A special present for my bazillions of readers....I've broken all the rules to bring the last two Christmas book reviews before Christmas, with only hours to go! Ignoring my tendencies to color every page leading into a post and every page before posting them wasn't easy, but I did it all the same. I have some lovely gems to share today. Two books, both with lovely super thick pages that would take any medium well, from markers, to water colors to pencils and crayons.
The first is Johanna Basford's book Johanna's Christmas. This was where my first compulsions had to be set aside so I could bring this to you quickly. There are lots of lovely things to color even before you get to the first picture. And as I love to see, there are coloring tips from an actual honest to God artist, so you will be able to take tips from someone other than me! I love seeing artists include this in their books because it's as if they are saying I want your experience to be the best ever you can have, and they're encouraging you to try new things. I do need to note this in my blog as requested by the author in her book, so that should she wish to look up who's posting what, she can easily find it, and so I will honor that for her, #JohannasChristmas is a fun book with lots of pages that are technically single sided on very thick paper, but you know me, I'll likely color the back sides that are just designs also......sometimes it's not the best to have these compulsive tendencies. This makes using any medium really nice and though you probably don't need page buffers, I would for myself just because I'm accustomed to doing it to preserve the integrity of the art on other pages.
I'll also break up my post, by placing pictures and then text, not my usual format, but I felt posting the picture in this case before talking about it would be helpful.
I thought showing you the lead in pages would give you a little chuckle in your funny bones, because you've seen me coloring all the lead in pages in previous posts and know not only did I have to skip a lot to get to the first picture, but you also know I'm going back to color them, soooo yes, it is a bit funny. Also, the first picture was a nice one but as I was coloring it, I kept thinking, what if Grandpa had reindeer head mounted on his wall? I could just see one saying "I remember the Christmas of 58, good ol' Betsy here (pats his shotgun) and I ran out after hearing a noise on the roof. I shot into the darkness and down came this old girl (pats the reindeer on the wall). Well, I knew then what'd happened and best I could figure this must be good ol' Dancer.....not sure how Santa flies with 7 reindeer now........." I could just see someone's grandfather somewhere telling that story or a similar one as I giggled my way through coloring that picture.
The second book is also a super fun one, with super thick lovely paper and would be great also with any medium. You can leave the pages in the book or take them out to color, cut, fold, glue etc. there are scored lines in the paper to help you know where and how to fold them. I didn't get far with coloring this as you'll see before I decided I needed to get the post done before Christmas Eve was over. It's the Coloring book of Cards and Envelopes Christmas by Rebecca Jones. I take it she has other books of cards for other seasons or holidays, but to confirm that I'd have to google her, which I will at some point to confirm, but the title leads me to think that. Either that or she will be releasing some.......
Again I'll post the photos and then speak a little about them.
Ms. Jones thought of everything when she did this book. I tried to photograph and share in a way where you get to see that each page has two cards, each card has it's own envelope designed just for that specific card. You could mix and match them, but I love that they match. The envelopes can be colored inside and out as there are internal designs which I think make them that much nicer. She includes information on how to fold them, and they are scored as I previously stated, to help with this. The last lovely touch she includes is a sticker to close the envelope that matches the design of the card inside. As I said, she thought of everything! This would be a wonderful book for yourself or as a gift for someone that likes this hobby to use throughout the year in preparation for the upcoming Christmas. I think that's lovely just because it would help you keep the spirit of Christmas in your heart all year round, and could warm you any time you needed that little touch of Christmas to help you keep it.
At any rate, I'm sorry I didn't color all the pictures before sharing, but I likely will share them finished later......maybe. I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and a beautiful new year, all year long. Happy coloring, and be sure to share your finds with us also!!!
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