Customer Reviews

Scrapbooking Childhood Moments: 200 Page Designs

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

 

 

I received this book as a gift and I was very disappointed with it. I have a three-year-old son, so I'm always looking for fun layout ideas. Unfortunately, this book has nothing I would ever want to use. The layouts are extremely basic and unimaginative. I created better designed and eye pleasing layouts when I first started this hobby than the layouts featured in this book. I would not even recommend this book for a beginner.

There is nothing wrong with this book. The information inside about scrapbooking is correct and helpful, there are many examples of typical childhood moments that would need layouts, such as first haircuts, holidays, etc, and there are some good timesaving tips and techniques. I liked that page accents were paired down and kept out of the spotlight so that there was room for the photos and journaling to shine through.

For my taste, however, the page designs were a little on the oversimplified side, and that's saying a lot considering that I usually define myself as a Simple-style scrapbooker. Maybe it all comes down to something as basic as color choices/preferences: this author does seem to prefer beiges and browns, often in the same layouts, while I like a more sharply contrasting, graphic look with richer and bolder colors for an album about children. Then, too, I think some of the photos looked a little too "lost" on the pages - perhaps matting would have benefited them. Karen's very basic style is a little too basic for me.

Recommended for beginning croppers and people who like *very*simple scrapbooking.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

If I know anything, Karen is the greatest scrapbooker of all. Anyone looking to get into scrapbooks should buy this book.

For someone getting started in scrapbooking, this provides some techniques and lots of sample pages with instructions for copying them. The techniques include chalking, hand cut tags, vellum windows, stenciling page borders, two-toned letters, yarn-fiber writing, distressing and aging cardstock, silk ribbon embellishment and other tips.
Unfortunately it only tells how to do this and shows the finished page, so the process isn't always clear.
As another reviewer mentioned, the 200 pages shown are not very exciting. To my taste, they appeared chopped up with just too many square elements. The author favors torn paper and hand lettering, so the samples don't vary enough to get me excited.

For someone getting started in scrapbooking, this provides some techniques and lots of sample pages with instructions for copying them. The techniques include chalking, hand cut tags, vellum windows, stenciling page borders, two-toned letters, yarn-fiber writing, distressing and aging cardstock, silk ribbon embellishment and other tips.
Unfortunately it only tells how to do this and shows the finished page, so the process isn't always clear.
As another reviewer mentioned, the 200 pages shown are not very exciting. To my taste, they appeared chopped up with just too many square elements. The author favors torn paper and hand lettering, so the samples don't vary enough to get me excited.