Friday, May 20, 2016

Coloring With Jane by Sarah Johnson - with giveaway and a free printable for everyone!










Today I welcome the lovely author Sarah Johnson who has recently spread her wings into
something a bit different; colouring books!  Sarah is visiting me today to tell us about her new colouring book, and why she wanted to do it. See below for the giveaway details, and there is also a free printable for everyone so you can get a feel for what the book is like!


Coloring with Jane: A Mind Lively and at Ease



Jane Austen is best known for her classic tales of love and marriage set in Regency England. Her insight into this bygone era, as well as her extraordinary wit, are what have made these stories live on in our hearts and on our book shelves for so long. It is this wit that has also become the inspiration for the pages of this coloring book, with some of Jane Austen’s most beloved quotes taking centre stage.



Who isn’t able to finish this line themselves:



“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” (Pride & Prejudice)



Or what about:



“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope…I have loved none but you.” (Persuasion)


Who could forget this admission from Mr Knightley:



“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.” (Emma)



Or the feeling in your heart to have this one said to you:



“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” (Pride & Prejudice)



We all cringe to know the sorrow held in these words:



“If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.” (Sense & Sensibility)





These and other quotes are what sent me on my journey that has led to this coloring book. I have been collecting 18th and 19th artwork for years. You have no clue how excited I get when I find old postcards or advertisement pages.One evening, while sitting at my desk trying to find some coloring pages for my daughters, the thought hit me that I could create pages featuring Jane Austen’s quotes.



And the little book bunny was born.



I began searching through my stash of images and chose those that would be featured in this book. The next part was fun – finding favorite quotes! I asked my friends if they liked to color and who would be willing to try out some coloring page for me, and I was off to create! I learned a lot about what does and does not make a good image for coloring, and, unfortunately, that meant spending many hours creating some pages that did not end up in the final book.



The artwork featured in this coloring book may not be “perfect”, as artwork in this digital age usually is, but it represents the era in which it was created. I tried to keep that character as I cleaned up the images and put these pages together.



Jane Austen is well-known for her extraordinary wit in creating characters that, like these pages, were also imperfect, and yet we still dearly love them. We hope for the happy ending that will eventually come as we read of the friendships and courtships that made up the bygone era in which she lived.



In the novel Emma, Jane Austen wrote:



“…Emma went to the door for amusement. Much could not be hoped from the traffic of even the busiest part of Highbury; -- Mr. Perry walking hastily by, Mr. William Cox letting himself in at the office door, Mr. Cole's carriage horses returning from exercise, or a stray letter-boy on an obstinate mule, were the liveliest objects she could presume to expect; and when her eyes fell only on the butcher with his tray, a tidy old woman travelling homewards from shop with her full basket, two curs quarrelling over a dirty bone, and a string of dawdling children round the baker's little bow-window eyeing the gingerbread, she knew she had no reason to complain, and was amused enough; quite enough still to stand at the door. A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.”



It is my wish that, just as Emma Woodhouse, you find yourself with no reason to complain, and that you are amused enough with Coloring with Jane to keep your mind lively and at ease and your creativity flowing through each design.




** GIVEAWAY - ends Friday 27th May **



Sarah has been kind enough to offer a giveaway of one copy of the colouring book, US only, and also two printable PDF versions, which is open internationally

Please leave a comment for a chance to win, with one of your favourite Jane Austen quotes, or just with a general comment about the colouring book.



The giveaway ends on 27th May. I will be in touch with the winner to get the address, so please leave your email! The very best of luck, and thanks again to Sarah for this giveaway!

***Free printable for everyone!***

Here is a PDF of one of the pages from the book for you to print and try for yourself. I would love to see your completed pages, so share them with me on my facebook page!

Click here!: - http://sarahjohnsonbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ColoringWithJane-BlogPost-Sophie-PrintableSamplePage.pdf


Amazon UK link here

Amazon US link here

Etsy digital pdf download


I am very much looking forward to getting my copy! I am glad to see a colouring book which is Jane Austen related but isn't just illustrations by Hugh Thomson or Brock for you to colour. This is something new and different!


Your affectionate friend,


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35 comments:

  1. I love this!! Want so bad!! What an amazing idea!

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    1. Also...Jolynn.Backes at gmail.com

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    2. I love the idea of this book (sadly the downloadable page would not work for me) and have far too many favourite quotes to choose just one, but I applaud the labour of love this must have been and hope to be able to purchase it soon.

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  2. I don't think I have *1* favorite Jane Austen quote. I have too many! I love the idea of this book! dbdempsey98(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. I want it too!!! My quote "Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."

