Scrapbook Storytelling, Step by Step

This book is not just a book of great layouts, though it certainly has those! And it's not just tips on journaling either. Joanna Campbell Slan does an outstanding job of teaching you how to tell the stories behind your pictures. The layouts are wonderful, and not as impossible-looking as so many layouts are in other books! But what's important is that she shows how scrapbooking can be used for SO many situations. It's not just a hobby for moms with young children. I really enjoyed reading this book, and looking at her layouts. She shares a lot of her own scrapbook pages and by the end of the book, we get to know her son Michael and we feel better equipped to scrapbook the stories of OUR lives.There was a poignant section about scrapbooking the not-so-good memories. Joanna uses her photos and journaling to create a memorial page for her nephew Josh who was killed just before his 5th birthday.Probably the most helpful part of the book is all the journaling/storytelling tips! The author even includes questionnaires to fill out as you interview your family members. I enjoyed the fact that the layouts are graded by how easy/difficult they are. You can look that up in the index and also see what materials are necessary. By the end of the book, I really feel that I had gotten to know Joanna quite well - and isn't that the goal of our scrapbooks, to share ourselves with future generations?Also, Joanna has a website ... where you can download templates, access helpful hints, and link to other scrapbooking websites.Happy Scrappin'!

This is the most comprehensive book I can imagine on the subject. My creative juices were inspired with the turn of every page.I have decided to take an understated approach to my scrapbooking. The only fault I find with many of the scrapbook pages that I see in magazines and such is that they are so overdone that you can barely see the photographs. This book offered many alternatives. I particularly enjoyed the spread on the house near Joanna's friend's office (page 22). So simple, so elegant.The journaling is what is important to me and I tend to write full accounts of events, so I am always looking for ways to incorporate pockets, envelopes and hidden layers. Scrapbook Storytelling offers some fresh ideas in this area.Thanks for producing a wonderful resource that I am sure will satisfy all kinds of scrapbookers.

This is a wonderful guide for those of us that have trouble organizing our thoughts or that get stumped while trying to journal. I have found it to be a lifesaver when my creativity seems to be on vacation. I can take this book and after a little browsing come up with a new and fresh way to make my scrapbooking come alive. Ms. Slan has really shared alot of her life and times in this book and this causes you to feel like you could invite her over to share at one of your crops. For a beginning scrapbooker this is invaluable and for someone that has experience it's a must. My only negative is that I wish the pictures of her pages were larger so I could see more of the detail. Over all it's a fabulous book! Thank you Ms. Slan.

This book gets to the heart of scrapbooking. It not only has lovely visuals, but is full of stories that Ms. Slan tells so eloquently and guides you step by step to be able to do the same. I was so inspried by this book that I found myself effortlessly sitting down and doing page after page with my own family's memories - the ones other than your typical birthday, vacation, holiday, etc. Isn't this what we want our family to remember after all is said and done? A "must have" for any scrapbooker!

This well-written and touching book shows how to make your scrapbooks more than just dressed-up photo albums. It's easy to forget that you won't always be around to explain the story behind every photo, and it's amazing how quickly we forget the little details. Slan has tons of great ideas for capturing it all and making the words look nice on the page, even if you're terrible at lettering!