Zen Colouring Winter Wonderland | Adult Xmas Colouring Book Review

The adult colouring book craze has been taking the world by storm for a couple of years now, but did you know that there are Christmas colouring books for adults now, too? Yes, really! We can actually colour our way right through 'til Christmas, without having to steal a book off a small child!

Being a massive Christmas geek who enjoys colouring-in, I had to get myself a piece of that action, and bought myself a copy of the Zen Colouring "Winter Wonderland" colouring book a few months ago.

Winter Wonderland is a lovely Christmas colouring book filled with a wide variety of intricate Christmas patterns and pictures that are just waiting to be brought to life with colour. There are pages of snowflakes, Christmas trees, decorations, presents, mittens, scarf-wearing polar bears, reindeer, and holly- everything you would expect to find in a Christmas colouring book, and more.

The tiny illustrations are thin line drawings with so much detail that each page can take days to complete, so you really get your money's worth with this colouring book. You could easily spend an entire lazy day colouring in a page, but you could also just fill in a little at a time whenever you have a little time to spare, say, in between basting the turkey and wrapping a mountain or presents.

I've spent many happy hours colouring away in it lately, but I've not finished a full page yet. I've basically just filled in lots of little areas on several pages; a polar bear here, a Christmas tree there... completing little corners whenever I've had a spare ten minutes. I get bored of colouring in the same pattern over and over all in one go, no matter how lovely it is, so working on different pages at the same time helps to keep me interested.

I like to use colouring pencils for colouring-in, but I think you could use felt tip pens if you prefer, because the paper is reasonably thick and the pictures aren't back to back. The book is filled with great-quality white A4 paper, and with fifty pages to colour in, this book will keep you entertained long after Christmas is over.

If you haven't picked up a colouring book since you were a kid, this is a great time of year to give it a try. I'm sure you'll agree that Christmas time is the most stressful time of the year. We all have a million things to do, we have to stretch our money further, and we have very little time to just relax and enjoy the festivities. (Plus we have to spend time with people that rub us up the wrong way, while restraining ourselves from pelting them with brussel sprouts). 

With all that pent us stress, we need an outlet, right? Well, colouring-in is an effective way to release some of that stress and tension. No, really! Colouring in is extremely therapeutic and relaxing, and it's a proven stress reliever. It might not feel as satisfying as launching brussel sprouts at Great Aunt Edna's head, but trust me, it works, it's fun, and nobody has to get hurt! You can reach for the colouring book in between tasks, grab yourself a cuppa (or a cheeky glass of wine), put your feet up, and colour away for as long as you can spare. If you're anything like me, you'll feel the stress and tension lifting away, and come away feeling completely relaxed, ready to tackle the next job on your to do list!

If you're looking for an easy way to de-stress this Christmas, I'd recommend you get yourself a copy of Zen Colouring's Winter Wonderland colouring book and a pack of colouring pencils, and give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

It's a great colouring book, good quality, well-priced, and a fun way to get in to the Christmas spirit.

You should be able to find this colouring book in all good book shops. I bought my copy from Hobbycraft here. 

Have you got yourself a Christmas colouring book yet? Do you like to colour-in in your spare time?

You might also like
Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom Adult Colouring Book Review
My Magical Oasis Adult Colouring Book Review

My Christmas Wish List 2015

Instead of my usual fashion wish list, today I'm going to share some of the things on my Christmas list. While there are a few fashion pieces on the list, I've also included beauty products, homeware, books, gadgets, and crafty things. 

I feel I should say, this Christmas wish list is just that- a wish list. I don't expect to receive all or anything from it, and I won't be sharing it with my family and friends. It's just a list of things I would love to own, and and would be made up to find under the tree this Christmas. I might shop from it if I receive any money from relatives, and I might even treat myself to one or two of them before the year is through. It is Christmas, after all. For now, it's just a simple wish list, which I thought I'd blog to give you guys a few gift ideas for your loved ones. I hope it gives you a little inspiration.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 

15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26

1. I adore this red heart print shirt dress from Lindy Bop. I'd wear it to death.

2. The sweetest bunny jewellery dish from Sass and Belle would go perfectly on my dressing table.

3. The new Amazon Fire 7" Kindle is only £49.99, and would be ideal for blogging on the go.

4. I'd love to have this Cath Kidston sewing box to store all of my sewing things in.

5. Who doesn't need a red telephone box bag in their lives?

6. The Enchanting Birds Hepburn dress in black from Lady Vintage is so beautiful.

7. I'm dying to get my hands on the Urban Decay Spectrum palette. Those colours! My sister has hinted she's getting me it for Christmas, so fingers crossed she has!

