Better Scrapbooking - Softcover

So many guides on scrapbooking take the decorative-papers-and-stickers approach, and the resulting pages tend to have a sameness to them. But Vanessa- Ann's Better Scrapbooking treads a more unique path: 12 good-looking projects, each one a complete memory album in itself--from covers to interior pages--devoted to a different technique. Emboss and gold-leaf a wedding album, decoupage a tribute to family history, rubber stamp a collection of nature photos, tole paint a salute to the holidays, faux finish a celebration of the home, and more.

Excellent directions begin with an overview of the album design and the technique in question--plus a supply list--then proceed to step-by-step instructions for creating a few individual pages, and conclude with methods for embellishing and binding the cover. Most projects use albums you can buy as a base for further adornment, but in some cases the scrapbooks are built from scratch; for example, using card stock cut into intriguingly irregular shapes, or cardboard made into an accordion-fold book. Novice scrapbookers will find innovative ideas that go beyond the simple layouts of introductory books on the subject. --Amy Handy

New tools and materials have been developed for the exploding memory-book market, and it is useful to have instructions for using them. Here are two guides to the craft techniques involved in creating one's own memory scrapbook. Carter's book uses a question-and-answer format with illustrations and examples. The Vanessa-Ann book has chapters and sample projects for techniques such as stitching on paper and using computer graphics. Public libraries will welcome both.
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