Daily Archives: May 17, 2017

This series just keeps getting better and better

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Iiiireader

Oliver Twisted (An Ivy Meadows Mystery Book 3)

By: Cindy Brown

Rating: 5 of 5

The Ivy Meadows Mystery series by Cindy Brown has rapidly become one of my favorite cozy mystery series. I have so much fun reading the books, that I end up laughing out loud.

In this story, actress/private detective (in training) Ivy Meadows (aka Olive Zweigwart) has a gig on a Get Lit (as in Literature, people) which involves both of her areas of expertise. She and her uncle are undercover looking for the gang that is responsible for the series of thefts that have been plaguing the cruise line. As part of the deal, Ivy has also been cast as Nancy in their adaptation of “Oliver” which is called “Oliver! At Sea!”).

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Posted in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller | Leave a comment

31 designs inspired by Alice in Wonderland and a few from Through the Looking Glass printed one side of the page

Posted on May 17, 2017 by iiiireaderadmin

Creative Haven Alice in Wonderland Designs Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Marty Noble

Rating: 5 of 5

I am a fan of both Marty Noble and of Alice in Wonderland coloring books, so I was very happy to find that Ms. Noble had created an Alice in Wonderland coloring book. While many of the Alice coloring books are story books as well, this is a coloring book of simply beautiful and detailed designs.

You can tell the story as you go along as Ms. Noble has included many iconic scenes from the book. She even included a few favorite characters from Through the Looking Glass as well (Humpty Dumpty and Tweedledum and Tweedledee.) The designs are inspired by the classic drawings by John Tenniel but have Ms. Noble’s flair as well.
The designs are quite detailed and some have intricate and small areas to color. As a fan of Alice books, I am extremely happy with this book. I also hope that Ms. Noble continues to bring other classic story tales to coloring books in the future.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 designs by Marty Noble inspired by primarily Alice in Wonderland but with a few from Through the Looking Glass
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly rough and has perforated pages. I’ve noticed that some Creative Haven books have slightly rougher paper than others. This is one of the ones that is slightly more rough.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations and each design has a framing line at the outer edge.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show 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 when I apply more than one layer of ink.
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, like Verithins, 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.