However, I know now that life is different for our twenty-first century children. Fast paced, and with games consoles galore, it can often be harder to prise the kids away from the screens when all you have to offer them is a scrapbook, glue, scissors and sequins. Yet, I can guarantee you that within a few minutes of sitting down to begin their own scrapbook adventure, the kids will be hooked!

Scrapbooking Can Be a Relaxing Process

For those children who have hectic social lives, school, homework and after school activities, it can be hard to get them to shut off. However, if they don’t take the time to stop and sit and do something creative, there is a risk that they will burn out. Just as in adults, children too can overwork themselves.

Scrapbooking is one of the most sedate and serene of physical craft activities that a child could take part in; perhaps only on a par with painting. It encourages them to stop thinking about what is going on in the outside world, and forces them to work on what is in front of them. You would be amazed at how cathartic sticking, gluing, cutting and pasting can be to many of those children who have never done this since their preschool days!

Scrapbooking Creates Memories

What is great about starting a scrapbook project is the fact that you can relate a project to almost any occasion in a child’s life. From the main events such as Christmas to Easter, to the more obvious of times such as family holidays, and other celebrations, any event can be an excuse to start a scrapbook!

I have found that many school-aged children benefit greatly from beginning a new scrapbook project at the beginning of each new school year. What is a tough time for both child and parent, being able to create a place where the child feels they can add to as the school year starts, can often work wonders for those who may find it a struggle in the first few weeks.

Similarly, if there is a rather difficult and emotional event happening at home, you can encourage a child to turn to their scrapbook as a place where they can remove themselves from the circumstances, even for just a couple of hours each week, thus clearing their heads to simply create.

The biggest stars are fêted on both sides of the Atlantic. The festivals attract thousands of enthusiasts. The merchandising is flourishing.

Welcome to the glamorous world of the scrapbook — or to give the trend its full French title, le scrapbooking. This is the distant cousin of the childhood albums containing outof-focus snaps, irrelevant cuttings and embarrassing souvenirs that once flourished in Britain.

Reinvented as an adult hobby in the US, le scrap, as it is known in chic Parisian circles, has become a Gallic passion involving artistic endeavour, money and a hint of one-upmanship.

“It has become very sophisticated indeed,” said Emma Rehri, one of France’s best-known scrapbookeuses.

She will be among the stars at Version Scrap, a European scrapbook festival that is to be held in Paris next weekend. America’s greatest scrapbook compilers, such as Kim Kwan, Tena Strenger and Pam Garrison, will also be there.

“Their names will bring in the crowds,” Mrs Rehri said.

There will be competitions, exhibitions and at least 70 distributors selling the material needed for a contemporary scrapbook.

“Version Scrap is the place to get the latest ideas and follow training sessions laid on by the most widely respected figures in the world of le scrap,” says the festival’s internet site.

Scrapbooks were invented by the Ancient Greeks but the modern variant was launched in Utah in the 1980s as a way of embellishing family photo albums. A dizzying variety of albums in different colours, textures and designs are available. The aim is to decorate them with stickers, stamps, dried flowers, eyelets, lace, ribbons, fasteners or whatever object takes the creative fancy.

In the US, where a scrapbook magazine recently claimed that the hobby has become more popular than golf, the industry is worth $2.5 billlion (£1.25 billion) a year.

Retailers are reporting a growth in interest in creating scrapbooks of photographs, newspaper and magazine cuttings, and concert tickets, or for special events such as births and weddings.

They say that a younger generation, more used to charting their lives online or using websites such as Pinterest to unleash their creative sides, is discovering the pleasure of creating a physical receptacle for memorable objects.

Paperchase said that it had enjoyed a double-digit boost in sales of scrapbook products in the past year and had expanded its range by 20 per cent to satisfy demand. It has launched workshops in its Glasgow and London stores, where experts show shoppers how to perfect the art of découpage — decorating something with cut-out pieces of paper.

Papercraft sales, including scrapbook accessories, have risen by 30 per cent since last year at The Makery shop in Bath. Kate Smith, its owner, said that new styles of scrapbook were attracting a new following. Rather than the traditional “twee” designs, new ones featured fluorescent colours and geometric patterns.

At Hobbycraft, the arts and crafts chain, sales of scrapbook kits have risen by 600 per cent on last year. Some make it easier to create a scrapbook by providing pre-designed layouts. Others do not require scissors and glue.

Tessa Ireland, a senior buyer at Hobbycraft, said that this had led to a huge increase in younger customers. She told The Independent on Sunday: “Traditional scrapbooking remains popular, but these new generations of customers are almost using these new concepts as an alternative to diaries, collecting photos, concert tickets and their captions accordingly.”

The Craft & Hobby Association UK estimates that 2.8 million British people create scrapbooks, with more than a quarter of them aged 16 to 24.

Amie Scull, a buying assistant for stationery at John Lewis, said that sales of items such as photo corners, which hold pictures in place, were increasing, as making scrapbooks returned to favour. She said: “This may be in part due to people wanting a return to displaying and enjoying photos, rather than just leaving them on digital cameras and computers.

“Craft in general has been back in vogue for a while, with people revisiting the joy of the manual hobbies of their childhoods. Of course, new social media platforms like Pinterest could also have had a positive effect, kick-starting the trend by reminding people how useful collating images and inspirational pieces into one place can be.”