If you followed our stories on Instagram yesterday, as promised, today we're thrilled to be included and kicking off Brittany Watson Jepsen's (The House That Lars Built), blog book tour, for her gorgeous new book, Craft the Rainbow, 40 Colorful Paper Projects from The House That Lars Built.

I haven't seen a crafting book like this in a long, long time and I think it will be one that will go down into the crafting book classics. It's gorgeous! And as many of you know, Brittany is a crafting queen, so not only are the projects, styling and photos in this book stunning, she's also a great teacher (we loved having her here in Vancouver for a paper flower workshop in our old shop a few years back) and she makes the projects in this book approachable, beautiful and inspiring!

And so today, we are excited to share one of the special projects from the book with permission from the publisher, Abrams Books. The book is available at the following retailers.   

Check out the project post below!





Floral Cutout Mobiles
Published with permission from the new book, Craft the Rainbow 
by Brittany Watson Jepsen (The House That Lars Built) with Abrams Books

Matisse was the father of large-scale paper cutting. During the last ten years of his life he explored this new medium by painting sheets of white paper with gouache and cutting them into various shapes before pinning them to their permanent homes. He considered paper cutting to be a fulfillment of his lifelong ambition to create monumental works.

Here’s my take on Matisse’s monumental paper cutouts: floral cutout mobiles. They would be lovely decorations in a baby’s room, by a window, or for a party

How to use purple
Red is probably my favorite companion for purple. I used a warm purple to go with a more orange-y red.
Colors: purples and reds
Inspiration: Matisse

Materials:
• poster board
• acrylic paint in reds and purples
• paintbrush
• templates (click HERE to download)
• scissors
• craft knife
• cutting mat
• 1/16-inch hole punch
• metal jump rings

Instructions:
1. Texturize poster board by painting on designs like stripes, dots, and splatters.
2. Copy the templates onto white paper, and cut out. Trace onto poster board, and cut out the shapes with a craft knife.
3. Punch holes at the base and top of the flowers.
4. Insert the metal rings and connect three to five flowers. Hang from the ceiling or a wall.


Pick up Craft the Rainbow, 40 Colorful Paper Projects from The House That Lars built at: