by Klára Marková
Published by Klára Marková on September 2016
Style: Contains Extras, single page illustrations
Pages: 96
Format: Hard back
I received this product for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the product or the content of my review.
Goodreads
This coloring book contains an enchanting magical journey full of colouring delights.
The illustrations are based in forest settings where you will find cute little cottages, fairy houses and the like. By day inside the cottage all is peaceful and quiet. As darkness falls a new world awakens and the little windows glow with a warm light. You will be entranced with the smell of blueberries and other forest fruits. You will hear the tinkle of fairy bells and sounds of flutes in the air.
The little lights that you thought were fireflies will in reality be windows belonging to many little cottages close by.
As you leaf through the pages the little elves and fairies will call to you to come away from your existing world to the enchanting place in the forest. This book has been sprinkled with fairy dust and will cast a spell on you.
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Čarovné Lahodnosti Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Carovne Lahodnosti Coloring Book by Czech artist and jewelry designer, Klara Markova.
Giveaway
You know that I love sharing beautiful books with you and when I find one that steals my heart I love to give you the opportunity to own it as well.
This time, I thought that it would be a lot of fun if we all enjoyed this book by coloring a page from it. Klara has kindly provided two pages that we can color in. All you need to do is choose which image you would like to color (or color both), download the image and get coloring.
The giveaway is being hosted on Facebook. Please go to my Facebook page here to submit your entry in the giveaway and read the rules 🙂 There will be one lucky winner of this gorgeous coloring book, who will be randomly selected from the entries, using a random winner picker software.
Coloring Book Giveaway -color to win a copy of Carovne Lahodnosti
Čarovné Lahodnosti Coloring Book
When I saw Carovne Lahodnosti I was enchanted by the cover of it. I was also heartbroken because I knew that I had spent my coloring budget and this beautiful book would not find its way to my shelf.
Like always, I dream of coloring books and I dreamt of Carovne Lahodnosti. I was hopeful that Santa would add it to my list. When I broached the subject, Santa reminded me that I had a new computer and Christmas was canceled 🙁
I comforted myself with the possibility that maybe the pictures were not to my liking. That hope was dashed when my social media feeds were filled with pictures from this gorgeous coloring book. You could almost see a sprinkle of pixie dust on each of them.
Then, like magic, Klara reached out to me and offered to send me the book. I was a little teary 🙂
I’m sure my fellow coloring addicts will understand. Sometimes, there’s a book that you just must-have. It steals your heart. It has magic powers. It enchants you. This book does that for me.
Cover & Layout
Carovne Lahodnosti roughly translates to Magical Delights in English. The cover of Magical Delights coloring book shows a beautiful perfume bottle that is adorned with little mushrooms and flowers so that it resembles the wings of a fairy or a butterfly.
On the back cover, a fairy collects berries and holds a giant key. It is not often that we see male fairies in coloring books and some of these little fairies are without clothes <blush>
The book is hardback and a beautiful rose color that reminds me of the berries represented in the book. The artwork has pre-printing with shades of pink and rose with a dash of violet and embellished in gold. This limited color palette enhances the beautiful art work on the cover. The spine is bound in crimson bookbinding and the title and artist name are presented in tooled gold. There is some text in Czech on the back cover, presumably information about the book.
The book measures 25.5cm x 21.5cm (approximately 10 in x 8.5 in) and is presented and sized the same as Dagdrommar, Daydreams and Blomster Mandala.
Both the front and back cover art has been provided in the book as illustrations for you to color in.
Ancillary Pages
The pages of the book are protected by double black matt pages at the front and back of the book. The title page follows featuring a fairy surrounded by blueberries, which have been strategically placed to cover his nakedness. This lovely image would make a great place to test out your mediums on the paper of the book.
The front cover art of the book has been reproduced as a nameplate page for you to color in.
Layout
The paper in the book is off-white and medium quality. It is similar to the paper used in Dagdrommar and other Swedish books you may be familiar with.
The artwork has been printed on only one page (excepting for one double-page scene in the book). On the reverse of each piece of art, you will find an illustration of a little cottage and some other elements to color. You could use this page to write down your name, the date you colored the work, and any mediums you used. I believe that the artist contemplated this page being used as a journal, where you could note down how you felt when coloring the picture.
All of the illustrations have been orientated portrait style in the book. There are 45 pages of illustrations to color in plus the title page, nameplate page, conclusion page, illustrations on the reverse of each image, and the sweet treat at the back of the book.
Illustrations
The illustrations in Magical Delights will cast a spell on any colorist that loves cute and whimsical imagery. You will find gorgeous fairy houses and cute cottages, picnic scenes and cozy fires, an abundance of blueberries, flowers, and pomegranates will find their way into a lot of images.
