I'm Obsessed with Colouring Books

Hey lovelies! I hope you're all having a marvellous start to the week :) Do you have any nice plans? I'd love to hear all about them! Today's post, as you've probably gathered from the title, is all about colouring books, and my current favourites that I've been using throughout these times with Miss 'Rona (I watched a lot of YouTube so this name for the virus has stuck!). I was inspired to do this post thanks to National Colouring Book Day, which is on the 2nd August, however as some of you guys will know, that month is a very triggering time for me, and so this post is a month late. But who cares!? My blog, my rules :D And I hope you'll all enjoy reading it just as much now as you would then! 

I have forever been a fan of colouring books, since being a small kid. Of course, most children are, but my love for them never went away. Thus I'm almost twenty-eight years old and still derive joy from colouring in. Who can relate? You can probably imagine my delight several years ago when the market for adult colouring book was booming. I mean, there's always been books available to colour in, but it was wonderful to have ones catered to grown-up's (even if, like me, you don't always feel like one!) in practically every store! 

As a result of the popularity of these adult versions of colouring books, which I believe were and continue to be so well loved because many grown up's feel childish for enjoying colouring, or for doing anything that is bright and happy and has an air of whimsical fun to it, apparently... And these books being sold specifically for them made it feel more socially acceptable. If you're someone who feels this way about anything, I want you to know that it's okay to enjoy things! 

My bedroom looks like a child's room with literal children's wallpaper and plushies everywhere you look, but life is too short and often miserable, or stressful or filled with boring adulting stuff, to not appreciate or partake in something that makes your heart happy, or your inner child. But there's really no such thing! Your childhood experiences, your interests from back then, your likes and dislikes, makes up a lot of who you became as a person, and it's fantastic when you let yourself embrace those things. So, you like colouring? Own that! I don't care what people think of my interests. If I want a giant fluffy alpaca plushie in a sailor's hat for my birthday, then that's what I want! And there ain't no-one who can make me feel bad about it :D

Apologies, guys; I seem to have gone off on a tangent! But the original point I was trying to make was that adult colouring books make so many of my fellow grown humans feel better about enjoying colouring, and if that encourages more people to do it then I'm all for it! Plus, its led to the creation of tonnes of really cool themed colouring books. There's seriously a book for everything and anything you can imagine- wanna colour in some serial killers? You can do that! How about trains? Yep, there's a book for that! And my favourites that have come out of this hype are sweary books :) Keep reading if you like these, too. 

Two of the colouring books I'll be talking about were very kindly purchased for me by my brilliant friends off of my Amazon wishlist! THANKYOU, GUYS!! And the other is one I picked up myself. I'd love to know which is your favourite! 

Look how adorable this witchy colouring book is!! It was the first that I received of the three I'm including in today's post, so I thought I would talk about it first :) I popped this lovely item onto my wishlist because a) I'm a big fan of all things witchcraft-related & b) because the illustrations are done in an anime style! As a lover of Japanese anime, this feature was probably the main reason I was drawn to this particular colouring book. And I was delighted to discover, upon flicking through the book when it arrived, that the company (Fritzen Publishing) have various themed colouring books designed in this style. There's a partition in the middle of the colouring book that lists other colouring books from Jade Summer, and also has two sample pages from other books. I now have a mighty need to start another collection! Can I ever be stopped!? 

One of my favourite things about this colouring book is how many different designs they are inside and how varied they are. There's 26 in total, and each of them is unique, featuring a witch or two doing completely different things. They are all such gorgeous illustrations, too!! I am just in love with the artwork! I want to put them up all over my wallpaper walls, to be honest :D 

I almost didn't want to start colouring them in because I thought my messy colouring would ruin them. Luckily for me, you get a double of every single picture!! When the book arrived, I was impressed by how thick it was, but I soon realised that there are the first set of illustrations, then the promo stuff I mentioned in the centre, followed by another set of the illustrations. I have both positive and negative opinions about this! It would have been amazing to have 52 unique designs to colouring in. But if I don't like my finished page, I can always do better on the extra sheet. Also, it would be ideal for parents with two children because you can cut out an identical page for both of them and not have to deal with them fighting over specific pages! I think it would be cute for couples to do together as well, because you can compare afterwards to see which colours you chose for certain parts of the illustration, etc.

