When it comes to finding unexpected items to wrap gifts with, nothing is off-limits in my book, not even coloring books.

After receiving The Inspired Room Coloring Book a few weeks ago, I knew immediately that I wanted to use some of the images as gift wrap.

via The Inspired Room

The pages I choose had designs which reminded me of beautiful wrapping paper. Here’s one of the pages before I colored it.

When selecting colors for the pages, I decided to use two of my favorite color combos–red & hot pink and royal blue & green. After the pages were colored I used them to wrap small cardboard gift mailers. Gift mailers are a great alternative to a traditional box for wrapping small items.

And because I’m all about the details, I added small grommets to the egde where the paper overlapped. And then I added some cute tassels. Aren’t these tassels the cutest things ever? I followed Amber’s hula tassel tutorial which you can find here.

COLORING BOOK PAGE GIFT WRAP

Hand coloring your gift wrap is definitely more time-consuming than using store bought paper but for special gifts it’s worth the time and effort.

You can pick up your copy of The Inspired Room Coloring Book on Amazon.

p.s. I used these art markers to color my pages.

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You all know I love the whole adult coloring book trend which I talked about here and here. And that I’m really excited that there are several coloring books coming out that are designed for home decor fans. Well, just last week I was thrilled to receive a package in the mail from Melissa of The Inspired Room. Inside the package was an advanced copy of her new home decor coloring book. (thanks Melissa). #happymail

When I talked about The Inspired Room Coloring Book on the blog before, I had only seen images online and the description on Amazon. I knew the book was going to be good but it is even better in person.

Unlike many other coloring books, Melissa designed the pages with images only on one side of the paper which makes the pages ideal for framing. And each page is perforated so that it can easily be torn out and hung on a bulletin board or used for a creative projects. The paper is thick which reduces he chance of ink bleeding through so you can use my favorite markers just as easily as pencils to color the images.

I’ve spent several evenings unwinding by coloring in the book and I have to tell you it’s addictive and relaxing.

The image below gave me the opportunity to envision what an emerald green secretary would look like. I’m hoping to score one at an antique store and paint it green.

Isn’t this page of chair designs fun?

I used one of the pages to play around with a color story I’m working on for a design client. I pulled one of the fabric swatches we’re considering and created an accessory plan using this accessory page from the coloring book.

If you’re looking for a great girlfriend gift under $10.00, this is it. Although the official release date isn’t until July 1st, you can buy a copy on Amazon today.

image via The Inspired Room

If you want to see more pages from the book, follow the hashtag #TIRcoloringbook on Instagram.