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Break the Rules with Coloring

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This past spring, I published a coloring book of floral mandalas called Flowers All Around. (It’s available NOW on Amazon!) I had so much fun drawing these designs. I can honestly say it was one of my favorite personal projects I’ve ever done.




Mandala designs are popular in adult coloring for their repetitive and intricate nature. I like to draw them using floral elements because I’m obsessed with drawing flowers and patterns. I’ve created floral mandalas with a variety of media—paint, pencil, ink, digital, etc. I often draw them when I don’t know what to draw. So I had a lot of practice before I got the idea to even make this book.

Adult coloring books are a great way to relieve stress and create works of art in the process. These aren’t the brand of coloring books you used as a kid. These designs are often very detailed and can be beautiful and sophisticated—though there are some fun quirky ones as well. There are adult coloring books for just about any subject matter you can think…
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Gift Wrap

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It's been a while since my last post to this blog, but I'm determined to post more regularly.

I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day. One of the things I enjoy most about holidays like this (besides being with family and friends) is gift-giving. I love to wrap presents. Below are some examples of some of my favorite gift-wrap creations.

Usually when I wrap gifts, I like to choose a color scheme or a theme to tie them all together. Sometimes this is determined by another factor, such as other decorations for the event or the contents of the packages themselves. For example, I found a wrapping paper design to match my pink and gold Christmas tree one year. I also like to mix and match different patterns and solids. That way the gifts look like they belong together, yet have variety. I reuse and recycle a lot of materials. I always keep scraps of papers and ribbons. Some of the same papers/ribbons, etc were reused in the examples shown below, even for different occasions. I've accented gifts not only with ribbon, but also with more creative materials such as strips of scrap wrapping paper, crepe paper, paper bags, cupcake paper cups, and even the netting bags that hold oranges.







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maria alexandra said…
It is a very nice and delicate idea and makes everything look so good.
It realy sends out the message that you gave some extra thought on the gift and the person and not only buying the gift.
It is like the gift having an extra 'caring' feeling. :)

Very nice!
June 22, 2009 at 10:54 PM
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**UPDATE - 2015** The miniature sweater knitting pattern has been revised.  View/Download the new pattern here:
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