How pretty is the first page of the Cute Witches colouring book!? It's the same design as on the cover and although my colouring in abilities don't do it justice, you can still see just how marvellous it is! The designs are very spacious, which is great for me who as I mentioned before is messy when it comes to colouring. I really do struggle to keep in the lines. Good old dyspraxia! 

Here's an example of one of the pages I've yet to colour in and as you can see, it's very different to the design of the first page. I'm delighted with the detail that has gone into the design of each illustration!! Another feature that I really like about this colouring book is how each illustration has its own page. You can see in my photo above that the backs of each page are just black in colour, which is superb as it means whatever you are using to colour with won't bleed through onto another design. This was always something that irritated me when I was a child, especially when I was trying to colour with felt-tip pens. I've not tried those in this colouring book yet though! 

You can find Cute Witches: An Adult Colouring Book for yourself here. It's available for only £4.99 which is amazing, considering the fact that it has 52 pages! The paper used is pretty good quality as well. I was a little surprised about this with the book only costing a fiver! All-in-all, I am super happy and I will definitely be getting more of Jade Summer's books in the future. Colouring in this book has not only been something to fill the time, but the designs have got my imagination going! I've found myself creating little tales and scenarios in my mind for the witch characters in the particular scene I'm working on. It's wonderful! A huge thanks to the lovely Estelle for getting this colouring book for me. She's a blogger, too, so definitely check out her blog as well as her YouTube channel :) 

I was certainly spoilt by my wonderful friends!! This colouring book was another that I added to my wishlist because if you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'll know that I love all things related to Japan: the language, the art, the history and culture, everything is fascinating! The design on the front of this book is so beautiful! And even though its available for only £1 more than the other book, the overall quality is better, including the cover which has a finish/texture to it that makes it seem like it would cost even more. 

I am a lover of surprises and so I was very much looking forward to find out what Japanese things would be featured inside this colouring book, and I was not disappointed. It looks as though lots of different artists were commissioned to put this colouring book together, as the style of the artwork differs from page-to-page. I like some more than others, but it keeps colouring in this book an interesting experience! 

As with the Cute Witches colouring book, the first page matches the design on the cover, so I've decided to show you a random page within the Japanese Colouring Book. I'm quite happy with the finished look of this page :) There are lots of beautiful scenes like this in the colouring book, so if nature and architecture are your thing, you'll enjoy it! It's relaxing to sit in the garden on a sunny day, colouring in outdoorsy scenes like the one above, whilst listening to the sounds of nature. 

This book has 32 illustrations in it, and no repeated designs, so it's a lot thinner than the other colouring book. And again, each is on its own individual page so you don't have to worry about the colours going through to 'ruin' another design. The blank backs of the pages in this book are white, which I prefer to the black. However, the paper feels a lot better quality in this book so I can understand why the Jade Summer book has backs that would hide most of the colours that might bleed through. 

Would it even be a Japanese themed book without at least one koi carp?? Spoiler: this books got many! I am lovin' the range in these colouring books though. It's been nice to turn to something new each time I open a page to start colouring. With the designs being so different in style, some are more intricate and have smaller sections to colour in, and this makes them more difficult, at least for someone like me. This is a feature of the book that I like because I can work on the tougher pages when I'm feeling in the mood for a challenge. Doing colouring that requires a lot of concentration makes me feel very focused, and I am often quite productive for the rest of the day after I have finished working on a page like that. 

The book is produced by a business called Creative Coloring Co, and you can purchase it on Amazon here. The final pages of the book have a few sample sheets from other books, and this is something I prefer. The samples being at the back I mean VS being in the middle, like with the first colouring book I mentioned. Thankyou so much to another fellow blogger friend of mine, Natalee, for surprising me with this colouring book from my wishlist :) Make sure to have a read of her blog, too! 

