Coloring Books = Relaxation

I wanted to share my daughter Amanda's BEDROOMS Coloring Book that was published earlier this year (available here in her Etsy shop).

It is a beautiful hardcover book, filled with many bedrooms to color as well as 

DIY pages for you to finish and color!

Earlier this month Amanda had a signing at 

Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury Street in Boston.

Her family and many friends were there to support her and we all had such a great time!

(Birch Tree sample page done by Amanda)

If you're looking for a special Christmas/holiday/birthday gift 

for someone who could use some relaxation...

(Desert sample page done by Amanda)

... coloring books are a great idea. And I absolutely love this one!

(Ocean View sample page done by me)

The pages are a nice, heavy stock paper. I even used acrylic paints 

to 'color' this ocean view bedroom.

Below is a sampling of a few of the pages in the book.

(Please forgive my photography skills. Trust me, the book pages are all crisp, clean, & white, and any shadows or "wavy" page designs are also due to my photography.)

There are bedrooms...

for Book lovers....

... for Bird lovers...

... for nature lovers...

... for Animal lovers...

... for Tree lovers...

... for Ballet / Theater & the Arts lovers...

... for Astronomy lovers...

There are even rooms for children. 

(You or your child could color these and and frame them for their very own room!)

I'm just so incredibly proud of my talented daughter! This is such a unique coloring book, and the pages are all so detailed! Again, the book is available in Amanda's Etsy Shop, and she will be happy to personalize the book with any message you'd like! I think you or your gift recipients will really enjoy this book!

Happy coloring, everyone!!

Donna

Yes, J! What a small world! It's Trident Booksellers &Cafe, at the very end of Newbury, almost at Mass Ave! And there are two cafes, one upstairs, one downstairs, where you can get AMAZING food and drinks. 

Craigslist Bookcase Score

We were in desperate need of bookcases to house both our own books and the many books in our Etsy shop.

I eventually plan to move my office/studio from the closet-sized 3rd bedroom of our little "split level" cottage into the medium-sized bedroom that belonged to our oldest daughter. The problem is, when she moved out, she left 20+ years of her childhood behind (you know, the stuff she doesn't want to move from apartment to apartment, but the stuff she can't bear to part with!)! And until I can get her back home for several days (weeks! months!) to go through everything, I'm in a state of limbo.

The only possible place to put bookcases until I move into the larger bedroom is along the wall in this small stretch of hallway. It will be tight, but it's temporary ("Famous last words," as my mother used to say.)

Saturday night I went on Craigslist to see what I could find and I scored BIG time!!! I made arrangements with the seller to pick up the bookcases on Sunday. So for the grand total of $30, I got not one, not two, not three.... but seven of these white bookcases!!! I kept five for myself (the other 2 are downstairs) and I gave two to my sister. We spent Sunday afternoon cleaning them (they were pretty grungy, but they sure cleaned up nice!).

 This afternoon was spent sorting through books and trying to arrange them in an order that will make them easy to find. I've always loved the look of an entire wall of bookshelves (although not necessarily in a narrow hallway!). I was also able to play around with the clock shelves a bit (they had been holding books before as well).

Of course this morning, before I started loading books onto the shelves, Miss Baby (the proverbial Literary Cat) made herself at home.

It's amazing how cats must investigate and take ownership of anything new
that comes into the house. 

(In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats. English proverb)

 It's not an option to a cat. It's mandatory.

Sorry, Baby. Time to move. Mommy's got work to do. Maybe I'll leave a bottom shelf open for you to hang out in.

So loads...

and loads...

and loads...

.. and loads later, I'd made a pretty good dent in it.

I still have another bin or two of books to go through, so you can guess what I'll be up to tomorrow as well!

This week I'm going to be joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for her very first "Tweak It Tuesday" party and Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday!

Have a great week, everyone!

Donna