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It’s been a long day, maybe things aren’t going as you had planned, so you are looking for a way to relieve your stress and anxiety. If you are at home, then you may turn to your go-to stress relievers like a hot bath or curling up with a good book (or a good paper crafts project), but what if you are at work or school and feel the need to take a break to de-stress? Craft ideas for adults serve as good sources of some of relaxation such as paper crafts and scrapbooking. Lately, more and more people are turning to adult coloring books as a new and alternative paper craft idea to help them relax.
That’s right, coloring books! But, these aren’t the coloring books you remember from your youth. These intricate coloring books are just as fun, yet they reflect your increase in skill (and taste) level. No offense, cartoon characters, but the artwork in adult coloring books is just that: artwork.
When checking out the top seller lists of popular websites and booksellers, these stress relieving coloring books are often found in the top 20 lists. They provide a soothing creative outlet and are easy to carry with you or have available in your desk drawer if a de-stressing break is needed.
You may be ready to give adult coloring books a try but don’t know where to start; it’s actually pretty simple as you will only need a couple supplies. You will need something to color: this can either be a coloring book or adult coloring pages that you can print at home. You will also need something to color with, whether crayons or colored pencils or markers.
The good news is that because of their recent popularity, adult coloring books are relatively easy to find. On a recent shopping trip, I saw them prominently displayed at our local bookstore as well as at two big-box craft supply stores. Themes range from geometric deigns to nature-inspired pages that feature florals, ocean scenes, and just about any wildlife you can imagine like these wonderful elephant coloring pages and birds and giraffes pages.
Once you have decided on which book or pages you would like to color, the next step is to decide what you will color with. The obvious choice of course is crayons. Coloring books and crayons go together like peanut butter and jelly. They are inexpensive, come in a wide variety of colors, and there are even twistable crayons that allow you to color more precisely on your pages.
If you are a paper crafter, then you probably have other coloring mediums in your stash that you could use on your coloring pages. Supplies you may already have on hand may be colored pencils, watercolor pencils, gel pens, and markers. Most of us probably have brush pens or Copics that we have used when stamping that could be used when coloring as well. What you use to color with is a personal choice; some may like the lighter, softer effect of colored pencils while others prefer the bold colors of markers.
This blogger does an excellent job defining each of the coloring media available to help you choose which is right for you, but don’t stress it, this is supposed to be relaxing! Find what works for you and your budget.
In preparing this post I reached out to one of my very favorite mixed media artists, Jamie Dougherty, as she has recently designed her first adult coloring book called The Bloom Book. As a scrapbooker, I have long been a fan of Jamie’s paper crafting and mixed media work (you must check out her beautiful Bloom Girls!) and I love her coloring book just as much!
What kinds of images do you like to color most? Let us know below in the comments!
Martha Bonneau
I started scrapping in 2006 and was quickly addicted!I was an avid scrapper until late summer of 2010 when we started our adoption journey, at that point I was overwhelmed with paperwork (and emotions!) and I had to put something on the back burner in my life but I knew I would eventually come back to it.
We welcomed our daughter home from China in December of 2011 and a few months later I found my groove again and pulled out all of those supplies that had been tucked away.
I started out scrapping again doing traditional layouts, but at the beginning of this year I jumped into Project Life and I love it!
When I’m not scrapping I am usually spending time with our daughters which means library time, going on walks, thrifting (they love it as much as I do!) or watching Kung Fu Panda for the millionth time.I also have an Etsy shop Panda Eight Designs where I sell scrapbooking flair that I design.
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