Mermaids in Wonderland: 20 Postcards – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Mermaids in Wonderland: 20 Postcards is published by Harper Design and illustrated and kindly sent to me for review by Marco Chin. This is the second set of postcards by Marcos who previously illustrated the Fairies in Wonderland Postcards, this set is identical in format and therefore much of my review is the same, skip to the second paragraph for information about the content. This set of 20 postcards contains scaled down artwork from Marcos’s original Mermaids in Wonderland book which you can read my review of HERE. Each postcard is printed single-sided with a beautiful seahorse, a dotted stamp area and address lines on the back so that you can send them to family, friends and loved ones. The postcards are not perforated but are removable with a similar glue to that of note blocks which means they can be removed with a nice clean edge ready for sending or displaying, it also means the book lies nice and flat for colouring. The postcards are made of thick, white card which didn’t bleed at all with my water-based pens and only very lightly shadowed with alcohol markers! The line thickness remains spindly thin throughout which is somewhat problematic. I have very good vision for small, close things, and also have very good fine motor control but a few of the images on these postcards are so tiny that they’re almost impossible to colour and you’re certain to go over the edges. This is a shame because I’m a huge fan of the imagery and I just love the illustrations but scaling down the images to postcard size wasn’t the most sensible choice because it’s quite limiting. The postcards are beautiful to look at and would be gorgeous to send or display as they are but given that they’re sold as colouring postcards, I expect to be able to colour all of them and I will struggle to do that neatly with a few of them. That being said, the images are very beautiful and are definitely worth putting the time and effort into to get them perfect and if you don’t colour each section individually and colour over some off the pattern instead then a lot of the problem is alleviated.

The images chosen for these postcards are a good selection from the book and contain a number of beautiful mermaid images, as well as the crab, starfish, dolphins, shells and more, and unusually, 6 of the images have black backgrounds. There is a very good mixture of mermaids and creatures, though I would have liked to see a few more mermaids pictured, given the title, only 14 of the images actually contain mermaids. The riddles from the book aren’t added to this postcard book but a few of the images do contain letter keys which are fairly subtle and certainly don’t detract from the beauty of the images. The colouring book contains 4 removable postcards and these are identical to 4 within this set so if you have the book already you’ll be getting 16 new cards in this set and 4 that duplicate those in the colouring book.

In terms of mental health, I would recommend the majority of these postcards but you will need very good vision and fine motor control to enjoy them because they are extremely intricate and detailed. You will also need pretty good concentration and focus because these postcards take a surprisingly long time to colour given the size of them. They take less time to colour than the images in the book do but they’re still very time-consuming, however, this is great for distraction, each postcard is like a window into the mermaid world and if you let it, you can be really absorbed into it and away from any difficult symptoms or thoughts. All in all, I would recommend this postcard book to those of you with very good vision and fine motor control. The pictures are a challenge to colour because of the intricacy but they will look beautiful coloured and would be lovely to send to people, or frame and you could frame the uncoloured ones very nicely too. The card is lovely and thick and great for pens and pencils and it’s a nice format for these delicate images.

If you’d like to purchase a set they’re available here:
Amazon UK – Mermaids in Wonderland: 20 Postcards
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/Mermaids-in-Wonderland-20-Postcards-Marcos-Chin/9780062565662/?a_aid=colouringitmom

If you love the imagery but these are just too intricate why not take a peek at the original book:
Review – Mermaids in Wonderland Colouring Book
Amazon UK – Mermaids in Wonderland
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/Mermaids-in-Wonderland-Marcos-Chin/9780062465603/?a_aid=colouringitmom

Silent video flick-through of the whole book below.

The image below was coloured with Bic Marking Alcohol Markers and Promarker Alcohol Markers.

Magisk Gryning 20 Vykort (Magical Dawn 20 Postcards) – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Magisk Gryning 20 Vykort are illustrated by Hanna Karlzon, and published and kindly sent to me to review by Pagina Förlag. These postcards are taken from Hanna’s original colouring book Magisk Gryning/Magical Dawn (reviewed by me here), there is also an artist’s edition available. This postcard book contains 20 postcards, it’s paperback with thick card covers and a black tape binding. The cover is the same colour and design as the original book but printed on a smaller scale with the same luxurious gold foil accents. The book has a lay flat binding meaning there is no spine to contend with so you’re able to reach and colour the entirety of the image; the postcards are easy to remove if you wish so they can be sent or gifted or even framed but they’ll stay in the book as long as you’re careful not to twist the spine. The cards are a cream colour which looks quite vintage, it’s fairly smooth with a light texture and is perfect for blending and shading with pencils but pens glide over it seamlessly too. Alcohol markers won’t bleed if you’re careful and they don’t spread, they do shadow onto the reverse so bear this in mind if you’re wanting to write on the back. The postcards are printed single-sided and on the reverse are printed three address lines and space for a stamp with a little star motif within it. The drawings mostly have a small border around them but 6 are full page, they will be pretty easy to frame if you wish to do so. The illustrations are all very similar to those used in the Daydreams and Winter Dreams postcard sets in terms of intricacy level and content, none are impossible to colour and all will look beautiful when finished. The images are mostly nature-based but a number of them are magic-themed and for the second time Hanna has included female drawings, four have been included this time which is a lovely addition. There aren’t a lot of gems in this selection but the illustrations do contain a really good variety of things from birds to potion bottles, jewellery to cats, females to sand timers and beetles to flowers, this postcard set possibly contains the widest ranging content of all of Hanna’s postcards. They’ve all got a bit of added whimsy and fantasy which is a huge part of what gives Hanna’s images such charm and sets them apart from others, they’re just beautiful, even without colour added!

