Creative Foundations: 40 Scrapbook and Mixed-Media Techniques to Build Your Artistic Toolbox

by Vicki Boutin

Yes, You CAN Do It! Internationally recognized artist and teacher Vicki Boutin takes the all mystery out of those scrapbook and mixed-media techniques you thought you could never do! She'll be with you every step of the way as you learn to paint, stamp, emboss and burnish your way to creating beautiful, unique and individual art. In Creative Foundations you'll So gather your arts and crafts supplies, choose your inspiration and get down to it! Whether you're making scrapbook pages, cards, wall art, décor or something else entirely, with these Creative Foundations , you'll find that the possibilities are endless.

Genres: Art, Crafts, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2011

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many exclamation points, too cutesy, and too much time spent pushing a certain line of products.

[Nedam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected more "foundations" from a book with the word in the title.

What exactly is gesso? When should it be used? When it shouldn't? Which other media can be used over it? Under it? Different types of gesso? Which tools and art materials will gesso destroy? What about acrylic paint? What types are there? How can it be safely disposed of? Different types of ink? Dye based vs pigment based.....

THOSE are the foundations.

This book only offers steps to follow without almost any deeper understanding of the WHY. Creativity can only come when one knows their tools and materials and this book doesn't teach that.

Another gripe is that often the photo of the result is missing. For example, there will be a photo of spraying ink through a stencil but not what is left after one lifts the stencil. (There are photos of the finished piece but the part that was in the tutorial will be a small section of it, incorporated into and covered with other pieces which makes it difficult to see).

[Yycdaisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an artist here so don't know if there's a name for projects like the ones in the book, but they are almost all highly texturized. They seemed more like cards for special events or something people might hang on a wall. Realistically, how many pages like these could fit in a scrapbook? Also the supplies lists seem a bit specialized for beginners. Where was an explanation of what some of the things are, and what an average person could use as a substitute if the item wasn't available? This would be frustrating for a teenager for instance, trying out one of the projects. And again as a non artist, the instructions seemed advanced. The book title led me to believe that this book would give a person some 'foundations'.

[Sarah Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for all types of artists but especially mixed media for how to create visually appealing layers. Many techniques shown add color, dimension and texture to your art and can be used for scrap booking, art journaling, canvas work and ATCs. This book was very nice to read because it broke it down into pieces/techniques with enough pictures and information to understand what they were trying to teach you to do. I highly recommend to any beginners and those who just need a fresh burst of inspiration.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good ideas

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow...many, many techniques & ideas! Looking forward to trying new ones and using
others as reminders

[Johannah Gage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent beginner mixed media book.

[Catherine Redner George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intro into mixed media that still applies today!

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

A blog turned into a book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4

[Briann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creative Foundations was a fun book to look at. While there were some creative and interesting ideas, it did not have as many crafts as I had hoped for. Furthermore, many of the crafts lacked a sort of polish. For now, I will stick with Pinterest.

[liberal sprinkles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creative Foundations is a very informative book with clear and well-illustrated instructions on executing 40 techniques that can be used for both scrapbooking and mixed media projects. They range from building backgrounds (collage, bubble wrap, monoprint, various resists) to creating textures (frottage, using gesso, tie-dye markers, tissue paper decoupage), using embellishments (ribbons, flowers, foil transfer, chipboards, paper quilting) and incorporating other ideas like paper piecing, recycling everyday items such as candy wrappers, dryer sheets, paper towel, as well as using craft materials like masking tape, glitter tape and foam stamps.

All technique tutorials are accompanied are by photo of a finished project and materials list. There are also pages on using the techniques discussed to create projects including scrapbook layout, decorative items, tags, cards – from both author Vicki Boutin and guest artists.

The book is full of ideas and inspirations. Although there are no step-by-step instructions for projects, many are simple enough to figure out with the given lists of materials and indications of the techniques used to make them.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I wasn't looking at this book for "scrapbooking" ideas, I did get some creative ideas about how to create some interesting framing around family pictures. I am interested in mixed media and this book did give me a few ideas to get me going. I bought this book used and I also saw that it is available for digital loan with my library. I would recommend borrowing it so you can save you $ for supplies in making the fun things inside this book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-have book for any crafter. The techniques were easy to follow, approachable, and most importantly -- beautiful! I could see myself using most of these techniques in my own projects, and I know I'll be referring to this book again and again. This one's definitely going on my keeper shelf!