Color Me Calm

Have you jumped on the colouring bandwagon yet?

It seems like everywhere I look, new books are popping up and people are getting into mindful colouring. There are even colouring parties (just add wine!)

There are so many different themes and styles of colouring books to choose from now... but what if you're not really sure what kind of book you're into? Or you're looking for a relaxing activity but colouring kinda stresses you out? (I hear that one more often than you would think!)

If either of those sound like you (or if you're just looking for a bumper book of designs), you might like "Color Me Calm".

Written by Lacy Mucklow and illustrated by Angela Porter, "Color Me Calm" features 100 pages designed for the adult colouring enthusiast as well as a little insight into why colouring is relaxing, how to use the book as part of your mindfulness routine and even which colours are calm! It's like a guided journey into the adult colouring experience.

The book is divided into thematic sections ranging from mandalas and geometric patterns to water imagery and nature scenes. It's really nice to have such a wide array of designs in one book.

The single-sided pages ensure that colouring with your favourite markers is possible. Yay! While the detailed designs and variety of styles make sure that you don't get bored.



I will admit that some of the pages are a little juvenile for my taste (and there are a handful of designs which are puzzlingly fuzzy) but in a book of 100 designs, I don't expect to love everything and the author doesn't expect you to either. The wide array of styles was designed to help you pick and choose what kind of subject matter you find calming to colour.

While I don't love the more scenic pictures, I do love the patterns and mandalas. With a picture, I find having to select the right colour for each element can feel a little stressful - there's more a sense of doing it right / wrong when colouring a picture.

On the other hand, with mandalas, you pick a colour for one element and then repeat that choice around the circle. That repetition combined with the circular movement is really calming.

I'm pretty pleased that "Color Me Calm" helped me narrow down my colouring preferences - mandalas all the way! (And I know just what do do with my finished pages!)

Color Me Calm is published by Race Point Publishing. You can find it at (and the other titles in the Color Me series) at major booksellers like Amazon. This book was provided to me by the publisher but all images and opinions are my own.

Do you have a favourite colouring book?
What kind of designs do you find the most relaxing?

Carnival of Colour - Just Add Color Review & Giveaway

We've already been over how 2015 is the Year Of The Colouring Book (well, at least around here), so when a box of beautiful books to colour all over arrived, I was pretty happy. 

The Just Add Color series of colouring books features art by popular contemporary artists and illustrators like Sarah Walsh and Lisa Congdon. The black and white line drawings invite you to lose yourself to each page, adding your favourite colour combinations.

I gravitated to the Carnival book pretty quickly - it helped that it was right around Carnaval time when it arrived and, since we were very firmly in snowy Canada and not in sultry Brazil, a book filled with costumes and spectacle and dancing girls was the perfect way to add some colour to a very grey February!

I've actually loved Sarah Walsh's work for a long time. Her quirky portraits are a favourite of mine, so a whole book filled with her illustrations is a real treat. I especially enjoy colouring the full page faces - they remind me of those beauty shop Barbies where you get to do their makeup... only way better because these beauties are wearing horns and jaguar masks and floral crowns.

There's a really nice variety of images within the Carnival book. You get to travel to festivals all around the world - Brazil, Italy, India, China - colouring all the way.

The quality of paper in the new adult* colouring books is so nice - thick so that colour doesn't bleed through, but single-sided so that even if it does, your pages aren't ruined. And, if you love what you've coloured, the perforated pages make it easy to remove and display your finished images.

*Okay, okay - I'm the only one calling them that - they really are for colour lovers of any age. But adults all over are rediscovering their love for colouring and realizing how relaxing it is, so it's fantastic to have books geared towards this demographic.

My favourite thing about the Just Add Color series is that it allows you to customize the work of artists like Walsh and Congdon. If, like me, you've admired their work from afar via the internet, these books allow you to cozy up to their illustrations and add your own style. Your very own collaboration!

Just look at that pretty pile! Of course, I couldn't keep ALL these lovely books to myself. Well, I could... but I'm not going to. So, how about a little colour-licious giveaway?

Enter to win a set of two Just Add Color colouring books courtesy of Quarto Books / Rockport Publishing plus pencil crayons (or coloured pencils, if you prefer) so you can start colouring right away! Open to Canada / US entrants.

Just Add Color Giveaway

Giveaway ends Friday, April 10th at noon.
Good luck!

Books provided by Quarto Books US. All opinions and images my own.

Joyful Designs Review

I've recently fallen in love with adult colouring... which sounds a bit dirty but is actually anything but! There's just something so relaxing about sitting down with a pile of markers or pencils and colouring within (or out of) the lines. It's become a bit of a trend to colour as a form of meditation and I'm all for it!

I treated myself to Joyful Designs Artist's Coloring Book featuring the illustrations of Joy Ting late last year but didn't have a chance to break it open until recently. But now that I have, I just had to share - it's really that good!

Joyful Designs features 31 full page designs to colour. There are lots of intricate details and plenty of florals which is always a good thing but interesting patterns and modern doodles too.

I've long admired Joy's doodles, so getting to add colour to her illustrations is really delightful.

As for the format of the book itself, the paper is thick and sturdy so your markers don't bleed through BUT the designs are only printed on one side of the page so that if they do, you don't ruin the next image.

I started out with pencil crayons / coloured pencils but the images are so intricate that I found my hand was hurting when I coloured for any extensive amount of time. Markers are much easier to fill in all those small details.

Each page is also perforated so that you can pull out the pages to make colouring easier or to display your favourites once they are coloured.

If you love the idea of colouring as a form of relaxation or want something that allows you to be creative without a big mess or a huge materials list, I definitely recommend picking up a copy of this book. It's filled with hours of enjoyment for only $7.99.

Since colouring is my new favourite thing (which clearly means I'm growing younger, right?), there will be a few more colouring book reviews & even giveaways coming up soon. Sneak a peek here.

Joyful Designs Artist's Coloring Book is published by Peter Pauper Press. You can find it (and the other titles in the series) at most major booksellers - like Amazon.

Wrapping With Fabric Review

When Tuttle offered to send over a copy of Wrapping With Fabric for me to review, I was pretty excited for an excuse to use the many furoshiki I had brought home from Japan with me. Oh the things I would wrap and how lovely they would look!

What I discovered is that, 7 years and 5 moves later, your furoshiki collection is not going to be easy to find. In fact, feel free to comb through boxes of vintage kimono, take a little time to visit your kokeshi collection, spend a little time with your memories of Japan, because those furoshiki will not reveal themselves easily. Or, at all. 

But you might just find that homemade furoshiki you made 4 or so years (and 3 or so moves) ago and it will do just fine (though not quite as fine as the ones you were really looking for).

And then, when you do finally get to open the book, the foreword by Amy Katoh might just make you a little weepy - your own memories of life in Japan mingling with her furoshiki-wrapped ones.

Anyway, I digress. Let's talk about this lovely book!

Do you know furoshiki? Essentially, a furoshiki is a square (or, as the book explains, not quite square) piece of fabric used for wrapping any and every thing. The practice of wrapping items in fabric has been practiced in Japan for more than 1000 years and has gained momentum again, both in Japan and overseas, as we've moved away from plastic bags towards more eco-friendly forms of packaging and carrying things.

Wrapping With Fabric is written by Etsuko Yamada who comes from a family of furoshiki makers and now works as the art director for Kyoto Wa-Bunka Institute MUSUBI in Tokyo - the first shop specializing in furoshiki in Japan. You really couldn't find someone more qualified to write a book on this subject!

The book itself feels like a Japanese craft book - which is, indeed, a good thing. Clear and simple step by step instructions. Plenty of pictures. Beautiful editorial shots mingle with clean studio shots.

The front section of the book features a handy photo index, instructions on the basic knots you will need to recreate the various wrapping methods, and lots of examples of the versatility of furoshiki.

The middle meaty section of the book features 40 step-by-step wrapping methods from how to wrap a books, bottles and boxes to techniques for carrying watermelons. You can learn how to turn a flat furoshiki into a purse or a backpack as well as how to use them to decorate your home.

Finally, the back part of the book has some handy reference pages on furoshiki sizes and styles as well as a bit of history. It's quite interesting!

As for me, limited by the size of my furoshiki, I went simple! Errand wrapping, or otsukai tsutsumi, is a lovely way to wrap a box or book. Don't you think this would be a great way to wrap a gift? No garbage and the furoshiki becomes part of the gift. Perfect!

Who will enjoy this book? I think it's a great choice for people who are interested in furoshiki and want to learn a variety of different techniques, have a love affair with all things Japanese or are interested in finding sustainable options wrap or carry items beyond the reusable grocery bag.

How about you? Are you interested in furoshiki? Have you ever wrapped something in fabric?

Amazing Origami Kit Review

Are you an origami lover? I must admit that, when left to my own devices, I am more likely to cut origami paper than to fold it but there is something gratifying about folding a flat sheet of paper into a crane or a box or a balloon or...

So, when Tuttle Publishing, who produce really lovely origami kits, offered to send over a few books and kits to try, I couldn't resist saying yes.  This one - Amazing Origami - really caught my eye. Blame it on that dynamic koi on the cover. I'm a big sucker for a good looking koi!

Of course, I did a little folding, but we'll get to that in a minute. First let's check out the kit.

Inside the box, is a 64-page booklet featuring 17 origami models plus folding basics. The models include new designs, like the koi, as well as traditional models like the classic paper crane.

Each model includes clear step-by-step illustrated instructions plus there is a reference key of origami symbols and techniques in the front of the booklet.

Also included in the kit are 144 sheets of double-sided origami paper. Lots of pretty traditional designs and rich colours on crisp, easy to fold paper.

The one downside to all the super-saturated colour is dye transfer. I did find that my fingers were gold & purple & green by the end of my folding adventure. But it did wash off without much fuss!

I tried three of the models in the book. The first, the paper crane. This is a model I can make from memory, but the instructions in the book were slightly different than my usual technique so I gave it a try. Both versions end up looking the same... only time will tell which one I stick with!

Then, I made the Chinese Wheel - a design by Michael G LaFosse. This was the model that caught my eye on my first look through the book - it seemed seasonably appropriate. I had visions of folding a bunch of them and hanging them on our Christmas tree like little wreaths - but I seriously underestimated the size! But I love the final model anyway - it'll just be a freestanding wreath. Maybe I'll cut the paper into quarters and make a smaller version next time.

Finally, I folded the masu box - another traditional Japanese design. The shaping of the sides of the box is a little tricky, but the instructions instruct you to "feel which way the creases move most easily" and that was actually really helpful. A bit of intuitive paper folding!

Overall, I think this kit would make a really nice gift. It looks impressive (I tell you, it's that koi!), the papers are lovely and can be used to create the models within the booklet or for other origami designs. In terms of difficulty, some of the models are definitely easier than others -  I'd say someone with a moderate amount of folding experience should enjoy the projects - a beginner might find it too challenging, an advanced folder too simple.

You can find Amazing Origami online or ask for it in your favourite bookshop.

How about you? Are you an origami lover?