Monthly Archives: February 2018

This is a coloring book of 31 designs of Jewelry which was inspired by the jewelry of the Art Nouveau period. While every once in a while a lovely Art Nouveau lady peeks out of the pages, it is definitely a coloring book of jewelry and other bits and bobs that a lady who lived in the period would have worn or wished to have on her vanity.

There are necklaces, earrings, rings, purses, shoes, brooches, combs, bracelets and more. I love this period of art, both for the posters that are well known, as well as for the craftsmanship of the jewelry and other ladies attire (such as those shown in the coloring book.) I have a couple of reproduction pieces but would love someday to own an actual piece made during the Art Nouveau period.

The designs are detailed and should be fun to finish with lots of colors – both those appropriate to the period and then also the ones that are from my imagination. There are some designs which have intricate and small areas to color but I don’t consider the book to be a difficult one for coloring or one which needs special pens/pencils in order to color in the small areas.

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. I’ve found that coloring medium, including pencils, work similarly with both slightly rough and slightly smooth paper from Creative Haven. In this case, my coloring book pages are slightly smooth.

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This is a coloring book with illustrations by Manja Burton and text written by Arielle Ford. The designs are quite lovely and will be fun to color. The text (which for me, is secondary) gives advice on how to find your soulmate. As I already have mine, I gave a cursory read to the text. I am much more interested in the designs. The designs are detailed and, while a few have smaller and intricate areas to color, I don’t consider it a difficult and intricate book to color overall.

The designs each seem to be inspired by the text on the opposite side of the page. Sometimes the tie between the two is obvious and other times it is less so. For instance, “Feathering your nest” talks about decluttering your home and the picture shows a young woman on s scooter seeing clothes flying out the window of a nearby house. The text is on the facing page, so if you remove the page, the design and text will no longer be together. Additionally, there are small designs on these text pages which tie to the larger design page opposite.

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I have all of the coloring books in this series. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around all these houses in this little town but with this book, the intent becomes clear. Each book is of a new town. In this town, the architecture is much more modern than those of the previous books. It also appears to be near the coast or a large water source based on what are in some of the illustrations.

Once I made the connection, I realized that I really like it! I get a whole new town and can think up ways of coloring that are specific to the vibe of that town. I purchased this book in the full size version but I think it may also be available in a smaller travel size. This is the size of a standard coloring book at 8.5 x 11 inches. I like the bigger book so I can play with shading, blending and such.

While this is a brand new town, there are still cute cats and lots of fun detail, though with modern architecture, the style is quite different from the earlier towns.

What is amazing to me is that the book contains 39 Town scenes and that the artist also has provided another ten “bonus” designs which almost demand a book of their own. I hope she finishes off a full book of those designs as well. Add to that another eleven sample designs from her other books and you have a full sixty designs in this book.

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Original Review from October 2015:

“The Time Chamber” is the second in a series of coloring books by Daria Song. In the first book (“The Time Garden”), a young girl follows a red-haired fairy through a magical clock into a wonderland type adventure. In this book, the red-haired fairy comes to visit the little girl’s land. As she is so very tiny, everything is huge and beautiful for her to visit and see. The story is told in a few short words on a smattering of pages throughout the book. The words do not distract from the illustrations even though they are incorporated into the story this time (unlike the first book where the story was on separate pages.)

Daria Song, the artist/writer of this book, has received advanced degrees in fine arts in her native South Korea. Early in her life, she also spent time in San Francisco and that translates into the art in this book. Both of her books are a real delight to me. Her illustrations create a truly magical land for me to escape into as color each page.

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The designs in this book are inspired by islands and the ocean. There are many island scenes, fish, waves, palm trees, etc. Each page has a lot of detail by way of lots of wavy lines. The publishing company (Okami Coloring/Julia Rivers) has not provided the artists name(s) for the designs. The designs have the appearance of hand-drawn and seem to be the style of one artist.

The designs are quite detailed and include intricate elements with lots of tiny spots to color. I would not recommend this coloring book to anyone with fine motor or vision issues. I would also suggest that, for the intricate areas, use of ultra-fine point markers/pens or really sharp pencils would be best.

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While I own a variety of coloring books by Majorie Sarnat, this is the first one that I have which includes figures. In this case, the figures are angels. I have enjoyed coloring all of her animals, such as cats, dogs, pigs, and elephants among others but I must say that the angels in this book have increased my admiration of her designs even more.

There are 31 designs with a variety of angel subjects. I especially like that she has given a nod to her former great coloring books by including an angel with cats and another one with dogs. The one thing that the designs all share is an elegance that is Ms. Sarnat’s signature style. I look forward to coloring in this book and to future books by Ms. Sarnat which will include figures as well.

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. I’ve found that coloring medium, including pencils, work similarly with both slightly rough and slightly smooth paper from Creative Haven. In this case, my coloring book pages are slightly rough.

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Both my husband and I really enjoy Steampunk inspired designs. When this coloring book arrived, we got into a bit of a tussle for who would look at it first. I called dibs (since I bought it!) and laid claim to all of the designs. My husband took a look at it and went off to order his own copy. We generally are willing to share but when a really great book comes along, we need our own copies. This is just such a book.

The Steampunk designs represent much of the genre. There are mechanized clad men and beautiful women, animals and even insects. There are also beautiful mermaids, birds, motorcycles, flying machines, beasts and more. So much in one book. I especially like the design that has monkeys rigged out in Steampunk style

I consider this to be one of the best Steampunk coloring books currently available. It is well-rounded and has both masculine and feminine appeal and represents the genre very well. My other books concentrate pretty much on only one area (generally females) so it is great to have a coloring book with more varied design subjects.

The designs are detailed and a few have areas which have a little more intricate coloring. Overall, I don’t think I will need special coloring medium and I don’t consider the designs to be especially difficult or intricate to color. That being said, they are detailed with full backgrounds and will provides hours of fun in coloring.

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