Pins I Love - Adult Colouring

I actually don't like the term 'adult colouring' sounds a bit suggestive and I would almost be too wary of typing it in to google for fear of what might come up. Or does that say more about my mind? Regardless I still love it and you don't have to buy these large books if you don't want to. I thought I would scour my adult colouring board on pinterest to see if there was anything I could link here. I have to admit that there were a few missing links which was a shame but I think I found a nice selection and failing that there is nothing to stop you from having a wee search to see if there is something that suits your taste more.

This first one is an ebook on offer from Dawn Nicole Designs. Yes, you have to pay for it but you are helping to support an indie designer and I'm all for sending out support to indies. When looking at the blog it is clear that the author likes to craft in general. I like the feel of her blog. It's light and airy. Definitely go have a look.

 

I love this one. It's quite cute. This is part of a Halloween colouring book by Chubby Mermaid (LOVE the name) and can be found on etsy. The designer has a whole series of rather sweet colouring books that you can download (for a charge). She even has some individual pages that you can purchase for downloading so you don't even have to buy a whole book.

Sugar skulls are another fad that's around just now, although maybe that one is starting to cool down. I still like them and it helps that I have a skull loving sister (who loved them before there was a fad). These skulls are a free download from The Country Chic Cottage and they have a whole host of free colouring pages. The skulls though are my favourite. The blog is more of a lifestyle type blog. I've added it to the mixed craft blog list as there are a few things in there that might appeal to different people.

This last one is another along the sugar skulls line. Like the last set of pages this is free and comes from a website filled with lots of different pages. It's actually a resource website for kids filled with educational pages as well as colouring. Still, there might bee something there for everyone.

This last one is from Johanna Basford's Enchanted Forest book. I decided to post this image to show just how creative people can be with their colouring. On Tuesday I linked to her webpage. She has a whole gallery filled with examples of her pages coloured. Definitely go have a look as some of them are so pretty and may inspire.

The important thing though is that you have fun with it. After all colouring is meant to be relaxing.

A Little Bit of Colour

If you want to know why I haven't been as successful with my January plans (more on that later) then this is it. Adult colouring is a fad that has been on the scene for the last year or two. It allows a person to get back in touch with their inner child and it's relaxing. Hands up who remembers spending time colouring as a child and can say it was a positive experience. I bet just about everyone and the only temper tantrums were when a sibling ruins a page by going outside the lines or when the ink pens bled through the paper.

I started off with one book and one small packet of pencils. That one book has grown to three and two postcard sets. I love it and I could (and have) spend hours on it.

I started off with Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford and then quickly added her Secret Garden postcards. I like the fact that the postcards were portable which meant I could colour on my break at work (something I did only once or twice). Basford actually has a blog and she has some videos on there where she gives suggestions on how to colour. I like these books for their fairy tale style.

Next I got a book that appealed to my inner geek, Dr Who. Actually, I picked up this one and the Sherlock Holmes as a gift for my sister. I just happened to order the Dr Who at the same time. I was actually worried that my sister the artist would be insulted by these but she actually loved it. We spent much of Christmas on these and lots of stormy days in too.

While on holiday I got my second set of cards called Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta.  However, I only started using them a few weeks ago. The lines in these are much narrower and so I got myself some Stalibo 88 pens which I felt were find enough for the designs.

Lastly I got myself Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford. I loved drawing ocean scenes when I was little and so this appealed. I haven't actually finished anything in it yet but give it time. I did start some jellyfish (love a jellyfish).

What I also like about them is that they are still open to interpretation. You can see the difference just between my sister and I. Plus if you go onto instagram or pinterest and do a search using the book titles you will come across even more.

You don't even have to have an expensive set of pencils or pens. I originally started with Crayola pencils but moved on to Derwent when the Crayola's began breaking through being carted around so much. I have also begun collecting the Faber pencils which you can buy loose. Expensive but they offer a greater range of colour choices. The Stalibo 88 I have always liked and have often bought them for my sister.

If you want to have a go yourself there are lots of resources online. You don't have to purchase the books. Crafts Beautiful, the website for the magazine, has some sample pages that you can download and try. I came across those thanks to their twitter account. One of my favourite bloggers is a fashion designer and an illustrator and she has posted some of her own colouring pages too which you are free to print out. Her blog is called The Spinsterhood Diaries and she's one of the few blogs I still follow having come across it on Glipho (before it closed down).