Adult Coloring Books or Free Coloring Pages

Adult Coloring Books are all the rage now. Is it worth the money?

By far the most popular book out there.

If you like to color with your kids, or just because, or if you liked to color as a child, then you will probably enjoy coloring these. The pages are more difficult with intricate designs, not simple shapes as with children's coloring books, especially the younger ones. Some children's coloring books can be quite intricate, however! Adults might feel strange coloring cartoon characters, and you won't find any of those in books labeled adult coloring. You will find patterns, mandalas, animals, and plants.

You want to try before you buy? Feel like an entire book is an investment? There are plenty of free pages. FREE FREE   You can search for images and copy paste them to Word and print them out. Here are a few I tried.

You could also make your own with programs that allow you to take your photos and modify them with black and white outlines. photoshop    adobe photoshop elements 
Download fotosketcher 

Coloring provides benefits for kids.. AND adults (Huffpost) (LifeHack).

I know for me coloring provides some down time to relax and think. As an introvert, I need space and quiet time to get inside my head. Coloring doesn't help me work out all the problems. I am too focused on the logical elements of colors and creating to allow myself to completely imagine and discover solutions to problems as when in a dream-like state. It does lower my stress, by providing a relaxing tone. I can better think through problems afterwards. Coloring can take place while watching movies or shows, especially re-runs or movies you've seen before. You can pause to watch the best parts. Besides, it hurts your hand to color for a full 2 hours! Coloring to music may help relax you even more. We used to paint to music in my college art class, to encourage us to really listen and interpret what we heard onto the paper.

The best part for me is, coloring puts me in a 'zone' much like writing. It's the same fountain where stories come from. Sometimes coloring can evoke a story to appear.

How I Enjoy My One Full Month of Summer

I have finally settled into the one full month of summer and I made a few promises to myself.

1. Do as little school-related as possible.  Sure, I am looking for great bargains on supplies, and I always have my classroom to-do list in the back of my mind, but overall, I am pushing those thoughts aside if possible. If the urge to research something or jot down a note comes, I am doing it, however I am limiting myself.

2. Make a point to play with my kids. I just made them a mini croquet field out of pool noodles. We used play golf clubs and little kick balls to navigate it. It was fun. We are going to the county fair later to ride rides. We just spent 2 days with family eating, playing, and talking. July is going to be about parenting and taking breaks/time for myself.

3. Do something creative. I was looking up art yesterday on pinterest for inspiration and I found the picture that is inspiring the color palette for my living room overhaul.

Autumn Fog — PALETTE KNIFE Oil Painting On Canvas By Leonid Afremov - Size: 20" x 36" 

Click on the link to see more of his work, as I LOVE it. Also, I want this painting if anyone is feeling exceptionally generous! :)

I am in the mood to paint something. I might also do some doodling and art journaling. I might have the boys paint with me. Whatever I do, or if I do them all, I will do them because I am free to do them.

July is also JulNoWriMo, and I am writing. That takes creative energy, too. So when I am not painting, I may be writing.

I may also be doing some cross stitch. I have a counted cross stitch I have been working on for oh, 12 years. :)

Here you can see my progress, and how large it is.

4. Do something active, or a workout, every day! I can't go back to work all flabby and tiring easily. I may have to wrestle with students whose muscles don't cooperate when dressing, lift students who can't sit up, help support a student in the middle of a seizure, or hold back students who want to run off. I may also be challenged to a relay race in the gym. :) Plus, it helps me feel good about myself. That's the whole point, really.

We have a park nearby, relatives with a nice pool, and there are plenty of videos on Daily Hiit to show me some new and fun exercises. The elliptical is always ready to go, not to mention the yoga mat.

Let's Do This, July!