Monthly Archives: November 2015

This is appears to be a Portable version of Color Me Happy by Lacy Mucklow and Angela Porter. I don’t have the larger version as yet (but will be purchasing it in the future), so I can’t confirm that 100% of the designs in this book are also in the larger book. However, I looked at images from the larger book and I do see that a number of those images are also present in this book. If you have the prior book and you are looking for something new, please watch my video to be able to make an informed decision as to whether this book will work for you. I count 70 designs if you include the half-finished designs at the beginning of five of the chapters (the first one is fully colored.) There are only 65 designs which are not colored at all.

It is a smaller sized book that is actually quite nice for taking on-the-go. The designs cover a wide range of subjects and are well printed for making coloring easy. There are many intricate and small details on these designs (perhaps from being sized down from the larger book), so I think that a steady hand and good eye are helpful when coloring in this book. The author and artist give information about coloring therapy and how colors effect us. There are also two colored samples at the beginning of each chapter. The last page of each chapter is a blank page in which we are encouraged to draw and color ourselves.

The six themed chapters in this book are: Nature, Animals and Babies, Music, Food and Drink, Whimsical Imagery, and Art and Architecture – which is at odds with those listed in the product description at the time I am writing this review (which are Mandalas, Water Scenes, Wooded Scenes, Geometric Patterns, Flora & Fauna, Natural Patterns, and Spirituality.) As the same description appears for Portable Color Me Calm, I suspect that an error was made and the description was duplicated. Hopefully, this will be corrected sooner than later. If so, my apologies but I don’t seem able to edit my reviews once my photos are attached, so this warning will remain regardless of corrections to the product description.

The book is approximately 7.5 x 6 inches and is a full half inch thick. That makes for a tall book to color in but I found it doable if I positioned myself properly. I could not get the book to lay flat but as the designs were well away from the binding, I didn’t have any problems getting into all corners for coloring.

The designs are actually printed on one side of the page. The reverse side has a colorful line design that is the same for each page of the chapter. I consider that to be a very pretty page for possible waste. The pages are not perforated. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so pages can be removed (a number at a time) by snipping the threads. Unless I want to frame or give a design away, I will probably not be cutting these. I will be using the book as a carry around coloring book and I don’t want it cut in pieces.

All of my markers (both water and alcohol-based) bled through the page. My gel pens (Fiskars and Tek Writer) did not and didn’t need more than average time to dry on the surface of the page. My various coloring pencils (both soft and hard leads) worked well on the paper. If you are using markers, you will need to protect the rest of the book from leaking ink as it went all the way through the page (even my trusty Staedler triplus fineliners.) I cut down a piece of chipboard to the size of the book and am keeping it in the book to carry around with me. That way, I can use whatever coloring medium I choose with it. I’m inclined towards ultra-fine markers and coloring pencils because of the small details.

This is the second coloring book by Jenean Morrison which is devoted to flowers. In this book the stylized floral designs include mandalas, repeating flowers, bouquets and more. As a gardener, I love to look at my colorful flowers but during the winter months, I don’t get to see much by way of color. I’ll use this book to give me the joy of colorful flowers and brighten the otherwise gray days. I like the stylized form of the flowers. I’ve seen a lot of flowing design flowers but the stylized form gives me a kind of Arts and Crafts look and feel to my coloring projects.

The designs are printed on one side of white non-perforated paper. The designs all end well before the bound edge. The binding is glued, so if you wish to remove a page from the book, using a penknife the cutting it out or taking it to an office supply store and having the binding cut off could be the way to go. The artist has either framed her designs or made sure that all elements are finished at the edge. I appreciate both of these techniques as it allows me to finding a natural stopping point in coloring and gives me a more finished look to my projects.

All of my markers and gel pens bled through to the back of the page. My coloring pencils went on the paper well. I will put a page of chipboard or heavy weight paper below the page I am working on in order to protect the rest of the book from leaking ink.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

Markers: 1) alcohol-based Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) and 2) water-based Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, and Pentel markers

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castel Polychromos

This is a beautiful coloring book of both Old and New Testament scriptures which should be inspiring to Christian colorists. I am not sure which translations are used as the book does not explicitly state this information. The scriptures are printed in black with cites noted, too. Each scripture is surrounded by beautifully drawn flowers. The words are what you focus on when you are coloring, so the time spent coloring gives you time to meditate on the Word you have chosen that day.

The designs are printed on one side of the bright white paper. The book is glue bound, so cutting pictures out will be the way to go if you wish to remove them from the book. All of the designs stop well before the binding, so you should not have any loss of design if you do cut them out.

All of my markers and gel pens bled through to the back of the page. My coloring pencils went on the paper well. I will put a page of chipboard or heavy weight paper below the page I am working on in order to protect the rest of the book from leaking ink.