The final book that I wanted to show off to you all is the sweary one! It's made by Sugar & Sloth, a shop run by a fabulous artist called Anita, who makes the most adorable products! Just look at the cover of this colouring book and tell me that it doesn't immediately make you think 'AWW'! I am a subscriber of Sugar & Sloth's Tiny Party Club and receive monthly goodie boxes (they are so much fun!). And so I follow Anita's social media accounts, where I got to see the process of this spectacular adult colouring book coming to life! I even voted in the polls to determine whether the cover should be yellow or blue. I voted blue so I was so glad that it was the winner! I pre-ordered a 'Love Yourself, You Stupid Bitch' colouring book as soon as I could :) 

COLOURS GALORE!! I love love love the design of the inside of the cover! It's so eye-catching and vibrant and aesthetically-pleasing. What's not to love? There are so many adorable creatures on there, and it's excellent to be greeted by cuteness overload as soon as you open your colouring book! 

One of my favourite things about Sugar & Sloth's artwork are the bold outlines and how chunky the characters are! And this translates into the perfect colouring book style for me :) The design and the cute yet simplistic style of the illustrations mean that there's a large surface area to colour in, and that's why I can colour with less risk of going outside the lines, haha! 

I'm a huge fan of Anita's creations and the major reason for that is the contrast between the sweet little chubby animals and the captions that accompany them! As a adult who is fond of cursing as a form of expression, but who also likes to fill her life with all the kawaii things, this really appeals to 'both sides' of me. I am super happy to have a book full of them now, as each and every one of the illustrations in this colouring book makes me smile when I look at it! The book is titled as a self-care colouring book and its already doing a spectular job before I even get started with the actual filling-in of colour! 

The designs in The Sweary Self-Care Colouring book are very relatable for me. Anita, like myself, has anxiety and so a lot of her wording speaks to me on a personal level. It's kind of cathartic to see words that could pretty much have come from your own brain on paper in cutesy form. I don't know how to explain my feelings, but I hope that made some sort of sense, haha! 

This fantastical product is £12, which it is definitely worth considering how beautifully designed it is and the illustrations are printed onto super thick paper that feels closer to card. It's very unlikely that colours are going to bleed through that thickness, but I've not tested it with felts yet :D There are 36 illustrations to colour and they are very varied in design, so you won't get bored colouring in this book! The only element that I would change is that the pages are printed back-to-back. Because of the thickness of the paper used, I would love to display these around my room, but this means I won't get to see the illustrations that are on the backside of the paper and as the designs are all so nice, there are lots of pages where I would love to display both sides, but I'll obviously have to chose between the two! It will be challenge to decide, but this isn't something that has an impact on what the book is for? It's still wonderful to colour in! 

Thankyou Anita for putting together such an epic book filled with hilarious swear words, like cockwomble!!, and lots of lovely phrases of encouragement. Both help to brighten my day whenever I open up a random page :) You can get yourself one over on the Sugar & Sloth website. Go support an independent, small business during these trying times!

It may sound silly, but colouring really has been a big help for me over the last few months. I've found that on days when my mental health is bad and I can't find the motivation to complete the tasks written on my to-do-list, such as trying to blog or doing photography, I can open up a colouring book and get lost for a while. I can fight away the intrusive thoughts that pop up to tell me how much of a bad person I am for being unproductive! And this is because there is something so satisfying about finishing colouring in an illustration. You can admire your work and think 'I did that!', even though all you did was colour in someone else's artwork. It still feels like the artwork is partly your own creation, as you've bought it to life with colour :) I don't know about you guys, but it always makes me feel that little mood boost that comes with accomplishment. It's the little things, as they say! 

So colouring for me as been a form of self care, and I am so grateful to my friends for helping me more than they know (or at least, knew before reading it here!). I really hope that this has been an interesting read, despite the fact that my mind is all over the place today and I can't seem to stay focused on one topic at a time! Maybe I should go do some colouring?

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Are you a fan of colouring in?

If so, what's the best colouring book that you own? 

I'd love recommendations!

