My family is finding this book inspirational on several levels. First, one of my daughters has been enjoying painting these and turned around using many of the styles and techniques in her other artworks and her pastry business. Another is using the painted designs to inspire henna designs for herself and her friends. Further, the book’s projects, which are fun and pretty quick to do, are “meditative” in that creating them is a quiet-yet-fulfilling process, and also, the results create a beautiful object suitable as something visual to focus on while meditating, relaxing, or simply relaxing.

In any case, they look beautiful around the house on our foyer credenza, living room bookcases, and so forth. The book itself is lovely, very well-made and written, with lavish step-by-step photos throughout. Each photo includes a concise description of what to do, although the photos themselves are often explanation enough. There are simpler and more complex designs, which to my mind at least, fall into two styles: (1) various mandala-style and floral designs for circular rocks and (2) for oblong stones, patterns and instructions for leaves, insects, and other natural designs.

All the designs are well-conceived and, though some are fairly straightforward, they aren’t something I’d every come up with on my own. In short, each project is literally wonderful — filled with wonder!