The Creative Colouring Book for Grown-ups

One thing my nieces and my nephews love to do is to sit with a colouring book and colour and it is something I really enjoyed doing as a child too. Then a friend of mine suggested I purchase an adult version which she has found highly relaxing and a way of helping to de-stress. So I took the plunge and I purchased The Creative Colouring Book for Grown-ups (rrp £7.99) and some pens to give it a go.  The one thing I am not is arty, I can barely draw a stickman and am so envious of those people who are talented artists because when you see them drawing or painting, it looks so relaxing, so for me, this is the next best thing.

Described as follows:

"Explore your natural creativity with some stunning and exotic patterns to colour in, however and whenever you feel inspired. Doodling and colouring have long been known to enhance one's thought processes and provide a relaxing yet highly creative way to free the mind. In this original and unique book you'll find over 100 detailed patterns to colour, providing endless entertainment and building into a piece of work that you can truly call your own"

This book is no bigger than an A5 notebook and has an elastic band, in fuschia pink to keep everything neat and tidy and to stop the pages from bending, ripping and becoming unruly. Not quite a hardback exterior, it still has a fairly rigid brightly coloured sleeve which caught my eye in WHSmiths. The reason I have started off with this one is because, if I carry it around in my handbag, it is less likely to get bent out of shaped and ripped and it is a nice little introduction into the world of adult colouring books.

Inside the book are over 100 beautiful patterns for you to pick and choose from to colour ranging from floral motifs to geometric designs, all of which capture your attention. The paper is quite also quite thick, so there no chance of anything seeping through the page to ruin the adjoining patterns. The only downside is that once you start, you quickly lose a good few hours because it is really relaxing and it certainly holds your attention.

So if you are looking for a new hobby that doesn't cost the earth, holds your attention and will engross you, seriously, buy one of these books, there are so many different ones out there to be had that you will be spoilt for choice as to which one to choose, but once you start, you will find it very hard to stop.

If it's 20-plus years since you picked up a crayon, you'll be surprised how fun it is!  Have you tried or bought one yet?

Are you comfortable in your own skin?

While my other half insists that he needs at least £10,000 of plastic surgery to rid his face of lines and wrinkles I’m fairly comfortable in my skin. That said, while BeautykingUK may look in the mirror and see someone else’s body it would appear he isn’t alone, and in fact the use of surgical procedures for purely aesthetic reasons are more popular than you would think.

It wasn’t until a snazzy new infographic from the New Birkdale Clinic popped into my inbox that the scale of procedures being undertaken across the UK really hit home. 

Would you believe that last year there were over 45,000 procedures across the country? No? Me neither, if you had asked me to guess I would have put the figure firmly in the region of around 10,000 but I would be way, way out! Even more striking is the fact that the total actually decreased in 2014 when compared to the year before.

What do I draw from the infographic? Well, to me it appears that as the economy picks up and most of us have more money to spend on luxury goods and services. This could explain the increase in procedures. Could it also be the explosion in clinics offering procedures and the decreasing cost of undergoing a procedure?

What was staggering for me was the sheer increase in the number of breast augmentations (boob job to you and me) - 231% since 2004 and the increase in breast reductions - 243% since 2004. Wow, there are a lot of people out there who just don’t like what they were given in the genetic mixing pot.

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