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Little Things That Make Me Happy

Hi Everyone! The last few weeks have not been the best for me as there's been a lot going on in my life, mostly involving family, which has really impacted my mental health. It's been a hard time to get through, especially when I already have so many other things stressing me out. I decided last week that I was going to try and cheer myself up any way I could, to concentrate on the little things that help bring a smile to my face and make me feel uplifted. It can be very tough to focus on the positives though when there's so much negativity taking place around you, so I started writing some notes on my phone of anything and everything that filled me with happiness, no matter how small and insignificant it seemed at the time. 

I started keeping note so that at the end of the day, when I was laying in bed which happens to be one of the times that I struggle with anxiety the most, when I'm overthinking for hours and hours, I could read back through the list I'd made. It was my hope to make myself feel good when I was re-playing the day's problems, to try and distract my mind by thinking about those things that make everything worth it, the things that make life wonderful. I thought that I'd only keep up this list for a couple of days, but seven days later it was still going strong. I thought then, why not share it? Although the points on my own list might not be things that would make it onto your own list, I hope that by reading this post it makes you think about all the little moments in your lives that are special to you. Maybe you could start up your own list. For all of my readers who also struggle with their mental health,  remember that even the smallest things you can do to make yourself feel good are super important! Self care is crucial for everyone and it's good to give different things a go to find out if they will be beneficial to you. I hope you all enjoy reading! 

Gardens full of pretty flowers

The School of Rock (2003) 

The way my rabbits wiggle their noses; it's so adorable!

Being surprised with sweets (I really love sweets and even more so, surprises!)

Talking the perfect selfie that makes me feel great!

When I manage to draw perfect wings on my eyeliner

Having the house to myself 
The fact that Horror Con exists (I've been watching lots of vlogs lately, I need to go!)

Kiefer Sutherland in the 80's

Ticking things off my to-do-list 
Badass battle scenes on shows (nerd!)
Listening to heavy rain when I'm snuggled up in bed

The way Aurora (my sister's puppy) greets me whenever she hasn't seen me for a while

Having a good, loud sing-along
Hot chocolate with marshmallows

Speaking German (I'm learning German at the moment)

Getting comments on my blog posts 

My mom left a cute note and some lunch for me when she went out for the afternoon :) 
Finding hilarious and/or relatable memes
Compliments (no matter how much they make me blush, haha!)
Musicals
Listening to people talking to animals, when they put on that specific high-pitched voice 
That feeling of accomplishment after you do something you've been meaning to for a while 
Frujj Banana Milkshake
Spotting wildlife (On Wednesday, I saw a huge Buzzard & again on Sunday, as well as a Sparrow Hawk ) 
Homemade Roast Potatoes *nom nom*
Painting my nails red
When me & my best friend respond to something in pretty much exactly the same way :D
Listening to people's joyful laughter
Sexual innuendos & clever dirty humour
Writing in a fresh notebook
Doing well at my German; I feel great when I have revised my lessons well. 
Watching little garden birds chasing each other 
The adorable sounds that Pokemon make
How my art print wall in my bedroom is coming along nicely
Dragons! 
Also, Dragons burning things on Game of Thrones!
The legend that is Tim Curry
Toasting bread perfectly & not having to put it back into the toaster
The colour Yellow
When Aurora snuggles up to me & falls asleep
Ridiculous, badly-done gore scenes on horror movies 
The fact that it will be Autumn soon, yay!
Putting on PJs that are straight out of the dyer & still warm
The smell of vanilla
Bright moons on a clear night
That first feeling of getting into a hot bath
Ice-cream with sprinkles

I know this was a long list to read, but I hope you all enjoyed it!

Thankyou for reading!

  ♥

I love to hear about some of things that made you smile today? 

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10 Ways That I Practice Self Care

Hey lovelies! I usually try to avoid starting posts off on a sad note, however right now I'm not feeling very good. Not long after I sat down to write up this post, I learnt the terrible news about Linkin Park's singer Chester Bennington, and it was such a shock. During my teenage years, when I struggled with my depression in silence and felt truly alone, the words of Linkin Park's songs helped me through tough times and allowed me to process my emotions. They made me feel like I wasn't so alone in my feelings. These songs I loved so much have continued to help me throughout my life, the lyrics are tragically beautiful and really speak to me. So the news struck me hard. RIP Chester ♥ Self care feels more important than ever right now, and this post feels so appropriate today. I wanted to share with you all my favourite ways to provide myself with some care and to cheer myself up when I'm feeling gloomy. I hope that you dinf this post helpful. Enjoy! 