I was provided a free sample of this coloring book for test and review purposes.

This is a coloring book filled with designs of wild animals, which include elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, monkeys, and much more. The designs are done with a very thin black line which almost disappears when you are coloring. If you want the line to be more prominent, I suggest coloring over it with black or another dark color. Some of the designs are fairly true to life while others are interpretations of the animals (a common theme is using bubbles or circles to show the dimensions of the animals and not using an outline at all. For wild animal lovers, this is a great book with lots of coloring options.

The pages are printed on thin white paper which is not perforated. The designs are printed on one side of the page with the back left blank. The designs stop well short of the glued binding and can easily be removed with a pen knife if you so choose.

My gel pens and markers all leaked through this paper. My coloring pencils went on well but left a shadow at the back of the page, too. Not a problem, though, as I can put a piece of chipboard or a couple of heavy weight pieces of paper under the page I am working on to keep the ink from leaking through.

What is really quite nice about this line of books by Grace Sure is that she is also making them available for you to print additional copies if you purchase the book. You can either purchase the book and get the access to the on-line version. If you prefer, you buy the Kindle version of the book or, at the time I am writing this review, you can use your Kindle Unlimited to borrow it, too. You can decide to print the designs on whatever paper can use in your printer. When I have this option, I use my laser printer on chipboard. It keeps it safe from my water-based markers and water colors and gives me a good surface to color on. I may do this for a couple of prints but I am happy with the quality of the printed book for most of my coloring needs.

A free sample of this coloring book was provided for test and review purposes.

This is a fantastic calendar for any fan of Johanna Basford’s beautiful artwork. There are twelve designs selected from the original Secret Garden and unlike the portfolio version of the book, the calendar actually does enlarge the images and makes it even easier to color. It will also make for a really nice piece of art that can be framed. It also has some of the Inky Treasure Hunt elements to make for a little more fun while you are coloring. Unlike the book, there is no key to finding the treasures.

Unlike the book, these designs are printed on white rather than cream. The designs are set far enough away from the artwork that the calendar hole can be covered by matting or a frame if you choose to take the calendar apart after you have colored the pictures. The calendar is 12 x 12 inches, so it is considerably larger than the original book at approximately 10 x 10 inches. If my pictures come through as planned, you will see that I have put my most recent copy of the book next to the calendar so you can see the difference in size.

As a calendar, it has the major holidays with emphasis on British ones (which makes sense, of course.) It has a back look at the prior month and a forward look at the next month. The back of the cover page has a small date calendar for 2015, 2016, and 2017 so it is a really useful calendar for my purposes.

The front cover has gold foil elements and can be colored, too. The back can also be colored but it is much smaller to work with those images. There is a title page which can be colored but you will need to be careful with the coloring medium you use as it could leak through and ruin the January image.

The paper used for the calendar is a decent weight card stock. It is bright white. The binding is a traditional two staples at the fold in the middle of the book, so taking this calendar apart later should prove to be a very simple project.

I tested a variety of markers and gel pens as well as pencils. I found that all permanent markers, Sharpies, Copics, etc. bled through immediately and heavily. My water-based markers were mixed with only two proving to have no leakage. Those two were my Staedler triplus fineliners and my Tombow duel brush (both the brush and the marker points.) My Stabilo 88’s bled through with dark and bright colors being most noticeable. Other colors left a shadow on the back of the page. All other water-based markers bled through to varying degrees with all of the variety of colors I used. My gel pens (Fiskars and TekWriter) worked well but needed some extra drying time which is standard for a better grade of paper. I tried my Derwent Studio, Prismacolor Premier, and Prismacolor Verithins coloring pencils and they all worked great and as I would expect given the types of lead that they have. If you are using any other type of coloring medium, I would suggest testing before you use it to see if it leaks through.

I am fine with the bleed-through and will use whatever medium I choose. With the exception of the title page, all of the artwork backs onto the monthly calendar and I don’t mind losing the dates, etc. once I start coloring in the book. Included with the calendar (to keep it safe) is an excellent piece of chipboard that is the perfect size to use as a safety paper when you are coloring. Be sure to save it to use for this purpose as it might be difficult to find a 12 x 12 inch piece of paper or chipboard later.

I am so very happy to get this calendar in fact, I ordered two. I want to use one for the year but I can’t wait the year to color it. It’s fantastic that the pictures are larger as it will make it easier to color. I think it is a great gift to give to any colorist and I will be buying some additional copies to give as holiday gifts this season.

This is a very cute and fun Christmas coloring book. The style of the designs range from whimsical to elegant with a few stop offs at simply cute. It includes Christmas trees, Santas, stockings, and lots of fun items associated with the holidays. The designs are easy to color with only a few having intricate and small areas. I like that some of the designs have a heavy black background as it will save me a lot of time and ink not having to color it all in. It will also give a great pop to my final coloring.

