Scrapbooking has become a booming industry in recent years. Walk into a scrapbooking shop ow browse online， and the selection of colours， papers， patterns， stickers， borders， covers， and albumsnot to mention entire scrapbooking furniture setswill make your head spin. Why do so many people put so much effort into this pastime？ For many of us， it is important to remember life’s lessons， good or bad， because these are the memories you want to share. It is about keeping your past alive in the present and future. The finished product is a keepsake， and the process itself also generates memories.

There are many ways to make memory books. Scrapbooking items can be bought online or in local shops. Pages can also be laminated and coilbound， or slipped into the plastic pages of a clear book bought at any stationery store. If photography has been your preferred way to tell your family history， various websites specialize in making photo books. Doing an online search with the words “photo album making” will quickly find you a long list of online businesses that can create any family memento you can dream up. But this kind of family bookmaking does not need to be only for photos. People are starting to write their own family history books. If you give it a try， you will be amazed at how grateful your cousins and aunts and uncles will be. The project will also inspire some of them to do a similar project relating to the other side of their family. Think of the fun you can have putting your favourite family photos on the book cover. You can hire printers to make any number of copies， large or small， and even hire book packagers and printondemand publishers to help see your project through for a more professionallooking finished product.

But family memories need not be on paper onlyclothes can also be used and turned into precious family heirlooms. Old furs， woollen coats， chenille bedspreads， and ancient tweeds are being turned into gorgeous oldfashioned teddy bears， sold in the most upmarket gift shops. The old baby clothes you are reluctant to part with can be given a new and practical lease on life by being sewn into quilts that can be kept for years and passed downand used during the coldest weeks of winters. Making use of the clothes you feel you cannot give away is a way of bringing memories back to life， not only for yourself but for others as well. And do not forget， there are other options as well： having your old baby shoes bronzed; having plaster casts of hands and feet （and not just a baby’s?。?made; turning favourite photos into canvas tote bags or coffee cupsall of these make treasured mementoes that have the benefit of utility as well.

So next time you are wondering about what special gift you can give to family or friendsor to yourselfthing about creating family “memoirs” in any form. There is no better gift than the wisdom of a lifetime， or the chronicle of a life whose memories might otherwise fade way.