Secret Garden - An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book

She first came across this book in those online shopping site.

Beautiful illustrations!

It has drawn her attention instantly. Very exquisite drawing in black outline. It's called Secret Garden - A Inky Hunt and Coloring book. The author is Johanna Basford. A quick check on the net showing that she is a Scottish illustrator who believes that computer generated works are somehow lack of spirit and soul. So she draws with her hands and her works are well recognized.

This, Secret Garden is her first book. It was published in 2013, and has sold over millions copies worldwide and been translated into 14 languages.

And so, on a Sunday morning, she and her daughter searched frantically online for it. It was only available in MPH Midvalley and it's the BM version. It's being highly sought after.

By the nature of the mother and the daughter, especially the mother, waiting is just not her style. So off they drove to Midvalley which is not something she will usually do (the difficulty of getting a parking space will drive her up the wall).

She missed the entrance to the car park and had to use the waze to direct her back to the place. It took her a good 1/2 an hour to finally parked her car after countless cursing and swearing, all this hustle is just for the book, the original copy.

So they paid for the book and a brand new set of color pencil. Then they sat down in the Secret Recipe, ordered their drinks and cakes, and opened the book to start coloring! Talk about the nature of the character......

At Secret Recipe Midvalley Megamall.

There starts the journey of coloring, welcome back to childhood! It's suppose to help in reducing stress, obviously only meant for certain group of ppl,  or else you will ended more stressed!

There are hidden objects!

The very first completed picture. Hidden object : a squirrel and a key.

She always tells herself to stay calm when she is working on it, try to have the sense of serenity, to feel and to enjoy the process. The completed outcome is really satisfactory and very encouraging!

She planned for special theme here which is Orange!

Bao's creation, with colored ink pens she uses for her notes!

It definitely takes lots of patience and concentration!

The Purple theme !

Empty space is meant for us to fill in with our own creativity.

The mother needs this, BUT only occasionally!

Yet to be completed Blue theme!

To see the beautiful pictures being slowly colored is somehow very fulfilling!

To see the plain black and white creation being transformed into colorful picture is the key factor!

                                        ~     ~     ~    ~     ~    ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~

I wouldn't say it actually helps to reduce stress, in fact the attentiveness needed here is enormous with lots of very small details! But I treat this more a challenge than to reduce stress and also to have something to fill the free time.  And most importantly I think I enjoy doing it. (it also reminded me the sweet and precious moments I spent with Bao on her coloring book when she was very young.)

8,000pc Sistine Chapel Jigsaw Puzzle

And so the story continues.....

When they FINALLY finished building that crazy piece of thing, at first they felt really thrilled! When the THRILL is over, reality set in and they feel a sense of lost.

The feeling of something unfinished and it's waiting to be finished.....

The feeling of wanting to walk over to the dinning table and sit down to look for the missing pieces......

The memory of every corner and every inch of the painting......

The paintings within the painting, the characters, the frames,  the ceiling.....every details which they are so very familiar with.....

And so they started to search for yet another piece. Still dared not to aim too high, there's simply no space to accommodate anything bigger than 8,000pcs.

The first which caught their eyes:-

The School of Athens

picture courtesy of  https://www.flickr.com/photos/112806583@N07/14203745967

Unfortunately it's already discontinued.

Next to the best :-

picture courtesy of :http://www.amazon.com/While-She-Sleeping-8000-Piece-Puzzle/dp/B0061LTRLK

It's very nice, but when it is big....it might be something else....

The search continues.....not much to choose from......how many % of the world population has this insane hobby? Not to mention in our homeland.....

Who wants to pay for shipping cost almost as high as the product? Only "Xiao" ppl like her!

She realized that she likes the Sistine Chapel in the end, the incredible unbelievable ceiling painting by none other than Michelangelo in the Sistine chapel. (when can she go and witness the real work!?)

picture courtesy of: http://www.jigidi.com/puzzle.php?id=Y8UXL6PF

Looking at it closely, her heart went beating fast....

picture courtesy of  - http://2ref.info/?w=Bing+Images+www.bing.com%3A80%2Fimages%2Fsearch

She emailed Educa Boras to enquire after she learned that Babbylon Habbies doesn't carry this anymore. No answer...

Couldn't wait, she emailed the owner of the cheapest one in Ebay....it's used....and they can't guarantee on any missing pieces. USD49.90 , very cheap but no.....

Then there is this one asking for USD400, out of the question!

Few day later, she tried the last owner, also in Ebay, asking price USD200,  USD to RM @ 4.4++ , mama mia! She bid for USD99, thinking there's not much hope.

2 days later, still no news. She sent them email to enquire .

And on the 3rd day! YES!!!! The owner accepted!

Actually....no one else bid for it. Anyways, USD99 for the products and USD90 (bleeding heart) for shipping cost! The location is Colorado, USA.

The owner notified that it has been shipped on the 24/9, expected to reach on 4/10 - 12/10. Looking forward....ing....

They even bought a study lamp from Ikea to facilitate the lighting better where they queue for 1 good hour to pay. Ikea is definitely still having tons of worshipper...