Review: Creative Sketches for Scrapbooking by Becky Higgins

Recently, I made a decision not to buy every new idea book that hit the market. My collection was growing at an alarming rate, and I found that I rarely turned to them for ideas and inspiration. Being a huge fan of My Creative Companion by Becky Higgins, I knew that I would have to make an exception for her newest idea book. I wasn’t disappointed!

Creative Sketches for Scrapbooking is filled with 74 sketches for both 8.5x11 and 12x12 layouts. Even if you are one of the many who printed these sketches off the Creating Keepsakes website, I think you’ll still enjoy the over 200 layouts showcased along with the sketches. They range from beginning to advanced skill levels, cover a variety of style, and really do a great job of keep the focus on the photos.

If you’ve never used a sketch to complete a layout, you may be wondering what all the hype is about. A basic sketch, like those in this book, provides a starting point. You’ve been given the basic shell of the layout, but there is still a lot of room to make the layout your own with your color selections, use of embellishments, and your photos.

This idea book is especially easy to use because it is divided into sections based on the number of photos per sketch. I’ll admit that I often fall into the “one-photo-per-page” rut, so it’s rather refreshing to see a section on “Layouts for 10 or more photos.” Fifty-two sketches are featured in this book. Each of those sketches is accompanied by 4 layouts by various artists. It’s amazing how different the layouts look even though they are based on the same sketch. In addition to the awesome layouts shown, the book is packed with great articles and sidebars that offer a variety of additional tips.

One of my favorite ways to use these ideas is to combine the right and left sides of two different sketches. This opens up so many possibilities for different looks. Also, it is important to remember that these sketches can be altered; you are only limited by your imagination. My layout shown here was based loosely on the sketch on page 34. As you can see, the finished product doesn’t look much like the original sketch. That’s okay! The sketches are designed to unleash your own creativity!

Overall rating: A+

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