20 Up-lifting and Strengthening Designs with Scripture printed on one side of page

This is my third coloring book in the Live series by Margaret Feinberg. The first book focused on what God has in store for each of us. The second focused on what we have been given and how we are to live as believers. This coloring book, which seems to be the last in this series, focuses on how believers should trust in God and live without fear something which human nature seems to rebel against. At least for myself, I know that fear is a powerful emotion. It is one that can spring up quickly and take seemingly forever to push back into its place. The verses in this coloring book are excellent for combating those feelings. They remind me of who is in control and why I don’t need to fear the terrors of this world.

The verses in this coloring book are taken from a wide variety of translations. The author additionally gives a good guideline on how you can use the book as part of a devotional exercise.

As with her previous coloring books, the focus of each design is the scripture. The designs in this coloring book, as with the second one, are more integrated with the words than the scripture in the first book. The words are once again in cursive, which looks both beautiful and elegant. I have found that a well sharpened coloring pencil is my best way of filling in the words. I used a soft lead pencil previous but this time I used my Verithins (hard lead) and had equally great results.

I did note that one design (of dragonflies over a pond) is a repeat of an illustration from the second book. The verse is different but coloring it would be very similar. I will use a different colorway to make it seem new.

I will provide a more in-depth discussion of what I found in the physical book but here is a quick overview:

20 Elegant Designs with embedded Scripture
Prayer and journal area on the reverse side of page
Printed on side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers had a mixed result (see below)
Gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through
Coloring pencils work very well with this paper

The designs in this book are printed on one side of very nice heavyweight white paper. The page facing each design (which is the back side of the preceding page) is a page for use as a prayer or other type of journal. The verse/cite is repeated on that page as well. You can jot down your thoughts, prayers or even simply write down the coloring mediums you used in finishing your design. The pages are not perforated and most of the designs merge into the binding area. The binding is glued rather than sewn. I was able to get the book to lay fairly flat by pressing very hard and breaking the spine.

I don’t believe I will remove pages from the book because of the way the journal pages are set up. I would lose continuity of thoughts, verse and design by removing pages. You can remove pages if you choose to do so by cutting them out but in addition to losing the flow of the book, you may also lose portions of some of the designs.

I test my coloring books with a variety of coloring medium (which I will list in the comments section below for anyone interested.) Here are the results of my tests:

As with the previous two books, I think the paper used in this coloring is a good grade. My alcohol-based markers all bled through the paper. My water-based markers did a much better job. My Staedler triplus fineliners and the brush end of my Tombows did not bleed through at all. All other water-based markers (including the fine point end of the Tombows) left a shadow at the back of the page.

My India ink artist pens did not bleed through. My gel pens did not bleed through but they did require extra drying time so that they wouldn’t smear on the paper. Extra drying time for gel pens has signified a better grade of paper for me apparently the ink sits on the page rather than being absorbed into and through. My coloring pencils worked well for their type of lead (soft or hard.) Blending worked well with soft and the hard leads did not leave indents on the back of the page.

For my first project, I chose a design with butterflies and flowers and whose verse spoke to my heart that day. I used alcohol-based markers and to keep the ink from seeping further into the book, I used a blotter page of card stock It certainly left a lot of color on the reverse prayer and journal page but it was a good trade-off for me.

Once again, I want to state how pleased I am that there are so many quality Christian coloring books being published. I buy and use many of them as well as giving them as gifts. While this series of books is certainly focused on believers, I believe that this particular book is a great one to give to anyone who is undergoing trials in life as long as they are open to the Scriptural references. It may be the only way they will see the promises of help in their fearful times.