Review: A nice guide with some clever ideas
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2012
This is an interesting and useful guide to using various materials you have left over from crafting or sewing projects, items you have in your home such as soda cans, tin cans, plastic packaging, etc. in your craft projects.This guide is quite useful for the person new to "upcycling" who may not know exactly what to even look for on the internet when wanting some quick ideas. This guide is also very useful for the ability to use it when internet access is not available (yes, believe it or not, that still happens sometimes!). I especially appreciated the information about different die-cutting dies that she had specifically tested in order to cut different materials, because I don't necessarily want to ruin half my dies by trying to cut something they can't cut, but neither do I want to have dies and embossing folders that I don't use because I am afraid of messing them up, when I could be making fantastic creations out of them. I also appreciated some of the ideas I had not thought of, such as layering or blending colors of spray paint on clear plastic to achieve different effects.This is a basic guide. It has a few techniques that are very suited to the beginning or novice crafter, or the crafter who is new to die cutting/embossing or mixed-media techniques. For especially experienced crafters, it might not be the most useful thing. I have to say, though, I consider myself an expert crafter, but even I got some new ideas from this guide! In fact, I have done some of the projects she did in a slightly different way - I will be chatting with her about exchanging ideas, which is one of the greatest things about crafting!I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys crafting, and especially for anyone who is interested in using up all of their materials, finding a way to incorporate new and unexpected elements into their work, or who enjoys die-cutting/embossing, card-making, or creating mixed-media projects. I think it is a good value for the price for this use.bottom line? recommended for ALL ages. VERY good book.I knocked off one star because there were some typographical errors that careful editing would have fixed, and she has a nice gallery of photographs that I wish had captions.Disclaimer: I received a copy of this e-book free in exchange for my honest opinion, which I have given here.