I never planned to become a “cropper.” My daughter-in-law, Sue, got me into this, after showing me a scrapbook she’d created out of a CD holder. She’s one of the 4.5 million people in the United States who enjoy scrapbooking. Make that 4.5 million and one. I’m totally hooked.

Scrapbooking isn’t a whim like my other hobbies—collecting Italian Charms, crocheting mufflers, or raising children. I’ve joined an elite group of people who engage in the fastest growing hobby in America, second only to collecting knock-off purses and designer iPhone covers. Like others of my kind, I now spend hundreds of hours—and dollars—working on scrapbooks instead of making dinner or cleaning house. (Of course, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what I once spent for shoes.)

I’ve discovered the most popular theme for scrapbooks is cats, with dogs a close second. Luckily I have three cats—Baby, Tiger, and Max. For my cat scrapbooks, I bought cute cat decorated paper, cute cat paw stampers, cute cat catch phrases like “My Cat Can Whoop Your Dog’s Butt,” and took hundreds of cute candid shots of my cats’ daily lives—mostly sleeping or licking themselves. I show them to anyone who stops by.

I wish I’d started scrapping years ago. Then I’d have a great collection of memory books like, “My Brief Career,” “My First Wedding,” “My Weekend Honeymoon,” and “My First Baby,” (my first child has a baby book filled with details of his first year. My second has a baby book but there’s nothing in it. Good thing I didn’t have a third.)

But now that I’m addicted, I’ve come up with lots of other themes for my scrapbooking habit: “My Trip to the Grocery Store,” “My Grandson’s New Potty,” “My Husband’s Favorite TV Shows” and “George Clooney—The Early Years.”

The tools are becoming a bit of a problem. I had to clear out one whole bedroom just to set up my Crop Shop. It’s covered from wall to wall with all kinds of plastic drawers, ribbon spoolers, brad cubbies, and other organizers to hold all my crop crap.

I make regular visits to the five scrapbook stores in my area that “enable” my “addiction,” and buy things like “antique” ink to “distress” paper, stampers featuring everything from animals to things that start with the letter Z, hole punches that make hearts, stars, even dog bones, and stencils featuring every holiday from Christmas and Halloween to Groundhog and Boxing Day. And I love those little phrase books with ready-quotes like, “Been There, Done That, Scrapped a Page About It,” “Don’t Worry, Be Scrappy,” “Born to Crop, Not Mop!” and “Nothing Stops a Cropper, Not Even a Paper Cut.”

Sue, my daughter-in-law, is gifted at scrapbooking. She can scrap anything from an old cardboard box to a used paper bag, and turn it into a work of art. I’ve tried to copy her designs, but I usually end up with antiqued fingertips, stickers stuck to my clothes, and a scrapbook that looks like my three-year-old grandson’s artwork.

I could go on about my new passion, but I’ve already broken a basic cropping code: “What Happens at Crop, Stays at Crop!” Besides, I have to work on my latest scrapbook: “What I Did Today.” I should be finished with it in a couple of weeks.

Reach Penny Warner at http://www.pennywarner.com