The Big Book of Happy Crafts: 24 Creative Projects to Infuse Your World with Style, Personality & Fun

Crafter Mallea’s ebullient debut lives up to its aspiration to bring readers “tons of joy” with instructions on making colorful décor, party decorations, and accessories. A section on gathering the proper tools and materials sets the endearingly chatty tone, with recommendations to acquire a paper trimmer (“I can never cut straight!”) and glitter (“There is always room for this”), in addition to the expected scissors, hot glue gun, and cardstock. The largely paper-centric projects include a chandelier made from paper cutouts of flowers strung on twine, surprisingly convincing crepe paper cherry blossoms, and a wreath featuring colored paper leaves. Among the standouts are an eye-catching toucan decoration—created by layering shapes cut from colored paper to create the bird’s wings, body, and tail, and suspending the result from a mobile so the bird appears in flight—and a collapsible handheld fan made from cardstock cutouts stylized to resemble pop art bananas. The best projects mix vibrant design with simplicity and easy-to-find materials, such as the curtain of tissue paper flowers on twine, though a few border on chintzy, like the “confetti purse” constructed from transparent contact paper decorated in glitter. Still, this provides plenty to smile about. (Sept.)