Customer Reviews

Hallmark Scrapbook Studio 2

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

 

 

I originally bought the Scrapbook Studio Deluxe, and although I loved the pre-made templates and graphics, was very disappointed that I couldn't get my photos into the layout in the fancy shapes it showed (not even an oval!). When I saw the upgraded version, I quickly bought it, hoping that I would now be able to layer my downloaded or scanned photos into the templates without them becoming distorted or having to manipulate it in another program. Not the case! If working with squares or rectangles I could manipulate my images, but it just isn't user friendly. I can't even crop my photo in the scrapbook program, so I have to estimate in another program and bring it over. My understanding is that the intent of the program, or any scrapbook program is to display and preserve your photos in a creative and appealing way. I don't want to print out a template and manually cut the hole and lay it over my photo. I want it all done in the program. Also, I have noticed that if I tilt a picture to accommodate the layout, it prints out fuzzy with all the pixels at the edges showing. This has not been a problem in other scrapbook programs I have used, nor is it an issue with my printer which is excellent at printing photos. Once again I am highly disappointed that the program did not live up to all that it has the potential for. I will be returning this second version since I am still within the 90 day money back guarantee and hope that the engineers in R&D can create a program to actually work hand in hand with downloaded and scanned photos, and can reproduce images at a much higher quality!

I just bought this and I will be returning it. It has alot of nice templates but they are set up for the pictures to go OVER them which means they have to be shaped and cropped to the exact size of the boxes. What is worse is that when you import your picture into the graphics holders on the page it stretches the image, losing the original aspect ratio. If you want to crop the picture it actually says you must load up the included utility and change the picture there, then import it. Anyone with any experience with this kind of thing will immediately realize how ridiculous a concept that is. What a dissapointment. I wish I read the review here before I bought, now I have to waste my time further with a trip back to the store.

Why would you want to buy a scrapbook program where you have to print out the pages, cut holes for the pictures, then lay the template over your photos? You wouldn't! This software does not place the picture behind the template frame like almost every photo program has been doing for years. It's utterly absurd that to make scrapbook pages in this software you have to crop your photo to the frame and try and get it to fit exaclty and try to maintain aspect ratio mannually. I'm amazed at how nice the templates are and how bad the software is. This one is going back!

I had the previous edition for Win98 and thought the new edition for WinXP would have fixed the previous problems but it has not. I was able to load the software fine and it runs well, and the pre-designed templates are great! But... it still won't allow you to import digital photos to shapes other than squares/rectangles. So, at least half of the templates are useless unless you enjoy printing the template and manually cutting out the design (star, oval or circle) and putting a hard copy photo behind the shape. Yes, it is more like real scrapbooking, but come on! I know the technology is out there and it is just a matter of layering. Wait until Hallmark wakes up and smells the Elmers and makes a top-knotch scrapbook program... which we can only hope will come soon!

I had the previous edition for Win98 and thought the new edition for WinXP would have fixed the previous problems but it has not. I was able to load the software fine and it runs well, and the pre-designed templates are great! But... it still won't allow you to import digital photos to shapes other than squares/rectangles. So, at least half of the templates are useless unless you enjoy printing the template and manually cutting out the design (star, oval or circle) and putting a hard copy photo behind the shape. Yes, it is more like real scrapbooking, but come on! I know the technology is out there and it is just a matter of layering. Wait until Hallmark wakes up and smells the Elmers and makes a top-knotch scrapbook program... which will hopefully come soon!

The box to this software says it runs on Windows ME, but it does not! I had the older version of the software, but when we upgraded from Windows 98 to Windows ME, it no longer worked. So I was thrilled to see this update which claimed to run on ME. Well, when we installed it, I had the exact same problem as with the older edition--there were no contents in any of the folders! We have a second operating system on our computer and were able to install the software on that. As far as contents go, this is a great software! Very cute scrapbook pages and ideas. Just beware that it may not run on your operating system!

It is so frustrating because you can't work a 2 page spread with the two pages side by side. I've only used this for printing out some clip art and/or sayings and such. And when I've used it for a full page layout, it always leaves a 1/2 inch boarder around the edges of white...I know that's a printer issue but it's still annoying. I would never use it for a full page layout.

I saw this in the store the other day and thought what a wonderful idea!! Considering the Hallmark name, I thought it had to be decent. I hate it. I put in the time to learn how to use it. I have a technical bachelors degree and work in the IT field, so you'd think I'd be computer savvy enough to use this. I have hundreds of digital photos and was quite upset to see the note in the instructions to only use the square or retangular templates with digital photos. What??!! That makes it useless to me. $20 down the toilet.

I was very anxious to receive the Hallmark Scrapbook Studio. The day it came in the mail, I installed it on my computer only to find it did not work. Each time I tried to use a pre-designed template, my computer would crash. I was unable to use the software even after contacting Sierra for advice. My computer exceeds the operating requirements yet the software did not work. I would not recommend this software.

Despite the higher quality clipart/graphics (I can't deny that Hallmark has some REALLY nice stuff in there!) the ways in which this application "simplifies" things just aren't friendly or functional. Just frustrating.