Colourful Fun Embroidery is exactly what the title says. Bright and fun designs with tidbits on creativity and stitching tips to keep your creativity levels up.

While i love instructional craft books I love them even more when they have a thought out theme that makes it stand out from the large array of books that are already available. Our theme here is, of course, creativity but also mindfulness within that. It's about finding ways to foster your creativity to grow it and give into it. Sometimes you're just not feeling it and this is a great place to start for if you're looking for a pick me up. Even just looking through the photos and getting inspiration is enough to get me to want to start making something!

I'm a very creative person and I've heard a lot of the advice in this book before but sometimes it's really nice to just read something written by another creative and then also immediately be thrown into lots of beautiful projects. Sometimes it's also very nice to be reminded that creativity is not a race and it will come to you when it comes to you. You don't need to do everything right now, tomorrow is another day.

I would consider all of these very beginner friendly projects and if you're more advanced you may not learn anything new from this book but the beauty of this book is in its simplicity. These are very simple projects but there is so much room for adding your own custom flair to them. This book is separated into three main parts so you can quickly find a project for you:

Crafternoons - These would be very quick projects that you can easily pick up and finish in a few hours.
Medium Makes - These are projects that will take a bit longer to create, probably a couple of days without pushing yourself.
Pick me up - My favourite category. These are more freestyle experimental projects that I think more experienced crafters will enjoy the most because they act more like a starting point.

Each project is easily customizable and includes a great breakdown of each tool you'll need as well as stitch tips specific to that project. All instructions are very easy to follow and you could go into this with very limited knowledge and get a lot out of it.

While I do love displaying embroidery on walls I really love that there are lots of different options, there's pin cushions, wearables, and you can of course customize anything in this book to be a more "useful" item for those of us who are running out of wall space.

My personal favourite project is the Clamshell Patchwork Hoop which I already have a lot of ideas on how to expand for myself.

ARC provided by NetGalley

This was aimed at adults, but was more a YA category. Was looking forward to quick and easy designs, but this wasn't very inspiring. If aimed at correct audience, it would do well.

I have been embroidering off and on since I was a child. I have searched for new, fresh ideas that will appeal to a younger generation (i.e., my daughter). The tips and tricks in here are great and laid out in the front so you know what you can do with your project and supplies to get started. I like that there are quick easy projects to do in a "crafternoon". These included a few techniques I have never seen such as the "Loose Ends Project". I also love the projects incorporating English Paper Piecing techniques to appear to a wider variety of audiences. Also, I saw a few projects that would make priceless gifts for my children's teachers. Overall, this is the embroidery book I've been searching for to freshen up and stretch my embroidery skills.

This is a super cute embroidery book. The instructions are clear and basic enough for beginners. I love the bright colors and fun projects.

Clare Albans promises 24 fun projects, suitable for beginners and experienced crafters; some that can be finished in one afternoon, others might take a little longer. That is exactly what you get with this book.

Each design includes detailed step-by-step instructions, not to mention that the book offers a section on the basic steps, embroidery stitches and material needed to finish these projects.

Colourful Fun Embroidery by Clare Albans is exactly what the title promises: colourful and fun! I looooove color and for me it can’t be bright enough, and this book is totally my style, bright colors are used in a stylish way, not too busy on the eye, exactly right. All the happy quotes and rainbows are guaranteed to put a smile to your face! I love all the projects, which looks very modern and hip, there is a lot of “handlettering” used in the stitchery and geometrical shapes, which will speak to a lot of people, especially younger people like me (I still like to think I’m 20 instead of 33). Clare explains all the basics really well, and also covers some subjects like stitching on stretchy fabrics (like a shirt), and denim, which I haven’t seen explained before to be honest. She also uses other techniques like felt and a little sewing and patchwork, all in a very easy way (though I have to mention as a quilter I think the methods for the clamshells are a bit questionable... there are better and easier ways, but this is not a quilt book and it should probably work). I like how she uses stitchery to sew small projects too, instead of using the sewing machine. I prefer that myself, too. But that#’s also a minor detail. I love how she showed how to create an hombre (like blending one color into another), and other cool techniques that are very easy to do but the effect is so lovely! And she showed things that I never thought of before, so I’ll definitely be looking at my stitchery with new eyes. And I want to make all the projects.

I received a free e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a beginners book on how to incorporate embroidery into your craft work. There are lots of basic craft ideas and modern projects, accompanied with detailed instructions to complete them successfully. The designs also can be used to decorate clothing and home decor. This colorful book is beautifully illustrated with clear step-by-step instructions. The author thoughtfully organized the projects by how much time was needed to complete them.

