If a picture says a thousand words, then a scrapbook says a million. Scrapbooking beckons to Brazos Valley residents looking for a creative outlet and a way to immortalize memories.

Quickly becoming more than a hobby, conventions such as January's Houston Rubber Stamp and Scrapbooking Expo now attract thousands of scrapbookers annually.

As a longtime scrapbooker, Kathy Short decided to set up a Web site to bring area groups together. "I started the [Web site] Txscrapmania.com in 2000," Short said. She started by listing classes and sales in Austin, but she said it evolved to listings for retreats and retreat facilities around the state. "It's a lot of fun."

The trend is driven by a grassroots network of women searching for ways to promote the scrapbooking community and by the hotels capitalizing on their needs.

"It expanded quickly because so many people were like, 'Hey, can you do a site for Houston and for Dallas?'" Short said. "So I just made it a statewide site.

"Mostly, we had a whole section that evolved from these bed-and-breakfasts and retreat centers because so many of them want to have scrapbookers come for the weekend."

Marketing to scrapbookers is so popular that places like the Crop Inn -- "crop" means a scrapbook gathering -- have popped up now, Short said. She added that most advertisers on her Web site are bed-and-breakfast inns.

One area scrapbooker, Jean Presnal, has been dedicated to preserving memories and providing community through scrapbooking for years. She is the creator of the Brazos Valley club, Ladies Auxiliary of Scrapbooking Sisters in Ecstasy. "The LASSIEs are one of the best things that's happened to me since I came here," said Presnal, who uses a spare bedroom and patio for her hobby and its supplies.

"Scrapbooking is today's quilting bee," said Presnal, referring to the practice of gathering to chat and sew. "It's an outlet for women to talk, discuss, help each other, understand each other, meet new people. Like my granddaughter sitting here, she started this when she was 8. Now she's 21, and she's a LASSIE."

Networking

Her interest in scrapbooking began about 12 years ago, when Presnal moved from Austin to the outskirts of Bryan with her husband. She quickly realized she needed to get involved in something to help ease the transition.

"From Austin, it was a big culture shock for me. I've never lived anywhere so small. ... I had gone from working all these full-time jobs and having all these friends in Austin to moving out to the country. [Scrapbooking] is one of the best ways to find friends, just plain, honest, good caring folks -- good Texans."

She eventually found six "good Texans," who became the core of the scrapbooking group that now has 40 members. The number grows substantially each year. "It's just like a fever," Presnal said.

LASSIE spans central Texas, with a big July meeting in Brenham for members from San Antonio, Houston, Austin and the Brazos Valley.

Presnal organizes the annual retreat in which women learn from each other and scrapbook without boundaries.

"We have a huge three-day crop the last weekend of July. ... Our biggest problem now is we're so big [and] we don't do bunk-beds. We have to have our own beds. So you have to find a pretty big place."

In addition to the retreat, the LASSIEs meet at churches on weekends in smaller groups, and once a month they rent a room in the College Station Conference Center to crop. College Station club

Another local scrapbooker, Monica Rasso, transplanted her skills from New York last summer and had a similar aim in finding a group to crop with.

Rasso was a new auditor for the Texas Department of Transportation when she started the College Station Scrapbooking Club on Meetup.com. She discovered the Web site while still a stay-at-home mother in New York.

Rasso said that when she first visited the Meetup boards, there was little activity in this area, but now her group has around 30 members.

She had started scrapping about a year ago after attending a home party where scrapbooking supplies were sold. "I had a new baby and then I started to be a stay-at-home mom. You get involved in the home-party type of stuff because a lot of moms are trying to get some extra income," Rasso said. "[Scrapbooking is] really fun and relaxing and a great way to use your creativity."

Goals, activities

Rasso said photo preservation is a big incentive for her.

"Some people are really into what they call paper craft. The page will be elaborate with lots of flowers and ribbons and extreme detail. I just want to preserve my family's photos."

The sticky paper that secures photos in most older albums will turn the pictures red or green. "Scrapbookers now use acid- and lignin-free substances on their photos," Rasso said.

In addition to holding on to artfully placed memories, the LASSIEs aim to raise money with admission fees to small gatherings and larger retreats, Presnal said.

Recently the group focused its philanthropic attention on "Scrap Pink," a breast cancer fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. For this event, scrapbookers paid a fee and were provided with a place to crop for 12 hours. Food and prizes were included.

The LASSIEs raised $700; Presnal predicts $900 this year.

The diverse group has felt the effects of cancer personally. "We've lost two of our members to cancer, and that really was hard on us -- one about 2 1/2 years ago and one two years ago. One of them was actually breast cancer and that's why we're so involved in the Susan G. Komen."

To be a member

Requirements for LASSIE membership are simple. "We have no restrictions for people to come in except they have to be fun!" Presnal's granddaughter laughed at the statement, adding, "We have stay-at-home mothers. We have got working mothers. We have got blue collar, white collar, retired, everything!"

Similarly, being in Rasso's group requires little more than an RSVP through the Meetup Web site. "We have no commitments in the club. You look at the calendar; you RSVP. ... I just ask that if you RSVP, you come," she said chuckling.

Both groups encourage a diverse range of scrapbooking subjects. Presnal enjoys travel, and two of her latest books document trips to Africa. "I got one from a mission and one from a trip with the Traveling Aggies. I love Africa."

Rasso organizes her scrapbooks by year, chronicling events and particularly enjoying the journal entry portion. "Basically your journal entry is your recollection of the event or a story that goes with your pictures, and some people like the personalization of using your own handwriting."

Creative inspiration for layouts can come from anywhere, Presnal said. "I think you look at the products that are out there and then you look at your picture and something will come to you, whether it's an ad in a paper or a magazine, and you think, 'Oh, wow!' You can take something like that and make it into a page."

For everyone

Presnal and Rasso said scrapbooking is a hobby for everybody. Presnal said, "You know people say, 'I can't do that. I can't do that.' And that's not true. Once you put two pictures on a page and write something underneath it, you're doing a scrapbook."

But Rasso and Presnal say it's more than the picture.

"It's what you write," Presnal said. "You write an ode to your grandchild or your child and you can let them know, even before they're 2 days old, how much you love them."

• Charlotte Sellmyer's e-mail address is charlotte.sellmyer@theeagle.com.