Sandi Genovese's Three-Dimensional Scrapbooks: Techniques for Building Texture and Style into Your Pages

Rating:
Summary: Learn to craft elegant scrapbook pages with dimension.
Review: Four and a half stars, really. I'll explain that in a moment.

I have never watched Sandi Genovese's cable tv show on scrapbooking, so I was a little hesitant to purchase Three Dimensional Scrapbooks. Now that I have had a chance to read it however I'm glad that I took the risk; the page designs inside are a dream come true for somebody at my intermediate experience level with a taste for artistic, understated design.

Sandi presents us with some very gorgeous layouts that involve elements slightly raised from the background. These elements could be titles, accents, photos or even journaling blocks. A few of the pages merely have the effective illusion of dimension by the creative use of papers. The color choices are predominately soft and toned down (although any of the layouts can be recreated with any color scheme the scrapbooker wishes). Texture is incorporated into many of the pages using fibers, fabric, cords etc. The result is a design that looks like it's begging for you to reach out and touch it, just to make sure it is real.

The book is divided into chapters on Basics, Paper, Fabric, Metal, Keepsakes, Beads & Baubles, and Exotic Elements. I found that there is a nice balance of techniques that could be handcrafted with common scrapbooking materials as well as the convenient store-bought variety. I also recognized several coordinated designer papers in the projects from the likes of Anna Griffin and Bazzil - making it very easy to achieve that perfect color and pattern mix. And although many of the pages are involved works of art that have to be crafted slowly and carefully, several of the pages could be put together quickly by somebody with a small bit of experience already under her belt. In all, this book is very encouraging and inspiring. I will be using its layouts for a long time to come.

So why not the full five stars? Well, my conscience was pricked a bit in some areas. For instance, she does state in the introduction that this book is for people who have some basic experience already, but the author showcases a few lovely pages which take very advanced, specialized skills to pull off nicely. A perfect example of this are two layouts that call for quilled accents. There is a small sidebar with one illustration of each quill pattern used and no other instruction on how to do it. Anybody who's ever tried this knows that you can't learn quilling that way! Also, some examples of flaws that could have benefited from some editing; leaving out mention of tools needed to bend and twist wire, no explanation of mitering corners in a pleated paper project, and calling for seventeen inch long pieces of paper (I've yet to see that for sale in scrapbook stores - where do we get it?). Despite the fact that I just happen to know how to miter and quill, I realize that these are skills that the typical scrapper probably won't have, so in all fairness I can't give this book a full five star rating.

Basically, this is a fine collection of elegant, inspired layouts that make use of dimension to add great interest to scrapbooking pages. Strongly recommended.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

Rating:
Summary: Learn to craft elegant scrapbook pages with dimension.
Review: Four and a half stars, really. I'll explain that in a moment.

I have never watched Sandi Genovese's cable tv show on scrapbooking, so I was a little hesitant to purchase Three Dimensional Scrapbooks. Now that I have had a chance to read it however I'm glad that I took the risk; the page designs inside are a dream come true for somebody at my intermediate experience level with a taste for artistic, understated design.

Sandi presents us with some very gorgeous layouts that involve elements slightly raised from the background. These elements could be titles, accents, photos or even journaling blocks. A few of the pages merely have the effective illusion of dimension by the creative use of papers. The color choices are predominately soft and toned down (although any of the layouts can be recreated with any color scheme the scrapbooker wishes). Texture is incorporated into many of the pages using fibers, fabric, cords etc. The result is a design that looks like it's begging for you to reach out and touch it, just to make sure it is real.

The book is divided into chapters on Basics, Paper, Fabric, Metal, Keepsakes, Beads & Baubles, and Exotic Elements. I found that there is a nice balance of techniques that could be handcrafted with common scrapbooking materials as well as the convenient store-bought variety. I also recognized several coordinated designer papers in the projects from the likes of Anna Griffin and Bazzil - making it very easy to achieve that perfect color and pattern mix. And although many of the pages are involved works of art that have to be crafted slowly and carefully, several of the pages could be put together quickly by somebody with a small bit of experience already under her belt. In all, this book is very encouraging and inspiring. I will be using its layouts for a long time to come.

So why not the full five stars? Well, my conscience was pricked a bit in some areas. For instance, she does state in the introduction that this book is for people who have some basic experience already, but the author showcases a few lovely pages which take very advanced, specialized skills to pull off nicely. A perfect example of this are two layouts that call for quilled accents. There is a small sidebar with one illustration of each quill pattern used and no other instruction on how to do it. Anybody who's ever tried this knows that you can't learn quilling that way! Also, some examples of flaws that could have benefited from some editing; leaving out mention of tools needed to bend and twist wire, no explanation of mitering corners in a pleated paper project, and calling for seventeen inch long pieces of paper (I've yet to see that for sale in scrapbook stores - where do we get it?). Despite the fact that I just happen to know how to miter and quill, I realize that these are skills that the typical scrapper probably won't have, so in all fairness I can't give this book a full five star rating.

Basically, this is a fine collection of elegant, inspired layouts that make use of dimension to add great interest to scrapbooking pages. Strongly recommended.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle