Somerset Memories Artistic Scrapbooking Spring 2012 Issue Review

When you spend as much on a magazine as you do on a book, really really make sure it is worth it!

I picked up the Spring 2012 Issue of Somerset Memories Artistic Scrapbooking & More for the first time. I purchased it at Barnes :& Noble after looking through it twice. The modern styles suite what inspires me. I look first for things, styles and techniques that spark inspiration for wedding favors and then scrapbooking.

My Personal Background: I have been scrapbooking since my kids were babies, about 17 years. I am a Stampin Up Senior Demonstrator for over a year and a half and incorprate the stamping and art work into my wedding business, Bridal Letter.

The Review:

Many of the pages have one image and the rest is a very artistically built page. I would be happy doing that with one main image to introduce that person. After that, I prefer to have more images on a page. None of them discuss how long it takes to make the multi-layered scrapbook page or what level of difficulty they would place it. But I would say if you pick up this magazine; you are either long passed beginner and/or an artist yourself. Multi media and Multi layers is Key for this magazine and all of its samples.

The Comic effect isn't really my style. I can see how it is useful for placing quotes with people in the images. The effect really looks like a comic book page. I would just do mini scrapbooks for my kids with such a unique technique. I do think kids would love it! The app referenced is not on the android platform.

Under the "Collections" section by Caroline Rondel, I do love and appreciate the nature touches. I do love the printed napkin technique. I have done something similar with stamping on tissue paper and attaching it to cardstock to get a semi transparent look.

Most of the sample pages do not include any detailed instructions. I like the "Idea File" boxes on a few of the sample pages, I think their should be more of these; offering us little tidbit ideas about materials to use on a scrapbooked page.

The peek-a-boo idea is wonderful for baby pictures and most likely, for out pets too. Very charming. It would be a really awesome cover to any baby album!

Interesting baby layouts, most of them; the art work around them just overwhelms the image. I think just a little less and you will probably achieve a more focused page with your baby taking the attention as they do in life.

Stenciling techniques. I do like those. You can easily repeat patterns. It is easy to give the page great detail, without a lot of time and effort. Looks great as an underly or overlay of part of your images too.

"The curtain of Poetry" gave me wonderful ideas for scrapbooking a page for my daughter and myself. We both love poetry. Great way to present us both!

The reason I picked this magazine up today:

I saw some modern ideas to incorporate into both old wedding themes, the current rustic theme and a new one I plan to create that no one else has yet! That gets me excited when I find such a deep inspiration from other artists.

This truly teaches the idea of multi media and multi layers; which I plan to incorporate into some wedding table number decor.

I don't recommend this scrapbooking magazine for a beginner, unless you want to hold onto it to use later. This is more intermediate to advanced levels of scrapbooking.

Suggested Ideas after viewing the magazine. Although many samples only hold one image, I think you can add additional images on most of them. Just decide where you think it suits the mood of the page and what your image represents. Earth friendly should still be a focus on not wasting paper, but using as much of it as you can. Can you imagine how much paper and how many scrap books you would have to create if they each had only one image on them? I don't think that is even possible for the early years of children if you are anything like I was; endless pictures...

Buy It? If you see at least 2-3 ideas you love and plan to use, this magazine is worth the $14.99 price tag. My hope is one day most magazines recognize that they receive so much in advertising money, the magazine should be free to people that subscribe to it.

The 8 Free Scrapbook Pages. I don't know if the magazine normally adds some free artistic scrapbook pages in their magazine; but I love the idea and truly love the designs. I know I will carefully cut them out to use all 8 pages. Truly a scrapbooking magazine that is a work of art! Wonderful artist born ideas.

Finding live how to help. Some of the advanced techniques are difficult to figure out on your own. One of the techniques I wanted to learn was the rolled and distressed edges. I searched on YouTube until I found exactly what I was looking for. I watched the videos and than practiced the technique. If I missed something, I just replayed the video again.

It is amazing the amount of "How to's" on YouTube. You can learn nearly anything about scrapbooking on there.

Explore your favorite techniques. If you have an account setup on Youtube you can save the videos to your "favorites" or "subscribe" to the person that produced the video, which means you will receive notification when they upload new videos too.