Escape the heat wave with some cozy Christmas coloring! ☀️❄️
We are officially coloring our way into winter using Coco Wyo’s Cozy Christmas book—mostly because I am desperately pretending there isn’t a blistering heat wave right outside here in Charlotte. So, crank your AC down to freezing, grab a hot tea, and let’s get coloring!
In this project, I tackled some fun new marker techniques, from glowing ornaments and shiny gold bells to realistic rippling pool water. Here is how I brought these cozy pages to life.
Page 1: The North Pole Gingerbread House
I wanted a limited but satisfying color palette for this page, sticking mostly to a whimsical pink and blue theme.
The Night Sky & Snowflakes To take the gradient night sky to the next level, I used three shades of blue acrylic markers to build dimension. I drew snowflakes using the darkest blue marker at the top of the dark sky, switching to lighter shades as I moved down the gradient. Finally, I went in with a white gel pen to make the snow pop!
Shiny Gold Bells & Satin Ribbon I tried something brand new here: making a 2D bell look like a shiny, 3D gold metal object.
Coloring Tip: Start with your lightest yellow where the glare would naturally hit. Fill the rest with the next darkest yellow, and outline the edges farthest from the glare with your darkest yellow. Finally, go over the entire bell with the lightest shade again to smooth out the blends. Add a white gel pen highlight, and you’ve got instant shiny gold!
Snowy Bricks & Magical Trees To texture the chimney, I used a grey marker to block out the bricks and added tons of tiny dots around the edges. I also went a little dot-crazy on the Christmas tree! I spent over 30 minutes adding tiny dots to the green branches to mimic the look of magical, shimmering snow. My hand was cramping, and I even snapped my colored pencil lead, but it was completely worth it!
Storytime: While coloring this, I decided this girl and her dog live in the North Pole. By law, every house must be made of well-insulating gingerbread topped with icing! It is a pretty sweet deal—literally.
Page 2: Santa on Vacation (The Water Ripple Trick!)
There is literally no page more perfect for a Christmas in July theme than Santa lounging on vacation.
The Water Ripple Technique I have always wanted to try drawing realistic pool water, and today was the day! There was just one small problem: about five minutes in, I realized Santa was actually laying on a beach towel on the sand, not floating in the water. Whoops! I had already committed, so I decided to make it work. Yes, this means his fluffy slippers and suitcase are now floating in the ocean, but sometimes coloring doesn’t have to make sense!
Here is how to get that rippling water effect:
- Color the entire background a bright, vibrant blue.
- Use a darker blue to draw large, organic, blobby shapes that don’t quite touch each other.
- Draw smaller blobs inside of those existing shapes.
- Take a white Posca pen and draw more blobby shapes in different directions than the ones underneath, letting them almost touch.
- Fill in the gaps between the shapes with white. It will look messy at first, but just keep going—suddenly, it transforms into realistic water ripples!
Yummy Cookies & Sea Glass Memories I wanted the plate of cookies next to Santa to look absolutely delicious, so I used toasted browns with flecks of brown sugar peeking through, giving the gingerbread crispy edges.
Coloring the seashells on this page brought back so many great memories. It always reminds me of trips to visit my aunt and uncle in Ohio near Lake Erie. Every trip, we’d walk up and down the beach and hunt for neat shells and colorful sea glass. I’m not much of a “lay on the beach under the blazing sun” type of girl, so hunting for shells on overcast, drizzly days was always my favorite beach activity.
Which Page is Your Favorite?
I am in love with how these pages turned out. The gingerbread house feels like a literal winter escape, and the rippling pool water was such a fun challenge to conquer.
