Spring is almost here in northern Michigan and I have been focused on house and yard projects. We had to demolish our bathroom which included tearing out a partially rotted floor due to a leaky shower and have been slowly putting it back together including some new drywall. Mudding, patching and sanding has taken a lot of time (I have great respect for those who do it professionally), and painting, too. I am anxious to get back to the coloring book designs I am working on, though, and it should be a fun book once I get it to where I envision the designs and the layout. And then there is the co ..read more

If you are looking for a creative way to journal and plan out your days, you might really enjoy the relatively unstructured format of this compact, creative planner and journal designed especially for those who love coloring, but handy for all types of creative people. The book is small enough (6 x 9.25″) to fit in a bag for appointments, shopping trips or traveling, and while there are structured monthly calendars and sections for specific purposes, there are also plenty of open pages (most lined, some dot-graphed) for creating your own notes, lists, etc.. Plus there are over 20 designs to co ..read more

It took me some time to come around to the idea of offering the Big Book of Color Charts as a downloadable PDF, but I finally took the plunge and am excited to offer it here on my website (with a discount) and in my Etsy shop. Since shipping the physical book has been prohibitively expensive for those outside of the USA, offering a digital version makes it more accessible and affordable for everyone, plus, you can print out as many pages as you like on your favorite types of paper. The book, with a few notable updates, is split into 4 different PDFs (to help keep the file size reasonable), plu ..read more

Coloring Tips: What We Learned Greetings from my little studio! As promised, I am back with a few coloring tips related to what we learned during the time we spent together at the beach house. As mentioned in my last post, Betty was our star because she showed us how she colors fur, eyes, feathers, and bokeh. Watching her color with pencils in person was an absolute joy, and it helped take some of the mystery out of how she achieves such beautiful, almost painterly effects. It has become her signature style, and though not everyone will want to copy it (we all have our own style of coloring af ..read more

Beach Retreat 2023 Many of us find ourselves frustrated by social media and the evils and annoyances that often lurk there, but over the past week, I had the opportunity to finally spend in-person, quality time with three strangers (at the time) I met online. We all heard tales of caution and skepticism from friends and family … “you are going where? And you’ve never met these people before?” “Are you crazy?” “What if … what if … what if …” But, done right, social media can be an amazing tool that unites people instead of dividing them. It all started with Ruby Charm Colors and sharing my desi ..read more

Due to a flood of requests since the fourth run of books sold out, I opened up preorders for the Artist Edition of the Big Book of Color Charts. These books are printed in small batches just a few times a year. This is an exact reprint of the previous Artist Edition book and they sell out pretty quickly. To learn more about this book and see the full list of color charts, click here. Please note that shipping starts at the end of May, 2023 in the order of which orders are received. Preorders are available here on my website and also here through my Etsy shop – whichever you prefer. Have ..read more

It’s that time of year! The newest Creative Companion is now available on Amazon and I thought I would give you all a quick preview of this handy planner plus a video showing how to deconstruct your book (yep, cut it apart) if you would like to insert the pages into your own binder. But first, I wanted to share a video from Kori, the lovely Colorfully Optimistic YouTuber, who not only did a flip-through of the book, but is also offering a giveaway. This is a time sensitive event so be sure to follow the instructions in her video and give her a follow⏤she’s got a wonderful channel and I am very ..read more

Hello, coloring friends, it’s time for another shameless plug for my Artist Edition books, and an announcement about the 2023 Creative Companion coming out very soon on Amazon! Plus, I’ll have a few brand new designs coming out soon for Christmas. First, since my Artist Edition books are printed by a small press and shipped to me in big, heavy boxes, I only offer them a few times a year. I work alone (draw, create, and ship) and shipping is a really big, messy undertaking. My dining room becomes filled with boxes of bubble mailers, tape, books, rolls of stickers, thank you cards and shipping ..read more

Check out the new collection of products featuring Prairie Birds! The line art was originally created for my newest book, Birdy, and while waiting for it to be finalized and printed, I started working on a coloring of the Prairie Birds using a mix of colored pencils, watercolor pencils and gel pens. I then digitized the art on my iPad so it was easier to resize for a variety of products. While I am smitten with the sling chair (alas, not in my budget right now), I ordered a tote bag, water bottle, laptop sleeve and coffee mug for my own personal use in my studio and for little trips. I am sure ..read more

My newest coloring book, Birdy, has been in the works for quite some time and it feels really great to have all the artwork and the book layout work done and submitted to the printers. There is still some work to do (mostly hoops to jump through) before we get the final copies in our hands, but I did receive an author’s proof in the mail this week from Amazon! There are two versions of this book – one that will be printed on demand by Amazon (8.5 x 8.5″ square format) and released in the coming days on Amazon, and then the special Artist Edition (9 x 9″ square format) which is being printed on ..read more