ONCE UPON A PAGE SCRAPBOOKERS ENHANCE FAMILY PHOTOS WITH CREATIVITY AND A LOT OF HEART.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

On a July day in 1962, Marcia Melcombe's groom gave her a homemade scrapbook as a wedding gift.

It preserved voile from their wedding day and, as the years slipped by, birth announcements for each of their three children. Now the Northridge couple have nearly three dozen scrapbooks documenting every step of their 43-year marriage.

``We are now the historians of our family,'' says Marcia Melcombe. ``We're hoping that someday somebody's going to take over this.''

The Melcombes are not alone in their obsession with scrapbooking. A nearly century-old art form that began with simple photos, memorabilia and journal entries has blossomed into a $2.55 billion-a-year industry with more than 32 million scrapbookers nationwide, according to a 2004 survey commissioned by Creating Keepsakes Magazine.

The burgeoning public interest has spawned TV shows such as ``DIY Scrapbooking'' on the DIY Network, magazines, Web sites and supply stores overflowing with colored paper, stickers, ribbons and other embellishments made especially for scrapbooks.

Jill Wolff, who opened Scrapbook Safari in Woodland Hills five years ago with partner Vera Zakuto, said she isn't surprised by the public appetite for the craft.

``They talk about it on TV shows and in magazines ... and because of that, people are taking an interest,'' says Wolff, whose store offers scrapbooking classes and seminars that routinely sell out.

Long before the pretty papers, ink stamps and paper-punching tools, however, people made do with what they had. Some, like Lynn Smith-Monaco, still do.

For the past four years, the Woodland Hills preschool teacher has assembled scrapbook collages from old calendars, postcards, children's books and printed fabrics that she cuts up and paints.

She gives the scrapbooks to her students, taking pains to ensure that each reflects the individual child's personality in photos and decoration.

``I just love my kids so much,'' says Smith-Monaco, a grandmother of three, who has painted a black Dracula cape on the photo of one student intrigued by vampires and attached bunched-up lace to the waist of a girl photographed in a ballerina pose. ``I want to leave them with something that they will remember me by.''

Creating memories is what scrapbooking is all about, says Sandi Genovese, author of the just-published ``Designer Scrapbooks'' (Sterling Publishing Co.) and host of ``DIY Scrapbooking'' on the DIY Network.

``There comes a time when you realize that if your photos sit in a box under the bed or in the attic, you're not going to be able to enjoy them,'' Genovese says. ``And even though I may be convinced that I will remember somebody in the picture or a date or an event, if I don't put them into a scrapbook I will lose most of what I remember.''

Monique Smallson, a Winnetka-based consultant with Creative Memories (www.creativememories.com/moniquesmallson), a direct-to-consumer sales business founded in 1987, says scrapbooking can seem frivolous to some.

``They think it's too fussy, when really they just haven't organized their photos,'' she says, noting that organization is key to any well-designed scrapbooking project.

Organization has never been a problem for the Melcombes, who sort their scrapbooks chronologically and have cross-referenced the names of each individual featured in their vast scrapbook collection.

Their efforts are well worth it, they say.

``It's a memorable thing in our family history,'' says Marcia Melcombe, who credits her husband for starting the scrapbook collection. ``He

said this would grow and endure. It sure has.''

Leemay Hritz also has a number of scrapbooks, most devoted to her 5-year-old granddaughter, Kylie, and family vacations. Currently the Van Nuys woman is putting together a scrapbook celebrating the cross-country trips she and her husband have made over the years. They have visited every state except Alaska.

``I've only allowed myself one page per state,'' says Hritz, a longtime scrapbooker whose award-winning work has appeared in the pages of Memory Maker magazine.

She says magazines are just one of the places she gets ideas for her scrapbooking.

``It's like a recipe,'' she says. ``You change one ingredient and it's yours. You see something you like in a magazine, you change some things.''

Hritz also finds inspiration at ``crops,'' scheduled gatherings of scrapbookers who share tips on everything from page layouts to the latest design techniques.

And because most scrapbookers are women, says Wolff, whose crops at Scrapbook Safari usually sell out fast, ``It's a time when there's no cooking, no answering the phone, no dealing with the kids. It's girls' night out.''

In some cases, women make whole weekends out of scrapbooking.

Meagan Marra opened her Lake Arrowhead-based Scrapbook Camp (www.scrapbookcamp.com) five years ago to capitalize on the booming industry, which seems to be humming right along.

For Marra, proof of its popularity can be found in the growing number of women who now make it a point to attend camp, which is really a bed-and-breakfast for scrapbookers.

There's a full-time chef on staff, as well as a masseuse and a deck for taking in the view.

``I love to watch people come up on a Friday night all stressed out, and on Sunday when they leave, they're so relaxed,'' says Marra, whose father was the scrapbooker in her family.

``It's family heritage.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

10 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Memories in the making

Scrapbooking has become the hip hobby of our times

(2 -- color) Regular-sized scrapbooks won't do for Northridge's Marcia and David Melcombe, who keep 43 years' worth of memories in these enormous volumes, which are shelved in a custom cabinet behind them.

(3 -- 8 -- color) Creative Memories scrapbooking consultant Monique Smallson holds some of the tools of her trade, more of which are shown at right.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

(9 -- 10 -- color) Woodland Hills preschool teacher Lynn Smith-Monaco uses all kinds of materials to make scrapbooks, including the one shown here, for her students.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer