KMA History – WE INVENTED SCRAPBOOKING

In 1976, Marielen Christensen began designing creative pages for her family's photo memories. She inserted her memory pages into a new product called sheet protectors and placed them inside 3 ring binders. By 1980, she had assembled over fifty volumes of family memories, and was invited that year to display her albums and demonstrate her concept at the World Conference on Records in Salt Lake City. That conference opened the door to a massive interest in memory book design, and Marielen was invited to give seminars and teach classes to countless groups, including BYU Campus Education Week and numerous church, civic and school groups. During the following 25 years, she lectured continually throughout the Intermountain West.

In addition to her many lectures, Marielen and her husband AJ authored and published the first how-to book on organizing and preserving family memories called Keeping Memories Alive. They founded the first known scrapbook store in 1981 called Keeping Memories Alive located in Spanish Fork, Utah and began a mail order division in the back of the building. The business grew very quickly by word of mouth and had to move to a larger facility in 1994.

During the fall of 1993, Keeping Memories Alive opened the first wholesale division in the scrapbook industry providing other stores with a source to purchase all of their scrapbook products at one place. This step helped move the industry forward as small scrapbook stores began opening up all over the country.

As scrapbooking became more well-known, people were searching for new, fresh ideas on how to preserve their own memories. As a result of many requests from customers, Marielen Christensen authored and published the first idea book for scrapbookers in March of 1995.

In 1996, Keeping Memories Alive made history again, as they launched the first ever scrapbook internet site. Being the first company to do this, made it possible for KMA to own the name www.scrapbooks.com, which has proven to be a distinguished name in the industry.

During this same year, Keeping Memories Alive started manufacturing a line of products geared just to scrapbookers. The Cottage Collection line quickly became famous because of the coordinating patterned papers, Cut and Create Books and cut-outs.

In 1997, AJ and Marielen's daughter Liz, authored the first idea book for teenagers and in 1999, she and her husband Matt Rosenbaum became co-owners and part of the administrative team.

With the arrival of magazines devoted strictly to scrapbooking, the scrapbook industry experienced huge growth during the years 1996 to 1999. In January of 2000, Marielen was awarded the "Outstanding Achievement Award" from Creating Keepsakes Magazine for paving the way for this industry.

As of February 2004, Matt and Liz Rosenbaum were elected as the President and Vice President of the company and are now responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business.

Keeping Memories Alive currently has over 50 employees and occupies three buildings. Their business has grown dramatically through the years and includes a wholesale division, Internet site, and a world wide mail order system.

KMA's objective has been to provide their customers with a full line of the finest and best quality scrapbook products available on the market today. The team at Keeping Memories Alive hopes that you find their service and products to be helpful as you keep your memories alive.

The Next Generation

Liz Rosenbaum's love for scrapbooking started at a very young age. She began making scrapbook pages and cards as soon as she was old enough to hold a crayon. From the time she was a little girl, her parents taught her the importance of keeping a journal and preserving memories in an organized way.

Liz began working for her parents scrapbook business in 1996 and in 1997 she authored and published an idea book geared to teenagers called, "Young at Heart". She has written several articles for the Creating Keepsakes magazine and has taught a variety of scrapbook classes throughout the years.

In 1998, Liz's high school sweetheart, Matt Rosenbaum returned home from serving a two-year LDS mission in New Zealand and began working for Keeping Memories Alive. Matt and Liz spent most of their time together dating, working at KMA and going to Utah Valley State College studying business. They were married in June of 1999 and became co-owners and part of the KMA administrative team soon after. They have two beautiful children and live in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Liz created and published a wedding idea book in 2000 called "Love and Marriage" and in 2002, published a baby idea book entitled "Baby Carriage" hoping to inspire other scrapbookers to preserve their cherished memories in a safe and creative way.

Matt and Liz manage Keeping Memories Alive and love working in such a positive industry. Their goal is to provide scrapbookers everywhere with a source to find the best and innovative products, with competitive prices, and excellent service.