Customer Reviews

The Book of Me: A Guide to Scrapbooking About Yourself

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You can find hundreds of resources out there that just give you layouts. They're a dime a dozen, all tripping over each other with endless duplication.
But this is the first one I've found that gives you a totally new perspective on scrapping and journaling. Instead of just doing the same tired old "event-event-event" formats, Angie Pedersen has had the brilliant idea of examining your own entire life-story as a whole and putting it into a meaningful context.
She's provided tons of quotations that are wonderful idea-starters. For example, one said, "There's something joyful and comforting about ice cream." Not only did it make me laugh, but it made me think about the major role ice cream has played in my life. Going back through old pictures, I found some of cranking out homemade ice cream with my parents when I was a kid, many birthday pics with my little face smeared chocolate, a midnight raid on the dorm's ice-cream machine during finals week in college, shots of enjoying ice cream with my own kids at the zoo, and sharing a big bowl with my baby grandson. Yup, I ALWAYS reach for the ice cream! But until I read Angie's book, I would NEVER have thought about combining all those different events over my life-span into one layout.
In one chapter, Angie talks about analyzing the people and the sources that have been influential in shaping your spiritual outlook on life. Just reading her book's quotations and thinking about this was a valuable experience in figuring out how I got to be who I am. Naturally, I didn't have pictures for a lot of this, but Angie's suggestions for no-picture situations made it an easy layout. Same with thinking about the times I've had to overcome something I was afraid of doing.
This book is nothing short of a radical new way to look at scrapping. Not only does it give a different "feel" to your pages, but it's a great way to gain new insights into your life. This book should be in the hands of every therapist!

Putting myself in my scrapbooks is one of the hardest things for me. For one thing, I'm usually the one BEHIND the camera. And besides it's really hard to write about yourself.

Angie reminds us why it's important to scrapbook about ourselves as well as about our families, our trips, our pets, etc. And, she provides helpful examples and idea starters.

The many page examples provide concrete examples.

The emphasis on journalling is particularly helpful.

This book isn't just an ordinary page layout idea book -- it's inspiration, encouragement, and instruction.

Get this book and put yourself in your pages.

For childless singles and for those who - like me - come from families that never paused to take many pictures (or even have a working camera in the house) - this book is EXCELLENT! Just a few minutes reading the prompts and ideas will show you that you have far more material for scrapbooking than you might have thought possible (including how to showcase those events you were too busy to photograph). The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that the book's focus is primarily on finding content. Once you've generated ideas, there's not as much in the way of layout or other basic how-to's. If you're not an experienced scrapbooker, consider getting an introductory how-to book to use WITH this one. By itself, it's not enough information. It WILL definitely inspire, though!

I found this book extremely helpful in providing ways to get myself and the things that are important to me in my family scrapbooks. The journaling prompts were particularly helpful. While this book is geared toward the scrapbooker, I would also think it would be useful for anyone who keeps a personal journal or wishes to begin one but isn't sure where to start. I enjoyed this book!

I really can't say enough great things about this book. In the past, I have found that I am missing from my scrapbooks. I'm usually behind the camera, and I never think to include myself in my layouts. After reading this book, I am more determined than ever to make sure I am just as much a part of my kids' books as they are. The author did an excellent job with this project, and I hope this becomes part of a series. The chapters are divided by category and are extremely easy to read and understand. Lots of layout examples as well as quotes, links to websites, and other very helpful information. I was ready to race to the scrapping table immediately after picking up this book for the first time. If you are considering buying it, don't think twice! You'll be so glad you bought it!

This book is full of not only layout ideas but easily applied, practical instructions for recording your life. It is a must have in my opinion. The online resources are also fabulous.

This is an excellent book/project for anyone who wants to understand themselves better. I'm free from an abusive relationship now, and with a man who treats me like gold.
So I don't know a better time to start learning about myself.
And it's been quite a while since I've seen my family, so I'm making copies of the scrapbook pages I'm making to send to my mother. Thank you, Angie! Wonderful job!!

This book was the ONLY idea book that I read cover to cover, many times! Angie has done a phenomenal job encouraging the reader to do a search within and then place it in layouts/journals. I have used this resource multiple times in my own scrapbooking trek. And since reading this book, I have found when I have scrapbooker's block, once I do a layout of myself, my creativity is unleashed once again! It's as though I am "being true to myself"! Thank you Angie for this boost for all of us who are trying to leave a legacy!

This is a great way to scrapbook your lifetime, with or without photos. Something will then exist long after you're gone, especially for the grandkids or the family historian.

I retired a couple of years ago, and 5 weeks later my elderly parents moved back here from Florida for me to take care of them. Unfortunately, any ideas of traveling or a hobby that required my attendance at regular intervals (Yoga, any kind of clubs, exercise class, etc.) went down the tubes. Scrapbooking is one of the few things other than reading that I can manage to work in. Luckily I have an area where I can lay things out, work on them, and if I have to leave quickly, I just leave it in place. Since I'm in my 60's, I didn't want to work on a scrapbook of grandkids, as their mothers are doing that. I wanted to scrapbook things relevant to me, where I am right now, as a kind of therapy. This book gave me some good ideas, and then other ideas took hold. I think it's a great book, and boy, did I get it at a great price. Also, there are few book like this for people who want to scrap, but don't have tons of pictures, and actually want to combine scrapping with a personal journal. I'm glad I got it.