We often joke that, here in the Northeast, as compared to the rest of the country, we know so little about 'scrapbooking' that we are still learning to spell it! In fact, it truly is the best kept secret. Judy Kagle Ferguson was introduced to this fascinating and important hobby by a church member who invited her to a home party almost three years ago, where she was one of only two guests. Judy was instantly hooked!

A two-time cancer survivor who is active in the American Cancer Society, Judy has a husband, 23 year old son, a one-year old chocolate lab and two cats. She found that scrapbooking was extraordinarily important in chronicling the lives of her parents and large but elderly extended family and that it could be instrumental in the emotional healing of those dealing with cancer! So she decided to teach others to do it.

Judy was quickly tiring of the white paper being put in front of her, and she found that there was little else available to her. A trip to any big box scrapbooking store was a 40 minute drive and a frustrating experience, because they lacked products with the depth, originality and texture she so desired. And there was only one scrapbooking store, with irregular hours, over 45 minutes away.

And so, Best Kept Memories was born out of necessity and passion. After 30 years in the corporate world, with a focus on quality and customer service, Judy wanted to see more options for her 'customers.' She grew a list of wonderful vendors. She began crops and classes in her studio, a 200 year old barn. (She loves to share the opportunities of this wonderful hobby with her guests and giggles when they become as addicted and obsessed as she.) And she offered to do custom work for those more creatively-challenged, delighting when they shed a happy tear at the finished product. She also likes to teach youth, and has taught extensively in the schools, to scouts, and to at-risk children. Her son, a budding entrepreneur, cannot understand how people can get 'addicted' to paper, but he too has become a believer.

More importantly, however, is Judy's passion for this gift of scrapbooking and for what it does for people. When the young man she considered to be her 'other son' was tragically killed in a crash on 9/7/03, it was the scrapbook she did that night of his death - out of a compulsive need to do something - which offered solace and smiles between tears for the hundreds and hundreds of those affected by his loss. When a cancer survivor begins to scrapbook, it often begins as a "memory for those I'll leave behind" but something miraculous happens around the 5th or 6th page. It becomes a 'hey, this is fun…look at all the fun I had here … let's have more fun.' The focus changes from negative to positive. What a joy to behold!

With Lisa Bearnson of Creating Keepsakes

Creative Imaginations' Designer Sandra Magsamen

At CKU-R with Tracy White, Editor of CK

Melody Ross of Chatterbox

Scrapbooks have a role not just in our personal lives but in the business world as well - retirement albums, product displays and portfolios, customer gifts. Judy has taken scrapbooks to Washington to meet with legislators on cancer legislation and back from Washington to show others what happened there. In churches, scout groups, women's clubs. One of her favorites is the now 3 volume book telling the story of the Women's League of Rutgers University, resurrecting photos, articles and stories lost in dusty archives.

With a background in quality, Judy looks for distinctively unique and superior products. Texture. Color. Style. She knows what it is like to be deprived of the tools, paper, stamps and any other supplies because of their lack of availability where the hobbyist lives. When she discovered Display Dynamics' stackable trays, for example, she knew other paper crafters just had to have them - and at a reasonable price. And, thus, in the middle of a snowstorm, Best Kept Memories' internet sales experience began. Now, after selling more than 500 sets of these trays, Best Kept Memories is launching its own site, expanding with the other products Judy loves.

It's not totally complete yet so please bear with us as we get all of the inventory loaded.
Ask if you don't see. Question if you have a need. Suggest if you see a lack.

We're all on life's journey, together. By preserving those precious moments and memories, safely and with joy, we can tell our stories - with passion!

Blessings.