The fairies are unlike other fairys that I have seen in coloring books. They are unique and elf-like and look slightly mischievous. Most often we see fairies portrayed as women, but the bulk of the fairies and elves that you will see in this forest are male.
Animals are presented in the book as well often carrying keys and blueberries in this quirky and enchanting forest.
One of the things that struck me about this book and made me think of magic potions, was the use of glass. Often coloring books do not have a lot of imagery of glass-type objects but in this book, we have perfume bottles, decanters, and crystals. Czech is well known for the beautiful glass that the country produces and I am pleased to see it in this coloring book. Glass is also a reflector of light and in many images, in the book the light source has been presented for the colorist.
Every page I turn of this book makes me want to leave the cold dreary day in Sydney and escape to this magical forest. That’s what this book is about. Pure escapism and joy. You can imagine the little fairies that are living in flowers in the forest and wonder if you have a resident fairy in yours, perhaps living in an acorn on the ground or quietly under the tree root system. Maybe they are out collecting berries in your garden while you are reading this 🙂
Colorists of all skill levels will be able to enjoy this book. The line art has been drawn in a black, medium weight throughout the book. Fine lines and dot points have been added for texture and shading which will guide new colorists and add to the overall finished piece.
There are some drawings with fine details. Colorists that have a visual impairment or health challenges may prefer to color wash rather than color each element individually.
The illustrations do run to the gutter of the book, however, the book does lay down flat with some gentle prodding.
All of the illustrations have been well-positioned and centered on the page providing a balanced look to each piece of art.
Sweet Treat
At the end of the book, you will find a page that contains two little vignettes to color and cut out and use with your images. In addition, you will find three gorgeous fairy doors of different styles to color, cut out and add to the fairy houses in the book. This is a gorgeous addition to the book that increases its charm.
Bonus
When you purchase the book there is a gorgeous bookmark to color in. Illustrations are on both sides of the bookmark – one side featuring a cute little fairy tree house and the other an adorable mushroom. You can also use your bookmark to mark your page in the book. Coloring fun and practical as well!
Color Along With Other Fans
There is a lovely Facebook group that you can join to share your colored pictures from Carovne Lahodnosti. You do not need to purchase the book to join, but it is exclusively for images from the Carovne Lahodnosti coloring book.
Get Inspired
I have set up a Pinterest board for this gorgeous coloring book. You can find completed pictures from Carovne Lahodnosti (Magical Delights) coloring book to inspire you.
Tutorials
The very talented Chris Cheng has a lovely tutorial showing how she colored the castle in the book. You can see it here.
Where to buy Carovne Lahodnosti Coloring Book
At this time, Klara hopes that the book will be available in the US early in 2017. Until that time US and Canadian purchasers can purchase from Klara Markova direct here. If you are in the UK you can purchase from Amazon here.
Giveaway
You know that I love sharing beautiful books with you and when I find one that steals my heart I love to give you the opportunity to own it as well. This time, I thought that it would be a lot of fun if we all enjoyed this book by coloring a page from it. Klara has kindly provided two pages that we can color in.
Coloring Book Giveaway -color to win a copy of Carovne Lahodnosti
Please go to my Facebook Event here and LIKE the post (so I can tag you if you win!)choose which image you would like to color (or color both)download the image either at Facebook or here: cottage or the fairy house and fairy door; andget coloring!when you have finished upload your image to the Facebook Event
The giveaway is being hosted on Facebook but is not affiliated with Facebook. There will be one lucky winner of this gorgeous coloring book who will be randomly selected from the entries using a random name picker.
If the winner does not claim the coloring book within 48 hours of being notified a new random winner will be drawn.
While I was waiting for the book to arrive I got started coloring the cottage image above. The image is a modified version of one when found in the coloring book. Here’s my WIP so far.
I followed the tutorials by a talented Australian colorist, Amie, here:
I can’t wait to see your colored pictures for this book! Good luck with the giveaway of this gorgeous coloring book!
You can purchase Carovne Lahodnosti Coloring Book or Magical Delights Coloring Book (English Edition) from the artist here
Happy coloring x
Lea
Hi Lea!
is international contest?
Yes it is international x Everyone should have the opportunity to have this precious little book! It’s so pretty! Happy coloring x
ok thaks! happy coloring! 😉
Your coloring is fabulous! Better than mine by a long shot. Please keep us up to date on how it progresses!
lol I just followed the tutorial ….and there’s tons of mistakes in it but thank you x Happy coloring x