There are so many ‘celebrity’ scrappers (Ali, Cathy, Jessica…) that I have longed admired for their ability to make a living from their craft. They get to spend their ‘working’ hours crafting. How lucky are they??

I, unfortunately, am not so lucky. I work full-time outside the home and have all the wife and mom responsibilities to take care of when I get home, so my scrap time is limited.

I am sure that many of you reading this can relate.

That’s why I was so excited when I heard about Courtney Walsh’s book – The Busy Scrapper: Making The Most Of Your Scrapbooking Time – earlier this year.

The book is divided into 6 chapters:

Chapter 1 – Getting Started
This chapter has two parts – taking stock of what you already hae and getting what you have organized.

The first section recognizes that having limited time to scrap may also mean that you need to go with the basics as far as supplies are concerned – cardstock, patterned paper, writing tools, embellishments, cutting tools, adhesives and albums.

Personally, I also think it means understanding your preferences. For example, there’s simply no sense in having a plethora of embossing tools, powders, and such if you don’t have the time (and/or patience) to actually use them on your projects.

Even more important than knowing what you have is knowing where to find it. Being able to find and use the supplies and tools you want quickly is key to being a fast scrapper and Walsh offers some simple plans for fast organization.

Chapter 2 – Making Art Fast
This chapeter includes 22 tips with sample layouts for ways to cut down the time it takes to create a great layout.

Chapter 3 – Preventing Madness
This chapter recognizes that things don’t always go your way, but also offers over two dozen tips for keeping the creating fun.

Chapter 4 – Using What You’ve Got
There are 14 tips included in this chapter for making the most of your supplies and tools.

Chapter 5 – Getting Tech Savvy
Whether you’re a tech novice or expert, this chapter includes 16 great tips for using technology to enhance your crafting time.

Chapter 6 – Finding Inspiration
Sometimes half the challenge is feeling inspired to create during the little time you have. This chapter recognizes 14 ways to get inspired.

Also included in each chapter are special sidebars including: Kick-Start Challenges, Timesaving Tools, #1 Way to…, and Busy Scrapper Spotlights.

This book includes over 90 amazing projects bythe author herself as well as many talented scrap artists.