In terms of mental health, these postcards are just perfect! Postcards offer a smaller project which is less daunting to start and takes far less time to make progress on or finish than a full book page. The card is ideal for using any mediums and because they’re single-sided they’re perfect for framing so you can brighten up your darker days by just looking at all of the wonderful pages you’ve created, a great way of lifting your spirits. These postcards are fantasy-based which means they offer great escapism and distraction from difficult thoughts or symptoms, Hanna’s images really absorb you and transport you to far off lands and magical places. Fantasy images are great for those of you who don’t like being restricted with colour schemes and they’re a good challenge for those of you who like to colour things realistically as you can really let your hair down and use any colours you fancy for feline princesses or crystal mushrooms, there’s no right or wrong colour scheme and often the more vibrant and outlandish you go, the better the results! The line thickness is consistently thin throughout but it’s not spindly thin. The intricacy and detail levels are pretty high but none of the spaces are impossible to colour. You will need fairly good vision and fine motor control to get the most out of these postcards. As for concentration level, these pages are ideal because their smaller size means they take less concentration and you can focus on individual aspects if you prefer and colour just one gem or potion bottle rather than focusing on the whole picture at once. These postcards are ideal for good and bad days, they’re a manageable size and I personally find them very inspiring and easy to get into without having to stress over colours for hours, I can just dive right in. If you need any inspiration then just search online using Hanna’s name or the book title and you’ll find heaps of ideas to get you going!

Overall, I would highly recommend these postcards, they’re all beautifully illustrated and they’re perfect for days when you’re feeling poorly, down, or your concentration is waning. They make an ideal project to send to others, to frame, or to keep in the book and they’re truly beautiful even just to look through uncoloured! They are a great format for Hanna’s drawings and even if you have the original colouring book, it doesn’t feel samey or stale despite containing the same imagery, the change in scale somehow makes the artwork seem different and lends itself to different colour schemes and the use of different mediums and techniques.

If you’d like to purchase a set they’re available here:
Pen Store – https://www.penstore.com/art-design/magisk-gryning-20-postcards-to-color
Bokus – http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163612831/magisk-gryning-20-vykort-att-farglagga/

Or you can pre-order the English language version, published in April, here:
Amazon UK – Magical Dawn 20 Postcards
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/Magical-Dawn-20-Postcards-Hann-Karlzon/9781423646617/?a_aid=colouringitmom

The image below was coloured using Sharpie Fine Point Alcohol Markers and a few Promarker Alcohol Markers and the white highlights were added using a White Sakura Gelly Roll Gel Pen.

Inka Shade: The Lampshade you can Color – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Inka Shade is a new company and concept which is bringing a wonderful new product to the colouring market – lampshades! Like many of you, now I’ve started adult colouring, I’m always on the lookout for new things I can colour, as soon as I see something black and white I instantly start imagining colour schemes so I was very excited when I discovered that colouring lampshades were a reality! These lampshades come in two styles and each style can be either a main ceiling light or a lamp, some designs are only available in one style but each listing clearly states if this is the case. The kit contains your colouring lampshade strip which is a surprisingly long piece of plastic-backed material with the design printed on the outside. Many of the designs can be ordered in plain black and white or as a partially coloured option with the background printed in a specific colour. I requested the beautiful Dragonfly Pool design from Tangle Wood by Jessica Palmer with a pale blue background. The kit also contains two large metal rings, one for the bottom to hold the shade in the correct shape, and one for the top so that it can be fixed to your ceiling light. It also contains a self-adhesive Velcro strip so that the lampshade strip can be fastened around the metal rings and a long self-adhesive strip with rubber grooved material to place the metal rings into on the inside of the lampshade. It also contains a very well-written instruction booklet including diagrams and clear step-by-step instructions, while it’s easy to follow these, it’s a bit fiddly putting the whole thing together so I’d advise roping someone else in to help you, I did mine this weekend with my mum which made it much easier. I found that mine was a little loose around the metal rings but it’s possible to adjust it with the help of another person by undoing the Velcro and tightening or loosening it around the metal rings. Another quick note is that the metal ring at the top that fastens on to your ceiling light fixing is very large and you’re likely to need a silicone ring to make this ring smaller so that it fits, a link to the ones we purchased for this can be found below, just above the photos. All parts of the lampshade are made really well and are good quality, nothing feels cheap or poorly made or fitted.