8. I need this Skinnydip planet bag in my novelty bag collection.

9. I love the look of the Soap and Glory The Perfect Ten eyeshadow palette.

10. I'm still obsessed with these Alice in Wonderland Vans.

11. Best tote bag ever! Fact. 

12. I still need to get a copy of Bazaar of Bad Dreams, which is a collection of short stories by Stephen King.

13. The red polka dot L'amour swing dress from Lindy Bop would be the perfect Christmas dress.

14. I'd love to own some products from L'Occitane's new Grapefruit and Rhubarb collection. The fragrance is to die for.

15. I need Urban Decay's Vice 4 palette in my life.

16. & 17. Two Christmas cross stitch kits from Riverdrift House I'd love to make for next Christmas.

18. The green heart print Matilda shirt swing dress from Lindy Bop has my name written all over it.

19, 21, 22, & 23. I'd be a happy bunny if I got any products from The Body Shop's seasonal collections, Frosted Plum, Frosted Cranberry, and Glazed Apple. I particularly love the look of the hand creams and bath fizzers.

20. Another Stephen King novel I need to read.

24. I love this lip clutch from Skinnydip.

25. An awesome unicorn jewellery dish from Sass and Belle.

26. And last but not least, a milk carton bag from Accessorize because, what's Christmas without a little whimsy?

What's on your Christmas list this year?

Christmas Home, Fashion, and Beauty Haul 2015

With just twenty-one days 'til Christmas (I'm so excited!), I thought it was about time I gave you a peek at some of the Christmas things I've picked up this year. I've got so many lovely festive things to show you, too! Today's haul is a mixture of Christmas decorations, homeware, craft supplies, and the odd festive fashion, and beauty product. Most were bought this Autumn, but a few were picked up earlier in the year because... well, I'm a Christmas geek, and I just can't help myself!

Honeycomb Paper Balls £2.95 // Honeycomb Paper Bells £2.95 // Scandi Christmas Pegs £1.50 // Christmas Carnival Baking Cases £1.00 // Christmas Carnival Loaf Cases £1.95 // Polka Dot Doilies £3.95

So, let's start with my Dot Com Gift Shop haul. I snapped up some gorgeous decorations and baking supplies from them a couple of months ago. Everything apart from the red polka dot doilies were / are on sale, so I got some great bargains, and spent next to nothing.

I bought three boxes each of the tiny honeycomb balls and bells, which come in multi-coloured sets of six. They're originally £6.95 a box, which I would never have paid for them, but with a sale price of £2.95, I just couldn't say no. I haven't decided how I'm going to use them yet, but they'd look great on the Christmas tree or turned in to garlands with some twine or ribbon. The other DCGS products I bought include a lovely set of six Scandi pegs, some red polka dot paper doilies (for brightening up a few plates), and some vintage-style cupcake and loaf cases, which will look cute on the buffet table no matter what tasty treats we bake in them.

Mini Glass Baubles Set of 25 £4 // Mini Class Baubles Set of 100 £10 //  Laser Cut Light Up Tree £4.50 // Green Glitter Trees Trim £2 // Red Bow Present Toppers £2 // Large Box of Charity Cards £6 // Hummingbird £3 // Christmas Stencil Set £4

From Paperchase, I bought a set of Christmas stencils, a pack of red bow present toppers, and a glittery green Christmas tree present trim, which will all be used for making hoop art. I also picked up a box of their large charity cards, because Paperchase make the best Christmas cards ever. Fact.

I couldn't resist the tiny colourful glass baubles (which is unusual for me, because I generally go for classic red, white, and green xmas decorations), and ended up buying a box of one hundred, and two boxes of twenty-five. I'm going to fill some decorative jars with them on my dressing table, and I might embellish a few presents with some, too.

I also bought the sweetest little laser-cut, wooden light-up Christmas tree. It's only lit by one fairy light, so you don't get much light out of it, but it looks really pretty with or without lights to illuminate it.

The blue and purple hummingbird is by Gisela Graham, and I had to get it to keep my other two Gisela hummingbirds company.  (I bought two last year in different colours). I don't think they're at all festive, so I keep mine up all year round on my dressing table because they're so pretty.

