Author Archives: Iiiireader

Creative Haven Merry Christmas Designs Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Suzanne Anoushian

Rating: 5 of 5

The Christmas season is my favorite of the year. I like to do all sorts of crafts and coloring Christmas designs is something I really enjoy. Merry Christmas Designs is by artist Suzanne Anoushian who is new to me. The designs range from Santas to Christmas trees to elves, wreathes, stockings and all sorts of things I think of for the season. Each of the designs also provide information, songs, or even stories that relate to Christmas as well.

I chose to do a design based on glass ornaments as I like to collect a wide variety of ornaments, including vintage glass ones. I had a lot of fun using both markers and gel pens (especially ones with glitter and metallic looks.) I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

The designs have a sketch-style look to them. Even the words look hand written in very neat penmanship. The designs are detailed though not what I would call intricate to color.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

31 hand-drawn Christmas inspired designs with lots of Christmas information

Designs are printed one side of the page

Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.

The designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through with colorful spots and shadows on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I use more than one layer of color.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

I generally prefer to use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through but you can also remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

Creative Haven Fantasy Butterflies Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Marty Noble

Rating: 5 of 5

I have and enjoy a number of coloring books by Marty Noble. This book is quite different from those that I already own. The designs focus on butterflies with lots of decorative embellishments within their wings, for instance, butterflies within butterflies or flowers or birds as part of the wing pattern.

This book is a combination of 15 new designs by Ms. Noble and 16 designs which are re-printed from an earlier coloring book by Dover: Fanciful Stained Glass Coloring Book (2012). I don’t own the previous book (which was printed on translucent vellum instead of coloring paper) so getting these designs in the Creative Haven format is really great for me to color.

For my first project, I chose to do a butterfly with butterflies making up its wings. I did the design with regular fine point markers and with the brush end of my Copic markers. This design was fairly easy and open to color but the book contains many designs which are detailed and some with intricate and small spots to color. I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

31 Butterfly designs with lots of decorative touches

Designs are printed one side of the page

Paper is typical of Creative Haven: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.

The designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through in spots and colorful shadows on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.

I prefer to use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through or dents from marring the pages below. You can also remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper work as well.

Norse Mythology

By: Jade Summer

Rating: 5 of 5

Creative Haven Let There Be Love Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Alexandra Cowell

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a lovely coloring book of hand-drawn, rather sketchy looking designs that celebrate Love of all kinds. There are lots of hearts and flowers, words explaining the type of love shown in the design, and even couples (mostly animals). I especially like the baby carriage design as it is so darn cute. There are also pages of multiple designs that are presented in small blocks. I like the look and the unique quality of that presentation. It gives me a small project (i.e., a block) to finish in a short amount of time. I can usually finish one during a small break in work.

I found the designs to be both detailed and intricate. There are many tiny spaces to color in most of the designs. I used primarily ultra-fine point markers and gel pens on my first project and will certainly be continuing to use these mediums as I color my way through the book. I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

The designs have a lovely sketch look to them. The hand-drawn quality is especially interesting to me. I like many computer generated and computer drawn designs as well but I am drawn to handwork first and foremost.

This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

31 Detailed Sketch style designs with Love as the emphasis.

Designs are printed one side of the page

Paper is typical of Creative Haven: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.

The designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through with colorful spots and shadows on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

I generally prefer to use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through but you can also remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

Creative Haven Grumpy Cat Vs. The World Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Diego Jourdan Pereira

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my second coloring book of Grumpy Cat designs. In this book, Grumpy Cat takes a whirl-wind trip around the world and shows up in various costumes from countries with a floating element that pertains to that country (for example, floating Eiffel Towers are on the French Grumpy Cat design.) The designs have a lot of gray and black included. There are small elements to color or, as I did, use a single color to put a large swathe over a bunch of the tiny elements and leave the intricate detail simply as patterning below the color.

I choose to do the cowboy grumpy cat which seemed to be the one that represented the USA. I had fun with the hotdogs floating around in space. I used a variety of markers to finish the design. I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for coloring.

31 Grumpy Cat designs representing countries around the world

The designs are printed one side of the page

Paper is what I have come to expect from Creative Haven: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding but you can remove pages at the perforation easily

The designs stop well before the perforations with most having a framing line around the outer edge

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through in spots on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.

Creative Haven An Old-Fashioned Christmas Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Ted Menten

Rating: 5 of 5

Christmas coloring books are something that I am always looking for. I like to find ones that have a different look and An Old-Fashioned Christmas is one that I really enjoy. I like the vintage and nostalgic look to the designs with many of them having a Victorian age vibe to them. The designs in the book are detailed but without type of intricate or hard to color areas. There is plenty of room in most of the elements to add blending and special embellishment touches.

For my first project, I chose to do a design based on the Twelve Months of Christmas. It reminded me of a sampler I had cross stitched years ago. I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

The designs range from Victorian characters to Santa to bells and poinsettias and much more. There are ornaments, wreathes, angels and even a partridge in a pear tree. I think it is a great all-around Christmas coloring book for anyone who enjoys an old-fashioned look and feel.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

31 Old-fashioned Christmas inspired designs with lots of variety in subject matter

Designs are printed one side of the page

Paper is typical for Creative Haven: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.

The designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through with colorful spots on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I use more than one layer of color.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

I usually use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through but you can also remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.