Craft the Rainbow: 40 Colorful Paper Projects from The House That Lars Built

by Brittany Watson Jepsen

What began as an Instagram hashtag and project collection (#CrafttheRainbow) that quickly went viral has become a showstopping book, offering a rainbow of completely new project ideas. Learn how to make playful party decorations, luscious flowers, amazing cards, and sophisticated wreaths, garlands, centerpieces, and more than you can imagine—all with nothing but the creative power of paper. Sought-after designer Brittany Watson Jepsen is known for the unusually imaginative and amazingly beautiful designs she creates for her website and host of clients (including Anthropologie). In Craft the Rainbow, Jepsen walks readers through the easy basics of transforming simple paper—including tissue, crepe, cardstock, leaves of books, and vintage and recycled paper—into vibrant, fanciful, handmade projects suitable for every occasion.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2018

Reviews

[Charity Tillemann-Dick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures and attainable crafts, Craft The Rainbow carries the same warm voice as Ms. Jepsen's popular blog instagram feeds in a coffee-table worthy tome. A must-have for crafting enthusiasts and aspirational craft browsers alike!

[Lokita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen, I like the format of this book, and it's pleasant to look through. But no book that's clearly trying to be as high-brow as this one has any business telling you to hang up rainbow streamers or glue drinking straws to a headband and calling it a "project."

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A vibrant spectrum of visual delights, I enjoyed browsing this book more for the stylized photography than the complicated, rather superfluous crafts.

[Rachel Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of very creative ideas I had never seen before.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even seeing the colourful spine of this book on my bookshelf fills me with joy. Never mind whether I’ll ever make anything from the book, the colour combinations are inspirational and the whole book is a banquet for the eyes.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love crafting, this book is a luscious experience, from sumptuous smooth pages, to perfect photography, to tone-saturated 'palate' . The book includes step-by-step instructions and full-size patterns. Ideas are equally good for embellishing parties, weddings on the cheap, or apartments.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crafting the Rainbow is filled with projects in the rainbow spectrum; the kind up in the sky, not the one on pride badges. But they can easy be adapted to be any color you would like to make them. The projects range from the simpler to the more complex. Overall, not a bad book.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the of book is how the author measures the time it will take to complete each project. It ranges from the length of Tina Fey's Bossypants audiobook to a couple episodes of television shows.

[Amberwench · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to love this but the first project I tried said it had downloadable files on the website- which of course I didn't find on the website. Highly illustrated, richly colored, projects of all skill levels. Worth the flip-through just for the lush monochromatic spreads.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of cute ideas. Will I ever actually execute any of them???

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most colourful craft books I've seen in a long time. Projects are broken down by each colour of the rainbow with instructions on mixing and matching colours, creating your crafted design and my favourite part, the introduction to each project that includes a little back story by the author, a How to Use paragraph on the particular colour and a short list of Colours used, Time and Inspiration.
I loved this book! It was such a treat to go thru and bask in each individual colour of the rainbow that also included (though not part of the rainbow) black and white projects AND lastly projects that used all the colours of the rainbow in their making. Even if I never do get around to making anything the pictures alone are worth looking at and returning to time and again for inspiration in whatever I am making. This book is a plus for anyone who loves colour like I do.
Great book, highly recommended for any crafter and be sure to check out The House that Lars Built website for more ideas!!

[Juli Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fun idea for a craft book! The was executed far better than I thought it would be, and I could actually see myself making some of these things. Materials are generally cheap and easy to come by, and almost none of the projects require special skills. I also got a kick out of how Jepsen estimates how much time a project will take with things like "your favorite Christmas playlist" and "the old Pride and Prejudice." Definitely worth a gander.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is certainly very pretty and contains some great ideas, but I wish that the projects were more focused on creative reuse than new materials. Many of the projects also seemed to be constrained by the author’s personal feelings about certain colors, which put a bit of a damper on the concept of “crafting the rainbow.” Perhaps it would’ve been better for her to concentrate on paper crafts without an emphasis on color. The author’s design sensibility is so strong that it’s unnecessary for her to try to make her projects meet such arbitrary criteria.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book! The science of color is artistically and stunningly presented. The pictures are inviting with amazing colors. The projects are of elevated style and quite refined. The templates are included but most need to be taken to a professional printer to be enlarged. Unfortunately, most of the projects are beyond the tools I have and supplies available locally.

[Sarà Grilli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante anche se alcuni progetti sono inutili. Solo in lingua inglese seppur di facile comprensione, copertina rigida. Sono presenti i cartamodelli che salvano un po' un libro che non ha grande riscontro, essendo comunque ripeto solo in lingua inglese

[Bekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the pictures are stunning and lovely to look at, I was disappointed at the crafts after a while. There were way too many flowers and leaves and not enough creative/different projects.

[Regine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think you can find better crafts on Pinterest.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little to arts and crafts for me. Also, too many things to get to make the things in this book for someone who is trying to downsize and use what I have.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun paper crafts to do. I like the fun facts about each color before each chapter.

[Hwydiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but for people that have a lot of time to burn.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of great ideas.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paper crafts for all sorts of occasions and uses.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of ideas which can be adapt depending who you're making with or planning for.

[Div Manickam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The joys of color.. such a beautifully crafted book with amazing ideas on how to get colorful paper projects off the ground from your mind to everyone's hearts.. Love it! thank you

[Lisa Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good ideas, but a lot that I would never actually do.

[Robin Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pg, 28 but 29 is too much pink, 41, 43 wallpaper, 54, 74, 84, 90, 94, 97, 103, 112, 117, 131, 141, 165, 167.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

These projects were all neat to check out but realistically, besides the rainbow card project, there isn’t much an average person is going to make in here. White paper holly 4x bigger than your head for stairs? Sewing tickets to make a banner? The ideas are neat to see but I don’t see these projects being something most people are going to do.

Bumped it from 3 stars to 4 because there is a cute rainbow card template that is free to print and I appreciate that.

[Emily Blackstock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love The House That Lars Built! I think their team is SO creative and could become a modern Martha Stewart empire...for real. Love them. BUT this book was somewhat of a letdown. It’s visually beautiful and there are a couple of crafts that I wanted to do, but some of the crafts felt like fillers for the sake of putting a book together. I don’t need to buy a book to tell me how to make streamers. They have great style, but I wouldn’t recommend buying this book. They should have waited and curated a better collection of crafts before compiling them into a book.

I would probably only give this book 2 stars if I didn’t already love this company.