This started as a way to leave happy looking notes for a neighbor. Her dogs were waking me in the middle of the night. And, since she sleeps during the day – leaving her a note (now & then) was one way to gently let her know about the problem.
To use these pages, I wrote my messages in the white rectangle in the middle. Then, I hand-colored the border design.
Last week, I realized I could print these for the children in my family, so they had an area to color, but also an area to draw in. (They’re at the age where they love coloring, but they also love to draw.)
And then, I decided to make these available to everyone, free.
Click on each image below, and the related PDF will open for you to download. (These are 8 1/2″ x 11″ pages, and each graphic is linked to a different PDF.)
And then… I realized my other neighbors might enjoy this writing paper, too. So, I got an easy-to-remember Bit.ly URL, Free2Color.
After that, I created the following sign, colored it (by hand, of course), and taped it to our front door.
This goes along with another recent, hippie-style project for my neighbors:
Every morning during the week of Earth Day, I put a new message in one of my front windows. I printed the signs large enough so passers-by could read them when they’re on their way to work, or walking their dogs.
Most of the messages came from late 1960s’ and early 70s’ songs… things from Woodstock and the hippie era, in general. Others reflect similar attitudes.
Here are a few of them, stacked on my floor.
If you like this idea, the font is Elsie Swash Caps Black font, and the size should be at least 120 pts to be read by people passing by your home. (For other signs, I’ve used Placard GF at about 150 pts, and a few similar fonts.)
Generally, I’m printing on two sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ paper, horizontal, and then I tape them together to make the window sign.
For me, these ideas come from my “still a hippie” soul, with the idea that doing nice things for other people – and putting more happiness into the world – is the right thing to do.
And yes, I am planning to create more writing paper you can download, free, and more coloring book freebies, in general.
Do I color my own coloring pages? Yes, I do.
Prismacolor pencils
(This is a major project, so I don’t expect to complete the updates until around December. And even that may be optimistic. I mean, these are hundreds of articles, and some of them need far better illustrations. In 1996, I did my best to keep entire webpages below 35k. Today, a 35k image can look fuzzy, or it’s a ridiculously small size.)
As artists, bloggers, authors, publishers, and generally creative people, we often turn to stock images — at sites like Shutterstock,