Customer Reviews

Cutting Edge Photo Cropping for Scrapbooks, Book 2

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On the heels of their first photo cropping book (Creative Photo Cropping for Scrapbookers), Memory Makers raises the bar yet again with Cutting Edge Photo Cropping for Scrapbookers. The title is a fitting description of the samples inside, which showcase the latest, most innovative photo cropping ideas out there.

CEPC will show you how to turn your photographs into works of art for your scrapbook page. Borrowing techniques and concepts from varied sources, the Memory Makers magazine folks have, to use another cliché, really pushed the envelope on what can be done to make your photos the focus of your layouts. Your tools are usually as basic as scissors, rulers, craft knife, paper trimmer and a cutting mat; now and then more specialized items are called for, such as punches and puzzle templates. The step-by-step illustrations will instruct you easily. And although the finished piece will appear to be anything but simple to the viewer, you will be able to complete most of these without any aggravation or special training. The look of your picture art will be clean, fresh and graphic.

Now a word to croppers who have already read the first photo cropping book by Memory Makers. This second offering does offer over one hundred new photo cropping ideas as the cover promises. However, many of them are redux of ideas from book #1 with variations and twists. For example, weaving strips of b&w and color copies together - that sounds familiar, doesn't it? But here we see it used in new silhouettes and layered with other cropped shapes. Other déjà vu techniques include mosaics, self-framing photos, photo letters and slicing lines and curves into the photos. Note again however that these are all-new examples and they are expanded upon from the original. There are also a lot of truly new techniques, such as making shadowboxes from photos and adding dimension by curling. You can still come away with fresh inspiration.

There are areas of CEPC devoted to using photos to make embellishments and page accents, such as tags, shaker boxes and hinged doors. While I did enjoy these charming techniques, I question that they really had a place in a book that is professing to make the photos the stars of the page, not sideshows. However, they still did involve photo cropping.

CEPC would be a great book for first-time scrappers who need inexpensive ways to make standout pages, or anybody looking for more fabulous layout ideas. Croppers who already own the first book however may want to pass on this one.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle.

This is one classy book

Jam-packed with ideas, I found it to be very inspirational.
This is the first cropping book that I have purchased, so I am not sure how original the ideas may be. I certainly had never thought of many of the ideas before.

In particular, I like the triptych design, the montage in the shape of a fashion dummy and the myriad of ideas for creating mosaics.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow and the addition of templates to copy is a great help.

All in all, a highly recommended book.

I was very impressed by this book. Memory Makers have really outdone themselves with this one. I haven't seen in any other book the wonderful and creative ideas as in this one. I've learn all sorts of fun, new ways to make my photos exciting. And after all, isn't scrapbooking really about the photos. So many books emphesize on embellishments and other do dads but what about the photos ?!?! Now you can really make those pics that we spend so much time and money on perfecting to be the real spotlight. I admit that page layout designs and embellishments can really help bring out the best in your photos. Some may feel that some of the ideas in here are a little intricate and difficult, but most are achievable and with a little practice and patience (patience goes a long way), you'll have wonderfully cropped photos and beautiful scapbooks in no time. And I really think that it'll be worth it. Hope this was helpful to you.

What imagination. Very good ideas. I enjoyed looking at all the examples in the book. I've gotten to use a few so far and people are amazed at my photo layouts. Well worth purchasing, especially for the discounted price!

What an awesome book for a remarkably awesome price

This book offers great ideas to make your photos have a real impact. This would be a great addition to an "idea" library for scrapbookers!

Very creative ideas. Different than most books. I really like the fact that it shows you different ways to use your photos in creating a page.

This is a really cool book. It's got tons of ideas for photo cropping... Some very simple, but I would've never thought of them! Highly recommended!

This takes scrapbooking to another level. I've tried some of the techniques already. I love it.

I love this book. It is full of great ideas with easy to follow instructions. I am now going to get double prints of all photos I want to use for scrapbooking. The ideas will definately kick my displays "up a notch"!