After
I wrote this review in March 2002, the writer, Betty Auth, and I became friends.
Sadly, Betty passed away in December 2002. She was a wonderful artist, writer
and friend, with great vision who will be greatly missed.
Here's
my take on a new release by Rockport Publishing called "Stamping Tricks for
Scrapbooks" by Betty Auth, $19.99. You can find it on Amazon.com $13.99.
The first
thing I thought when I saw the title with Stamping and Scrapbooks is that
usually - and I might be totally wrong here - stampers and scrapbookers are
in different corners, with similar but divergent interests.
This
book, however, does provide a meeting ground for the two. And as a stamper,
even if I'm not particularly into scrapbooking, I found some wonderful ideas
to use in all sorts of projects.
For starters,
the artists represented here are folks whose work we've seen and admired
in the stamp mags: pj dutton, Dawn Houser, Sandra McCall, Vicki Schreiner
and Susan Stranc. Seeing their names on the cover made me think there'd be
some good stuff here.
A quick
flip-thru of the book shows great layout, uncluttered pages and loads of
color leaping off the pages. The book is divided into chapters: Backgrounds,
Borders, Frames, Corners, Die Cuts, Stickers, Lettering, Journaling, Dividers
and Covers.
Now,
while I'm probably not likely to make a scrapbook page for National Clown
Week, as shown here, I found ideas to glean for my own work on every page.
For example, there are pages called "Ferdinand and Lily: A Heritage Page,"
by pj dutton (she likes her name all lower-case) that shows how she ingeniously
used block shadow stamps with vintage images pasted over them as a kind of
frame.
Done on black cardstock with images stamped in platinum, it's a very subtle, old-fashioned effect.
Dawn
Houser's work (she's the creator of the beautiful wedding dress that has
been featured all over town) is especially evocative. In the lettering chapter
she has old photographs on a fun stamped background with words and quotes
pasted all around. Her Mothers and Daughters family pages shows old photos
interspersed with stamped tags, that wedding dress, a clock, shoes, all creating
a warm, interesting ambience.
The book
offers ideas on making corners from folded origami papers, using sticker
paper for lettering, even a rebus story by pj recalling her trip to Paris.
For that project, pj stamped just symbols like the St. Louis, Missouri arch,
a valise and the Eiffel Tower to represent her journey.
Of particular
interest is a multi page booklet. The sample, by Susan Stranc, of a memorial
to her pet, is a many-layered booklet with tabs that open. Full instructions
are given, along with a sample of a booklet like this for gardeners. The
idea can be applied to any topic, as can any of the projects in the book.
There
are many examples of covers, for what is a journal or scrapbook without an
eye-catching cover?! There are ideas for using mica chips and beads, leather,
wood and photos to jazz up the covers, with beautiful sample artwork.
Overall, if you're a super advanced stamper, you might be beyond these
techniques. But if you're always poking around for new ideas, there's
definitely some inspiration here.
Rockport Publishers can be found on the web at: http://www.rockpub.com
Enjoy!
~ Estelle Lander Smith
Copyright 2002
email: estelle@stampsmith.net
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