Rating: 
Summary: I wouldn't want it to be my first scrapbook program!
Review: I love the layouts in this program, BUT...it leaves a lot to be desired in adding photos. This is my 5th scrapbook program and the ONLY one that does not have the "crop" option for photos added. You have NO way of shaping them to the frame or trimming them to fit. I have to bring up another photo program, crop the picture, copy it and then paste it into this one. I can't imagine why Hallmark would make a scrapbook program without a cropping option!! The "help" menu says to just drag part of a photo off the page to crop it.....you can NOT do that and keep it in a selected frame. SO....I gave this 3 stars ONLY for the good layouts and options for text but NOT for adding photos....which is WHY we buy scrapbooking software in the first place. So....if you DO buy this, you'd better have a few other photo manipulating programs that allow you to prepare your photos for THIS program. Plus it is very slow. I would love to get rid of that little circle that goes around making you wait for a command to be carried out. It's NOT my computer because this is the ONLY program I have that works this slow. I'm glad I have it, but ONLY because of the neat layouts I can use in OTHER programs. I have even copied and pasted ALL the parts of a layout in THIS program to put in another scrapbook program and finished my layout in that scrapbook program. If this is NOT your first scrapbook program, I recommend it....if it IS...I do not.
Rating:
Summary: I wouldn't want it to be my first scrapbook program!
Review: I love the layouts in this program, BUT...it leaves a lot to be desired in adding photos. This is my 5th scrapbook program and the ONLY one that does not have the "crop" option for photos added. You have NO way of shaping them to the frame or trimming them to fit. I have to bring up another photo program, crop the picture, copy it and then paste it into this one. I can't imagine why Hallmark would make a scrapbook program without a cropping option!! The "help" menu says to just drag part of a photo off the page to crop it.....you can NOT do that and keep it in a selected frame. SO....I gave this 3 stars ONLY for the good layouts and options for text but NOT for adding photos....which is WHY we buy scrapbooking software in the first place. So....if you DO buy this, you'd better have a few other photo manipulating programs that allow you to prepare your photos for THIS program. Plus it is very slow. I would love to get rid of that little circle that goes around making you wait for a command to be carried out. It's NOT my computer because this is the ONLY program I have that works this slow. I'm glad I have it, but ONLY because of the neat layouts I can use in OTHER programs. I have even copied and pasted ALL the parts of a layout in THIS program to put in another scrapbook program and finished my layout in that scrapbook program. If this is NOT your first scrapbook program, I recommend it....if it IS...I do not.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Scrapbooking Program
Review: I own almost every scrapbook software program out there and this is by far my favorite. I wanted something that had cool pre-made pages that I could just drop my digital photos into. This program has the most beautiful pre-designed pages that are all ready for you to personalize with your own titles and text! You could literally have a gorgeous completed scrapbook page in a matter of minutes. In addition, you can create incredible pages from scratch if you choose to, with all the great artwork and options contained in this program. It has such great features -- you can even change the colors of the clipart to fit a certain color scheme you have in mind. That's a real rarity in scrapbooking programs that have pre-made template pages. It also has the greatest paper doll cutouts that you can use on your pages. You can create darling paper doll duplicates of any individual -- match their hair, eye and skin color, dress them up in the same clothes that are in the photos, give them things to hold that go along with the theme of the page, etc. I can't say enough good things about this software. If you are a novice, you will want to actually READ the manual or at least go through the on-screen tutorials. If you've used similiar programs before, you'll probably be able to just install and start designing. I did read one helpful hint that I'm very happy I know about on a Sierra help page. It deals with how to insert digital photos into a template. I thought I'd post it here so that someone who gets this great software doesn't get frustrated like some of the people who've posted reviews have gotten. When you want to insert a digital picture into a pre-set frame or object, click inside the white space of the frame so that it selects this area. Right click and choose "Replace Picture" and the Graphics Grabber window opens. In the Graphics Grabber window select the "Import button". Select an image on your computer and choose the Import button. At this point it adds the image to the Graphics Grabber window. Double click on the image in the Graphics Grabber window, and it will replace the white space with your picture. Resize it if necessary, and you're done in a snap! I think that understanding how to insert pictures correctly was probably the main trouble people were having with using this program. It sounds like this software has been a little hard for some people to figure out, but I thought it was pretty easy. And even if it does seem confusing or something at first, trust me, it's worth the effort to learn how to use it. THIS SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE IS THE GREATEST! You will love the pages you can create with it, even if you aren't artistic at all (like I'm not....) Everyone will be so impressed when they see what you've done with your pictures.
Rating:
Summary: This is my FAVORITE scrapbooking software!
