I recently attended the Memories Scrapbooking Expo in Columbus, Ohio. I wasn’t able to take any classes or sit in on the crop sessions because of other commitments, so I can’t really tell you about those. I spend my time there in the exhibit hall where 83 booths were filled by 49 different companies. The aisles were jammed with papercrafters of all kinds shopping and waiting in some pretty long lines to make their purchases. Several of them agreed to talk with me.

One lady drove an hour to attend the Expo. She meets with 7 friends to scrapbook once a week. She was looking for stickers, especially sports related or anything to do with farming.

Another lady shared that she meets with friends the 3rd Friday of every month. They eat, scrap and talk. She never scraps at home, only when she meets with her group.

Farther down the aisle I talked to 2 ladies who drove 2 ½ hours to attend and shop. None of these ladies were taking classes, which is maybe why I was able to find them in the exhibit hall. None of them have a die cut machine or are considering purchasing one, but I met another lady who has the new Cricket Expressions™ and loves it. She was at the Expo to look for new cartridges, and to learn about rubber-stamping.

The show wasn’t all scrapping. Several booths were offering rubber stamps. Those with a demonstration were especially busy. I think many scrapbookers are now becoming interested in other uses for their stash of materials and are seeing how versatile rubber stamps can be.

I especially enjoyed the demonstration in the Inky Antics Booth. Their demonstrator was showing a product called Gamsol Blending Fluid. First she stamped her image. Then she colored parts of the image with colored pencils. Next, the Gamsol fluid was applied to the end of a paper stump, and the damp stump was used to move the color and soften it. She also used the fluid with chalks. Here is a sample of the work she was doing.




Pioneer Photo Albums have introduced a snapload system that makes it quick and easy to add pages to your scrapbook. They also offer a snapload converter kit to convert other styles of scrapbook bindings. Solid colors and neutrals are the best selling albums, with their albums with a magnet front strip among the most popular. Their 12x12 boxes both hold and protect your album, and would be a great way to give an album as a gift. New to me was their Embellishment Glue Stick, which is so strong it will hold a quarter to a piece of cardstock. (I tried it, and it works!)

I was interested in the effect the economy has had on this industry. Some vendors have not seen any effect, but one vendor for a home party papercrafting company told me it is getting harder to book parties, and she is selling more of the lower price point papers and stamps. While we may have discretionary money to spend or not, those of us who lover papercrafting will always be able to find supplies to participate in the crafts we love!