I’ve been eyeing the ebooks at Ella Publishing for some time now. Recently I gave in and purchased one of their latest titles – A Year In The Life.
Introduction
A Year In The Life is subtitled “Scrapbook your year in 24 simple layouts” and is authored by the team at Write. Click. Scrapbook. You can read more about WRC on their about page (although to summarise they’re former employees of the now defunct Simple Scrapbooks magazine).
Description
A Year In The Life is 30 pages long and delivered in pdf format. If you discount the front cover, table of contents, note from authors and back cover page, you’re left with 26 pages of actual content. Towards the end of the book (pages 28 and 29) there’s a “bonus” two page checklist of suggested photo ideas to take during the year.
For each month of the year, there are two layout examples provided. One is a seasonal theme and the other is a generic theme that can be used at any time of the year. With each layout there’s a brief description of the theme idea, comments by the layout artist, a supplies list and a “Bright Idea!” or quick design tip.
Who Does It Suit?
A Year In The Life is clearly suited to beginners or scrapbookers preferring a simple, no fuss style of scrapbooking. A majority of the layouts have multiple photos and are double page spreads. There’s also a minimum of embellishments and an emphasis on journalling. It may also suit scrapbookers looking to catch up on a backlog of photos or looking to do a album project outside their normal comfort zone.
Good Points
- Images are large and layout details are easily visible.
- Simple, non-overwhelming scrapbooking style (great for beginners). I really enjoyed the focus on photos and journalling and less emphasis on embellishment and decoration. The layouts on pages 5, 14 and 16 were highlights for me.
- Layouts ideas are easily reproducible.
- Layout ideas and themes are reusable for different projects.
- Layout ideas and themes can be used for a past year of photos, or for a future year.
Bad Points
- Scrapbooking style may not suit all scrappers, especially those preferring a heavily embellished or “busier” style of scrapbooking. There is scope for these scrappers to use the themes and bump up the decoration factor themselves if they wish.
- Value for money. At US$6.99 (or about AUD$8), the price felt a little on the steep side for the volume of content you’re getting. I think I’d be happy a little happier at around the US$5 mark.
Recommendation
A Year In The Life offers scrappers an opportunity to catch up if they’ve fallen a little behind with their scrapbooking, or it can be used as an alternative to either a Project 12 or Becky Higgins’ Project Life style album project. It’s also great starting point for beginners looking to perhaps attempt an album project for the first time.
Special Note On Ebook Format
If you’re concerned about the ebook format as opposed to a typical printed publication, let me point out that Adobe Reader, the software required to read a pdf file, is available as a free download on the internet. In addition, the ebook can be printed (perhaps on your home or work printer) so that you have a hard copy. As with any digital file, you should make a backup of the pdf by making a second copy. Burning it onto CD or copying it onto an external storage device are common options. I’d recommend printing AND backing up the file just to be completely safe.
Related posts:
- Ebook Alert: Ella’s Free Ebook Sampler
- When Life Give You Lemons Book
- Book Review: 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges
