Amazon.com Review

Pictures fade and paper crumbles, but computer files last as long astheir backups exist. Keep memories safe and well preserved with the HallmarkScrapbook Studio. This package includes everything you need to file scannedphotos, create memory pages, and design and print announcements and greetingcards.

Even the most left-brained user will find it easy to put together birthday cardsusing the simple click-and-drag interface; choosing from hundreds of presetdesigns or creating new ones from the unique elements included is fun and easy.Some computer experience will be helpful to navigate the program's installationand interface, but the online help should be sufficient to get anyonestarted.

As with all creative endeavors, working with the Scrapbook Studio gets easierand more fulfilling over time. Placing scanned photos on pages, for example, isa bit challenging at first, but practice quickly offers results. The packagealso includes a large paper greeting card, envelope, and stickers for a one-timenon-virtual scrapbook project; though it adds little to the software, it's anice rainy-day activity.

Computer users who want to arrange and store their memories will enjoy theprogram, but the real aim of the program is to help users create a never-endingsource of cards and keepsakes. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Inexpensive but not the best
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.

Great software! READ THIS TO FIX THE PHOTO PROBLEMS!
To anyone deciding whether or not to buy this, first of all, it is made by Sierra, so it works like Print Artist does. So, if you like Print artist, then this will be easy for you to use. This software, like Print Artist, lets you change the colors of the graphics, which I love. This software includes beautiful predesigned projects, the especially great ones are the baby themes, holiday themes, and heritage themes. The graphics included in the predesigned projects can be replaced with other graphics if you want to. The bad part about this software, just like Print Artist, is when you put photos in, it resizes it to fit the box, which means most of the time it will be distorted in some way. The best solution I have found is to edit your photos first, which means if you click on the square or rectangle, the bottom right hand corner will tell you the size of that rectangle. So then, you go resize it in a photo editing software by either making it that exact size or something equivalent to that size. So, if the box is 3in. x 4in., then you can use that size or 4.5in x 6in(1.5 times original) or 6in. x 8 in (2 times original) or anything else equivalent. This process might seem too hard at first, but after you get used to it, it goes pretty fast. This seemed to be the big problem for people, and for the price of the software, I think it is totally worth it even if you have to take that extra step for photos. The other solution is to add the photo by itself (insert graphic), then place it in on to of the photo spot- this doesn't work that well for frames. I, myself, don't usually print out photos in the photo spots, because I print the pages on cardstock, and you don't get great photos when printed on cardstock, so I cut out the spot for the photo and then put a printed or actual photo behind it. The great graphics include: realistic looking fabric and quilling, buttons, and gorgeous backgrounds. Totally worth it!

It's worth it for the graphics and layouts
This was the first Scrapbook program I bought (I know have three, this one, Scrapbook Factory, and Microsoft Picture It) and I was really disappointed with the user interface - especially the part about cropping photos.

I don't do traditionally scrapbooking where you have to use scissors and glue (yuck!). I was also upset to discover that you can't bring in cropped images because Hallmark Scrapbook Studio loses the transparency.

But the graphics are beautiful. The layouts are very good starting points. And, I just export everything to another program.

One last thing, the licensing agreement allows you to use the graphics for business use as for as I can tell.

So I can't recommend it to as THE scrapbooking program to get but then again I couldn't do that for any of the programs that I've tried. I plan on getting Scrapbook Studio 2 - just to get more graphics.

I wouldn't want it to be my first scrapbook program!
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.

I'm Returning It
I just received mine yesterday, and although there are a lot of cool templates, you cannot insert pictures unless they are straight up and down. If you try to insert one at an angle, it will be distorted - definitely a waste of money. ... Read more

Features

• Advanced Photo Workshop tools include powerful editing tools and special effects options that turns any photo into a masterpiece
• Party Set Creator designs coordinated invitations, place cards, banners, centerpieces -- even party hats
• Complete your entire project in just one step -Click the Finish Project option to print from any desktop
• More than 11,000 premium quality images and over 6,000 templates to make your personal projects shine
• Explore more than 9,100 exclusive sentiments to find the perfect message

Amazon.com Product Description

When an ordinary card just won't do, create your own witty and stylish personal greeting cards with Socially Unacceptable Greeting Cards. Choose from nearly 200 card templates for a quick start. Socially UnacceptableGreeting Cards is an easy-to-use program that leads you step by step for foolproof creations. Add text or graphics to any portion of the card for complete customization. A diverse collection of humorous, PG-and R-rated messages makes it easy to create cards for any occasion. Included are paper samples and envelopes to get you started. ... Read more

Features

• Select from over 2,000 different borders, backgrounds and ornaments -- whether it's a special birthday or holiday celebration, this software has it
• Customize your borders and backgrounds -- resize and rotate them with no loss of detail
• Browse to find the border or background for any occasion with the powerful & simple browser
• Ready-to-use black and white & color images to add a touch of class and uniqueness to any printed project

Amazon.com Product Description

The easy way to prepare a postcard mailing. Create your own professional postcards and mailers in minutes. Quickly set up your contact list or import an existing list. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Print Artist 15.0 Gold combines creative print-publishing functionality with a friendly interface, step-by-step tutorials, a new EasyStart Card, and digital imaging tools, enabling users to create professional-quality projects.You can easily create and personalize your cards, banners, newsletters, and crafts. With over 10,000 layouts to choose from, users can simply pick a project, personalize, and print in minutes. The drag-and-drop functionality makes customizing projects a snap. The choice of 4,000 layouts ensures users will find something uniquely suited to their taste. There are thousands of images and sentiments and 300 fonts. Each image, sentiment, and font can also be recolored or resized. Users can also download additional layouts and graphic content from the www.printartist.com Web site. Browsers can join the PALS (Print Artist Lovers Society) and share ideas with other home graphic design enthusiasts. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Fantastic!
Although a relatively cheap program, don't let that tell you anything! This program is a fantastic value, great from making cards, to making other knick-knacks. If you want a good quality print program, I would seriously recomend this program. It's served me very well for what I need in a normal house-hold environment!

Print Artist 2002
I have an older version of Print Artist which is very good.
This 2002 is the worst software I have ever used. What they don't tell you is that everything has to be downloaded from
the internet. E-Cards not just good quality cards. No grapics
without going to the Internet. Who needs the software?????

help
I need to know if this software is compatible with windows xp. please e-mail me information--thanks lI absolutely loved the print artist that I used on my other computer...thanks

What a deal!
I found this product to be easy to use and a lot of fun. Easy to make fliers, invitations and such. There are lots of clip art images to chose from. However, I bought it thinking I could make half-fold size cards and it printed a quarter-size card. If it can print bigger ones, I can't figure out how. I also tried making a vertical line for a flier and I could not get the line to be straight. I ended up using Word. For the price I still think it is a bargain and worth it.

More worth it than I would have ever dreamt.
I have been a Print Artist user for several years now so I have some experience with past versions (platinum and earlier). I had become so frustrated by the whole program I thought to try something else this time, however, the exceptional price convinced me not to and for that I am exceptionally pleased. Why is it better this time around? I absolutely need to spell check everything I type and this version has finally added the spell check feature. The whole menu is easier to navigate and the editing abilities have been vastly improved. The new designs are funky and more elaborate. They now have better clip-art with a greater variety of objects and thankfully it is arranged in slightly more logical categories, so you might actually find what you are looking for. Not having to insert a cd, wait for it to load and wade through an all but useless search engine in order to use a different graphic helps too. But none of these are the best part. My version included a full one year subscription to ArtToday for free, that is a hundred fifty dollar value (they upped the price from 29.99 to 153.40 yearly *wow*). Great stuff for fifteen bucks I say. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Better Than 5 Stars :)
Over the Christmas holiday I had an opportunity to use the software I bought for my parents. It's easy to move around in, the art is the greatest, there are projects galore & the card sentiments are the best on the market. I'm buying a copy for personal use and recommend it highly if you like "creating your feelings." This is the software to do it! ... Read more

Features

• Create and print your own high-quality labels - with templates from each of the major home label manufacturers
• Rotate, edit and colorize your graphics to create the look you want
• Full clip-art library for adding extra punch to your personal images
• Built-in record database for simpler organizing and searching
• Enhanced text tools let you make your writing stand out

Amazon.com Product Description

Create your own one-of-a-kind Hallmark cards for cherished friends and family with Hallmark Card Studio 2003. Choose from a huge variety of Hallmark cards for any occasion and simply select, customize, and print. You can also send your card via e-mail with your own voice recording or prerecorded message. The Event Planner keeps track of all the important people in your life, notifies you of important dates, and easily creates mailing lists. With Hallmark Card Studio 2003, it's easy, fast, and fun to create personalized Hallmark cards. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Almost Perfect....
As of yet, the best card program I have seen. I'll try to touch on features that other reviewers have missed. Setup is easy, however, if you have enough space on your hard drive I would highly recomend selecting a "full install" when given the option. This will eat up over a Gigabyte of drive space but you will avoid the hassle of constantly swithching between two CDs when browsing the 2500+ "pre-made" cards. In fact, you won't need the CDs at all after a full install. Creating custom cards is a little more involved but the possibilities are endless. Card Studio makes it effortless to import your own graphics or even incorporate your own photos into a card project. ONE thing missing that I would like to have is the ability to purchase and add on yearly upgrades. The 2500 included pre-made cards are not bottomless. For instance: when searching for "Christmas", "for Brother" card studio turns up only three cards! Only one of which I felt was appropriate. Therefore, next year I either make a custom card, buy a card, or Purchase "Card Studio 2004". Of course if Hallmark put their entire card archive into Card Studio they would soon be out of business. A yearly upgrade option to registered users of Card Studio would seem to be a fair solution. You guys at Sierra/Hallmark reading this?

Hallmark Card Studio 2003
Was so glad to get an updated version, of what I have in Studio 3. Now, I use both. 2003 has some nice features that I didn't have. I work a lot with Art Studio and love to create my own cards. There's so much to choose from. The text is easier to work with in Studio 3, but I'm learning the new version. I've gotten so many compliments on cards that I've created, from scratch. The only cards I buy in the store are Christmas. It means so much more to personalize my own. Thanks, Hallmark!

Much better than going to the card store
This product is incredibly easy to use. There are so many cards and projects to choose from and they are all organized by category. I like being able to personalize the back of the card where it says "created just for you by me". I don't understand why people want to cover up the Hallmark symbol on the back of the card. That's one of the things I like most about this product, especially since you can print them on Hallmark paper and send them in a Hallmark envelope. They look like you bought the cards at the store (but they are personalized). This was a great purchase.

worst yet
Hadn't updated my greeting card software in a few years so was looking forward to this updated Hallmark version. As an owner of previous Hallmark, CreataCard, Print Shop and Printmaster software, I expected this newest version to be as good or maybe even incrementally better. It wasn't. Rather, just the opposite.

Very limited card selection sentiments (i.e. no risque humor), pale and washed out graphics, no business card functionality, awkward maneuvering and limited editing flexibility during creation are some of the many reasons for rating this product poor. It was returned to the manufacturer for a full refund.

Of all my previous print/card software products and versions, Hallmark was always my least favorite but I still kept them. Not this time.

I'm about to try Nova Technology's Card Factory 2. Checked some reviews--looked decent. Will keep you posted.

Good Program made worse...
Upgraded from the earlier version of Hallmark Card Studio. Noticed right away that the nice graphic telling you how to flip the paper over to make a 2-sided card was much smaller and much more difficult to see how I should flip the paper to the correct orientation, but I didn't let that deter me.

Graphics are nice, and you get a reasonable selection, but once you narrow your search down, it isn't that impressive of a selection anymore, and really didn't add that many more cards from the last version. You will eventually run into problems printing particular cards for which Sierra has posted fixes. However...

After some update (need to keep Windows updated after all), I can no longer print any cards. Sierra takes forever to fix their bugs or to help you out. Might be tempted to blame the Windows update...but if that were true, all my programs would be broken, not just this one. Truth be told, Sierra doesn't do a particularly good job of programming or support... ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Creating crafts has never been easier. Search through the ready-made crafts, categorized by type, occasion, or keyword. American Greetings has done the hard work--all you have to do is personalize, print, and assemble.

Easily personalize your workspace. It is easy to edit text, adjust or add pictures, and add sentiments. Onscreen tutorials and printed assembly instructions come with every craft, so there's no guesswork. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Best home card-maker
This program is great. Kids love the "crafts" like masks and three-dimensional package tags, but for my money, the best feature of this program is the unique greeting cards you can make with light-weight card stock. There are photo cards, cut out cards, over-size cards, pop-up cards, slider cards . . . features like these put this one head and shoulders above most other card maker programs. The program is a little cumbersome to use, always returning to the "start" screen in between previews of projects, and there are several categories of projects that consist only of "ads" for add-on packages, which is annoying. Overall, though, this is a great program.

Wonderful!
This program is wonderful! If you have some computer smarts and love to craft...this is the product for you! You can design your own really neat stuff like gift bags, mobiles, masks, pop up cards...etc. Or you can use the already made items and add your own personalization. It's Wonderful! And the people you give the gifts too will be amazed and delighted at how talented you are!

frustrating and disappointing
I bought this program both for myself, and and as a gift for my sister's family. We've both used it just a couple times, and tried to create cards. My 14-year old nephew and 12-year old niece tried for over an hour to make a Father's Day card. A number of matches came up on the search, but every one they looked at had to be purchased in an add-on pack. My sister and I worked on it recently trying to create a fun get-well card for our nephew. We specified search criteria as a humorous "get well" pop-up card, and got only one match....a card for an adult from his/her co-workers! When we changed criteria on the search, we found more cards but they were all in add-on packs that had to be purchased at a cost of $15 and up. We both can usually figure out programs easily without the manual, but we had to dig out the manual on this and it wasn't much help in this area. There was a separate disk with a lot of cool clip-art pictures but it seems they are for use in creating from scratch, not pre-made cards or projects. After viewing a particular card, there doesn't seem to be a way to go forward/back to view between cards/projects in a category, you have to close out and go back to the point of your search criteria again, then go forward to see the projects already picked with previous search criteria to select another to view. I don't see how this can be a program for kids to use easily. I own the program American Greetings Creatacard Gold 3 version and love it--very easy to use and a great program--but I seem to have the same disappointment and frustration with the Crafts program as the users of the Creatacard Platinum 4 version of their greeting card program. The projects look so impressive in the promo and on the box cover--I hope persistance will pay off and I'll find a way around the snags to use the neat features this program does offer.

Full of Bugs! Frustrating!
I really do like this product, only I have found this version, the Deluxe one, to be full of programming bugs. I have to reinstall it occasionally, for no apparent reason. It often takes 3 or more tries to get the program to run. The CD won't read half of the time when I'm on my Dad's computer. (sometimes it does, but when I'm on a deadline, like right NOW, it just DIES on me.) It won't display thumbnails of my own projects 50% of the time when I'm trying to open them. When I scroll through the "your own projects gallery" the program crashes. Spool time to my top of the line Epson printer is over 2 hours for a page with 2 simple postcards.

There are no true help files included with the program. There are no online bulletin boards for tech support that I can find anywhere. If you want to call Tech Support, you have to do it during "normal business hours" on weekdays only, and there is NO 800 number, so you have to pay for the long distance call yourself. Of all the products in this particular line, this one is the least supported.

A friend was on a deadline for her business, and when the program crashed and wouldn't come back, she was told by tech support that she needed to buy more add-ons from them to make it work.

Maybe I will have better luck (luck is the operative word) with the Crafts 2 program. The program can do some really neat stuff, when it chooses to work. ... Read more

Features

• The perfect tool for organizing the names, addresses, and other contact information with just a click
• Adjust the fonts, colors, logos of your mailing labels and homemade postcards in just a few steps
• Choose from hundreds of label sizes you can print with a click
• Thousands of clip art images included
• Accepts postal codes from other countries and provinces