Book Review: Scrapbooking: Inspiration and Techniques by Celine Navarro

I have been a longtime fan of the work of Celine Navarro. Her use of bright colors and mixed media techniques in scrapbooking are very inspirational, as are her topics. She is a fantastic technique scrapper, and I really admire the way she has been able to turn scrapping and her art into a career.

I've followed her work in the various books, magazines, and design teams she's been on, taken a few classes online from her, and actually, the day I went to a Parisian scrapbooking store, she was there teaching a class, so I saw her from a distance... not that I'm a stalker, just a fangirl. ;)

Anyway, when I learned that she had written her own book on scrapbooking techniques, I was intrigued to say the least.

I found this book to be very pretty, and more of a beginner's level book than I was expecting.

You can actually view some sample pages of the book here. 

Please note, it is written entirely in French. I found that aspect to be charming, rather than frustrating, but you may feel differently.

If you are a monolingual American (or you just don't speak French) don't let that deter you from liking this book. The language of scrapbooking, is in fact, pretty universal.

I was able to quite easily understand most of the words and concepts in the book, mostly using a combination of Google Translate, my lessons in French from the podcasts I studied before the Paris trip, and general knowledge of what scrapbooking products and tools are.

The artwork and the photographs are stunning, and the book is laid out in a very organized and logical fashion. There are tons of sample projects (though I don't feel that enough love was given to the minibook projects that were in the book).

The book goes from talking about the very basics (products), through a few different type of scrapping styles and projects, all the way to talking a little about digiscrapping and blogging.

The book is pretty much total eye candy, but doesn't show a lot of advanced techniques, which is what I feel  Celine is very good at. Perhaps she will get to do another book down the road that would cover this information.

I really liked this book. If what you want is to see a lot of layouts (and products) in Celine's signature style, then I think this book is a good addition to your crafty library.

Potential Pros:

- Bright and colorful, with Celine's signature style very well represented

- Gorgeous photos (useful with inspiration books like these)

- Lots of current products used, so the book feels very modern

Potential Cons:

- Price point is higher than most scrapping books sold in US

- Focus is on the very basics of scrapping. A general overview, rather than specific techniques.

The book can be purchased from Amazon.fr or Celine actually now has them for sale from her blog site here. Either way, it will probably cost about $50 USD for the book and shipping. 

Hope you liked the review!

Please note I am not affiliated with the author or publishers in any way. I paid for this book going through retail channels like a normal person and the information in the review is my own personal opinion.

Happy Saturday.