The lampshade itself is either entirely white or has a coloured background, these are clearly marked on the website so there’s no confusion, they’re not currently available in a range of colours, each is available plain or in one colour of their choosing. There is a huge range of designs and many are from artists you’ll recognise including Chris Garver, Jessica Palmer, Valentina Harper and Kludo White. The content of the designs is also really wide-ranging from mandalas to campervans, animals to plants, patterns to quotes and so much more. I’m a huge fan of Jessica Palmer’s work so when I saw that some of the lampshades had her designs on, I had to choose one of those and I’m so glad I did. The linework is printed really crisply onto the lampshade and the background is also printed faultlessly, one small criticism I have is that some small sections of the background haven’t been filled in and colour-matching to fill these in was pretty difficult, however there were only about 5 small sections on the whole lampshade so it’s not that noticeable and this may not be the case in other designs and obviously wouldn’t be in the case in any of the plain styles. I was sent the barrel lampshade without a lamp kit so that I could use it on a ceiling light and it’s huge, much larger than most lampshades I’ve seen so do check out my photos below and the measurements on the website before ordering. The barrel shades are significantly larger than the pedestal shades. The lampshade strip is really long so you’ll need a good clear space on the floor or a large table to be able to colour it easily. Pencils and water-based markers won’t work on this material so this is definitely a project for those of you who like to use alcohol markers. It is possible to blend on this material if you wish, I’ve not got a lot of experience of doing this so I played it safe and block coloured everything which I thought might look a bit rubbish but I’m honestly in love with the finished piece. I would suggest thinking through your colour choices quite carefully, very dark colours like the darkest green and dark purple I used don’t work so well as the light doesn’t shine through it enough so slightly brighter or paler colours are best to stick to and then they give an almost stained glass effect. The lampshade material is quite strange to colour on and does seem to use up quite a lot of ink so make sure you’ve got new pens or spares so you don’t run out half way through, it doesn’t feel absorbent and I really can’t describe it properly as it’s not paper, it has no texture and seems to be shiny but not totally plastic. If you’re careful you only get minimal striping in your colouring but this doesn’t totally disappear like it does when using alcohol markers on paper. According to my contact at Inka Shade you can also use crayons, or oil pastels, even if you’re able to get pencils or water-based pens to work on the material which I think would be a struggle, they don’t have enough colour pigment to illuminate well so I’d strongly advise sticking to alcohol markers so you get a nice vibrant finish.

In terms of mental health, I would highly recommend these lampshades. They take hours to colour and provide a very good project to work through, they also give you a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction when they’re finished. While they’re a bit fiddly to assemble and you may need help from another person, once they’re assembled and up, you’ll be instantly cheered up, I honestly smile every time I see mine whether the light is on or off because I’m just so pleased with how it turned out and proud of how lovely it looks. They’re a bit addictive too, now I’ve done one I keep looking at the other designs and thinking about how good they’d look in all of the rooms in my flat and even as gifts for people! The line thickness varies across the designs but there are lots of photos on the website of each one as well as dimensions so you’ll be able to pick one out that will suit you. The intricacy and detail level also varies hugely between shade designs with some being extremely detailed and others being much more open designs with larger spaces to colour. The design I chose has a variety of line thicknesses and sections sizes and instead of colouring within each tiny space on the dragonfly wings, I decided to block colour over them and use the lines as texture underneath which I’m really pleased with. You also don’t have to colour each section and could easily leave some white as the light still shines through, I drew turquoise lines on each of the bubbles to indicate shape and left the background of each white and I love the effect it’s given. The sheer number of designs offered means there’s something suitable for everyone with themes ranging from nature to patterns to vehicles, there’s sure to be something that will help your mental health, and suit your home décor and once finished it makes a great talking point too!

Overall, I would highly recommend these lampshades. They’re great fun to colour, really varied in content and they’re a lovely reminder of all you can achieve!

If you’d like to purchase one, all of the designs can be found here, they currently only offer delivery to the USA but you can contact them on the website to arrange shipping elsewhere in the world where they will provide you with a quote once you’ve provided your address.

The lampshade below was coloured using a mixture of Promarkers and Sharpie Fine Point Markers.