12 Days til Christmas

Christmas has been sneaking up on me and my family really fast this year. We went to Kansas City for Thanksgiving with family and got back home late on the Saturday after.

Our new kitty, Areya, hadn’t been feeling well before we left and when we got back she was still not doing great. So the first week of December was all about taking her to the Animal Hospital for tests and some help. The great news is she has recovered and is back to normal, getting into mischief every waking moment.

I’m a little behind with my planned holiday posts here on the blog. With only 12 days left until Christmas, I wanted to share with you a new coloring page. This is a fun whimsical nighttime Christmas tree. I’ve made it available in 2 sizes.

The first is a full page 8.5 x 11.

The second is a half page greeting card.

I had a lot of fun coloring this page and wanted to share the 4 different versions I colored to give you ideas for coloring your tree page.

For this one I used colored pencils only and picked rainbow colors for the ornaments on the tree. The tree colors are piney greens with shading at the tops of each segment. Shading around the stars with a deep blue sky and blue snow lines.

For this version I used colored pencils in blues and teals for the trees, then grays and yellows for the stars. The ornaments I used shaded lavender and purples for the ovals then a mix of salmon, yellow and pink for the others. I left the sky blank with bright blue snow lines.

This one I used colored pencils and went with a bright lime green for the main tree, with kelly green shading at the the tops of each segment. The ornaments were colored the same color for each shape using hot pink, lavender and pale yellow. The background trees are a piney green. Then shading around the stars and a bright blue sky and navy blue snow lines..

For the final version I used fine line markers for some of the details and outlines with colored pencils to add shading and soft color. Stars and ornaments were simple Red, Orange & Yellow. The trees were colored a piney green. Bright blue snow lines.

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no added cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links.

I used my Staedtler Noris Club 36 colored pencils on all of these pages. I love the density of color and how durable these pencils are. They have a white protective coating around the lead core that really helps decrease breakage and allows for sharpening to a clean point.

I use my Staedtler double hole Tub pencil sharpener to keep the points sharp. I love that it has a compartment to catch shavings and a cap across the holes so I can throw it in my crafting bag and there is no mess.

For the fine line marker work on the final version I colored, I used my Staedtler 20 Triplus fineliner markers. These are great long lasting markers that I can color with for hours and not have dry up on me.

If you want to add any of these products to your craft bag and can’t find them locally, just click on the images above to find them at Amazon.com for purchase.

Have fun coloring some Christmas trees.

Spring is Here!

It is finally feeling like spring time up here on my mountain. I can almost believe that summer is just around the corner. Down in town I’ve been seeing lots of butterflies, so I thought this coloring page would be perfect for celebrating the change in seasons.

For those of you that are more interested in crochet than coloring, you will be happy to know I have a new design published in the June 2019 issue of “I Like Crochet” online magazine.

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links.

This is the “Shoreline Cold Shoulder Tee” worked in King Cole’s “Vogue” cotton yarn. Available in a wide range of lovely colors this yarn worked up great for this sweet little girl’s tee. Though worked in a simple linen stitch this is an advance level project.

You can subscribe to the “I Like Crochet” magazine and get this and many other wonderful crochet patterns as well as informative “how to” articles and other crochet themed content. Click here to go to the “I Like Crochet” subscription page.

I crocheted the sample with my Clover Amour hook. These are some of my favorite hooks to work with. I spend a lot of hours crocheting and find this to be a good match for my hands. If you can’t find them locally you can purchase them on Amazon.com, just click on the photo above and it will take you right to them.

Springtime Bunny

Easter is next weekend and I’ve always loved it as a celebration of Spring. Even though up here on the mountain it is usually still cold and even snowy, down in town there are signs of springtime everywhere. Trees getting green buds or even leaves, tulips and daffodils popping up and showing off their colors.

We will be keeping our eyes and ears open for the arrival of the first hummingbirds as the Easter bunny comes for a visit. We have already seen a few wild bunnies in our yard as they venture out of their warm burrows on the milder days.

Meanwhile I have a new fun coloring page for my readers. This bunny is celebrating springtime with his coat of flowers and greenery. You can download the full page PDF of the coloring page using the link below.

As a special treat for those of you preparing for the upcoming holiday I also have a card version of the bunny.

This page will print out with the bunny on half of a 8.5″ x 11″ page. Color your image then fold the paper into a 5″ x 8.5″ card. You can download the card coloring page PDF using the link below.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter together.

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no additional cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links.

I colored the images in this post using my Chameleon Color Tones pencils. They are a densely pigmented pencil so even a light touch to the paper can give you beautiful color. If you can’t find them locally they are available online at Amazon.com. Click on the photo above to go straight to them.

If you prefer to color with markers, some of my favorites are the Staedtler Triplus Fineliners. If you can’t find them locally they are available on Amazon.com. Just click on the image above to go straight to them.

Crochet Inspired Coloring

I’m so excited to share with my readers my latest project.

My Crochet themed E-Coloring Book with FaveCrafts.com. Today is the first day it is available on the FaveCrafts website. It is a free downloadable PDF. Click here to get your copy.

The book contains 4 coloring pages for you to print out and color. The front and back covers are some examples of how I colored 2 of the pages using color pencils and fine line markers.

On 2 of the pages I included a stitch chart pattern for making motifs. One is the flower from the “Flowers & Vines” page. The other is a Round-to-Square blanket square from the “Gorgeous Granny Square” page. Both pattern pages also have a drawing of a crocheted motif (the square has 3) so you can play with color on the page to see what colors of yarn you might want to use.

I worked the motifs above with Red Heart’s “With Love” worsted weight yarn and a size I (5.5mm) hook. You can see on the squares that switching colors at the ends of round 1 and 2 creates a floral look. Especially when the last rounds are worked in green.

I hope you enjoy this collection of coloring pages. Please share your colored pages and crocheted projects with me on Instagram (andee.graves) or my Facebook business page (Andee Graves / M2H Designs).