I found a perfect gift for my oldest sister. Farah, who is incredibly artistic and did many wonderful sketches and drawings throughout her youth, is incapable of holding a piece of paper without drawing on it in some way. Magazines featuring humans, for instance, will quickly be drawn over, features and clothing altered and re-colored, hairstyles changed etc. I frequently buy coloring books for Farah’s son–my beloved nephew and godson–but she usually ends up coloring in them herself; she finds it relaxing. My love for Farah is devoted and and unconditional, but this uncontrollable tendency of hers to alter printed matter keeps me from lending her certain reading materials of mine…

My gold medal find for her: Rosie Flo’s coloring book, a coloring book with drawings of dresses and accessories. The drawings are headless and limbless–you draw them in and then color the image as you see fit. It’s one of a few coloring books created by British illustrator and designer Roz Streeten. Streeten says she originally created them for her little girls who were always asking her to draw dresses for them to color. In the US, you can get them at Amazon and they cost $8.99– in my opinion, an affordable and unique gift or stocking stuffer for a child or for the creative grown-up who has no hang-ups about enjoying things intended for kids (i.e. yours truly, and her sister Farah).