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Niki Jin Crafts is Back!

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Last you heard from me (from this blog, anyway) was almost two years ago when I said goodbye and went exploring new directions. I started another blog (it ... didn’t last), and wrote a post here and there for my portfolio website, mostly talking about my professional art and design work. Nowadays I stick to posting mostly to Instagram.

So what have I been up to? Life has been busy, taking care of two young kids and building a freelance career doing book design and illustration. In between, I keep myself busy with various projects related to my art.

I let go of Niki Jin Crafts for a little while, but recently, it came back to my mind. I thought about what I want to do with this site. Just let it sit there? Delete it? Well no, I’m not ready to get rid of it quite yet! It could use a little updating, though, that’s for sure. I’ve given the site a new look (I hope you approve!) but that’s not what you’re here for, right? We need some new content, of course. I promise, new stuff is coming…
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Merry Coloring!

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Halloween is over... bring on the holidays!

I'm usually not one to skip over Thanksgiving and go straight into Christmas, but I am particularly excited to share a holiday-themed project that I have just finished.



For the past few months, I have been hard at work creating a collection of adult coloring pages with a Christmas theme. If you follow me on Facebook, you already know that not only have I completed the designs, but I've compiled them into a book that is now for sale in Amazon! This is something I have wanted to do for a long time because I love adult coloring designs. Their intricate detail and fun patterns are so attractive to my sense of style as an artist. They are so much fun to both color and create. While I think it is wonderful how popular they have become in recent years, I find that the market has been flooded with substandard work. My hope in creating my own pages is to make the kinds of pages I like to see myself and to inspire creativity in others. Here is an excerpt from the Introduction that sums up my philosophy:

"I most like to see designs that are hand-drawn, thoughtfully composed, and full of beautiful patterns and decorative elements, because those are fun to color. . . . I can promise is that a lot of time, thought, care, and passion have gone into these designs. I hope you enjoy coloring these pages as much as I enjoyed creating them. Have fun and make them your own!"

Here's a view of the back cover to give you a preview of some of the designs inside.



I hope you all enjoy my book, and I look forward to creating more in the future!

Niki



LINKS

Buy Merry Christmas: Holiday Designs for Coloring now!



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I opened up a shop on etsy.com today. I've posted some sweaters for 11.5-inch dolls (I hope to post other types of items in the future). You can visit the shop here. These miniature sweaters were very fun to create. They are all designed and handknit by myself.

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**UPDATE - 2015** The miniature sweater knitting pattern has been revised.  View/Download the new pattern here:
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A gift tag template for creating a Christmas ornament from this sweater can be found on my Templates and Patterns page. Additional sweater patterns are available for sale in my Etsy shop.


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