Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Scrapbooking

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There are many, many magazines and books that feature full-color, product-laden picures of layouts. This book, on the other hand is a detailed scrapbooking encyclopedia! If you are a beginner looking for basic instruction in layout, journaling, product selection, and even picture taking, then look no further!If you are a seasoned scrapper, then you will probably already know most of the information presented in this book...but it's for you, too! It is a treasure trove of organization, scrapping with kids, overcoming scrapper's block, and other uses for scrapbooking supplies ideas. It even contains a chapter dedicated to the color wheel and how to combine colors with your pictures in ways that please the eye. This book is for everyone, whether a novice or "pro", and will provide just about any answer you need to your scrapbooking questions.

I have been a scrapbooker now for a few years and everything I learned so far was pretty self taught. I have bought a lot of papers, scissors and other assorted items, but I have always looked for a book that could give me some tips I didn't know or couldn't figure out.

This is the first Idiot's guide that I have read and in my opinion it is the best guide for beginners and some more advanced scrapbookers alike. I thought that one of the best parts of the book were the little blurbs in the margins like "Anecdotes from the archives", "Shortcuts", "Sticky Points", and "Words for Posterity". They made it easy to skim through some sections of the book.

Smedley also includes some anecdotes from her personal experience which enhance the book. But as a more experienced scrapbooker who has discovered many of these techniques through trial and error, I found the chapter on Color and using the color wheel to your advantage to be of great use. Other chapters discuss and explain the language that is used, what supplies to purchase, getting started with journaling and saving souvenirs, creating scrapbooks with kids, capturing special moments in a special scrapbook, and shows a few examples of layouts.

One of the things I have discovered is that whatever layout or size scrapbook you choose to use, is that you find a way to personalize your pages. I sometimes feel like some of the scrapbook pages in the magazines and books are copies of each other and look somewhat mass manufactured. I like to take pride in doing my own lettering and making every page different.

All in all, this was the most helpful guide I have found for the person who wants to get into scrapbooking, but is not sure how to go about it. Most of the other books I have browsed through gave either sample layouts to copy or focused on heirloom preservation, but not what I wanted to learn. If you are just starting out or just want to pick up some quick tips, please consider picking up this book.

I'm only a few chapters into this book and I've already learned more about scrapbooking than I learned in any five other books. This book covers everything from basic supplies -- including how to select safe archival products -- to layout ideas. It doesn't assume you know anything about scrapbooking, which might be annoying to someone who is VERY experienced, but for the rest of us it's perfect. I'm sure this book will be my scrapbooking bible. The only thing I wish it had more of is color photos/graphics, but you don't really need them to get the points presented in this easy-to-read, informative book.

This book helped me get started Scrapbooking. It is well organized, and fun to read! It gives shopping information, product reviews, and even ways to organize your gear without spending too much money. I'm very excited about scrapbooking after reading this book!

Scrapbooking is a colorful new hobby. To publish a book with no color images in it is a strange choice. Nonetheless, for "bookworm types" who don't care about seeing scrapbook page ideas, this compendium has loads of helpful information. I'm the colorful type, so, sorry, only 3 stars.

I LOVED this book! It has become my scrapbooking "Bible". There is tons of information in it. I especially love all of the examples and inexpensive ideas it has. It also has a great section in the middle with lots of cute layouts.

If you are truly a beginner at scrapbooking then this is a really great book. I would've given it 5 stars but there are no color pages, and that was a little disappointing to me.
This book is packed with tons of info. Everything you need to know to get started and then some. When you first start scrapbooking it can be so intimidating with all the lingo and products. After you read this book you'll know exactly what you need and exactly what everyone else is talking about!

I am a grandma in my fifties with loads of pictures from my children and grandchildren. I have been too overwhelmed before to start- after reading this book I am ready. I have sorted pictures as suggested in the book and I am ready to go. I love the illustartions and the interesting anecdotes from the archive.

This book was an incredible aid in beginging what has become my favorite hobby. Easy to read. Smedley doesn't mess around and lets readers take ownership of what is by nature a very personal pastime. I'd reccomend it to scrapbookers of all levels particularly novices.

I was thinking of scrapbooking but had no idea where or how to start. Found this book and what a god send. It has all the information someone thinking of starting up needs how to's and where to start. It does favor the authors ideas but liek anything else everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But i still think it is an invaluable resource for the newnee scrapbooker.