Book Reviews

I was lucky enough to get my hands on two wonderful scrappy books recently, both by my sweet friend Sherry Steveson. I thought i'd do a little book review for you guys today in case you're looking to add some new books to your collection.

The first one, When Life Gives You Lemons, has such a great topic that it makes me want to slap myself for not thinking of it first ;-) Although photography is a passion of mine, I am by no means a fabulous photographer. I definitely have my share of "lemon" photos. Sherry's book encourages you not to pass over those poor quality photos, but to include them on your layouts by finding unique ways to play up their strengths and downplay their faults. Her book gives you ideas and techniques to overcome common photo blunders. This book seriously liberated my way of thinking, as there have been many times i've passed over a photo even though I really wanted to scrap the story behind it. I thought the book had so many wonderful ideas for including poor quality photos that I would have never thought of without Sherry's help!

Sherry's second book, The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook, is a thorough reference book to help you use your embellishments in creative ways. I love that Sherry gives examples for using not only "newer," more trendy embellishments (such as chipboard and acrylic), but she also shows ways to make "older" embellishments (such as eyelets and fibers) new again. The book covers acrylic, brads, buttons, chipboard, die-cuts, digital, eyelets, fabric, fibers, flowers, letters + numbers, metal, ribbon, rub-ons, stamps, stickers and tags. One of my favorite parts of the book is the gallery at the end which shows a "basic" layout and then gives two examples of how to "step it up a notch" and use embellishments to add to the overall visual interest of the layout. Sherry's book is a handy reference that I know I will pull out again and again!

Soooo, it's Friday, whoo! And it's a holiday weekend - even better! :-) We don't have too much going on this weekend, actually, so I hope to get in some R & R! Anyone have any good Labor Day plans? Hope you all have a great one!