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    1. Forgot to leave my e-mail: tgruy at netscape dot net

      The link to the printable page does not work for me... :(

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    2. Try now! spry technical hitch! http://sarahjohnsonbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ColoringWithJane-BlogPost-Sophie-PrintableSamplePage.pdf

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  4. “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
    ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Not particularly fond of the character, but the sentiment is absolutely correct. And every library must have multiple copies of Jane's work of course! I can be reached at rlgwalker(at)mail2traveler(dot)com

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  5. I have way too many favorite quotes, my email address is dramaqueen4ever96@gmail.com

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  6. ena_kshi@hotmail.com

    Taking a year off work to study Austen. Please, please choose me.

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  7. This book was made for me! My quote: “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." Jenniecarr25@gmail.com

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  8. There's nothing like a Jane Austen coloring book for true comfort!

    Kt_bug55@hotmail.com

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  9. Oh goodness, I think that this is the most brilliant idea! Coloring books are wonderful, and Jane Austen is amazing, so combining the two is pretty much perfection. I have so many quotes which I love, but I think I must give a shout-out to Henry Tilney, in Northanger Abbey, for the following:
    "The person, be it a gentleman or a lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

    contactmarianninja@gmail.com

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  10. One of my favourite quotes would be 'The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.' (Northanger Abbey)
    By the way, I was dying to have something like this, but is it only for me or the sample link is not working?
    Chiara
    hybridkarma@hotmail.com

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    1. Sorry! try now! technical hitch! http://sarahjohnsonbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ColoringWithJane-BlogPost-Sophie-PrintableSamplePage.pdf

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    2. It works now, love it! Thanks a lot!

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  11. My favorite quote comes from Lady Catherine de Bourgh: "Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?" When I first read the book, I thought Lady Catherine was referring to curtains inside Pemberley (shades) being made dirty. Interesting. But, I finally realized in recent years that the word "shades" refers to the woods of the estate! Not, perhaps, a very good quote for a coloring book, but my favorite, all the same! The coloring book sounds incredible!

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  12. **From the Author**

    Thank y'all so much! I love hearing that this book is what everyone wants! ANd THANK YOU to Sophie for helping me spread the word about this one! I am taking notes now for another volume, because Jane Austen is a fount of inspirational quotes. So if yours didn't make the cut this time, maybe it will be in the next coloring book!

    Sorry for the glitch on that printable freebie - hopefully it won't give us any more problems now.

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  13. What a brilliant idea. Well done, would love one.

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  14. Absolutely beautiful! And would make a great template for embroidery projects as well as colouring in. I have a few, but here are two of my favourites:
    'If I loved you less I might be able to talk about it more' (Mr Knightley to Emma)
    and
    'She never could learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.' (On Northanger Abbey's Catherine, a perfect character summary)

    Thank you Sarah and Sophie!

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    1. amyrollason@live.co.uk

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    2. Hmmm...embroidery template! That would be awesome! Now my brain is off and running. lol.

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  15. What a wonderful way to de-stress while enjoying the most wonderful author. I would love this !

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  16. "When I fall in love it will be forever" is the one I remember Nat King Cole also singing when I was younger. However, it isn't my favorite one as I have many. How about this quote from Pride and Prejudice: ""To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love."

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    1. My email is Tollygal55@comcast.net---Also thank you for the giveaway and it would be a nice surprise to win!

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  17. This is awesome! Sharing with friends!

    One of my favorite quotes is, "One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other."

    amanda_gayle@hotmail.com

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  18. I love this!

    "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

    amyputney89@gmail.com

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  19. I have always found coloring to be relaxing. I could always tell how stressed out i am by how fast im coloring.

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  20. It seems to be a beautiful book. I have some adult coloring books, just need the time to color. It is so relaxing.

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  21. My 2 favorite quotes: "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
    "It taught me to hope as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before."
    I would love to win this to combine my 2 favorite passtimes--reading JAFF & coloring.
    pemberley96(at)gmail(dot)com

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  22. I love the idea of a Jane Austen coloring book. In fact, I had considered buying one but will wait until after the contest. My favorite Jane Austen quote: "You are too generous to trifle with me.If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged." I love Darcy.

    Thank you for the fun interview of Sarah Johnson.

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  23. I love that there is now Jane Austen coloring book out there. I'm in this Stress Relief Coloring Group at my apartment building and I would Love to color this during that time and any other time for that matter. I have many favorite quotes but with some of the people I live around I'll have to go with “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” by Mr. Bennett.
    acatlover2003(at)gmail(dot)com

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"I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible," therefore I would dearly love for you to comment and let me know what you think!

Thank you for stopping by Laughing With Lizzie and I hope you will take the time to visit again before too long!