The author also provides a list of sources for craft supplies and resources to go forward with the craft. The templates she used for the project designs are also provided. Someone new to embroidery will find encouragement and success as they complete the projects. In Colorful Fun Embroidery, Clare Albans has created a book that provides us with fresh look at embroidery and provides whimsical projects that will encourage crafters to start embroidering!

So easy to understand- as a novice sewer I was able to follow the directions with ease and learn a new skill

Good instructions and great photographs. The projects felt a little juvenile to me, but that's a personal taste thing, not a value judgment on the book. I appreciated the clarity in terms of each project's difficulty. I was glad to see that it went beyond just hoop art, too.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for supplying an e-copy of this book for review.

This is a delightful book, which would be suitable for beginners and those more experienced with embroidery.

I particularly like how the book is organised into projects based on time to complete. There are projects that can be completed in an afternoon, as well as longer term and more challenging projects. Many of them are text based - hoops with some sort of message - but they can be easily changed and the possibilities for personalising them are endless. I have been sewing a long time, but there were several small projects here that I hadn't thought of or seen before and I will definitely be making. Instructions are clear throughout.

This would make a perfect gift for anyone new to embroidery or looking for inspiration.

I love the variety of designs in this book and the photographs are beautiful and inspiring. There is definitely a design here to suit everyone and every style! The book focuses on colourful embroidery, which is absolutely delivers, but I found the page presentation very bare and lacking in colour which felt at odds with the embroidery.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a really cute and fun embroidery book with some fantastic embroidery ideas and projects that are modern, cute and can accessorise your bags, clothes, rooms etc.

Each embroidery project gives easy to follow step by step instructions with photos too and each project shows you which colour threads to use.

At the back of the book are the templates the author used in her book to make her embroidery pieces and a list of suppliers.

A fantastic first book from Clare Albans, can't wait to see what projects she does next!

The 24 projects are exactly what it says on the cover of the book – colourful and fun. The front cover of the book is really appealing and I think any of the projects would make a great little ‘pick me up’ projects. I’ve bookmarked a few to make as I can’t resist a banner or hoop project!

Quarantine hit me hard and left me feeling jittery and cooped up in my house, so what else was I to do as a bored girl in her late 20s to do but take up the hobbies or an 80-year-old and it was amazing. I've been struggling with some of the advanced stitches and this book laid them out really well. I've also been wondering how I could move from pre-printed patterns to make my own and I'm excited to start transferring my own designs to fabric to embroider. Albans lays out easy projects to help build your skills and shows the next step up if you want to reach for something totally new.

Clear instructions and nice photos with a nice range of projects. The projects are also nicely organized by how long they take. I also enjoyed that there were alternate suggestions for how to make the project your own and for other uses for the designs. Overall a very nice book for someone looking to learn basic embroidery or to try out some new projects.

I do some embroidery and like more modern, easy to do projects, so this is a really good choice for me.
There are some really nice ideas - I particularly like the rainbow adornment to the neck of the Breton top and the Ouch speech bubble pincushion.
The instructions are practical and simple and there are plenty of tips for someone at my level - for example, on using interface.
I sometimes find projects twee but these are actually quite cute.
No project is too difficult but some will be more time-consuming than others, such as the banners.
Recommended for the not-too-advanced stitcher with an eye for colourful projects.

Colorful Fun Embroidery contains a roundup of fun, cheery, and, well, colorful embroidery projects ranging from the beginner level to more time and skill intensive. I've worked from a bunch of modern embroidery books with a similar setup, but this particular book stands out as the most upbeat. I loved the variety of projects, from necklaces to brooches to clothing. There are a lot of creative ideas in here that embroiderers of all skill levels can enjoy. The instructions themselves are easy to understand, with tons of detailed, helpful photos showing the process. The stitch guide in the back is always important to include, and I really liked the suppliers guide as well. I would have liked the supplier for particular, harder to find items, like the smaller embroidery hoop for the necklace, to be listed right next to the item in the instructions. Overall, this is a pretty fun embroidery book that has some innovative projects and will delight lovers of the rainbow for sure.

Uninspiring embroidery that you will have seen in so many blogs and mindfulness magazines. Full of all those phrases that are meant to inspire you - but actually make you want to vomit.

I couldn't help smiling as I read through this book. The use of colour certainly helps. This is a lovelybook that contains a number of projects that will help build your skills and creativity. After working your qay through the designs in this book I know that you will have the confidence to branch out into your own designs.

The projects in the book seem ideal for the beginner or someone who is used to buying kits and helps them break into the next level..





#CreativeFunEmbroidery#Netgalley

This was a lovely and easy to read/understand guide on how to do embroidery. I liked that the projects came first, with the techniques being placed to the back of the book, which is unusual, I think. It makes you want to jump in and do the project straight away. The pictures in the ARC were tiny, though and rather difficult to see.