Virtual scrapbooking

Tools of the scrapbooking trade.

Paula Wessells, CEO of Big Picture Scrapbooking, holds one of her miniature dachshunds at her home office. (Photos by Steven Lane/The Columbian)

Scrapbooking enthusiasts are notorious for collecting the tools of the trade — colored paper, stencils, stickers, glitter — then failing to put them to use.

"Now, not only are they overwhelmed with their pictures, they are overwhelmed with stuff. They're overwhelmed by the whole hobby," said Paula Wessells, the Vancouver-based CEO of Big Picture Scrapbooking, "What really sets us apart is that we are about the process. We're not about the end product."

That business strategy of helping people connect with what's meaningful in their lives, along with classes priced as low as $10, has enabled Big Picture Scrapbooking to thrive, even in the economic downturn.

The privately held company does not disclose financial information. But Wessells said other than a dip in sales in February, the company's revenue has held steady.

Big Picture Scrapbooking, founded in 2005, was first to offer online classes. Now 31,000 students download classes.

Wessells first met company founder Stacy Julian, a Spokane resident, at a Portland scrapbooking store. She was founding editor of Simple Scrapbooks magazine.

"A year later, she called with a wild business idea," Wessells said. "She wanted to spread her passion for documenting life."

Julian had already been teaching live, in-person classes, which gave the students 90 minutes of inspiration.

"We had to come up with a way — a new delivery method — to continually inspire women," Wessells said. The Web provided that new method.

Julian is the business' creative force. A third partner, Kayce Rehn, also of Spokane, keeps the Web site running smoothly. That's leaves Wessells to handle the business side from her office in the Vancouver home she shares with her husband and three miniature dachshunds.

In addition, the company employs four people — all stay-at-home moms, Wessells said. The company's 58 contract teachers are scattered around the country.

Big Picture Scrapbooking classes include "Wellness Journey," an eight-week course to create a scrapbook to help people achieve personal health goals, and "Everyone Can Write A Little," which incorporates Twitter and Facebook entries.

Wessells, 40, said she has always relished scrapbooking. Before the hobby became her business, the 1987 graduate of Mountain View High School worked for marketing and events agencies in Portland.

Although digital scrapbooking is a trend the company is heeding by securing a partnership with Shutterfly, most classes focus on traditional methods involving photos, not digital files.

Wessells said that's her preference for her own scrapbooks.

"I spend 10 hours a day on the computer. The last thing I want to do is go online," she said.

But the business is very much entwined with the online world, and plans to push that further.

"We're going real deep into social media," Wessells said.

Before, the company worried class content might end up scattering across the Web for free, but now the partners feel confident the class experience cannot be replicated. Big Picture Scrapbooking is working on creating an online community among the students, who are 90 percent female; 83 percent are from the United States, with the rest from more than 161 other countries.

"The women — and men — who scrapbook really want community and social networking," Wessells said. "Everything that's happening in your life, someone across the pond is experiencing the same thing."