I bought this red felt Christmas tree skirt from Next for just £12, which I can't wait to use! I've wanted a tree skirt for years, but they're not so easy to find in England (I guess it's more of an American thing?). This is the first pretty one I've ever found, and I can't believe how inexpensive it was. I know it's going to look great under the Christmas tree.

I tracked down these Snowman LED fairy lights, after falling in love with them on another blog last Christmas. They're the cutest fairy lights ever! I grew up watching The Snowman every Christmas and still love to watch it every year, so being all sentimental, I had to have these lights in my life. I've strung them over the mirrors on my dressing table, and they make me smile every time I look at them.

Elegant Touch Christmas Jumper Nails £6.99 // Elegant Touch Christmas Snow Fake Nails £6.99

A couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of a beauty promo on ASOS, and bought a couple of Elegant Touch Christmas nail sets I'd been lusting after for a while. It's been years since I last wore false nails, so I'll probably make a complete disaster of them, but I thought it would be fun to give them a go- especially since my hands are too shaky to do nail art right now. The Christmas Jumper nails feature red and white fairisle designs, and the Snow Fake have colourful geometric Christmas presents, trees, stockings, snowflakes, reindeer, bells, and holly on them.

I bought these awesome Elf PJs £24.00  from Dorothy Perkins a couple of weeks ago, which I had to buy the moment I saw them, because I bloody love Elf! I'm so glad I did as they're already sold out online. You might still be able to buy them in store, and they're worth hunting down because they're so damn cute and cosy. (If you can't, these similar Gremlins PJs are equally amazing). I've put mine aside to wear on Christmas Eve night, but it's taking so much willpower to stop myself from wearing them already!

I purchased my very first Christmas print duvet set from ASDA for just £12. It has a lovely Scandi style print in red and white, and it's also reversible, with the colours inverted on the other side. It's so festive and lovely to snuggle up under each night.

A while back, I snapped up a few bargains from Cath Kidston's outlet shop in Bicester Village. I picked up a little Christmas notebook, some Christmas labels, some star print ribbons, napkins, and polka dot paper chains. They're all from Christmas 2014, but that doesn't bother me, especially since they're cute and cost me next to nothing.

And earlier in the year I picked up a set of Winter-themed Project Life cards £7/99, and a Christmas Smash Pad £2.19 on Amazon to use for festive craft projects. Aren't the Project Life cards adorable? I haven't used any of them yet, but I'll be using them to document the good times this Christmas.

I've also bought a few other Christmas things, including some LED Christmas trees, a Gisela Graham paper garland, a fairisle blanket, a couple of robins on faux fir branches, and a bunch of craft supplies, but you'll just have to wait until my Christmas home tour posts to see them!

What have you been buying this Christmas?

Wednesday Wish List

Hey guys,

Sorry this week's wish list post is a little later than usual. I'm having problems uploading to and accessing my Picasa account, and have had to look for other ways to put photos on my blog.

I've signed myself up to Flickr for now, but I'm still trying to work out how to use it properly, so I hope you can see this week's wish list okay. I hope it doesn't look too blurry or grainy, but please let me know if it does!

These are some of the things I've been lusting after this week...

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking this week as I have a million things to do today, and need to jump in the shower so I can get to the post office before it closes. I'll be back tomorrow with another festive post.

What's on your wish list this week?

If you'd like to see more of the clothes and accessories that catch my eye each week, check out my style boards on Pinterest.

50 Things I Want To Do This Christmas

So, last week I shared a list of 101 things to do this Christmas.

Today, I thought I'd share a list of the things I personally want or need to do this Christmas. I always make a long list of Christmas goals, so I can make the weeks leading up to Christmas as festive as possible. I'm a self-confessed Christmas geek; it's what we do.

I've got over fifty goals on my Christmas bucket list, and I'm going to do my best to cross off as many of them as possible, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself, because what's fun about that? There's bound to be a handful of goals I'll never manage to do, but that's okay. There's always next year, right?

 

1. Dress my bedroom for Christmas. I'll hopefully get stuck in to it tomorrow, although I made a start today!

2. Decorate the house for Christmas while listening to lots of awesome Christmas tunes up loud.

3. Go out and buy a small Christmas tree for my bedroom.

4. Finish my Christmas cross stitch sampler. I still have loads to do, but you never know, it might happen.

5. Finish all of my Christmas cross stitch cards. Two down, four to go.

6. Make the little Christmas cross stitch ornament I've had for about three years. Not likely. I've got too much to sew!

7. Make a ton of festive hoop art. I've made two so far, but I'm raring to go!

8. Put together a Christmas Eve box of things to enjoy on Christmas Eve night. This one's in progress, and I'll be blogging about it soon.

