Book Review
Right after the introduction about the author the content of the
book starts with the General Instructions chapter. It includes info
on preparing your materials (papers, die cuts and adhesives) and
photos for your layouts. The practical steps include which photos
to choose to best do your layout justice and how to protect your
memories by keeping the original photos in a safe place while using
quality color photocopies in your layouts. Also touched on is the
use of envelopes, memorabilia pockets & photo holders, acid
free supplies, creating mats, cutout patterns to match the layouts
as well as how to embellish them, materials and tools all of which
are accompanied by color photos of examples of the products. Then
it is time to get started making your pages.
The instructions for each Scrapbooking page are quite short, but
clear and concise. Each instruction page includes a referrence to
the General Project Instructions as well as a list of which cutouts
are required from the templates section at the back of the book.
Sometimes having everything separate like this can be inconvenient
but in this case it makes for a very uncluttered book and allows
you to focus on the layout. When creating the layout you can make
it in portions by preparing all the cutouts first, adding the photos
to them and then arranging them on the page. When doing Scrapbooking
you want to be organized and efficient and by arranging the book
in this way the author is helping you to become a better scrapbooker
and making the most of your time.
Creative Scrapbooking is definitely a great resource for scrapbookers
because it has a good variety of themes and styles from which you
can choose. The Simply Shapes chapter deals with how cutouts can
embellish a page, Wreaths (a personal favorite of mine) are demonstrated
in chapter two and would make a unique title page and chapter three
deals with the technique of embossing and it is beautifully illustrated
on a wedding layout. Learn to frame your photos dramatically in
the layouts in chapter four and apply borders effectively in chapter
five. And just when you think you can’t possibly learn any
more about Scrapbooking the author includes a chapter on making
your pages interactive with pop – ups.
I also really like that in the final chapter called Beyond Scrapbooking
there are additional ideas (without complete instructions) for a
mobile, cards, invitations, plant spikes, wrapping paper, gift box,
journal and a recipe book are included at the back of the book before
the templates section. The brief description included on how to
assemble the page or project refers back to the General Instructions
or template pages that apply to its construction. |
