Customer Reviews

The Big Picture: Scrapbook Your Life and a Whole Lot More

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. Stacy Julian takes the "big picture" view and moves away from worrying about what color embossing ink to use on the page, and reminds readers that scrapbooking is, first and foremost, about capturing your family's memories. In her wonderfully warm style, she leads you through design, inspiration, organization, and more. Like no other scrapbooking book on the market -- don't miss it!

This was the best book I have read about scrapbooking yet, and I have read A LOT of them! Stacy Julian hit on several of the areas that I "stress" over, and made me realize that I don't need to stress!

I also found that she and I have like ideas on what we want to scrap... this really opened some doors for me!

I like this book so much, that I ordered one for my mother! :)

After almost ten years of this hobby I found reading this book gave me a completely new outlook on my own scrapbooks. It was a wonderfully freeing feeling to have different books be about a subject not-just each year in order. I am inspired again - and I am starting with an "All about me" theme. Stacy's layout style is strong and I also enjoyed those, but much more important is the message.

if you are just beginning scrapbooking, haven't done it in a while and want to pick it back up, or love scrapbooking and do it all the time! I haven't done it in a while and wanted to pick it back up--but I needed a new way of going about it. Stacy shares her non-chronological method that takes away all the guilt and makes it fun again. This book has so many fun projects and ideas that I can see me completing. Normally I love the books and think the ideas are great but they don't fit what I want to accomplish or can't see myself completing. This one is so different. And because of this book I signed up for an online class at Stacy's online company, Big Picture Scrapbooking. I love it and I'm getting so much done!!

Over the few years that I have been scrapbooking, I have collected many different types of books and in addition to my yearly subscriptions to Simple Scrapbooks & Creating Keepsakes, these items have often collected dust over time. Since I got this book, I have not been able to put it down. It is absolutely one of THE BEST reference books I've ever owned. It is not so much the great layouts that it has but, more importantly, it gives reason to why we scrap, the meaning behind the passion for our art, and the creative energy that it inspires in me is refreshing. I no longer feel pressured for being so "behind" in my books and now I have completely reorganized my pictures and albums because of this new approach to my projects. It is so much easier and guilt-free now to scrap and I am lovin' it! Regardless if you are a beginner or avid scrapper, if you LOVE to scrapbook, you MUST buy this book. And, if it is the only book on the subject you will ever own, it should be this one.

This is not a scrapbook idea book. It is all about revisiting why we scrapbook and how to be more efficient at recording our memories and doing it in a more meaningful way. It basically encourages you to pretend you are someone from your family decades in the future (or even your own children as adults) and to put yourself in their shoes. What will they hope that you put in your scrapbooks? Do they want you to have the latest paper and embellishments? Do they want you to use the latest challenging technique? Do they want you to fill your page with embellishments and crafty details? Likely, they would like to see photos of you and your loved ones, and hear about your personal take on your memories. That is where it takes the guilt away. It encourages scrapping photos & memories that are important to you NOT scrapping every photo you take and in chronological order. The suggestions for additional albums are meant as options that are quick, easy & attractive ways to display additional photos/memories. More ideas to add to your brain can always be overwhelming but it is presented as an alternative to the standard in the scrapbook industry which is beautifully embellished pages using the latest papers and embellishments with complicated techniques and supplies all done in chronological order never missing a photo. This is the book for the lay person, the non-obsessed, non-technique driven, non-fadish scrapper. It just gives an option to those people who feel overwhelmed by everything that I mentioned above. Just another way, not the only way, to scrapbook and preserve memories. It is right up my alley and I appreciated it very much. It is fresh, updated and easy to read.

I have been scrapping my college pictures chronologically. I even found way to use a bunch of pictures I thought I "had" to scrap. I've been wanting to do a layout of a picture of me standing at the entrance of a camp we used for retreats. But, it wasn't next in the pile so I've been putting it off. Needless to say, after reading Stacy's book, I scrapped that picture bringing out bittersweet memories of the times I spent there. While I'll eventually finish scrapping the pictures I "skipped", I won't feel guilty for missing a few.

This book makes you rethink your whole scrapbooking process. If you want to scrap those pics you just got from Costco instead of doing the ones that have been sitting on your craft table for a month-DO IT! Break the rules that you thought were important, or that they ever were rules.

Oh my goodness! This book is fantastic! It's time we move away from the Creative Memories philosophy and move towards a creative approach to scrapbooking. Not only does Stacy Julian introduce a new reason to scrapbook but I love her samples in the book. I loved that not all the pictures of herself make her look perfectly made up - how long have I been afraid to scrapbook less than perfect pictures of me? Seriously! I'm rarely photo-ready so why not scrapbook life as it really is. And life is certainly more than the each big holiday to Disneyland, or Christmas pageants. I have felt a lot more freedom to scrapbook whatever I feel and find pictures to match my story. Buy this book! You won't be sorry!

I would give this more stars if I could! This book is teriffic! I have had and/or read COUNTLESS books on scrapbooking, and this is one of my two favorites! Stacy's method of scrapbooking is NOT about products or the latest trends or styles; it's about getting your photos and memories in albums. Her pages are simple and to the point -- YOU can embellish as much as you like. I don't care how many albums she has, as one reviewer criticized! She is just trying to help people NOT to feel overwhelmed with photos and scrapbooking. I wish that people would just NOT write reviews if a book is "not what [they] expected". If they feel 'deceived' by a book review or title, then I can understand it. I am so NOT like Stacy Julian, but I would like to be 1/2 that happy with life! She is so inspiring! Scrapbooking helps me appreciate my children -- see them in a different light -- in the midst of the chaos of raising them!! I love to browse through this book -- getting page ideas or just inspiration. It also has influenced how I take pictures, or should I say WHAT I take pictures OF! I highly recommend this book as well as Rebecca Sower's book "Scrapbooking Life's Little Treasures". If I only had these two books, I'd be happy. Their messages about scrapbooking and family are very powerful!