Yep, it's like a creative photo album - though my scrapbooks always contain more non-photos than photos... I keep tickets, napkins, ribbons, and other flat souvenir things to glue in there.
I never buy the special papers or anything, I have much more fun being creative with it and making my own borders, coloring with markers, using glitter and stencils... I just finished my wedding scrapbook and it was a blast! I told a story in it with big letters, a sentence a page, and glued in time-appropriate items. I bought a blank scrapbook for a Guest Album, and then started the scrapbook around everyones signatures. It's neat!
It's time-consuming, but super fun, and a lot cooler to look through than a photo album...