Lacé in Bright Colours
By Gerda Perik 

    Since it appeared a couple of years ago, the Dutch papercraft of lacé (the word means laced) has become very popular, and this is the fifth little square book to cover it and add yet another batch of new ideas to go with the latest templates and new double-sided card packs. If (like this reviewer) you are tired of dark and pastel colours and prefer brighter hues, then this is the book for you, and the cheerful but not gaudy cards ought to banish anybody's blues.

     If you live outside Holland, you probably will find it difficult to obtain everything shown in the book, but this fault cannot be laid at the door of the author or publishers. If you have done some lacé work before and are looking for some new ideas, this is certainly the book for you, as Gerda Perik really puts some of the latest additions to the craft market (eyelets, Happy Color paper, border punches and adhesive stones) through their paces and there are some stunning cards in here, none of which are very hard to make, but which look impressive. If you are a beginner, you would perhaps be better off with the first book, Lacé Cutting & Folding (also reviewed on this site), which uses less embellishments and explains in more detail what to do. My criticism of this book and others in this series is the daunting list of materials at the beginning, which makes it look as if you need everything on it, whereas of course you don't. The best way to use this book is for ideas, and then add you own special touch with the materials you have at hand. The instructions and diagrams are fairly good and if you can track down those elusive paper tole sheets, there are even cutting instructions for some of them. I liked the way that instead of just the ubiquitous Christmas and birthday cards, this book had omitted Christmas altogether (too big a subject and needs its own book) and instead given ideas for men, Spring, condolence, anniversary, and even driving test as well as wedding and baby. Still no scrapbooking pages, but most of the ideas could easily be adapted. Probably something for everybody packed into another great little book.