka said she began keeping a scrapbook of her own. Since she makes new pages whenever she gets a role of pictures developed, Burka said her albums are in sequential order. Childress also uses the chronological system.
"The scrapbooks are based on a certain period of time and follow my life," Childress said. "I work on them about every three months or whenever I get a break from school."
When she was younger, Childress said she noticed the scrapbooks her mother kept and said she was determined to make them herself.
"I loved looking through her scrapbooks, and I wanted to keep them so that people can see them when I am older," she said.
Childress made her first album in fifth grade, which is comprised of baby pictures and postcards. Her more recent ones, however, include postcards, pictures, airplane tickets, tickets and programs to plays, newspaper articles and travel brochures.
"The most important thing is the mementos you take with you from different places," she said.
Although keepsakes give a scrapbook its sentimental value, decorations can give an aesthetic touch.
"It basically starts with the scrapbook and the decorative paper, Michael's Store Manager Mike Maynard said. "And we sell anything from the albums to inserts and refills."
Featuring four aisles of scrap-booking materials, Michael's also offers starter kits and books that give instructions and page design ideas. Scrapbook details range from decorative papers with patterns such as snowflakes and flowers to thematic stickers and paper cutouts known as "die-cuts."
A glimpse down one aisle uncovers glitter, scissors, adhesive "glitz" and specially designed pens.
"A big thing now is to take a color picture, make a black and white copy and color it in," Michael's Events Coordinator Andi Pollard said.
While there is a host of crafts available for decoration, using acid-free materials is the most important aspect of a scrapbook, Pollard said.
"I would recommend that if you are serious about it and want your [album] to last, use the products specifically designed for scrap-booking," Pollard said, walking through the aisle with acid-free tape and glue.
Burka said she tries to use acid-free materials, fancy pens and decorative papers in designing her albums. In addition, she has fun with patterned scissors which have blades designed to cut ornate borders, she said. It seems like her trademark, however, is her patience for cutting out all of the letters for the titles of each page.
And despite all of the labor intensive hours spent in scrapbook construction, the job is never truly finished.
"They are always a work in progress," Burka said as she flipped through the pages of her University scrapbook from first year. "Like here is a blank page since I haven't figured out what to do with the pictures yet."
The pages of her University. album have titles such as "Getting Down" and "Apartment Search."
While a page in her first album displays a picture of 14-year-old Burka and her friends innocently sitting on a backyard trampoline, pages in her more recent book have titles such as "Super Sketch" and "Page of Shame."
"It is more entertaining to look at than a photo album," Burka said.
She occasionally looks through old albums to get ideas for new pages -- or simply to reminisce, Burka said.
"I feel nostalgic," Burka said while giggling. "It brings back memories. A lot of people in my older scrapbooks I don't see anymore."
Burka's said her favorite page is her HFStival spread.
"It was really the last time my high school friends and I were all together," she said.
The spread includes lots of candid photos of Burka and her friends on bright plaid paper and paper with pastel swirls.
One of Childress' favorite photos is of the sunrise from the balcony of Balz residence hall, she said.
"That was pretty powerful for me because that was the last day of my first year," Childress said. "I had to wake up before the sun got up to study for my exam."
Childress also has memorable photos such as friends from 'Hoos in Treble and a picture on the night of her 21st birthday. The blue pamphlet from the President's Opening Convocation and Honor Induction on Aug. 28, 1999 also is stuck in the back cover of one scrapbook.
Some of her most passionate memories resurface when she opens up her album with memorabilia from her semester in Lyon, France in the Fall of 2001, she said.
"I had a wonderful experience there and met so many incredible people, and everyday was kind of an adventure," Childress said. "It took me forever to even start [the scrapbook] because it brought back so many emotions. So when I look through [it], I have a lot of the excitement from when I was there."
Although Childress and Burka keep scrapbooks to keep track of photos and hold on to personal memories, they also said they enjoy showing them to friends. Childress keeps her recent scrapbooks with her at school, and Burka leaves her scrapbooks out as coffee table pieces. "I can write inside jokes and what is happening at the time which you wouldn't necessarily remember from a photo album," Burka said. "I think I will really appreciate the effort I put into it but there are pages there that I definitely wouldn't want my children to see."
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