Review: I own almost every scrapbook software program out there and this is by far my favorite. I wanted something that had cool pre-made pages that I could just drop my digital photos into. This program has the most beautiful pre-designed pages that are all ready for you to personalize with your own titles and text! You could literally have a gorgeous completed scrapbook page in a matter of minutes. In addition, you can create incredible pages from scratch if you choose to, with all the great artwork and options contained in this program. It has such great features -- you can even change the colors of the clipart to fit a certain color scheme you have in mind. That's a real rarity in scrapbooking programs that have pre-made template pages. It also has the greatest paper doll cutouts that you can use on your pages. You can create darling paper doll duplicates of any individual -- match their hair, eye and skin color, dress them up in the same clothes that are in the photos, give them things to hold that go along with the theme of the page, etc. I can't say enough good things about this software. If you are a novice, you will want to actually READ the manual or at least go through the on-screen tutorials. If you've used similiar programs before, you'll probably be able to just install and start designing. I did read one helpful hint that I'm very happy I know about on a Sierra help page. It deals with how to insert digital photos into a template. I thought I'd post it here so that someone who gets this great software doesn't get frustrated like some of the people who've posted reviews have gotten. When you want to insert a digital picture into a pre-set frame or object, click inside the white space of the frame so that it selects this area. Right click and choose "Replace Picture" and the Graphics Grabber window opens. In the Graphics Grabber window select the "Import button". Select an image on your computer and choose the Import button. At this point it adds the image to the Graphics Grabber window. Double click on the image in the Graphics Grabber window, and it will replace the white space with your picture. Resize it if necessary, and you're done in a snap! I think that understanding how to insert pictures correctly was probably the main trouble people were having with using this program. It sounds like this software has been a little hard for some people to figure out, but I thought it was pretty easy. And even if it does seem confusing or something at first, trust me, it's worth the effort to learn how to use it. THIS SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE IS THE GREATEST! You will love the pages you can create with it, even if you aren't artistic at all (like I'm not....) Everyone will be so impressed when they see what you've done with your pictures.
Rating: 
Summary: doesn't deliver what it promises
Review: I was so dissappointed with this software. The box depicts a bunch of photos cropped in circles but it is virtually impossible to do. I called tech support which was no help since they do not actually use the program. Upon going to the message boards, I discovered several other users had the same problem.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I was very disappointed with this product. Although it comes with a lot of beautiful graphics, trying to insert digital pictures into the collages is one big headache. Trying to size the pictures correctly is almost impossible. I would not recommend this product.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Scrapbooking Program
Review: I'm an experienced software user, but not a graphics professional. We own two digital cameras and my daughter sends me digital copies of the pictures she takes of our grandson, so doing scrapbook pages on a computer was something I wanted to try. This is a great program. I've been using it for more than a year. It is easy to use. You can print out the stationary and graphics and use them to do hand scrapbooking, or you can do what I do and design your pages directly in the program. I've used their templates, made minor changes to templates and designed pages from scratch with the program. There are two things that can frustrate a beginner. Scrapbook Delux organizes things in layers. Learning how to handle pushing one object behind another does take patience. Framing a picture automatically doesn't really work all that well, but there are some frame-like graphics do have transparent centers. You can also lay your picture out on a colored mat by using solid basic shapes and changing the color from black to something more appropriate. The printed out results are amazingly beautiful. Graphic styles are varied enough to keep you busy for a very long time. I'm looking forward to the next version of the program and will upgrade when it comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Inexpensive but not the best
Review: I've used this software program to produce a digital scrapbook of baby photos and other family/heritage photos for my son's 18th birthday. My main objection and frustration with this product is that, on the pre-made pages, while there are many attractive layouts using star shapes and so forth, when you actually try to place your own scanned-in photo into one of those shapes, it can't be done. For example, you find a layout that uses a star or oval shaped photo area. However, the program doesn't offer any way to crop your own photos into these shapes, just ways to size it and to adjust its contrast and color intensity and so on. I've mainly used a blank page and browsed through the Graphics Grabber until I've found all the parts of the page I want to create. I have to used only square or rectangular shapes for frames around my photos, of course, but sometimes I achieve some really terrific-looking results!
Also, the canned Hallmark phrases, page titles, and verses included in the program are often quite disappointing and I find myself spending hours searching for something appropriate online. The Graceful Bee site and dMarie.com are probably the best places to start this search, by the way; but do plan on spending some time getting to exactly the right poem or quotation. Sometimes, of course, it's worth it because you are producing something very special that will be looked at by several generations to come. With that in mind, you usually re-find the patience to continue.
Rating:
Summary: Inexpensive but not the best
Review: I've used this software program to produce a digital scrapbook of baby photos and other family/heritage photos for my son's 18th birthday. My main objection and frustration with this product is that, on the pre-made pages, while there are many attractive layouts using star shapes and so forth, when you actually try to place your own scanned-in photo into one of those shapes, it can't be done. For example, you find a layout that uses a star or oval shaped photo area. However, the program doesn't offer any way to crop your own photos into these shapes, just ways to size it and to adjust its contrast and color intensity and so on. I've mainly used a blank page and browsed through the Graphics Grabber until I've found all the parts of the page I want to create. I have to used only square or rectangular shapes for frames around my photos, of course, but sometimes I achieve some really terrific-looking results!
Also, the canned Hallmark phrases, page titles, and verses included in the program are often quite disappointing and I find myself spending hours searching for something appropriate online. The Graceful Bee site and dMarie.com are probably the best places to start this search, by the way; but do plan on spending some time getting to exactly the right poem or quotation. Sometimes, of course, it's worth it because you are producing something very special that will be looked at by several generations to come. With that in mind, you usually re-find the patience to continue.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Work
Review: This is a very shoddy product. You have to restart your computer not once, but twice. It makes you install MDAC components, which is a huge no-no in a consumer app. This can lead to all sort of dll version problems with other apps. The JPG file names are also cryptic, so you can't even salvage that from the program. Save your cash for a more deserving product, this should be free-ware.
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