A book filled with beautiful and innovative card ideas this visually pleasing—there are even
some recipes here and there—deserves to be a hardback. Search Press doesn’t produce many of those,
but this is a rare exception and surely designed to grace a keeper shelf. Expect lots of large and
luscious photos of impressive cards, along with some staged instructions, and you won’t be disappointed.
I confess to being a tad disappointed that the CDs designed and sold by Joanna are not described by
name in the lists of materials. Although some could be guessed (and a couple mentioned) others remained
a mystery. Each chapter shows how to make a different type of card, ranging from the simple layered
classic to a complex and impressive star card. There is something for most tastes too, from Joanna’s
trademark Victorian and pressed flower confections through to less conventional subjects such as old
prints of Egypt and the American West. Cats, flowers, fashion, Christmas and sympathy are all covered,
while along with the CDs, other techniques used include pressed flowers and leaves, rubber stamping on
parchment, glitter and pop up construction. At the end of each staged project is a gallery of other
ideas with brief descriptions of how they were done; I was rather surprised to find the wonderful
butterfly card on the cover is one of those, while a similar floral card is one of the staged projects.
Sprinkled liberally about are useful tips, family recipes and even a poem or two, including one famous
one for a sympathy card. This is a great addition to any card maker’s library, although not one I would
recommend for a beginner unless to spur them on to more impressive efforts!
If you cannot find a good range of card making materials locally try
SearchPress.com for a list of suppliers.