The Importance of Self Care 

Self care basically means doing something that is beneficial to your mental well-being, something that makes you feel good, cheers you up when you're down, or that helps you relax when you're feeling stressed or tense, something that can calm you and help relieve any anxiety. There are so many different forms of self care that are practiced by lot of people to help them feel better. Here are the things that make me feel a little better on my dark days, things that help settle my nerves and ease any stress I might have....

1. Hot Bath, Pretty Colourful Bath Bombs & Sweet-Scented Candles 

I love a good bath; the hot water makes me feel relaxed and soothes the aches and pains that I experience as a result of my chronic pain conditions. However, because of my depression I find it difficult to motivate myself sometimes to have a bath. It makes me embarassed to admit it but I will avoid looking after myself when I'm having a hard time with my mental health, so I like to use candles and bath bombs to encourage myself to have a bath. I absolutely adore bath bombs... the fragrances, the colours, the sound of them fizzling away in the water and the way they swirl around the bath tub spreading colours as they go, the bath art that they create, the way they change the colour of the water and how they make my skin feel and smell afterwards. I also love to burn candles in the bathroom too, usually Yankee Candles because of how strong the scents are and also because they have so many wonderful kinds available. I put my music on, turn the light off, and once I'm in there, I never want to get out. It just feels really tranquil :) 

2. Listening to music

Music has always been important to me and I've forever found myself getting lost listening to the meaningful words, the instrumentals and the rhytms, and the way they make me feel. I prefer to listen to different genres and certain artists depending on how I'm feeling, but very often when I'm feeling frustrated or stressed, my go-to is loud, heavy music. It just makes me feel better, to channel my emotions and almost vent them. When my depression is making me feel down, I like to listen to 'sad songs', because they help me to feel like I'm not alone in what I'm feeling and also make me feel like I can get through whatever feelings I'm experiencing at the time. Other times when I'm feeling gloomy, I enjoy pulling on my musical soundtracks or disney songs, and singing along to them! They make me feel uplifted and cheer me right up! 

 3. Relaxing in nature

Nature has always been a place of sanctuary to me. When I am surrounded by plants and trees and flowers and wildlife, I feel at home. I feel content and I get a feeling of inner place and it really helps me relax and escape from my worries and the stresses of life. There is so much beauty around me and so many little details to observe and explore, that I almost forget my troubles and just focus on the things around me. I like to the sounds of nature: the wind blowing through the branches making the leaves rustle, the tweeting and singing of the birds, the sound of squirrels and other forest-dwelling creatures scurrying through the leaves, the trickling of a stream, twigs crunching under my shoes... there's just so much activity. I love to lay on grass and look up at the sky and the trees, to feel the grass brush against my fingers. I like to watch insects flying from flower and flower. All of these different scensory elements just distract me and I always feel a little happier when I leave the natural space. 

4. Watching movies that make me laugh or cry

Depending on how I'm feeling, I like to watch movies that cause completely different reactions on me. Sometimes I want to watch an uplighting movie with a cheerful storyline, of romance and adventure and comedy, those with fairytale happy endings. I want to feel full of joy when I watch it, to feel inspired and motivated and ready to face whatever the world throws at me. Other times, I want to have a good cry, sometimes being able to let out all of my pent-up emotions really helps me feel better. Who else feels better after a good cry? I'll watch movies that I know have heart-wrenching scenes, usually Disney movies, or movies that are about heartbreak or hardship or that I can relate to when I'm feeling shit. Whenever the movie does, whether it makes me giggle or sob, they often help distract me from my internal thoughts and this makes me feel better for a while. Let me know in the comment which movies always make you laugh or cry. I'd love some recommendations!

