Sunday 2 October 2016

Review: Ideas for Cardmakers by Fransie Snyman

A couple of weeks ago, Search Press ran a giveaway on their Twitter feed, with several prizes of a review copy of their new book, Ideas for Cardmakers by Fransie Snyman. Writing a review wasn't a condition of entry, but I was very pleased to win a copy and thought it really only polite to review it!


The book starts with a rundown of the supplies and basic techniques used in card making. It is very clear and thorough, so that even an absolute beginner who had never crafted before could use the book easily. More advanced crafters could skip this section, in fact it would probably be a good idea to do so as the beautiful photos of the supplies are bound to make you want to dash out and but even more stash!

Then on to the meat of the book - the templates, or what most of us know as sketches. Most of us find that when we are lacking in inspiration, browsing some sketches can trigger off a whole host of ideas, and this book contains over 50 templates/sketches, each illustrated on a double page spread with four very different interpretations of each sketch. This is a rubbish photo as I couldn't position the book so there was no reflection off the shiny pages, but it gives you a good idea of the layout.


The templates are divided into chapters by card shape - square, standard (A6), large (A5) and, most useful of all for me, DL. I love the look of DL cards but am very often stuck for ideas for using them.

I tested the book out by using the template shown in the photo above, and made four different cards with it. I'll write about the individual cards in a separate post, but here they all are displayed together - they were quick and easy to do, although the templates range from very simple to quite complex.


My overall opinion of the book is that it is an excellent book with lots of inspiration in it, and it will be sitting next to my craft table from now on to provide inspiration when I'm trying to work out how to arrange the elements of a card. The book is priced at £12.99

4 comments:

Barb said...

It certainly sounds like a book we'd all enjoy reading Jane. The cards you made are all beauties and it's very interesting to see them all together. That's a really good sketch and I love your interpretation. Also Congratulations on winning a copy.

I met up with Miss Di and Mrs A this morning. It was great to meet them both face to face. They passed on your good wishes. I'd love to have met you and Liz too. Another time hopefully. Barbxx

Marina said...

Interesting review and you made great cards.

AlisonC said...

This looks good, though I need no encouragent to buy more stash! Also I like the idea of showing the sketch used in diffent ways. Definitely good for those days when the mojo is lacking. I look forward to seeing more of your makes.

Sue - said...

Sounds like an interesting book Jane and those are four great cards.