Baby & Toddler Scrapbooking

I recently became a godmother. Not having any children myself, this is a big deal. I wanted to do something extra special for my cherub of a goddaughter; something she’ll always treasure. This book couldn’t have landed in my lap at a better time, as it’s exactly what I needed – inspiration for an in-depth keepsake of little Rachael’s formative years.

As the title suggests, Baby & Toddler Scrapbooking is all about capturing special baby and childhood moments in dedicated scrapbooks. It’s hands-on, and chock-a-block with ideas for representing those little moments in the most striking ways.

Take the example of the baby boy sleeping on his dad’s chest. His dad, spread out on the couch, has fallen asleep too, cradling his young son. “Some things are more precious…” says the caption. “… than a TV and a remote control,” says the follow-up text. And underneath the photo, the quote: “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.” Lovely.

As poignant as the photos, the text examples, and the captions are, the instructions and tips are really the most remarkable.  They explain how to arrange the content in the best way, and why.  With dad-and-son-snoozing-together, for instance, we learn that subduing photo backgrounds to black and white will help the subject (dad and son) to become the focal point on the page. 

And of course, you’ll learn all about techniques. You’ll be guided through embellishing, lettering, stamping, creating patterned layers, stitching, journaling, matting, and more.

The authors, Deborah Morbin and Tracy Boomer, already have a host of best-selling craft books behind them. They also both have decoupage backgrounds. This is evident in Baby & Toddler Scrapbooking, where the pages themselves are beautifully crafted and themed. Morbin and Boomer have also developed a really sensible technique called ‘scrapoupage’, adapting decoupage for scrapbooking.

In short, each double-page feature inspires.  And it’s all straightforward, simple stuff – enough to make me print out all those digital photos, and get cracking on my own scrapoupage book for my precious goddaughter.

Reviewed by Irene Walker.
Published by Metz Press.