5. Colouring in 

There are some really creative and beautifully illustrated 'colouring therapy' books available since adult colouring books became a thing. There is something to suit every taste, from wildlife, to mandalas, to fictional characters and colouring books based on popular movies and books, and even colouring books that are combined with puzzle books. I love all of them, but my favourites are the ones by artist Millie Marotta (check out a review I did about one of them here). She creates illustrations with so many little details to colour and as I've never been the best at keeping my colouring inside the lines, I find that I really have to concentrate as not to mess up. This helps me focus on what I'm doing rather than on my thoughts and so it can be really helpful for taking my mind off things for a while. It also makes me feel happy afterwards when I look at my completed picture and love what I've done :) 

 6. Masturbation 

I wasn't sure about whether to include this in my post at first, but then I thought why the heck not? It is something that a lot of people do, even if they'd personally prefer to keep it private, and it is a massive stress-reliever. Last year, I shared a post for all about the pros of masturbation if you want to check it out. It is something that always makes me feel better afterwards, it relieves tension, improves my mood, and it feels great! It is the most natural type of self care there is. 

7. Binge-watching Cartoons

Sometimes being stressed can make us feel drained, and I know that when I'm feeling drained that my concentration is not at it's best and I cannot seem to focus much on anything. All I want to do is longue around and do something that doesn't require much thinking. This is when I find it fun to watch my favourite animated shows. They are easy to watch and make me laugh and I don't need to concentrate on complex storylines and characters. They are usually short episodes, too. I can watch them back to back for hours effortlessly, and this is perfect for me when I just want to lay in bed with some yummy food and snuggle up in my duvet :) 

8. Getting Lost Within the Pages of a Book

If you enjoy reading then you'll know that there's nothing that takes you away from your everyday life and a overthinking brain quite like a good book. Whether you're re-reading one of your favourite books or discovering a new one, it can be so catharic to let your imagination run wild, to get lost in a book, especially if you can relate to the characters or the storyline is really captivating and interesting. Books are wonderful things!

9. Cuddling With My Pets

Animals have always been able to instantly cheer me up. Watching their little mannerisms and observing their behaviour makes me smile and laugh and feel so much love for them. Cuddling animals or stroking/petting them or feeding them or brushing them is really therapeutic, and my gorgeous pets always make me happy, especially when they show me love back. I love the way that my rabbits nudge me with their noses or hop over to be when I'm sitting in their rabbit runs with them and flop down next to me. I love watching them binky (this is that super cute behaviour that rabbits do when they jump in the air and then hop or run around afterwards). It makes me feel so loved when my sister's puppy Aurora gets excited to see me when I get up or whenever I've been out of the room for a long time. I love when she brings a toy to me because she wants to play, or like now for example when I'm sitting on the floor typing after on my laptop, she comes and lays down next to me. Animals are amazing. Who else has pets? I'd love to hear all about them :) If you don't have your own pet, you can always go to a friends who has one, or go to a petting zoo, or volunteer at a rescue centre. 

10. Photography

Practicing self care is doing anything that makes you feel good, that has a positive impact on your mental health and that brings you happiness. One of my hobbies that I enjoy the most is photography. It makes me feel focused when I'm trying to capture the beautiful things I see and this in turn keeps my thoughts occupied, meaning I've not analysing all of my anxiety thoughts or worrying about things. When I take a photography that I'm happy with, it makes me feel good about myself. I am really interested in wildlife and I enjoy the challenge of photographing insects, so whenever I manage to shot the 'perfect' photograph, it makes me feel so happy. I love flowers too, and I love documentating all of the cool flora that I see when I'm out and about. Looking through the photographs when I'm back home is something that I enjoy as well. All of these things make me feel contented and joyful so I really passionate about photography. 
 

So, those are all of the ways that I practice self care, depending on how I'm feeling or what it is that I'm having a hard time dealing with. I hope that this post has given you some ideas of self care to try for yourself, or that you can relate to some of the self care that I do. Right now, I'm in need of some self care so I'm going to cuddle Aurora and put on Bob's Burger :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

 ♥

What are your go-to self care practices? 

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