Daily Archives: December 1, 2015

This Christmas coloring book has a number of very elegant designs. I own and have reviewed this artist’s earlier Christmas coloring book and have been pleased with both. The style of the designs range from whimsical to elegant but with more of an emphasis on elegant in this book. It includes Christmas trees, nutcrackers, reindeer, ornaments and even a Nativity as well as other items associated with the holidays. The designs range from intricate with small details to open and fairly easy to color. As with her earlier book, 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. I like to use colors that will pop against all of that black.

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. Almost all of the designs either have a frame around the design or have finished elements, so I don’t have to guess at where the picture ends. This gives my final project a much more finished look. I wish this was something that more artists did with their coloring book designs.

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.