The pages are printed on thin white paper which is not perforated. The designs are printed on one side of the page with the back left blank. The designs stop well short of the glued binding and can easily be removed with a pen knife if you so choose.

My gel pens and markers all leaked through this paper. My coloring pencils went on well but left a shadow at the back of the page, too. Not a problem, though, as I can put a piece of chipboard or a couple of heavy weight pieces of paper under the page I am working on to keep the ink from leaking through.

What is really quite nice about this line of books by Grace Sure is that she is also making them available for you to print additional copies if you purchase the book. You can either purchase the book and get the access to the on-line version. If you prefer, you buy the Kindle version of the book or, at the time I am writing this review, you can use your Kindle Unlimited to borrow it, too. You can decide to print the designs on whatever paper can use in your printer. When I have this option, I use my laser printer on chipboard. It keeps it safe from my water-based markers and water colors and gives me a good surface to color on. I may do this for a couple of prints but I am happy with the quality of the printed book for most of my coloring needs.

A free sample of this coloring book was provided for test and review purposes.

This is an absolutely adorable book of cats not only in hats but in costumes, too, for the most part. There are so many cute ones to color, I’m not sure where to start. The cover art picture is cute, but I am a Sherlock Holmes fan, so that may be my jumping off point. The Carmen Miranda inspired kitty is also a contender for my first coloring project. I was in cat rescue in the past and seeing these kitties makes me think of all of the kitties I fostered and adopted over the years. I will have fun putting some of those cats personalities into these pictures.

The designs are printed on one side of a nice medium weight non-perforated paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn but all of the designs stop well before the bound edge, so you can easily cut them out if you choose to do so without losing any part of the design.

All of my markers seeped through the page. My gel pens left a shadow on the backside of the page. My coloring pencils worked well with this grade of paper. If I choose to use anything other than pencils, I will put a heavyweight paper or chipboard under the page I am working on to keep any ink from damaging the rest of the book.

There are 60 architectural images in this book. There is a wide variety of building styles from older Dickensian style town scenes to traditional homes and buildings to very modern architecture. The designs range from open and easy to color to more intricate with a little more challenge. This is a great coloring book for me to use when I feel the need to have straight lines and order in my coloring. I do a lot of wild designs but sometimes coloring something like a building helps to get my mind in straight order (especially useful when I need to make a shopping list afterward!) While I love my house, coloring in this book gives me an opportunity to think what if I lived or worked here? How would I want it to look.

This is my second coloring book by Penny Farthing Graphics. They are published via CreateSpace which is generally used for self-publishing. The designs are drawn by a variety of artists from all over the world and are licensed via Shutterstock.com. What we end up with is a great coloring book (although on thin paper) with a large and varied selection of designs.

The pages are printed on thin white paper which is not perforated. The designs are printed on one side of the page with the back left blank. The designs stop well short of the glued binding and can easily be removed with a pen knife if you so choose. The designs all have either frames to finish the edge of the design or have all of the design elements finished so I am not left hanging without a proper ending point. I really appreciate this care in design as it gives me a more finished looking final page.

My gel pens and markers all leaked through this paper. My coloring pencils went on well but left a shadow at the back of the page, too. Not a problem, though, as I can put a piece of chipboard or a couple of heavy weight pieces of paper under the page I am working on to keep the ink from leaking through.

I am really looking forward to coloring in this book. I’m also really pleased that CreateSpace is offering an avenue for artists (or groups of artists) to self-publish their designs. Added to that, Penny Farthing brings in so many designers in one book, it is a real adventure to color. Between the two, colorists have a huge choice of artwork to choose from.

A free sample of this coloring book was provided for test and review purposes.

This is a really interesting and fun-to-color coloring book of 30 hand-drawn designs by artist Kevin Poorman. The designs range from floral designs to inspiring words to really different abstract designs. A number of the designs have a heavy use of black and for those, I will probably use neon or pastel colors to make the colors pop in the design. A number of the designs have intricate details and areas which I will color with a wide swathe of a single color rather than try to color each tiny spot. It works well with many designs with such intricate details to take this approach.

I am enjoying the wide range of this book as so many books develop on a single theme while this one is really a peek into the artist’s mind and workbook.

The book is printed on one side of thin white page which is typical of CreateSpace publishing. The paper is not perforated but there is plenty of room to be able to cut a page out if you desire. The binding is glued rather than sewn.

All of my markers and gel pens leak through the paper of the book. My coloring pencils work well on this paper. If I decide to use markers or gel pens, I will put a waste sheet of heavyweight paper under the page I am working on to keep the ink from ruining the rest of the book.

I received a free copy of this coloring book for test and review purposes.