If you're familiar with creating scrapbooks then you have a work at home business waiting to be opened in your lap. Scrapbooks are a wonderful way to treasure wedding memories or the memories of a lost loved one.

To create a wedding scrapbook for a client you will need to attend the wedding or reception in order to gather photographs and quotes from family and friends of the happy couple. For this you will need a digital camera and a small tape recorder or notepad.

If the scrapbook is meant to be a memorial for someone you will need to gather photographs of the person from his or her relatives. Try to get photos from all phases of the person's life. Ask the friends and family of the person to recall their memories of their loved one.

It would be best to use a tape recorder for this for accuracy. You don't want entire chapters about the person, just words he or she said or funny events that occurred in their life.

Use the wedding's theme for the wedding scrapbook. Use items from the wedding in the scrapbook, pressed flowers, ribbons, and lace from the veil, the couple's vows, and even the groom's tie. This scrapbook will become a family treasure. You want the scrapbook to bring the wedding to life each time someone opens it.

For the memorial scrapbook try to base the theme on the person being honored. What is the one personality trait or hobby or quirk of his or hers that the person's relatives remember best? Was the person a comedian, an avid fisher, or the scholarly type? Was the person a proud veteran? Maybe he or she was a community activist.

Try to use small objects from the person's life in the scrapbook to personalize it, a bit of cloth from a favorite dress, favorite flowers, awards, the ugly tie a child bought for a dad's birthday or for Father's Day, school drawings made by the person's children.

While performing either scrapbook service you must remember that discretion is of utmost importance. For example, leave out the embarrassing remark the bride's aunt made no matter how funny you may think it. Don't include an ugly quote or memory in the memorial scrapbook. Your clients won't appreciate it.

To advertise your wedding scrapbook service create eye-catching business cards and brochures on your computer and leave them at bridal shops, at stores with wedding registries, and place ads in your local newspaper. You might try church bulletins boards as well, as long as the powers that be don't mind.

For your memorial scrapbook service leave brochures at funeral homes, place newspaper ads, and leave your card with the ministers and priests in your town. Act with respect and discretion. In other words, don't hand out brochures at the funeral.

When a client asks about your service it would be wise to have a scrapbook you've already made on hand that you can show the client to demonstrate your skill. Your client wants to know what he or she is getting in exchange for their hard-earned money.

But how much should you charge?

People are willing to pay well for a truly beautiful scrapbook of their memories. $50 to $100 isn't unreasonable for the work and time you put into the scrapbook. You could charge more for a really detailed wedding scrapbook.

Charging more for a detailed memorial album would be up to you. But it might be wise to set a fixed price for memorial albums, for example $50 for a small album and $75 for a large album.

You don't want to seem as if you're trying to gouge the mourning family as doing so could harm your business reputation. Treat the family with respect and do the finest job possible on their scrapbook. Soon word of your skill will spread to other people interested in having a memorial album created.

Put your love for creating scrapbooks to work, and one day you can create a scrapbook about your successful business that you created one memory at a time.