Author Archives: Iiiireader

This is a coloring book with 90 pages of designs. What you really get is 45 different animal designs with each one printed twice with a different background color. There might be subtle changes in the two designs but for the most part, nothing of much consequence. The designs are licensed from Shutterstock.com as are many other animal coloring books these days. I have seen and have colored a few of these from other books. What seems to be different is that the doodle pattern is not the same as what I have colored previously so perhaps what is being licensed is the line drawing and Barron’s is having their own artist do the fill-in work. In any case, same images but a different coloring experience for me.

The designs are printed with the same animal front and back. I will list the 45 animals towards the end of this review for anyone interested. The designs are mostly in one or two colors with black lines on white paper in the minority. Backgrounds are mostly dark blue with some gold tone, black, and white. The printing is a variety of the same colors. If you use a coloring medium that bleeds through the page (see below), you will need to choose which side of the page you prefer but at least it will be a decision between the same animal rather than losing a completely different design.

The doodle designs are intricate but in most cases not to the point of having tiny, almost impossible to color elements. There are a couple where the elements get fairly small but I will probably just use a single color over those spots rather than try to do them separately. The animals are mostly shown as head shots with a few exceptions for various birds, a chameleon, and an octopus.

The cover is very pretty with touches of silver foil. The designs are printed on both sides of generally colorful background perforated paper. I really appreciate that Barron has included perforations in this book as most of their previous ones lacked this. If only they would stop printing on both sides of the page. The book is glue-bound rather than sewn but that should not be an issue as you can remove pages at the micro-perforations. I was able to get my book to lay fairly flat by breaking the spine.

My alcohol-based markers all bled through the paper. My water-based markers and India ink artist pens all left shadows of color on the backside of the paper. My gel pens did not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page. My coloring pencils worked extremely well with the soft core pencils blending beautifully. I will either remove pages from the book as I go along or use a blotter page under the page I am working on. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring medium I used to test this coloring book.

The animal designs included in this book are: tiger, owl, orangutan, hummingbird, polar bear, horse, reindeer, chameleon, koala, eagle, monkey, octopus, wolf, panther, sheep, cat, walrus, raccoon, camel, elephant, carp, deer, frog, board, lemur, bear, giraffe, otter, panda, antelope, lion, hippo, pug, dove, hyena, bison, turtle, wombat, goat, sloth, fox, beaver, parrot, meerkat, and sphynx.

I have really enjoyed this series of coloring books by various designers. This new book is by artist Lori Siebert. The designs are mostly of flowers and nature scenes and in each design, Ms. Siebert has incorporated one of God’s promises (along with the Bible cite.) When I am discouraged or feel down for whatever reason, I have found that looking to the promises that God has made for me can lift my spirit up and help me to deal with whatever crisis has occurred. There have been times in my life when I felt that I was overwhelmed and that there was no way out of the darkness. On my own, that would be true but each time I have been able to find a promise that I could hold cling to even if it was simply that God will give me rest.

This will be a coloring book that I will turn to when I am feeling like the world is simply too much. That happens a lot these days which so much going on around us. The book has 37 different promises which absolutely will not be broken. I will pick the one that speaks to me in that day and reflect on it as I color. The translations used in this coloring book are: New American Standard Bible, New King James Version, Holy Bible New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible New Living Translation and the Living Bible.

The designs in the book are printed on one side of non-perforated medium weight white paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn, so you will have to cut out pages if you wish to remove them from the book. The designs stop before the binding so if you wish to remove them, you won’t lose parts of the design when you carefully cut them out. I was able to get the book to lay flat by breaking the spine.

All markers I tested bled through this paper. All other mediums, including coloring pencils, left a shadow on the back of the page and a bit of a dent, too. The gel pens did not require extra drying time. The soft lead coloring pencils went on thick and creamy and were extremely easy to blend. I am using a piece of card stock as a blotter page under each page I work on to prevent any damage to the rest of the book. This is something that I routinely do with almost every coloring book I own. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring medium I used in testing this book.

I ordered both this and the companion set from this publisher (Creative Expressions) and I didn’t pay close enough attention when I was placing my order for these cards. I thought that I would be receiving note cards but as it turns out, these are single sided, heavyweight and slightly larger than business cards. There are 44 different designs in the cards.

My recent purchases from this publisher had led me to expect only a few with Biblical reference but it turns out that there are 32 cards with actual scriptural cites on them. There are an additional seven which deal with God or other religious connotations. Finally, there are five general feel-good cards. I was surprised in a very good and happy way to see a larger focus on both Old and New Testament verses.

The cards are 4.25 x 3.25 inches. Most have the designs printed horizontally on the card (29 of them) with an additional 15 vertical designs. The card stock weight is very good and heavy. The front of the cards have a good tooth feel for good coverage for coloring pencils. The back of the card has a glossy finish that feels as if there is some type of coating on it.

I have been pondering how to use these cards and have decided I really like them as cards versus note cards. I can always mount them on blank cards if I wish to use them that way (as I do when I make cards with rubber stamp techniques.) They are also item to have on hand when our church home group meets at our house. It will be a fun way to take a break or to end the evening.

The designs are printed fairly small and I found that using my ultra-fine markers, smaller nib gel pens, and hard lead coloring pencils worked the best for me. Some of the cards have tiny areas to color but that is to be expected with such a small coloring area.

None of of my coloring medium bled through this paper. Not even the alcohol-based markers had a color shadow which makes it some of the best coloring card stock I have used. It is a really heavyweight and will stand up to being carried around for an on the go project. My coloring pencils worked well but there wasn’t really enough surface to do much with blending; however, when I tested them, the soft lead pencils did blend well. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring medium I used to test these cards.