9. Buy new pyjamas to wear on Christmas Eve night. (Check! I got these ones).

10. Make it to my town's Christmas lights event. (Didn't happen. I was in too much pain to go).

11. Go to Bourton-on-the-Water's Christmas lights event.

12. Get a beauty advent calendar to enjoy every day during advent. (Check! I bought the L'Occitane one this year).

13. Have a fake-Christmas dinner with my family, for my brother-in-law while he's back on his R&R. He's been deployed to Dubai since July, and will be home next week for about a fortnight, but has to return just before Christmas for another six or seven weeks. Since he won't be home for Christmas, we're planning to have a family dinner with a turkey and all the trimmings before he leaves so he still gets to enjoy one this year.

14. Visit a European Christmas market.

15. Finally get around to watching It's A Wonderful Life, and the original Miracle on 34th Street. I bought both on DVD last Christmas, but never found time to watch them.

16. Read my beautiful clothbound copy of 'A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings' by Dickens. I've read A Christmas Carol several times, but I've not read his other festive stories yet, even though I bought the book last year.

17. Make Christmas crackers. I'll probably do this on Christmas Eve with one of my sisters.

18. Make table favours as a little extra treat for my family during Christmas dinner. I must also buy some chocolates to put in them!

19. Light candles every night in December. I have plenty of Yankee Candles and tea lights ready to burn.

20. Go late night Christmas shopping in Oxford. I've almost finished my Christmas shopping, but I'd go just to soak up the festive atmosphere.

21. Write all of my Christmas cards and send them out on time this year.

22. Make my blackberry and apple trifle. I've made one every Christmas Eve for about a decade now.

23. Get all of my finished Christmas cross stitches framed and up on the wall. I have three to frame, from the last three Christmases, four when I complete the one I'm working on. Considering how many hours I spent on them, I really shouldn't have them stored away in a box.

24. Watch a festive film at the cinema. I want to go see 'Christmas With The Coopers'.

25. Buy a new dress to wear on Christmas Day. I have my eye on this red polka dot number from Lindy Bop.

26. Buy at least one new Christmas novelty bag.

27. Get hot roasted chestnuts from a street vendor.

28. Visit Blenheim Palace while it's decorated for Christmas. I've wanted to do this for years.

29. De-stress with a Christmas colouring book or two. I bought one from Hobbycraft last month and will be blogging about it soon.

30. Go to Hobbycraft and buy all the festive things! (Check! And then some!)

31. Make a feature wall out of my Christmas hoop art. This one will depend on whether I manage to make enough of them in time.

32. Try some Christmas nail art. 

33. Bake and ice Christmas cookies and cupcakes. It has to be done, right?

34. Buy a pretty wreath for the front door.

35. Read a new-to-me Christmas-themed novel. Know any good festive reads, besides A Christmas Carol, and Little Women?

36. Go foraging for foliage to dress the mantle with. It'll probably just end up being in the garden.

37. Buy a new Christmas jumper.

38. Take flatlay photos of some of my old Christmas tree decorations. I'd love to take some good photos of them in case they ever get damaged or lost for whatever reason. I'm way too sentimental!

39. Take lots of photos, and at least one a day. I'll have no problems with this one! It would be more of a challenge to go a day without taking a photo!

40. Do some Christmas art journaling to record the good times this Christmas.

41. Go out for a hot chocolate. 

42. Make a yule log. I haven't made one since I was in primary school.

43. Make some kind of feature out of our honeycomb decorations, instead of just hanging them up wherever there's a gap, like last year.

44. Wear lots of glittery nail polishes.

45. Treat myself to a Lush bath bomb or two, and have a long relaxing bubble bath. 

46. Play board games on Christmas Day. It's the law, right?

47. Buy some cute Christmas earrings. I love these ones from ASOS, and these ones from Accessorize.

48. Have a go at some festive creative writing.

49. Try a seasonal coffee. I've never tried one!

50. Watch a new-to-me Christmas movie. Any suggestions?

I doubt I'll manage to do all fifty of my Christmas goals, but I'm sure going to have fun trying to do as many as possible! 

If you want to use any of my goals or blog your own Christmas bucket list, please feel free to do so! I'd love to see your lists if you decide to blog them, so leave me your links below so I can have a read!

What do you most want to do before Christmas is over?