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Net Galley
Daily Archives: September 15, 2017
31 Christmas Window Designs – cute but with uneven quality on faces printed one side of the page
Creative Haven Vintage Christmas Windows Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: David Bodo
Rating: 4 of 5
This is an interesting coloring book by David and La Jeana Bodo. The concept is vintage Christmas windows. What surprised me is that the drawings were much more like a cartoon than a realistically drawn window scene. While some fall into the category of vintage, others are simply window displays. There are displays of old time scenes and displays of elves surfing with Santa snoozing in a hammock – all in one book.
For me, the one drawback in this coloring book is that the features on the various faces were not drawn with the same detail. Some are quite detailed, others much less so, and finally, others have no detail at all. Given that the size of the faces were similar, I don’t think it was an issue of lack of space but rather a choice or something that was left undone.
The drawings are detailed and some have intricate and small areas to color.
I’ve noticed that the paper quality over the last few months seems to change quite frequently on the Creative Haven line. Because of that, if you buy one of these books, it may be slightly smooth or slightly rough depending on when and where it was printed.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 line drawing designs which represent Christmas window displays
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.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations. The window and window coverings make up the frame at the outer edges of each design.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots (somewhat heavier than with previous paper in the Creative Have line) 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 pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to 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.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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31 Adorable Animal in Cozy Clothing designs printed one side of the page
Creative Haven Cozy Creatures Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: Jessica Mazurkiewicz
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a really cute coloring book of designs by Jessica Mazurkiewicz. She has dressed a wide variety of animals in some fun cozy clothing. There are dogs, cats, llamas, tigers, turtles, koalas and even an octopus garbed in (mostly) sweaters. Each design is more adorable than the last and should make for fun coloring during the cold months of winter when I am wearing by cozy clothes as well.
The drawings in this book are detailed but not what I consider intricate or difficult to color. I especially like that the animals are placed in scenes rather than simply having a dog or cat dressed in a sweater and no background. The cute backgrounds give context to the designs.
I’ve noticed that the paper quality over the last few months seems to change quite frequently on the Creative Haven line. Because of that, if you buy one of these books, it may be slightly smooth or slightly rough depending on when and where it was printed.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 line drawing designs of different animals all dressed in cozy clothing
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.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs cross over the perforations but nothing integral to the design is lost if you remove a page from the book. The designs stop at the edges of the page, so coloring in this book will involve unfinished elements at the edge.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots (somewhat heavier than with previous paper in the Creative Have line) 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 pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to 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.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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Good entry in this series but a tad easy to solve
Masked to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery) (Volume 5)
By: Christina Freeburn
Rating: 4 of 5
For those who have read the prior books in the Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery series, this should be a good bridge between this and the next book. For others, it would be a more difficult book to read stand-alone. The relationships in the book have all been built over the previous four books and how the individuals react may seem strange unless you know the background.
For a cozy mystery, there are a lot of evil doings going on on this cruise ship. While there are a couple of instances that refer to scrap booking, on the whole, the book is about the cruise and solving murders. The whole point of the cruise is a wedding between Bob and his long-term boyfriend Garrison, so perhaps not doing scrap booking is appropriate in this case.
Posted in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
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